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West Suffolk Open Meet at Bury St Edmunds - 11th/13th May Essex Mini League Round 2 at Saffron Walden - 12th May Essex Masters at Grays - 12th May Charlie qualifies for National Championships East Region Youth Championships at Basildon - 5th/6th May National Junior Speedo League Round 1 at Waltham Forest - 22nd April Generous sponsorship for Colchester's Olympic swimming trialist Laura Stephens Halstead Open Meet at Braintree - 15th April Norwich Long Course Easter Meet - 6th/8th April Essex Championships Block C at Basildon - 31st March/1st April |
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West Suffolk Open Meet at Bury St Edmunds - 11th/13th May An enthusiastic team of 25 Colchester swimmers took on swimmers from across the Region to compete at the annual West Suffolk SC Open Meet at the Bury St Edmunds Pool and achieved some impressive PBs, with 13 year olds Cameron Simpson and Martha Duley making some additional last minute qualifying times for forthcoming East Region Age Group Championships in Norwich. Simpson swam a great 400m freestyle in 4:47.92 to achieve the Regional qualifying mark, while Duley clocked a time of 2:40.74 to finish 3rd in the 200m IM and grab a Regional time. Yet again the Colchester swimmers continued to put in some great performances throughout the weekend and Performance Squad's Coach Denise Young praised their efforts, "We had some great swims and it was pleasing for the swimmers, coaches, parents and supporters to see all that hard work pay off. There is no doubt - the harder we train the better we perform". As well as their qualifying times, Simpson swam a good 100m butterfly to finish in 5th place, while Duley finished 2nd in the 50m backstroke, 4th in the 50m freestyle and 6th in the 100m butterfly. 10 year old Charlotte Atkinson also had a fantastic weekend, with a 2nd place in the 50m backstroke and a huge PB to finish 5th in the 200m IM, while 9 year old Millie Lancaster continued her great form with a win in the 200m butterfly, 2nd in the 200m backstroke and 3rd in the 200m IM. Brittany Lodge showed her strength in breaststroke, finishing 2nd in the 50m and 6th in the 100m in the 12 years breaststroke events. Daisy Jackaman also had a great weekend of swimming, with her best performance a 2nd place finish in the 11 years 50m backstroke, while Molly Duffett snatched 2nd place in the 50m breaststroke, before thrilling her supporters with a huge PB and storming down the last 15 metres to win her heat of the 200m breaststroke. The boys added to the medal collection with 12 year old Nick Mitchell finishing 3rd in the 50m breaststroke and 5th in the 200m breaststroke, and James Buckingham claiming 4th in the 14 years 50m breaststroke and 6th in the 50m backstroke. The other swimmers who travelled to Bury St Edmunds and came home with some great times were, Danielle Atkinson, Ellie Duley, Elisha Henslick, Zoe Asbury, Katie Leonard, Bev Whittaker, Catherine and Elizabeth Blacklock, Rhys Collins, Tim Kwok, Jack Keane, Adam Buckingham, Sam Firth and Alex Cole.
