RTSC Gala Reports

Saturday 8th October - National Arena League London, Division 1 - University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Romford Town got their 2011 National Arena League campaign off to a solid start in what was seen as the tougher half of this year’s opening round draw. The new 16 team Division 1 format has strengthened the level of competition, but Romford have given themselves every opportunity of making their sixth consecutive Regional final. They will need to up their game further in the next round though to make sure.

16 years old Elena Sheridan, in her first year as a senior in this competition, started the evening with a hard fought win. She needed a PB swim in a time of 2mins 16.26secs over 200 IM to secure all eight points. Dan Stepton added another six points in the men’s event with 3rd in a time of 2mins 10.84secs.

In the exchange of relay events that followed Town found to hard to stay up with some of the bigger teams, as their best results were a 4th and two 3rd place finishes. The 4th spot was secured by the boy’s 9-11years Freestyle relay team of Jacob Smith, Jack Rice, Dan Weston and David Brooks who were only 0.04secs away from 3rd. The same four boys later in the evening went on to secure 3rd place in the Medley relay event. The other 3rd place came from the girls 13/U years Medley Relay team of Bethany Moore, Jodi Whitehead, Sophie Ward and Holly Hilldrew.

Bethany Hall took the backstroke leg of the senior girls Medley Relay and was followed by Brock Whiston, Sheridan and Nicola Rees for another 3rd place finish.

13 years old Jodi Whitehead calved a second off her previous best time to finish 2nd in 1min 20.50secs in the girls 13/U 100 metres Breaststroke, just missing out on a win in another very tight finish. She was back in action too soon after this to fully recover but still managed a strong 3rd place swim in the 100 metres Backstroke.

Sheridan did not get it all her own way in the Ladies Open 100 metres Butterfly and was pushed all the way by a strong Hatfield challenge. A powerful last 25 metres gave her the verdict by little more than 0.5secs with a time of 1min 01.89secs.

There were 3rd place finishes for both of Towns 15/U butterfly swimmers. First up for the girls was Brock Whiston in an exciting race where only a second separating the first 4 swimmers. Whistons time of 1min 08.04secs was a PB by more than a second. For the boys, Charles Sturley also lowered his best by a full second to come away with six points and a time of 1min 04.61secs.

In the 13/U Butterfly event there were top three finishes in both the girls and boys events. Sophie Ward’s 1min 12.35secs was good enough for another 3rd place in the girl’s race while a strong finish and a time of 1min 14.27secs brought Jack Ayling seven valuable points as the runner-up.

In her final individual event, Sheridan was just off her best for 3rd place in the Ladies Open 100 Breaststroke, as was Whiston in her 15/U Breaststroke age group swim. Between these swims 13 years old Bethany Moore finished 3rd in her 100 Freestyle event.

In a strong Ladies Open age group Nicola Rees smashed the 60 seconds barrier for the first time to take 3rd place with a PB time of 59.22secs to round off some fine individual performances.

In the final flurry of relay events Romford fared a little better that the start of the evening. The 9-11 years girls team of Rebecca Cribb, Jessica Ayling, Georgia Milton and Martha Merritt combined well for 4th in the Medley event and the boys were 3rd. The girls 15/U Medley team of Rosie Webber, Brock Whiston, Victoria Christmas and Bethany Moore were also 3rd.

Romford finished the evening with 4th places in both of the 6 X 50 metres Freestyle events. The girls team was Rees, Sheridan Hall, Christmas, Moore and Whiston and the boys team comprised Stepton, Jake Harrison, Scott Denham, George Foley, Harry Coker and Sturley.

Some great results. Well done to all.

Gala result:

1. Hatfield 364
2. Ealing 319
3. Teddington 241
4. Romford Town 228
5. Watford 226
6. Edmonton 204
7. Sutton and Cheam 142
8. Greenwich BM 71