RTSC Gala Reports

29th/30th November - Essex Senior/Junior Championships & Special Relays - Braintree

Romford Town’s chances of retaining the Senior/Junior Championship’s Hugh Joiner Trophy were in jeopardy even before the weekend began with a number absent through illness and others unable to compete on Sunday due to School commitments. Whilst determined to try, the task of keeping our hands on this silverware had almost faded as more swimmers were forced to withdraw on the day through illness or injury.

Undeterred, Town’s youngest competitors and debutants at the senior Championships, 13 years olds Bethany Hall and Elena Sheridan set a positive mood from the outset with sizeable PB’s in the opening 800 metres Freestyle event. Training partner 14 years old Louise Harrington also chipped in with a good PB before Town hit their first setback of the morning as both James Davis and Harriette Davis succumbed to illness and returned home after their 800 metres swims.

Romford’s first medal however, came in the 200 metres IM where15 years old Nicole Raymond, who set a PB in the heats, finished 4th in the senior event which secured her the silver among the juniors. Sheridan was 7th, a little out of her best though clearly still feeling the effects of the earlier distance swim. Another PB for Raymond in the Women’s 200 metres Freestyle brought her the same result, senior 4th and 3rd in the juniors.

16 years old Jake Harrison produced Towns first golden performance of the weekend over 50 metres Breaststroke. He powered through in the closing stages to take 3rd place in the senior competition and was the fastest junior with a time of 32.85secs. 13 years old Sean Houlihan, swimming in his first Senior County Championships, came in 6th and took the bronze in the junior category.

In the Women’s 200 metres Breaststroke, 16 years old Jessica Coles lead at the mid-point but was overtaken in the closing stages by a senior opponent. Her 2nd place finish gave her silver in the senior section and gold as fastest Junior. Hot on her heals and less than 2 seconds behind was Bethany Hall, whose PB time of 2mins 50.29secs gave her her first Championship medals with a bronze at senior level and a silver as runner up in the juniors.

17 years old Daniel Stepton bagged Romford’s first senior title with a comfortable win in the 100 metres Backstroke, with a time of 59.66secs. This was followed swiftly by a 3rd place for Nicola Rees in the Women’s 50 metres Butterfly. Sheridan was back on song to notch up another junior top eight finish in the same event.

The afternoon session started brightly with a PB and a top eight finish for Kira Fawke in the Women’s 400 metres Freestyle. Nicole Raymond grabbed two more medals, senior bronze and junior silver in the 100 metres IM with Jessica Coles just outside of the medals but not far behind in an exciting close finish. Raymond was also 4th placed junior in the 200 metres Backstroke before going on to qualify for the 50 metres Freestyle knock out ‘skins’ completion after finishing 4th among the junior 50 metres Freestyle. Further, determined swims in the ‘skins’ event saw her fight her way into the last three.

Romford had three representatives in the final of the men’s 100 metres Breaststroke and in a blanket finish Jake Harrion improved on his 50 metres result by snatching the senior silver medal and claiming his second junior title. Jamie Rienzo was only 0.11secs further back in 4th place and another powerful performance from the youngster Houlihan saw him match his 50 metres result with a senior 6th and a junior 3rd.

Daniel Stepton, who claimed his second senior title with a PB time of 27.55secs over 50 metres Backstroke, after dominating the race from the start, was back in the pool within minutes to take 2nd place in the 100 metres Freestyle. In the same event, Jamie Harrington set a short course PB time of 55.47secs to take 5th spot. Billy Tubbs, who had also qualified to the final was another Town casualty, having to withdraw from the final and his remaining events due to an ongoing injury.

Both Sheridan and Coles were also back in action in the Women’s 200 metres Butterfly final where there were mixed fortunes, but still some great results. The youngster Sheridan was unable to replicate the outstanding NQT swim of 2mins 24.44 from the heats as her tough schedule began to take its toll. However a battling performance brought her through to 4th place and her first junior Championship bronze medal. Meanwhile Coles set another PB time in the final to finish 6th and was 4th placed junior.

There were some sparkling swims on Sunday with early PB’s over 200 metres IM from both Harrison and Houlihan. Houlihan improved his time to 2mins 21.12secs in the final to take 4th place (junior 3rd) and achieve his 200 IM NQT. Only a stroke behind, Harrison had to settle for 6th place (junior 5th) and Jamie Harrington, who had only just completed a tough 200 Freestyle heat swim, was 7th. Sam Whitehead took 8th in the juniors.

Stepton made it a hat-trick of golds with a PB and NQT time of 2mins 07.39secs in his 200 metres Backstroke and Sheridan helped herself to another junior bronze medal over 100 metres Butterfly.

Jessica Coles should have secured herself both the senior and junior titles in the women’s 100 metres Breaststroke though tired turns and an indecisive finish saw her touched out by 0.10secs and she had to settle for silver. It was still however a fine swim and gave her a second junior Breaststroke title. Stepton added a tired 4th place in his 50 butterfly final and Harrington was 6th in the 200 metres Freestyle.

There was a renewed lease of life in Sheridan for her final event of the weekend and she smashed her short course best over 400 metres IM to chalk up yet another NQT with 5mins 11.17secs. This gave her 5th among the seniors and 4th place in the juniors. Jessica Coles was in close contention as 5th fastest junior.

In the men’s 200 metres Breaststroke, Jake Harrison chopped nearly three seconds off of his previous best to clean up in the Junior Breaststroke events with another gold after finishing 2nd in the seniors. Sean Houlihan was three seconds inside his NQT, dipping under 2mins 40secs for the first time to record 2mins 39.26secs, to finish 5th and take another junior bronze medal. Jamie Rienzo had another strong swim to finish just ahead of Houlihan with a time of 2mins 38.22secs.

Kira Fawke finished off her programme with a 6th place in her 100 metres Freestyle event.

Daniel Stepton added wins number four and five, with 1min 00.58secs for the 100 metres IM and 24.85secs over 50 metres Freestyle. He also summoned all of his remaining reserves to emerge the victor in the knockout ‘skins’ competition that rounded up the weekend.

Despite some outstanding swims Romford Town finished just 11 points away from retaining their Senior crown.

Final Club Result (Hugh Joiner Trophy):

1. Borough of Redbridge 463pts
2. Romford Town 452pts
3. Thurrock 440pts
4. Borough of Waltham Forest 391pts
5. Borough of Southend 300pts
6. Killerwhales 221pts

Romford Town’s 9 to 12 years old were also in Relay action at the weekend with the inclusion in the programme of the ‘Special Age Group Relays’.

The Romford Town 11/12 years A Team of George Ellis, Harry Coker, James Kidd, and Sam Bishop sailed into the Freestyle final, where an even faster overall time took them through into 2nd place in a thrilling race. They produced the goods again later in the day when the same four combined for silver in the Medley event. The girls 11/12 A Team of Victoria Christmas, Brock Whiston, Rosie Webber and Emma Aston, were not as fortunate finishing just outside of the medals in their Medley swim and as a reserve in the Freestyle event.

In the Girls 9/10 years relay finals there were gritty performances from the Team of Bethany Moore, Jodi Whitehead, Sophie Ward and Chloe Thompson who battled hard for 4th and 5th places in their respective Medley and Freestyle events. Again, absences among the boys meant that Romford had to withdraw both A & B Teams from the Freestyle and Medley events.

Another great weekend of swimming! Well done to everybody.

Gary Rogers