Essex Mini League Round 2 at Saffron Walden - 12th May After emphatically winning Round 1 in the defence of their Essex Mini League title, the team of young swimmers from Colchester SC set off to Saffron Walden last Saturday, only to end up as victims of their own success! Mini League rules set fastest time limits to give more swimmers the chance to compete in strokes or events for which they would not normally be selected, but Colchester's swimmers were time-faulted in 8 events for swimming too fast, and the loss of points proved crucial with the team edged out into 3rd place on the night. Head Coach Michelle Young had mixed emotions, "We had too many great PBs! Seriously, although I am disappointed to lose our first gala in over 3 years, I am obviously delighted with the superb performances in the pool and rapid improvements we are seeing throughout the Club. Our swimmers are training hard and enjoying their swimming and the great times they are achieving are the result." Hannah Fifield got the team off to a great start with a 1 sec PB in the Girls 11 years 50m backstroke to take 2nd place, before Hayden Cowan grabbed another PB to take 3rd in the Boys event. The next event saw the Girls 9 years 4x25m breaststroke relay team of Asma Parker, Phoebe Crofts, Jessie Barrett and Olivia Norman get the first win of the night, before some fantastic swims resulted in the first of the time faults, including 10 year olds Isabella Tanenbaum (a massive 7 second PB) and Jack Bowyer (4 second PB) in the 50m backstroke and 11 year old Rory Bennett in the Boys 50m breaststroke (4 sec PB). 13 year old Charlotte McDonnell took a deserved 2nd place in the 100m freestyle, followed by 3rd place finishes for Tom Lo (5 second PB in the Boys 100m freestyle) and Helena Wright in the Open age 50m butterfly, before Taylor Young was time-faulted in the Boys 50m butterfly. The 10 year olds dominated the 50m breaststroke, with wins for Meg Wall Peters (2 sec PB )and Oliver Hambleton (3 sec PB), which was followed by a superb win for the Girls Open age freestyle relay team of Charlotte Holt, Lucy Coates, Helena Wright and Sarah Bird. Emma Bouckley swam a 3 second PB in the 10 years 50m freestyle to take 3rd place, while Harry Chatterton again swam far better than ever before to be time-faulted in the Boys event. There followed a great series of results and PBs for the Colchester team, with a 3rd place for Rhianna Preece and 2nd for Sam Firth in the 11 years 50m freestyle, and wins for Lucy Coates and Sam Mackinder in the 13 years 50m breaststroke and the boys 11 years freestyle relay team of Kirin Yeung, Hayden Cowan, Sam Firth and Rory Bennett. After yet more time faults, Bev Whittaker and Sam Reeves took 2nd and 3rd place in the 13 years 50m backstroke, before Charlotte Holt added another win with a good PB in the Open 100m freestyle and Matt Purser PB'd in the Boys event. This was quickly followed by great swims and PBs in the 10 years 25m butterfly from Abbie McCarthy (1st place) and Isaac Pavey (2nd place) and a deserved 3rd place for the Boys freestyle relay team of Joseph McGregor, Joe Cole, Adithya Shenoy and Chris Ashdown. The final series of events saw a great fight back by the Colchester team, with wins for: Sophie Lo in the 11 years 50m butterfly with another 3 second PB; the Girls team of Olivia Norman, Isabella Tanenbaum, Sophie Lo, Bev Whittaker, Charlotte McDonnell and Helena Wright and the Boys team of Chris Asdown, Harry Chatterton, Rory Bennett, Sam Mackinder, Elliott Bennett and Joe Mackinder in the breaststroke relays; the 13 years Girls freestyle relay team of Lucy Coates, Hannah Vickers, Bev Whittaker and Charlotte McDonnell; and in the 10 years freestyle relays, the girls team of Wall Peters, McCarthy, Bouckley and Tanenbaum and the boys team of Pavey, Chatterton, Hambleton and Bowyer. Great PBs from Hannah Vickers, Sam Mackinder and Elliott Bennett in their events and another great swim and 2nd place from McDonnell in the Open 50m breaststroke added to the points total and a close finish to the gala. The final result of the gala was: Saffron Walden 161 points, Rochford 150, Colchester 147, Clacton 130, Braintree 87.
Essex Masters at Grays - 12th May Six swimmers from Colchester Swimming Club's Masters travelled to Blackshots Pool in Grays on Saturday 12th May to compete in the annual Essex Masters Competition. Swimmers from over 20 clubs across Essex and the surrounding counties were in attendance with Colchester represented by Kenny Dayman (18-24), Katie Holmes (25-29), Katie Bailey (30-34), Hannah Stubbs (30-34), Ray Barry (40-44 years) and Jason Cole (45-49 years).
The overall medal total for Colchester was 8 gold, 13 silver and 4 bronze with a fifth overall finish in the top club table just three points short of a third place finish and top ten finishes in the top male and female swimmer table for Kenny Dayman and Katie Holmes. Kenny Dayman found some impressive form to achieve personal best finishes in the 100m backstroke (gold), 50m freestyle (silver) and 50m butterfly (gold) with a gold medal in the 50m backstroke and silver medals in the 100m backstroke and 100m Individual Medley. Katie Holmes competing for the first time since the Masters Nationals in Sheffield a few weeks earlier continued her good form with gold medal finishes in the 50m and 100m breaststroke and silver medals in the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 100m Individual Medley. Katie Bailey won a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke and bronze medals in both the 50m freestyle and 100m Individual Medley with Hannah Stubbs continuing the club's fine form with a silver medal in the 200m freestyle and a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly. Ray Barry competing in the event for the first time won gold medals in the 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke and 100m Individual Medley and a silver medal in the 100m freestyle. Jason Cole continued to improve his performances and gained personal best finishes in the 50m backstroke (bronze), 50m butterfly and 400m freestyle (silver) with a 13 second improvement on his previous best time.
