RTSC Gala Reports

Saturday 5th/Sunday 6th December - Northampton Swimming Club, Winter Festival Open Meet - Corby

16 years old James Davis followed his successful County swims of two weeks ago with another impressive swim over 1500 metres Freestyle at this weekend's Northampton Winter Festival Meet at Corby’s East Midlands International Pool. Swimming in the penultimate heat, Davis set the early pace and quickly opened up a significant lead which he continued to extend as the race unfolded. His winning time of 16mins 40.90secs, a PB of ten seconds, gave him his first National Qualifying Time (NQT) of the new season and 3rd place in the boys 16 years age group.

Some Town swimmers had found the prospect of competing long course for the first time this season, at Corby’s brand new 50 metres pool, a little daunting though you wouldn't have thought so as they set about compiling some impressive results. Romford's new recruit, 14 years old George Foley, was unlucky not to pick up a medal as he finished 4th in Saturday morning's 800 metres Freestyle event with a PB time of 9mins 23.23secs.

13 years old Harry Coker was next up and was at his best in the boys 200 metres IM, where his PB time of 2mins 30.12 was good enough to secure another bronze medal. In the age group above, the frustration continued for Sean Houlihan. Plagued for most of the new campaign by a niggling injury that continues to restrict his training, he surprised many by taking 3rd place from his IM swim, just shy of his best time. Despite lacking fitness, he still went on to take another 3rd place in the boys 14 years 200 metres Breaststroke. Daniel Stepton (age 17) competing in a very strong open category got his weekend off to the perfect start by securing his NQT from his opening IM swim.

Elena Sheridan, swimming a year out of age in the girls joint 14/15 years age group was also in sparkling form again this weekend and shaved a little off her previous best time to open her account with a silver and an NQT of 5mins 13.17secs in the girls 400 metres IM. This was quickly followed by silver in the 100 metres Butterfly though, unsurprisingly, a little adrift of her Junior County Record time, though still some way inside of the National Qualifying Standard.

Another swimmer to join the Romford fold over the last couple of weeks is 11 years old Jack Ayling and he too got off to a blistering start over 200 metres Butterfly. With all results established on a heat declared winner basis he was not prepared to hang around and not fazed by the older swimmers either side. He took the initiative from the half way stage and pushed on to grab the race and the overall runner up slot, for his first NQT with 2mins 46.12secs. This also qualifies him for entry into the national's 100 metres event, in which he later added another silver to his collection here. There was silver too for Harry Coker after another strong Butterfly swim and again Foley just missed out with 4th in the 14 years age group.

11 years old Joshua Burcombe, who has also only been with Romford a short time, showed what a prospect he too could be. After a PB swim for 5th place in the earlier IM event he sliced more than three seconds off his previous best 100 metres Freestyle swim to steal 3rd place with a time of 1min 10.39secs. Ayling was not far behind in 7th. Both later in the day recorded top ten finishes from both their 400 metres Freestyle and 100 metres Backstroke events.

After a long and very hot day in the pool, Daniel Stepton lined up in the last heat of the day in the 100 metres Backstroke event and it was well worth the wait. With an evenly matched field, six of the eight swimmers all hit the midpoint turn together and the excitement grew as there was still little to separate them with only 10 metres to go. As they hit the wall at the finish all eyes shot to the electronic scoreboard for confirmation of the result. With one of his better finishes Stepton's name flashed up 2nd place only 0.5 away from gold.

There was a great start to Sunday morning proceedings as Sheridan took nearly 3 seconds off her previous best 200 metres IM time for a resounding win in her heat. This time of 2mins 27.93secs gave her silver number three and another NQT. With little time to catch her breath, she was back in the water for her main swim, the 200 metres Butterfly. Despite the short recovery, she produced an accomplished performance which was close to her PB, bagging herself a deserved victory. Team mate, 15 years old Louise Harrington was 4th.

13 years old Bock Whiston, who had had an indifferent day one but had notched up a few top ten finishes and had PB'd over 100 metres Butterfly, showed some of her fighting spark over the 200 metres distance too. Again, a strong opening half was well backed up in the latter stages as she came close to a PB here too. Her time of 2mins 39.04secs was good enough for 3rd place. She followed this up with another strong swim for 5th over 200 metres Breaststroke.

There were mixed emotions in the boys 400 metres IM as James Davis made it medal number two, a silver, though outside of his best time, while a four seconds PB for 15 years old Alfie Burr in the same joint 15/16 years age group event saw him narrowly miss out in 4th. Coker was also 4th in the 13 year’s age group.

Town swimmers continued to see top ten places from Burscombe and Ayling. There were PB’s and Top Ten finishes also from Jake Harrison in the boys 100 metres Breaststroke and from Amy Harris over the 200 metres distance.

Having missed out on National Qualification last year, 14 years old Bethaney Hall has started the new season with greater determination. Having warmed herself up with a full second PB over 100 metres Freestyle earlier in the day she clearly meant business coming into her main 200 metres Breaststroke swim. Undeterred by being up against older opponents, she used them to pull her through to a fast halfway split time. She toughed it out further and was even coming back at the two front runners in the closing stages, to stop the clock on 2mins 49.80secs, for a PB and her first NQT this time round.

Daniel Stepton also saved his best result for last. A little short on sleep however, after Christmas festivities had caused some disruption to hotel guests the previous night , he still mustered enough fighting spirit to take the verdict over 200 metres Backstroke with yet another long course NQT.

There were some great swims all round with the bonus of PBs from Town's youngest debutant Ellie Harris and from one of their more seasoned competitors, Thomas Toolis.

Some outstanding swimming and a great team spirit. Well done to all.