RTSC Gala Reports

Saturday 10th/Sunday 11th July - Northampton Swimming Club, Summer Festival Open Meet - Corby

Romford Town Swimming Club completed their season's penultimate open competition in style as they retained their Top Club title at Northampton's Summer Festival Open with an amazing 107 medals haul. Town's 47 golds was 16 more than the 2nd and 3rd placed Mid Bedfordshire and Rushden clubs. Romford swimmers added a further 41 silvers and 22 bronze medals for this remarkable tally. This total was even more astonishing bearing in mind that many of the younger swimmers didn't travel this weekend, with 50 swimmers opting to compete at Waltham Forest's Open next weekend instead.

Leading the way in the individual medal stakes was 10 years old Holly Hilldrew who chalked up either Gold or silver from each swim of her 12 event schedule. Her 9 gold and 3 silver medals also secured her the weekend's overall 'Top Girl' award, 11 points ahead of 2nd place. There were 5 more medals in the girls 10 years age group, 2 silver and 2 bronze from some battling PB performances by Victoria Bishop and a bronze from a gritty 200 metres Butterfly from Anna Manning.

In the boys 10 years old age group Mid Bedfordshire's Nathan Hughes took the overall Top Boy title though Town’s pairing of Mitchell Wilson and Samuel Ellis ran him close on a number of occasions and both will surely close the gap on him next season. Between them, they bagged 16 medals, Wilson 3 silver and 6 bronze, Ellis 4 silver and 3 bronze. The pick of these from Wilson was a gutsy 3mins 05.17secs over 200 metres butterfly where he came closer than anybody to Hughes all weekend and from Ellis a sizeable PB over 200 metres Breaststroke. They finished 2nd and 3rd overall in their age group.

There were 8 medals for 11 years old Joshua Burcombe, with 3 of his golds coming from each of the Backstroke distances as he took control on this stroke. He added 2 more wins over 100 and 400 metres Freestyle and completed his programme, with a silver and two bronze medals in his respective 200 metres Freestyle and 50 metres Freestyle and Butterfly events. Ellie Harris (11) chipped in with a silver and a PB time of 3mins 31.97secs in the girls 200 metres Breaststroke.

Ellie's sister Amy Harris dominated the girls 12 years age group and she came away with 7 gold and 4 silver medals from her 11 swims. With a PB performance from practically every race, she finished top of her age group, finishing in 3rd spot for the overall girls title. With many good swims to chose from, one of her best had to be a powerful 200 metres Breaststroke where she came close to breaking the 3 minutes barrier for the first time, finishing with a time of 3mins 02.02secs.

Training partner Sophie Ward secured 5 medals of her own as Romford swimmers pretty much wrapped up the girls 12 years age group. Ward was close to making it a clean sweep of the 3 Butterfly events as she took victories over 100 and 200 metres and a 2nd place in the 50 metres event. There were medals also for 12 years old Jodi Whitehead, a silver and 2 bronze and for Stephanie Tomlinson, who had some good Freestyle swims, there was a 2nd place in the 50 metres event.

Had he taken on a couple more events, 12 years old Luke Sheridan would surely have been a contender for the top boy in his age group too. He did produce some outstanding swims, however, to win 6 events and finish as runner up in his other. Of these victories, 3 came from the Butterfly events where he continues to make significant improvements. The points from these seven swims brought him through to 3rd over in the boys 12 years category.

Charles Sturley also had a clean sweep of the Butterfly titles in the boys 13 years age group, saving his best till last with a winning PB time of 2mins 29.18secs over the 200 metres distance. He added another medal to his collection, finishing as runner up in the 200 metres IM. In the same age group Sam Bishop added 5 more medals to the Romford tally. Like his younger sister, he too had some strong Freestyle swims, securing a medal over each of the 100, 200 & 400 metres distances, the best a silver in the 400 metres event. He also came away with two third place finishes from his Butterfly events.

14 years old George Foley must now be looking forward to next season with add confidence after some powerful performances and a haul of 7 medals. He opened with a PB and a gold medal over 200 metres Freestyle and finished with a gold and a PB over 200 metres Breaststroke. In between he racked up a further 3 gold and 2 silver medals. The pick of his swims came over 200 metres Butterfly where he swam to gold with a PB time of 2mins 22.89secs only 10 minutes after taking overall victory in the 400 metres.

15 years olds Harriette Davis and Rachel Welsh collected 7 winning gold medals. Davis’s titles came from her 100 and 400 metres Freestyle and 200 metres backstroke events. She came close to adding to these finishing as runner up to Welsh over 100 metres backstroke and 200 metres IM. Welsh's other wins came from her sprint events, 50 metres Backstroke and Freestyle. She came in just behind Davis for silver in the 200 metres Backstroke.

Romford had four swimmers in the 16 years and over age group and each came away with at least one medal. Nicola Rees who is getting faster each time out had wins over 50 and 100 metres Butterfly and 200 metres IM. She also finished 2nd in 3 other events the pick of these was her 1min 01.37secs over 100 metres Freestyle. Natalie Ward also bagged herself 6 six top three places, finishing 2nd on 5 occasions and 3rd the other. All her medals came from strong Backstroke and Butterfly swims. For the boys, 17 years old Thomas Toolis notched up 3 silver medals with David Ward adding another with a PB over 50 metres Breaststroke.

There were many more good performances from Romford swimmers, some unlucky not to add further to Romford's medal tally.

Well done to all that swam.