Charlie qualifies for National Championships
East Region Youth Championships at Basildon - 5th/6th May A strong team of the older swimmers from Colchester SC travelled to the 50m pool at the Basildon Sporting Village, to compete in the 2012 East Region Youth Championships against swimmers from 6 counties. Expectations were high after the record results at the recent Essex County Championships, and once again the Colchester swimmers delivered, achieving some great PBs and their highest medal tally and position in the Championships' medal table. The team came home with 6 medals - 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze - and finished 9th in the Region.
16 year old Charlie O'Connor had a very hectic weekend, but continued his impressive form this year, steadily improving with every race. After starting with a 22nd place in the 200m IM, he progressed to 20th in the 50m backstroke, 16th in the 100m breaststroke, 12th in the 100m freestyle, and then qualified 4th fastest for the final of the 50m freestyle. In the final of this event, in which he finished in 14th place last year, he swam an even quicker PB of 25.56 to take a superb silver medal. Encouraged by this success, Charlie went into the final session and swam a great 50m butterfly heat to qualify quickest for the final, and went on to take another half a second off his time in the final to win gold ahead of 2 Ipswich swimmers in a very impressive PB of 26.94 seconds. In the same age group, Jarrod Bradfield won a bronze in the 100m freestyle in a time of 55.59 seconds. He then qualified 2nd quickest for the 50m freestyle final, but had to withdraw from the final to dash off to the Olympic Aquatic Centre at Stratford to meet up with his England East team mates to prepare for the prestigious Sainsbury's School Games, with teams from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Brazil competing in the Olympic test event. 15 year old Jim Vickers finished in 5th place in the 100m backstroke final but, after qualifying 3rd quickest for the 50m backstroke final, had to withdraw from the rest of the competition due to injury. In the women's events, Heather Rodwell enjoyed another great Championships, taking silver in the final of the 200m breaststroke in a time of 2:49.78, and then followed a 4th place in the 200m IM with a great bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke final, improving on her heat time to finish in 1:18.42, missing silver by just 7/100ths. After a disappointing first day, when she had to withdraw from her events due to illness, England Talent swimmer Emily Stephens showed great courage to come back on day 2 to take a superb silver medal in the gruelling 800m freestyle in a great time of 9:34.76, as well as qualifying for the final of the 200m IM, and finishing 6th in the 400m freestyle. Ladies' Captain, 18 year old Jennifer Redmond, swam a superbly paced heat in the 200m backstroke to qualify for the final, where she finished in 6th place, before repeating the achievement the following day and finishing 7th in the final of the 100m backstroke. There were also some great swims from: former Men's Captain Thomas Rootsey, now 22, who returned from medical school to compete in 5 events, with a great 10th place in the 100m backstroke; current Men's Captain Alex Vipond swam in 3 events, including a 13th place finish and PB in the 50m backstroke; Dan Few, another former Men's Captain and now 20, competed in 5 events with a best finish of 11th in the challenging 200m butterfly; Harrison Sadler topped off a busy weekend with a 6 second PB and a great 12th place in the 400m IM; Matt Holland swam a great PB to finish 47th in the 50m freestyle; Matt Lemnell swam in 3 events, achieving 33rd in the 100m freestyle with a great PB; Tom Vickers qualified for 3 events, finishing 20th in the 50m and 100m backstroke; Helena Wright qualified for her first Regional Champs to finish 61st in the 50m freestyle; and Isaac Aldridge also competed well in the 100m freestyle to finish in 45th place. The Men's relay team of Bradfield, Vickers, Sadler and O'Conner finished in a very creditable 7th place in the 4 x 100m medley event, and then, with Vipond stepping in for the absent Bradfield, achieved 8th in the 4 x 100m freestyle. Head Coach Michelle Young was delighted with Colchester's performance, "Our older swimmers had a fantastic weekend, achieving some great PBs and racing against the best in the East Region. They were a credit to the Club and I was proud of all the swimmers who qualified for the Championships, which takes dedication and hard work in training, and despite some injuries and illness, we had our best result ever at this level. For some of our swimmers it was their first experience of swimming at these Championships and I am sure we will build on this next year".
