Romford Town Swimming Club
established 1900
RTSC Gala Reports
26th/27th January 2008 - Essex County Age Group Championships
Romford win the Relay Championships and make a solid start to this years's Age Groups
Romford made a solid start to this year’s Essex County Age Group Championships with some exceptional
swims at the curtain raising sprints and Championship Relays weekend at Thurrock’s Blackshots pool.
After the opening two days, Romford lie 2nd in the age group competition with 271 points, 33 points
behind the host team, Thurrock.
In the relay team events Romford Town came away with eleven medals from 9 events contested. These
amounted to, five Championship Titles, three runner-up places and two 3rd places finishes. These
remarkable results also secured them the Griffin Trophy for Top Club in the Championship Relay
competition with 102 points, nearly double their nearest rivals Redbridge Borough(55pts).
Having set themselves up with pole position from the heats, the mens 4 X 100 metres freestyle team of
Grant Chandler, Sam Ward, Jamie Harrington and Billy Tubbs stormed to victory in the final. Chris
Wright replaced Ward in the 4 X 200 metres event and the result was another clear win. The mens medley
relay team of Thomas Toolis, Jake Harrison, Chris Stamp and Jamie Harrington were unlucky not to make
it a clean sweep as they finish with the silver medal, less than a metre behind the Redbridge Borough
team. The Town ‘B’ Team of Darren Stevenson, James Davis, Grant Chandler and Billy Tubbs were in
close contention, taking the bronze.
The junior girls relay teams stormed to victory in both of their events as Nicole Raymond, Jessica Coles,
Elena Sheridan and Stevie Coker touched first in a thrilling medley final. Kelsey Richards replaced
Sheridan in the freestyle event where this quartet again pulled out all the stops to take the decisive
win.
Georgia Hunton Clarke, Kira Fawke, Nicole Raymond and Natalie Ward took the bronze medal in the Womens
4 X 100 metres freestyle relay. Roseanne Thompson stepped in for Raymond in the medley event which
produced another winning combination, taking gold.
A sparkling effort by the junior team, of Raymond,Sheridan, Coles and Richards, in this senior event,
saw them come within a hairs breadth of the silver medal, but had to settle for bronze on this occasion.
There were silver medals for Thomas Toolis, Jake Harrison, Christopher Stamp and James Davis in each
of their junior boys relay team events as they came within a stoke of taking the honours away from
the boys of Redbridge Borough both times.
In the age group sprint Championships, Romford Town newcomers Sean Houlihan and Daniel Stepton grabbed
seven medals between them, six of them gold. 12 years old Houlihan swept the board in his age group
with wins in all four events, setting new Event Best Times for both his breaststroke and butterfly
swims, smashing both previous best times by more than a second. He was joined in the butterfly and
breaststroke finals by Harry Coker who took 3rd and 5th places, respectively. Team mate Joe Stamp
fought through a tough field to take 5th in the freestyle.
By contrast to Houlihan's stronger butterfly and breaststroke swims, 16 years old Stepton powered his
way to the freestyle and backstroke titles, though was unfortunate not to add a third in the butterfly
where one of the closest finishes of the weekend saw him come away with only a bronze. He did well to
reach the final of the breaststroke where he finished 5th.
12 years old Elena Sheridan, who had already taken 5th spot in the freestyle final and only just
pocketed her medal for 3rd place in the ladies medley relay, left it late to mount her charge in the
50 metres butterfly race. Trailing Epping’s Jessica Lambert by nearly a metre at the mid-point turn
she changed into top gear coming through to snatch the verdict, only 0.05 shy of a new event record.
In the same 12 years age group Bethany Hall’s win over 50 metres breaststroke was quite emphatic.
Turning level with the leaders at the 25 metre mark she, like Sheridan, cranked it up over the second
half to win by more than a metre.
There were a couple of medals, both silver, for 9 year olds Sophie Ward and Bethany Moore, swimming at
the County Championships for the first time. Ward helped herself to the runner up spot in the 50 metres
butterfly, reaching two more finals in the breaststroke and freestyle, while Moore was 2nd in the 50
metres backstroke and also joined Ward in the freestyle final.
10 years old Sam Bishop took two medals, both bronze, from his four races. These came from strong
breaststroke and freestyle swims and he came close to adding another with 4th place over 50 metres
backstroke.
Town notched up two more bronze medals in the 11 years age group with James Kidd and George Ellis. Kidd
belied his 8th place seeding to slice more than 2 seconds off his previous best time, while Ellis too
improved on his position of 5th fastest into his final.
13 years old Rachel Welsh also turned the form book on its head coming from a long way down the
programme to take a silver medal in the 50 metres backstroke. In the 13 years category Tom Clark
picked up a well deserved bronze in the 50 metres butterfly but was unable to add to that tally
finishing 4th in the breaststroke event.
Romford’s 15 year olds added to their triumphs in the relay events with another five medals from their
individual swims, two each for Jessica Coles and Chris Stamp and one for Nicole Raymond. For Coles a
3rd over 50 metres butterfly was followed by a 2nd place and a PB in the breaststroke. Stamp came away
with the same medals as Coles, a silver and bronze from his respective butterfly and freestyle swims.
Raymond followed a 4th place on her backstroke with another PB and a silver medal over 50 metres
freestyle, breaking the 29secs barrier for the first time.
In the 16 years and over age group, Roseanne Thompson also added to her relay success, coming close, but
having to settle for silver in the breaststroke while colleague Georgia Hunton Clarke added a bronze
in the backstroke.
There were many more outstanding swims from Romford Town swimmers. Those that finished just outside the medals but collected points towards the overall championship title by reaching the final were:-
| Victoria Christmas | 5th - Girls 10 years butterfly |
| 6th - Girls 10 years backstroke | |
| Brock Whiston | 6th - Girls 11 years breaststroke |
| Sophie Thompson | 6th - Girls 11 years backstroke |
| Kariena Tubbs | 4th - Girls 13 years butterfly |
| Harriette Davis | 5th - Girls 13 years breaststroke |
| 6th - Girls 13 years backstroke | |
| Louise Harrington | 5th - Girls 13 years butterfly |
| Emma McAuliffe | 6th - Girls 13 years breaststroke |
| Kelsey Richards | 5th - Girls 14 years freestyle |
| Thomas Toolis | 5th - Boys 15 years backstroke |
| 6th - Boys 15 years butterfly | |
| Jake Harrison | 6th - Boys 15 years breaststroke |
| Nicola Rees | 4th - Girls 16+ years butterfly |
| 4th - Girls 16+ years freestyle | |
| Natalie Ward | 6th - Girls 16+ years backstroke |
| 6th - Girls 16+ years butterfly | |
| Tom Ingram | 4th - Boys 16+ years butterfly |
Very well done to all. A really great weekend of swimming