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Romford Town Swimming Club

established 1900



RTSC Gala Reports

13th December 2008 - National Swimming League (London Final)

University of East Anglia, Norwich

For the second weekend in succession Romford Town Swimming Club’s young team took on some of the South of England’s best swimmers. They followed up last weekend’s Top Visiting Club accolade at the Guildford Open with their fourth consecutive appearance in the National Swimming League, London, Division 1 Final, again held in Norwich’s University of East Anglia International Pool.

As with last year, Town found it tough going swimming this final against bigger teams with greater strength in depth. Though even with eight swimmers unavailable, mostly through sickness or injury, Romford put up a gritty display to emulate last year’s 5th place finish with an improved overall team points tally. For some, the additional swims clearly took their toll and as the evening wore on some swimmers began to tire. The first five teams were all placed the same as in last year’s Final.

Town opened with two PB swims from Nicole Raymond and Daniel Stepton in the Senior Open 200 metres IM events. With 15 years old Raymond being asked to step up to Senior level on a number of occasions throughout the evening.,This was just the start that everybody was looking for. Stepton followed by knocking three seconds off of his previous best, becoming the first of only a handful of top three finishes for Town on the night. He later swam to within 0.2secs of his best over 100 metres Backstroke for 4th spot.

The best results from the exciting early relay team exchanges were 4th and 2nd places for Harriette Davis, Bethany Hall, Elena Sheridan and Claire Jackson and for George Ellis, Sean Houlihan, Harry Coker and Joseph Stamp in their respective girls and boys 13/U Medley events. The boys put up a strong challenge and it looked as though this might be Town’s first win, only to be edged out.

In the individual events Victoria Christmas and Sam Bishop both notched up 3rd places in their 10-11years 50 metres Backstroke events. Christmas and Bishop produced strong finishes, raising the tempo over the last 10 metres to bring them through the field. Bishop later added a 4th place in the 50 metres Breaststroke.

Sean Houlihan, despite having not trained all week and clearly under par, still had enough in reserve for a fine win in the 13/U 100 metres Breaststroke. He set the early pace and even though he tired visibly down the closing straight, he had done enough for his victory.

In the 10-11years age group, Luke Sheridan maintained a strong pace throughout his 50 metres Butterfly swim for an impressive 3rd place. Sister Elena was another swimmer with a full programme of events and she matched brother Luke’s result when asked to step up two years to the 15/U age group for the 100 metres Butterfly. This 3rd place was shortly followed by her first and Romford’s second win of the night when she contested the 100 metres Butterfly in her own 13/U age group. This time out she dug deep over the closing stages to pull away for a win by two metres.

There was a 4th placed swim and a PB for Jessica Coles in the Women’s Open 100 metres Butterfly and this was followed by another PB in the Men’s event by late recruit Tom Toolis. Also drafted in as a late addition to the team was 10 years old Jodi Whitehead whose PB time of 43.99secs over 50 metres Breaststroke added a further five valuable points to the team scoreboard. Harry Coker also added five more points with a personal best in the 13/U 100 metres Butterfly.

Nicole Raymond took more than 2.5secs of her previous best long course 100 metres Freestyle time for a hard fought 3rd place in the 15/U age group and Harriette Davis was also 3rd in the girls 13/U event. Davis had earlier secured a 4th place finish in her age group 100 metres Backstroke. In the same age group, Bethany Hall was close to her best for 4th place over 100 metres Breaststroke. She took her performance up a notch in the 15/U category to set a long course PB time of 1min 23.98secs and another 4th place.

With everybody feeling the effects of some tough races, Romford’s best result from the closing relays was the 4th place achieved by Sam Hollington, Sam Bishop, Luke Sheridan and Sam Allsop in the boys 9-11 years Medley relay event.


Result:
  1. Team Ipswich 318
  2. Hatfield 300
  3. Camden Swiss Cottage 288
  4. Ealing 249
  5. Romford Town 216
  6. Wandsworth 157
  7. Shiverers of Brighton 142
  8. Bishops Stortford 129

Well done to all

Gary Rogers