National Junior Speedo League Round 1 at Waltham Forest - 22nd April The first round of the Junior National Swimming League competition, for 9-12 year olds, saw Colchester facing a tough draw against some top clubs as they travelled to Walthamstow last weekend. Head Coach Michelle Young commented, "We faced some very tough competition and although, on paper, it wasn't our best result of the year, our younger swimmers were tremendous, and we had some great swims and personal best times." In the opening relay events, the 9 years girls 4 X 25m freestyle relay team of Millie Lancaster, Olivia Norman, Asma Parker and Jessie Barrett, who were both swimming in their first gala, held off the field to take 1st place, while the 10 years girls 4 x 25 medley relay team of Charlotte Atkinson, Mia Nicholson, Isabella Tanenbaum and Meg Wall Peters swam well to secure the points for 3rd place. After a good 2nd place and 2 second PB in the boys 11 & U 50m backstroke from Rory Bennett, the 1st individual win of the night came in the 10 yrs 50m backstroke from new swimmer Charlotte Atkinson, who swam beautifully throughout the race and kicked for home to win in 40.20 seconds. 9 year old Olivia Norman was outstanding to win in the 25m butterfly (17.75), following her win in the 25m backstroke (18.51), while in the boys 9 years 25m backstroke Daniel Loveless, who has just moved to Colchester from Ipswich, swam superbly to win in 19.41 seconds, following that up with a 3rd place in the 50m butterfly. Charlie Hutchinson secured more points for the team with a great 2nd place in the 10 years 50m butterfly and Meg Adamson came a very good 3rd on the 11 years 50m freestyle. In the final relay events of the evening the 9 years old girls team of Parker, Lancaster, Norman and Barrett, swam another great race in the 4 x 25m medley relay to finish in 2nd place, just behind the Romford team. The 10 years girls relay team of Atkinson, Nicholson, Tanenbaum and Wall Peters secured another 3rd place in the 4x25m freestyle event , before the boys 11 & U team of Rory Bennett, Jamie Coles, David Purser and Thierry Ajala grabbed more points with a 3rd place in the 4x25m medley relay. Also competing for Colchester and securing points for the team were: Brittany Lodge, Sophie Lo, Hannah Vickers, Sam Reeves, Nic Mitchell, Antoine Massey, Rhys Collins, Joe Cole, Chris Ashdown, Isaac Pavey, Jack Bowyer, Molly Duffett and Ellie Duley. Team points were: Romford 245, Enfield A 205, Kingston Royals 169, Chelmsford 156, Colchester 131, Erith 112.
Generous sponsorship for Colchester's Olympic swimming trialist Laura Stephens Colchester's talented young swimmer 12 year old Laura Stephens, who recently qualified for the Great Britain London 2012 Olympic Trials at Stratford, has received the backing of local company, Professional School Portraits Ltd. Laura, who is the fastest 12 year old in the country in a number of events, was presented with a cheque for £1500 at the Leisureworld pool by Katie Holmes, who runs the company with her husband Paul. Katie saw the recent report in the Gazette and Laura's appeal for sponsorship and was delighted to be able to step in, "To qualify for the Olympic Trials was an incredible achievement for a 12 year old and the experience of competing in the new Olympic pool must have been amazing. I know that Laura trains eight times a week with Colchester and travels to Basildon every Saturday morning to train with the England Talent Development Programme and I am really impressed with her commitment and achievements." Katie is still a competitive swimmer with Colchester's Masters Section and used to coach Laura a few years ago at Harwich, "I have tracked Laura's progress since she moved to Colchester and the improvement in her PBs has been impressive, although I can still beat her in the 100m breaststroke - just! Paul and I are keen to support Laura and give her every opportunity to achieve her dream of competing for Great Britain one day."
