RTSC Gala Reports

Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th June - London Age Group Championships
National Sports Centre, Crystal Palace

Romford Town continued to cement it's position as one of the top clubs in London with a host of quality performances at the first of this year’s London District Age Group Championship weekends.

This was demonstrated in no small way in the relay team events:

The 14 years Boys 4 x 100 Medley team of, Joseph Stamp (Backstroke) Sean Houlihan (Breaststroke) Harry Coker (Butterfly) and Alfie Burr (Freestyle) stormed to victory and the District Title in great fashion.

With Joe, Sean and Harry each producing terrific personal best times the trio put Alfie in contention for the final leg. A strong last 10 metres saw Alfie strain every sinew in his body to edge out the Croydon team and set a new event best time by over four seconds.

The 13 years Girls 4 x 100 Medley team of Bethaney Hall (Backstroke) Amy Gore (Breaststroke) Elena Sheridan (Butterfly) and Victoria Christmas (Freestyle) were also out to impress in their relay too.

With Bethaney, Amy and Elena putting together three strong swims it was down to their younger 11-year-old team mate, Victoria, to show her battling qualities and spirit on the final Freestyle leg. A super personal best time by Victoria saw the team just edged out into second place by the Hillingdon Borough squad.

It is expected that the times achieved by both the Boys and Girls teams should ensure their passage to this year’s National Age Group Championships to be held at Sheffield at the end of July.

Event Best times, District titles and medals were achieved in abundance at the weekend as Town’s swimmers excelled themselves in the individual events also.

Nowhere more so was this in evidence than in the 200 metres Breaststroke events:

Buoyed by his efforts and his team’s earlier success, 13 year old Sean Houlihan set about creating his own individual event best time as he stormed to victory in the Boys 200 metres Breaststroke, beating the previous events best time by a staggering 7 seconds.

Kieran Gore took the Boys ten-year-old 200 metres Breaststroke title in fine style making it a double of District titles for him at the weekend, following a super swim in the 200 metres Backstroke where a text book finish saw him take Gold in this event too.

Keeping it in the family, sister Amy won the 12 years 200 metres Breaststroke in a season’s best time, whilst Brock Whiston was 6th.

There were two Town girls in the final of the 13 years 200 metres Breaststroke also, as Elena Sheridan and Bethaney Hall swam to personal best times to make it a terrific “One-Two” with Elena taking top stop and Bethaney just behind in 2nd.

Ten-year-old Sophie Ward came 6th in the final of her 200 metres Breaststroke, whilst Alfie Burr was 5th in the 14 years age group.

In the 200 metres Individual Medley for Boys and Girls, Romford were well represented again:

In the Boys 13 years age group three Town swimmers lined up for the final. Sean Houlihan took the honours with another event best time with Harry Coker finishing 4th and Joe Stamp 6th.

Kieran Gore swam a very good race and personal best time to be just narrowly beaten into 2nd spot in the 10 years 200 metres Individual Medley. Alfie Burr came 4th in the 14 years age group whilst James Kidd was 5th in the 12 years age group.

Romford had representatives in all of the Girl’s age finals for the 200 metres Individual Medley:

In the 10 years age group, Sophie Ward came 4th, whilst in the 11 years age group Victoria Christmas was 5th and Bethany Moore 8th.

In the 13 years age group another two Romford swimmers made the final as Elena Sheridan came 3rd and Bethaney Hall 8th.

12-year-old Brock Whiston swam to a good personal best time in her 200 metre Individual Medley final with a gutsy performance to take 2nd spot.

The 400 metre Freestyle events at the weekend also saw Romford pick up medals. For the Boys, Kieran Gore came 2nd in the 10 years age group, whilst Sean Houlihan did likewise in the 13 years category. Alfie Burr was pleased with his swim as a personal best time gave him 3rd place, a position Sophie Ward repeated in the ten years Girls age group.

A busy weekend of competition saw Sophie Ward take another good bronze medal in the Girls ten years 100 metres Butterfly, as Elena Sheridan gained 1st place in the 13 years 100 metres Butterfly with teammate Amy Beardwell-Lacey 7th.

For the Boy’s 100 metres Butterfly, James Kidd gained 3rd place in the 12 years age group. Harry Coker was 4th and Joe Stamp 6th in the final of the Boys 13 years age group competition with Alfie Burr gaining 4th place in the 14 years final. Toby Mascall, only just 11 years of age, achieved a big personal best time as he made the final of the 11 years 100 metres Butterfly also.

In the 100 metres Freestyle Sean Houlihan and Joe Stamp contested the final in the 13 years age group. Sean gained a further National Qualifying Time, as he was 2nd with Joe in 6th place. Kieran Gore was 3rd in the final of the Boys 10 years.

Both Sophie Ward, in the final of the 10 years age group, and Amy Gore in the 12 years age group 100 metres Freestyle were 7th, whilst Victoria Christmas swam to a personal best time as she gained 3rd in the 11 years age group final.

In the final of the 200 metres Backstroke 11 year old Victoria swam another good race and gaining on the leader with every stroke down the last 50 metres was just touched out into 2nd spot. Bethany Moore also made the final as she came 8th. Brock Whiston made the final of the Girls 12 years 200 metres Backstroke in which she finished 6th.

Sean Houlihan and Joseph Stamp were in the final together again in the 13 years 200 metres Backstroke where Sean earned 2nd spot and Joe 5th. Sam Hollington swam well finishing 7th in his first District final in the 11 years Boys 200 metres Backstroke.

Well done to all that competed at the weekend.

Kevin Engstrom