RTSC Gala Reports

Saturday 20th March - Essex League Division 1 - Braintree

Romford Town took over from Rochford at the top of Division 1 after the third round of this year's Essex League Division One competition. A good result in the final round on April 17th will see Town retaining the league winners shield for a 10th successive year.

The 11 years old and under girls were in sparkling form as Bethany Moore won the 50 metre Freestyle and Backstroke events, whilst Sophie Ward won the 50 metre Butterfly and was took third place in the 50m Breaststroke. Hannah Binning and Stephanie Tomlinson, on her club debut, joined Bethany and Sophie to record emphatic wins in the 4 x 50 Medley and Freestyle relays.

The 11 years and under boys were also in fine form as Kieran Gore won the Breaststroke, Jake Ayling (another debutant) won the Butterfly and Calum Connelly won Backstroke and took second place in the Freestyle. The trio were joined by Tommy Beardsell and they romped away with victories in the Freestyle and Medley relays.

In the 13 years age group, Amy Gore won the 100 metres Breaststroke, Victoria Christmas won the 100m Freestyle and Rosie Webber took second place in both the 100m Backstroke and the 100m Butterfly. Emma Aston helped the girls to a win in the Medley Relay and 3rd place in the Freestyle Relay.

Charles Sturley earned maximum points for Town in the 13 years 100 metres Butterfly and the 100 metres Backstroke. Luke Sheridan picked up a good 3rd place in the 100 metres Breaststroke. Charles and Luke were joined by Sam Allsop and Sam Bishop as the quartet came 2nd in their Medley relay and 3rd in their Freestyle relay.

In the girls 15 years age group there was a win Harriette Davis in the 100 metres Backstroke, second place for Amy Beardwell-Lacey was in the 100 metres Butterfly and an encouraging 3rd place for Shara Islam in the 100 metres Breaststroke. 13 year old Emma Aston joined the girls for a fine win in the Medley relay and 2nd place in the Freestyle relay.

Sean Houlihan won the Boys 15 years 100 metres Breaststroke and Tom Clark was third in the Butterfly. Sean and Tom were joined by Tom Benson and Joshua Rogers as they came 3rd in both the Freestyle and Medley relays.

Town's open men's category kept the scoreboard ticking over with comfortable wins by Daniel Stepton in the 100 metres Backstroke and Jake Harrison, (back from his brief retirement!) in the 100 metres Breaststroke. George Foley was another swimmer enjoying his Town debut and he picked up a good 2nd place in the 100m Freestyle. Sam Whitehead swam well for 3rd place in the Butterfly. Daniel, Jake and Sam were joined by Tom Clark for impressive wins in the Freestyle and Medley relays.

A severely depleted open ladies team struggled for top-three places, but still picked up valuable points for the team. Isabel Allsop made a welcome return to competition after her serious back injury and Kay Hamilton showed her committment to the cause after a week of illness. Kay and Isabel were joined by Amy-Beardwell-Lacey (15) and Hannah Binning (10) for a very respectable 4th place in the Open Medley relay and Victoria Christmas (12) and Stephanie Tomlinson (11) repeated the feat in the Fresstyle relay

The last event of the evening, the squadron relay (one boy, one girl from each age group), saw Romford finish on a high as Hannah Binning, Kieran Gore, Amy Gore, Sam Allsop, Shara Islam, Sean Houlihan, Isabel Allsop and Daniel Stepton came away with another 1st place finish.

Final Scores:

1. Romford Town 235
2. Chelmsford 212
3. Halstead 170
3. Rochford 170
4. Runnymede 169
5. Waltham Forest DNS

Well done to all that competed