Laura's mum Helen is grateful for the support, "Colchester receive excellent support for our swimming programme from our main sponsors, Griffin Chapman, but the cost of travelling to training and competitions around the country, entry fees and hotel accommodation quickly adds up and the support from Professional School Portraits for Laura is very much appreciated. Our next major event is the National Championships in Sheffield in July, which Laura is really looking forward to." Professional School Portraits can be contacted via their website: www.pspschools.co.uk
Halstead Open Meet at Braintree - 15th April A large team of 57 Colchester swimmers travelled to the Braintree Swimming Centre for the 3rd Halstead SC Open Meet last weekend and came home with 132 medals - a record haul for one day's swimming! Competing against over 400 swimmers from across Essex and Suffolk, in a day starting at 8.30 am, both the younger and more experienced swimmers once again demonstrated the continued development of the North Essex club. Colchester's top medal winners were David Purser (8 Medals) Jamie Coles (7) Helena Wright (6) Daisy Jackaman (5) Millie Lancaster (5) James Buckingham (5), with 9 year old Millie Lancaster winning the Top Girl Trophy and Prize. Junior/Intermediate Coach Steph Young was full of praise for the Colchester swimmers, "For many of the younger swimmers it was their first experience of an Open Meet and they all managed to conquer their nerves to put in some superb performances and PB times, which will stand the Club in great stead for the future. Indeed some of the times achieved by the younger swimmers would have qualified them for the recent Essex County Championships. A great team spirit throughout the day ensured the swimmers travelled home with smiles on their faces, knowing they had done their Club proud once more." Millie Lancaster set the tone for the day with a great PB in the first event to take Gold in the 200m freestyle in a time of 3:05.81, before taking a Silver in the 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle and the 100m IM. Also swimming well in the Girls 9 years age group was Olivia Norman, who outshone 11 and 12 year olds in her heat to take Gold in the 100m IM in a great time of 1:29.82 and added a further 2 Golds to her collection in the 50m Breaststroke (50.33) and 50m butterfly (40.04). In the 10 years age group, Daisy Jackaman swam a 5 second PB to take Gold in the 100m freestyle (1:16.87) to add to her great Silver in the 50m backstroke and numerous PB swims, while Isabella Tanenbaum, swimming in her first Open, took 7 seconds off her PB to snatch a deserved Bronze in the 50m butterfly. David Purser's star performance of his impressive day came in the 50m butterfly, winning Gold in a time of 42.96 seconds. 11 year old Meg Adamson also had a great day, swimming to numerous PBs and taking Silver in the 50m backstroke. Spencer Prior continued his return to form in the 12 years age group, with 3 Gold medals and PBs in the 100m butterfly (1:15.72), 100m backstroke (1:13.10) and the 100m freestyle (1:07.13), a feat matched by 13 year old team mate Cameron Simpson, taking Gold in the 200m freestyle (2:20.38), 100m breaststroke (1:25.55) and 100m backstroke (1:12.41). In the same age group, James Buckingham had a super day, winning Gold in the 50m backstroke (35.56) and 50m freestyle (29.47). In the older age groups, 14 year old Helena Wright's performance of the day was Gold in the opening 200m freestyle event (2:23.95), while Alice Insull continued her fightback from injury with a great Gold in the 50m butterfly (33.97). In the same age group, Colchester enjoyed a one-two finish in the boys 50m butterfly, with Alex Carter just touching out Jack Keane by 9/100ths of a second to take Gold in 31.63 seconds. Not to be outdone, Colchester's 15 year olds, Jim Vickers (29.64), Isaac Aldridge and Matt Holland took a clean sweep of the medals in the 50m backstroke, with Vickers adding another Gold in both the 100m breaststroke (1:18.17) and 100m backstroke (1:01.96), and Holland getting under 30 seconds for the first time to win the Gold in the 50m butterfly (29.73). Tom Vickers won Gold in the 16 & over 50m butterfly (28.65) to add to his Gold in the 100m backstroke (1:04.31), while 16 year old Charlie O'Connor proved his sprinting prowess with Gold in the 50m freestyle in a fantastic time of 24.58 seconds - just 0.03 seconds outside a National Qualifying time. The other swimmers in the team also put in great personal performances to set new PBs throughout the day, with many of them claiming Silver and Bronze medals: Isaac Pavey, Jamie Coles, Alex Cole, Tim and Chris Kwok, Taylor Young, Bethany Adamson, Chloe Bush, Madison Young, Hannah Fifield, Elizabeth French, Jocelyn Edwards, Phoebe Coles, Hannah Vickers, Katie Leonard, Lucy Coates, Oliver Hambleton, Christopher Ashdown, Adam Buckingham, Kirin Yeung, Sam Reeves, Matthew Purser, Sam and Joseph Mackinder, Beth Coiley, Molly Duffett, Beverly Whitaker, Charlotte McDonnell, Jocelyn Edwards, Catherine Blacklock, Elizabeth Blacklock, Meg Wall Peters, Abbie McCarthy and Ella Dickenson.
