Romford Town Swimming Club
established 1900
RTSC Gala Reports
16th/17th February 2008 - Essex County Age Group Championships
Event Best Times tumble as Romford consolidate
Romford Town swimmers added another 32 medals to their collection on the second of four weekends of
this years County Age Group Championship, at Thurrock’s Blackshots Pool. Their medals came from 10
County Titles, 3 in Event Best Times, 12 runners up and 10 third place finishes, which helped
consolidate their 2nd placed standing in the overall Top Club stakes.
On top form, 14 years old Kelsey Richards secured her first ever Essex County title in the 200 metres
IM with a PB time of 2mins 30.89secs. Her first gold medal was quickly followed by another as she
proved the strongest over the last 25 metres of her 100 metres freestyle swim to take the spoils here
too. Not finished yet, there was even better to come over 800 metres freestyle in which she set a
strong pace from the outset. Despite a late charge from her closest rival, Richards powered home to
make it a hat trick of wins with an Event Best Time of 9mins 21.45secs. She still had enough energy
to record two more personal best times and add to her medal haul with a bronze in the 200 metres
butterfly and silver from her 100 metres IM swims.
Another record breaker was Town’s 12 years old Sean Houlihan, who warmed up with a 4th place over 200
metres backstroke and a silver from his 800 metres freestyle. He then waded in with two special
performances in the 100 and 400 metres IM events. In the 100 metres swim, his time of 1min 10.76secs
was nearly a full two seconds faster than the previous best performance time. This gave him another
County Title to add to those already in the bag from the earlier round of sprint events. He saved his
best for last with another comprehensive display in the 400 metres IM event, where he smashed the EBT
by almost 4 seconds to set a new mark of 5mins 14.91secs, adding to his growing list of National
Qualifying Times.
In the same age group, Elena Sheridan had a similar impact on the girls events. Like Houlihan she
started her weekend with two top 6 finishes, her first a 5th and a PB in the 800 metres freestyle was
followed by a silver over 200 metres breaststroke. She was just two seconds behind team mate Bethany
Hall who took the breaststroke win with a time of 2mins 53.29secs. The tables were turned in the 200
metres IM where Sheridan secured her first of two gold medals after she and Hall again set the early
pace. On this occasion Hall had to settle for the silver less than a second behind Sheridan’s winning
time of 2mins.37.70secs. Sheridan was more in command over 100 metres butterfly where she left all
in her wake over the last 25 metres to take gold in a time of 1min 09.81secs having opened a five
metre winning margin.
Town newcomer, 16 years old Daniel Stepton added another Gold to the two he previous won in the sprint
round. He came so close to adding to this golden tally in his opening 100 metres IM event but had to
be happy with the runner up spot with a PB time of 1min 00.91secs. Silver was the colour again in the
400 metres IM event before he blew away the opposition over 200 metres backstroke. His PB time of
2mins 08.51secs saw him finish seven metres clear.
16 years old Georgia Hunton Clarke retained her 100 metres backstroke title in another thrilling
encounter. Pressed hard every inch if the way, she managed to pull it out of the bag over the last
few metres to take the touch with a time of 1min 06.24secs. With PB’s over 50 & 100 metres butterfly
in the last month she made it a full house with another over 200 metres this time out, collecting an
unexpected silver medal with a time of 2mins 27.29secs.
There were four PB’s and three medals in the girls 15 years old age group for Nicole Raymond.
Restricted in some areas of her IM training through injury, she still showed a great improvement over
the four strokes, as she surprised a few with silver in the 200 metres IM event. She lowered her best
100 metres freestyle time in both heat and final to take the silver here too, in 1min 01.61secs. She
rounded off her programme with 4th place in her100 metres backstroke and a bronze in the 100 metres IM
event.
Sam Bishop had a tough weekend, in a very competitive 10 years age group, and was unlucky to only
leave with two silver medals. Strong swims in both of his 400 metres IM and 200 metres breaststroke
only brought two 4th place results. He was less than a second away from gold in the 200 metres
freestyle, finishing 2nd with a time of 2mins 30.64secs and was later robbed of victory in the 100
metres IM, missing out by only 0.02secs.
15 years old James Davis turned in three exceptional performances, each time upending the form book to
finish with a medal, the only disappointment being that all were bronze. His first came in the 100
metres IM where a strong breaststroke lap brought him through the field. Team mate Christopher Stamp
took 5th place. Having only recently broken the 5 minute barrier in the 400 metres IM, Davis demolished
his previous best by nearly 10 seconds to set a new PB time of 4mins 48.64secs only 0.5secs short of his
first ever NQT. The hard work he has put into his training again stood out in his 800 freestyle swim
where he sustained his goal pace throughout the race to finish with another PB time of 8mins 49.21secs.
There were two medals for 13 years old Louise Harrington, who sliced 11 seconds from her 800 metres
freestyle best to take silver with 9mins 52.76secs. She improver her 100 metres butterfly best in both
heat and final to take bronze with 1min 11.16secs. She added a 4th place finish over 200 metres IM.
12 years old Joseph Stamp was pipped at the post in his 200 metres backstroke swim, having taken the
race to his rivals with a gutsy early attack. Despite being pegged back over the final few strokes his
2mins 31.78secs was an impressive seven second PB. He added more points to the overall Romford tally
with 4th places in his 800 metres freestyle and 100metres IM events.
11 years old Brock Whiston improves with every outing and she did not disappoint again here. A four
second PB over 200 metres breaststroke gave here bronze with a time of 3mins 07.86. She followed this
up with 4th spot in 200 metres IM event. In the boys 11 years category, Harry Coker came through to
take 3rd place in the 100 metres IM and 4th over the 400 metres distance.
Thomas Toolis raised e few eyebrows in the boys 15years 200 metres backstroke event, as he came up the
rankings to break the 2mins 20secs mark for the first time. His time of 2mins 19.60secs secured him
bronze.
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:-
| Sophie Ward | 4th - Girls 9 years 100 IM |
| Victoria Christmas | 5th - Girls 10 years 400 freestyle |
| 5th - Girls 10 years 100 IM | |
| George Ellis | 5th - Boys 11 years 100 IM |
| Sophie Thompson | 6th - Girls 11 years 100 butterfly |
| Kariena Tubbs | 4th - Girls 13 years 100 butterfly |
| Tom Clark | 6th - Boys 13 years 100 IM |
| Alfie Burr | 6th - Boys 13 years 400 IM |
| Stevie Coker | 5th - Girls 14 years 100 IM |
| Jess Coles | 4th - Girls 15 years 100 IM |
| 5th - Girls 15 years 200 butterfly |
Another great weekend of swimming. Well done to all.