RTSC Gala Reports

25th and 26th October - Ipswich Junior Open Meet - Crown Pools

Romford Town retain top Visiting Club at the annual Junior Open Meet held at Ipswich

Other than a couple of league galas this was the first real age group competition this season for swimmers to test themselves across a range of events / distances and to gain County qualifying times. For many it proved a successful weekend and with medals for the top six placing’s quite a few swimmers returned with a hand fall and some good personal best times too.

Among those picking up a number of gold medals was ten-year-old Bethany Moore who started the weekend off in fine style with a win in the 200 metres Backstroke and also picked up a 3rd place in the shorter 50 metres Backstroke. Bethany made it a hatrick of gold medals as she claimed gold in the 200 metres Individual Medley and 200 metres Freestyle events whilst also collecting medals in the 50 metres Butterfly (3rd place), the 50 metres Breastroke where she was 6th and a 2nd place in the 50 metres Freestyle.

Team mate and training partner ten year Sophie Ward was in amongst the medals too as she was a very close 2nd to Bethany in the 200 metres Freestyle, 4th in the 200 metres Individual Medley and 6th in the 50 metres Butterfly.

For the ten year old boys, Toby Mascall picked up a super 1st place in the 200 metres Butterfly and followed this up with a very good 2nd place in the 200 metres Breastroke, 3rd in the 200 metres Individual Medley and 6th in the 200 metres Freestyle. Sam Hollington gained a very good 1st place in winning the 200 metres Backstroke and was 4th in the 200 metres Individual Medley and picked up good 5th spots in the 50 metres Butterfly & Backstroke events. Oliver Coles gained a 6th place in his maiden 200 metres Butterfly.

Brock Whiston competing in the girl’s 11-year age group came away with several gold medals for her weekend’s work, which included good wins in the 50 & 200 metres Breastroke, 200 metres Individual Medley and 200 metres Butterfly. There was also a 2nd in the 200 metres Freestyle, 3rd in the 50 metres Butterfly and a 4th place finish in the 200 metres Backstroke. Rosie Webber kept the gold medals coming in the 11-year age group with a very good 1st place finish in the 50 metres Butterfly and followed this up with some strong performances as she came 5th in the 200 metres Individual Medley and gained a 2nd behind Brock in the 200 metres Butterfly. Also picking up medals in the girls 11-year age group category was Victoria Christmas who swam to 3rd place in the 200 metres Backstroke & Individual Medley events was 6th in the 50 metres Butterfly and 4th in the longer 200 metres Butterfly event. She also gained 4th in the 50 metres Backstroke.

For the eleven-year-old boys Luke Sheridan was in amongst the medals as he gained 4th spot in the 200 metres Freestyle and 5th place in the 200 metres Individual Medley. He also had a very good 2nd place in the 200 metres Breastroke.

Luke’s sister, 12-year-old Elena Sheridan returning from competing (& winning) at the National English Schools Championships on Saturday produced some outstanding displays as she swam to 1st place and a National Qualifying time in the 200 metres Butterfly. She just missed out on another NQT in winning the 200 metres Individual Medley before making it a hatrick of wins in the 100 metres Butterfly. Elena’s fourth gold medal of the day came in an impressive 200 metres Breastroke whilst she also picked up a 2nd place in the 100 metres Freestyle event.

The boys 12 years olds looked equally impressive in their Butterfly events, none more so than Harry Coker as he gained 1st place in the 100 and 200 metres Butterfly and also gained 1st place in the 200 metres Individual Medley. Chasing Harry was team mate James Kidd who looked strong too in the 100 and 200 metres Butterfly as he claimed 2nd place in both events, whilst George Ellis was 4th in the 100 Butterfly and 6th in the longer 200 event. James also had a good swim in the 200 metres Individual Medley in which he gained 4th place with George in 6th. Harry Coker picked up two good silver medals in the 100 and 200 metres Backstroke with George Ellis gaining 3rd place in the 100 metres event. George had a strong swim too in the 200 metres Freestyle gaining 4th spot.

In the 13-year girls age group Bethaney Hall was picking up two silver medals in the 100 and 200 metres Breastroke and also collected two bronze medals in the 100 and 200 metres Backstroke. Further medals arrived in the 200 metres freestyle where she gained 4th place but took a good 2nd place finish in the 200 metres Individual Medley.

Hannah Coles gave a gutsy performance in the 13 years 200 metres Butterfly with a big personal best time and 5th place.

Joseph Stamp also returning from competing at the National English Schools Championships on Saturday continued the gold rush for Romford with good wins in the 100 metres Breastroke, 200 metres Individual Medley and 100 metres Freestyle. Teammate Michael Fearon gained 5th spot in the longer 200 metres Freestyle event and also repeated this in the 200 metres Breastroke. There was also time for Joe to compete in his maiden 200 metres Butterfly in which he gained 2nd place whilst Conor Toolis picked up a good 6th place in the shorter 100 metres Butterfly event.

Rachel Welsh ensured there were gold medals achieved in the 14 years age group with a win in her favourite 100 metres Backstroke and was 2nd in the 200 metres event. She also gained medals in the 100 metres Freestyle in which she was 4th and was 5th in the 200 metres Individual Medley.

Also competing in the 14 years age group category, Kariena Tubbs, picked up two good 3rd place finishes in both the 100 metres Butterfly and 200 metres Individual Medley. Gabrielle Wallace was 5th in her favourite 100 metres Breastroke with teammate Alex Rose 6th. Gabby also claimed 4th spot in the 200 metres Breastroke.

15-year-old Andrew Ward was 4th in the 200 metres Backstroke and 6th in the 100 metres Butterfly. David Ward gained a good 5th place in the 15 years age group 100 metres Breastroke.

Also in amongst the medals, picking up valuable experience and points for the club were the nine-year-old girls. Maddie Webber was 6th in the 200 metres Backstroke and Freestyle and gained a good 3rd place in the 200 metres Breastroke. In the shorter distances she was 5th in the 50 metres freestyle and 4th in the 50 metres Breastroke. Debutant Hannah Binning competing in her first age group meet was 5th in the 50 metres Backstroke.

Well done to all those competing in what proved to be a great start to this season’s campaign.

Kevin Engstrom