Norwich Long Course Easter Meet - 6th/8th April Following the Club's amazing performance at the recent Essex County Championships, a small team of 13 Colchester SC swimmers travelled to the University of East Anglia Sportspark 50m pool to take on a high quality international field of swimmers in the City of Norwich Easter meet. As well as gaining some great competition experience, they achieved some good performances and times, with a range of PBs and National Qualifying Times. In the 9 years category Millie Lancaster competed well in 2 events, finishing a very creditable 6th in the 200m backstroke with a great time of 3:28.99, while 12 year old Spencer Prior took on a tough field to finish 10th in the 200m backstroke. 12 year old Laura Stephens again showed her class taking four 1st place finishes as well as a 2nd, 3rd and 4th with some great swimming. After warming up with 4th in the 200m breaststroke, Laura went on to swim a time of 2:29.48 (NQT) to win the 200m backstroke, 1:08.99 (NQT) to take 3rd in the 100m backstroke, 30.12 to win the 50m butterfly, 1:06.11 (NQT) to win the 100m butterfly, 31.70 to win the 50m backstroke and 28.86 to finish joint 2nd in the 50m freestyle. Chloe Rudkin also had a busy weekend, competing in 5 events in the 13 years category and swimming a great PB of 2:46.71 in the 200m IM, while 14 year old Alice Insull swam well in the 100m backstroke. In the 15 years category, Matt Lemnell swam a superb 100m freestyle to go under the minute for the first time (59.36) with a great PB, while Harrison Sadler continued his improvement this season, competing in 5 events and swimming good PBs in the 100m freestyle and 50m breaststroke. In the same age group, Jim Vickers also had a busy weekend, swimming a PB in the 50m backstroke and qualifying for the final of the 100m backstroke. In the 15 year old girls events, England Talent swimmer Emily Stephens continued her improving form with a great PB of 4:39.08 to take 4th in the 400m freestyle and another PB of 1:01.96 to finish 7th in the 100m freestyle, before claiming 4th spot in the 200m freestyle. In the older age groups, 16 year old Charlie O'Connor swam a super PB of 25.76 to finish 4th in the 50m freestyle and finished 8th in the 50m butterfly, while 17 year old Heather Rodwell competed in 4 events and swam a good 400m IM to finish 4th in a time of 5:23.61 and finished 5th in the 200m freestyle. 20 year old Dan Few also swam well in his events, finishing 9th in the 200m IM.
Essex Championships Block C at Basildon - 31st March/1st April Colchester's record breaking swimming team headed back to Basildon for the final weekend of the Essex ASA Age Group Championships and produced fantastic performances throughout the weekend to finish this year's event with their best ever medal haul and their highest ever finish in the overall Club Points total. Another incredible 30 medals were won (15 Gold, 7 Silver and 8 Bronze), taking the final total to a staggering 81 medals (36 Gold, 24 Silver and 21 Bronze), shattering last year's record of 66 medals. Six more Championship records were broken this weekend, taking the total to 14 new records set by Colchester swimmers. The Colchester club finished in an impressive 4th place overall, moving up from last year's record placing of 5th and increasing the overall points total from 736.5 to an amazing 1,634! In the final individual age group rankings, Charlie Hutchison finished best 9 year old boy, Olivia Norman was runner up in the 9 year old girls, Laura Stephens was best 12 year old girl, Philippa Davenall was runner up in the 13 year old girls, Jarrod Bradfield was runner up in the 15 year old boys and Emily Stephens was runner up in the 15 year old girls. There were top 10 placings for Daisy Jackaman, Arran Francis, Spencer Prior, Martha Duley, Charlie O'Connor, Harrison Sadler and Jennifer Redmond.
