Romford Town Swimming Club
established 1900
RTSC Gala Reports
24th to 27th July - ASA National Age Group Championships - Ponds Forge, Sheffield
With National times even harder to achieve this year, four Romford Town “Age Group” swimmers (Girls11-13 years and Boys 11-14 years) plus a Girls Relay team made the trip up North to compete with the best in the Country.
Day One, Thursday, saw 11-year-old Brock Whiston competing at her first Nationals and 12-year-old Elena Sheridan competing at the 400 metres Individual Medley. Sean Houlihan was competing in the first of six events entered, the 100 metres Breaststroke.
With the heats starting in the morning it was important to be wide awake and Brock Whiston showed few nerves as she set about reducing her Personal Best time by over four seconds to gain a very good 15th place.
Elena Sheridan, still not fully awake, recorded a time outside her Personal Best, but quick enough to qualify for the Final later in the day as 9th fastest.
Sean Houlihan was next into the pool and in recording a three second Personal Best time secured the top spot for the Final later that afternoon.
Day One Finals: -Elena Sheridan, having gained the opportunity to swim the 400 Individual Medley again in the Final, didn’t hang around this time and produced a four second Personal Best time to take 7th spot in a time of 5:18.85.
In the Final of the 100 metres Breaststroke, Sean Houlihan controlled the first 25 metres before pulling away to take 1st place in an impressive time of 1:13.61, over a second and half quicker than in the morning's heats and two seconds clear of the field.
Day Two, Friday, saw the arrival of the Girls 13 years 4 x 100 Medley Relay team. With the fastest thirty teams in the Country qualifying, the team of Rachel Welsh, Bethaney Hall, Elena Sheridan and Harriettte Davis were keen to achieve a Personal Best time and improve on their 27th seeded position. A super swim by the quartet saw them in contention throughout their heat, just narrowly being beaten into fourth place, but gaining 23rd place overall.
Just prior to the Relays, Sean Houlihan and Elena were embarking on the heats of their Individual races.
Sean was first off in the 400 metres Individual Medley where a six second PB saw him qualify for the Final in 4th fastest position.
Elena Sheridan competing in the heats of her favourite 200 metres Butterfly managed a one second PB, enabling her to qualify as second fastest for the Final later in the day.
Sean was also tackling the 100 metres Backstroke and a strong swim saw him qualify as 9th fastest for this Final too.
Day Two Finals: -Sean’s 400 metres Individual Medley was first off and a very strong three hundred metres including his favourite Breaststroke leg saw him still in 3rd place with 50 metres to go. Despite a further two second PB on the heat time, the time of 5:10.09 was not enough as he was overhauled down the last length and had to settle for a very creditable 4th place.
Next up was Elena Sheridan in the 200 metres Butterfly. Racing against the winner of the girls 400 metres Individual Medley the night before, Elena was keen not to let her rival have it all her own way. Despite being three seconds down at the half-way mark, Elena began to make her move down the third 50 metres and although gaining on her rival with each stroke on the final 25 metres and an impressive finishing time of 2:24.44, a further four seconds inside her previous best, Elena had to settle for the Silver Medal.
Following his heroics in the 400 metres Individual Medley, Sean was next in the water competing in the 100 metres Backstroke Final. Drawn in lane 1, a small Personal Best time gained him a very good 8th place finish.
Day Three, Saturday and all four Romford team-mates were on poolside competing in individual events.
First off, Elena Sheridan was back in the pool competing in the shorter Butterfly distance, the 100 metres. A time of 1:08.35 was enough to place her as second fastest for the Final later in the day.
Following Sean Houlihan’s success in the 100 metres Backstroke event the night before, he set about the longer 200 metres distance. A well-paced race led him to another Personal Best time, but saw him just miss out qualifying for the Final as first reserve.
Brock Whiston and Bethaney Hall were next up as they set about competing in their favourite 200 metres Breaststroke.
11 year old Brock, fuelled with confidence from her first swim at the Championships on day one, swam a terrific race to record a four second PB. She broke three minutes for the first time as she recorded 2:59.79 and gained herself the 10th fastest time and a place in the Final.
Bethaney Hall competing in the 12 years age group 200 metres Breaststroke produced a well-paced heat swim and Personal Best time to move her up the rankings to 9th place and lane one for the Final.
In the Boys 200 metres Individual Medley, Sean Houilhan was keen to ensure he didn’t miss out on another Final and with a four second PB swam a strong heat time to secure fourth fastest for the Final and ensured that all four Town swimmers were returning for the Finals later that same day.
Day Three Finals:-With all four swimmers making the Finals on day three this was going to lead for an exciting evening session:
Elena Sheridan was first off in the Final of the 100 metres Butterfly. Despite a slow start and turning ninth at the 50-metre mark, her rapid change of pace saw her pulling the field back stroke by stroke. Gaining on the leader again, she took her second Silver Medal of these Championships in an impressive time of 1:06.53 almost two seconds inside her previous best.
In the Final of the 11 years 200 metres Breaststroke despite a very gutsy performance Brock Whiston couldn’t replicate the form from her impressive heat swim earlier in the day having to settle for 10th place. A position Bethaney Hall had to settle for also in the 12 years age group. – Both girls consoling themselves in the knowledge that they were amongst the top ten fastest in the Country for their age.
Still smarting from his 4th place finish in the longer 400 metres Individual Medley event the night before, Sean was keen to gain a medal this time around in the shorter 200 metres distance. Strong Butterfly and Backstroke legs saw him in contention as he approached his favoured Breaststroke leg. A strong Breaststroke left him in a great position of gaining 2nd place, which he held on to on the Final Frontcrawl length. He took the Silver Medal in a time of 2:24.65 lowering his heat time by a further three seconds.
Day Four, Sunday :-Tired from their efforts over the last three days, Brock and Elena couldn’t reproduce their fine form in their last event of the Championships as they competed in the girls 200 metres Individual Medley and were just outside their Personal Best times.
Sean, however, having won Gold on day one in the 100 metres Breaststroke was keen to try and secure a second National title as he competed in the 200 metres Breaststroke event. A controlled heat swim, though still a two second Personal Best, secured a Final place qualifying as second fastest in 2:46.64
Day Four, Finals: -Sean was determined to control the race from the start and he went out a second faster turning in first place at the 50-metre mark. At the 100-metre mark he was almost two seconds up on his heat time and maintained the lead over the second half of the race, pulling away from the pack to take his second Gold Medal of the week in a very impressive time of 2:40.94.
Well done to all those that competed at these Championships. The team came away with the following Top Ten finishes:
- Gold - 2
- Silver - 3
- 4th - 1
- 7th -1
- 8th - 1
- 10th - 2