RTSC Gala Reports

5th April 2008 - Essex League Division 2 - Loughton

Town's 'B' Team win an exciting tussle for runners-up spot

On an evening when Romford Town’s A Team completed the formality of securing the Essex League Division 1 Title, Town’s B Team was involved in an exciting tussle in the final round of the Division 2 competition at Loughton’s Leisure Centre Pool. In one of the closest Division 2 battles for many years, Romford finished in 2nd place on the night and tied in 2nd place overall, just half a point behind the league winners from the Borough of Waltham Forest.

The Girls U/11 Freestyle Relay team of Emma Aston, Sophie Ward, Ann Marie-Smith and Megan McAuliffe, notched up the first points of the evening with 3rd place in the opening event. They later also took 3rd place when Lindsay McLachlan replaced Aston in the Medley Relay Team.

Zoey Littlechild came close in the Girls Open 50 metres butterfly, taking 2nd spot, before Sian Aston stepped up to record Romford’s first win of the evening in the Girls U/15 100 metres Breaststroke, with a time of 1min 21.40secs. As in the previous gala, this was quickly followed by a win for James Davis in the corresponding boys Breaststroke event, setting a new PB time of 1min 13.91secs. Davis went on to add 2nd place in the Boys U/15 100 metres Freestyle.

Emma Aston added to her earlier relay success with another 3rd place in her individual U/11 50 metres freestyle event and Littlechild teamed up with Emma McAuliffe, Elena Sheridan and Sara Morris to gain a 3rd place for the Girls Open Medley Relay event.

Romford continued to pile on the points from the relay swims. The Girls U/13 Relay Teams of Alex Rose, Claire Jackson, Gabby Wallace and debutant Shara Islam did well to take 2nd place from both their Freestyle and Medley swims. The Boys U/15 teams went one better in each of their relay races as the Medley Team of Anthony Wright, James Davis, Andrew Ward and Michael Fearon stormed to a comfortable victory. When Harry Coker stepped in for Fearon in the Freestyle event the outcome was the same with the win taken with 2 seconds to spare.

The Boys Open Freestyle Relay quartet of Anthony Wright, Billy Coker, Christopher Wright and Jamie Harrington finished 2nd in their Medley event before Andrew Ward later replaced Anthony Wright for a winning combination in the Freestyle event.

The Boys U/11 Medley Relay Team of Sam Hollington, Aiden Jackson, Luke Sheridan and Sam Allsop also chipped in with valuable points from their hard fought 3rd place finish. Individual top three successes came from Harry Coker in the U/13 age group, initially with a 3rd place over 50 metres Backstroke, before snatching a win in his more favoured Butterfly event. Claire Jackson looked sharp as she followed up a strong swim in the medley relay with an even quicker swim in winning the Girls U/13 50 metres Butterfly, with a time of 35.03secs. Her brother, Aiden Jackson, had just added 5 team points with 2nd place in the Boys U/11 50 metres Breaststroke, from only the event before.

There were more 2nd places in the Butterfly events in the U/11 age group, as both Lindsay McLachlan and Luke Sheridan were just out touched in very close finishes. In the Girls U/11 Breaststroke, Megan McAuliffe took 3rd spot, emulating sister Emma’s 3rd place in the Girls Open Breaststroke event earlier in the evening.

Andrew Ward, like Claire Jackson, followed up a successful Butterfly relay leg swim with an even faster performance in the Boys U/15 50 metres Butterfly event, to grab the individual win with a PB time of 31.27secs.

In the Girls U/13 Breaststroke Gabby Wallace clocked a time of 41.92secs to take 3rd place which was followed with another 3rd place by Michael Fearon in the boys event. Alex Rose was also 3rd in the same age group over 50 metres Freestyle.

There were more 3rd place finishes on the Open age group as Zoey Littlechild added to her earlier butterfly 2nd place with 3rd over 100 metres Backstroke. Anthony Wright, stepped up an age group to take 3rd in the boys event and Christopher Wright was 3rd in the 100 metres Freestyle.

Final Scores:

1. Waltham Forest 234
2. Romford Town 199
3. Harlow 196
4. Halstead 195
5. Brentwood 136

Final Division 2 Table:

1. Waltham Forest 15
2. Romford Town 14.5
2. Halstead 14.5
3. Harlow 10
4. Brentwood 5

Well done to all those that competed at this exciting gala and the earlier three rounds.