Head Coach Michelle Young praised all the swimmers who qualified and represented the Club this year, "While our swimmers' individual medal successes are well deserved, as a coach I am more delighted with the massive leap forward in our overall points total, which clearly demonstrates the improvement in our swimming and competitiveness, which is the result of everyone's commitment and dedication - swimmers, coaches, volunteers and parents. While the medal and trophy winners grab the headlines, I was impressed with every single one of our swimmers, who all competed brilliantly and achieved some outstanding personal best times against the best swimmers in Essex." This weekend's medal winners included 9 year old Olivia Norman, who added 2 Gold medals (50m backstroke in 38.61 seconds and 50m butterfly in 39.60) and 2 Silvers to her collection, and 9 year old Charlie Hutchison, who swam some great PBs to win Gold in the 50m freestyle in a PB of 34.18 and 2 more Silver medals. 10 year old Jamie Coles put in an amazing 3 second PB to qualify for the final of the 50m breaststroke and grab a great Silver medal. Also swimming in a Colchester hat for the first time was 10 year old Charlotte Atkinson, who has just joined the Club and won Gold in the 50m backstroke in a PB of 37.68 In the 12 years category, Laura Stephens took her total medal haul to 15 Gold medals and 2 Silvers, winning the Essex trophy for the "Most outstanding Age Group performance of the Championships". An outstanding young talent, Laura won 5 more Gold medals and broke Championship records in the 800m freestyle (9:33.73), 50m backstroke (30.91), 100m IM (1:08.08 - breaking the record in the heats and again in the final), and 50m butterfly (29.48 - again breaking the record twice). In the same age group, Arran Francis continued his return to form with 3 Bronze medals and an outstanding 6 second PB to make the 100m freestyle final. 13 year old Philippa Davenall continued her great form, winning the 100m IM in a great time of 1:10.07, and then added a further Silver and Bronze to her collection of medals. Jarrod Bradfield again showed his class in the 15 years age group, claiming 3 more Gold medals in the 100m freestyle in a Championship record time of 53.12 seconds, the 50m butterfly in 28.07 and the 200m freestyle in 1:56.9, as well as a further Bronze. Jim Vickers claimed a deserved Gold in the 100m backstroke in a time of 1:01.73, but had to miss the rest of the weekend through illness, and Harrison Sadler took Bronze in the 200m breaststroke, just missing out on another medal in the 50m breaststroke. In the same age group, Emily Stephens was another record breaker, taking Gold in the long distance 800m freestyle in a record 9:30.51, before claiming 2 more Bronze medals. 16 year old Charlie O'Connor won a great Silver in the 50m butterfly, before grabbing a surprise Gold in the 50m breaststroke with an amazing PB of 30.55 seconds in the final. The other finalists this weekend were: Cameron Simpson, Jennifer Redmond, Martha Duley, Spencer Prior, Daisy Jackaman, Matt Lemnell, Chloe Rudkin, Dan Few, Thomas Rootsey, Tim Tripp, Alex Vipond, Alice Insull, Helena Wright, Jordan Glynos-Frenie, and Paige Young. Also competing were: Millie Lancaster, Isaac Aldridge, Alex Carter, David Purser, Ellie Duley, Tom Vickers, Katharine Insull, Phoebe Crofts, James Buckingham, Matt Holland, Jack Keane and Meg Adamson. The final Team Points scores were: 1st Romford 4485, 2nd Chelmsford 1971, 3rd Borough of Redbridge 1695, 4th Colchester 1634, 5th Borough of Waltham Forest 1075, 6th Killerwhales 985, 7th Basildon Phoenix 950, 8th Braintree 860, 9th Thurrock 849, 10th Borough of Southend 728.
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© Colchester Swimming Club
