RTSC Gala Reports

Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th April - Redbridge Sprint Meet - Fullwell Cross

Following last weekend’s exploits in deepest Somerset, Romford Town swimmers had a much shorter distance to travel for their latest competition. For the second week running Town emerged as Top Visiting Club, but this week had the added bonus of seeing a number of swimmers competing for the first time.

Day One - Session One:

The opening event, the Girls 200m Butterfly, saw 10 year old Sophie Ward improve her personal best time by some 12 seconds, but she had to settle for a bronze medal in the 10-11 year category. In the 12-13 years age group Bethaney Hall also took second place, with 12 year old Rosie Webber in 4th. Town’s first win of the day came from 14 year old Louise Harrington in the 14 and over category with Hannah Coles, also 14, in 5th.

Town’s boys also found success in the 200m Butterfly with 12 year old Charlie Davis 5th in the 12-13 years group. The 14+ event was won by Sam Whitehead, with 14 year old Alfie Burr 3rd.

Chloe Thompson picked up Town’s only medal in the Girls 50m Breaststroke where it was also good to see club debuts from Katie Trott, Ella Stanley and Matilda Jackson. Chloe was 4th in the 9 year olds event.

It was a similar story in the Boys 50m Breaststroke with Mitchell Wilson 5th in the 9 year age group. Conor Julian and Liam Jordan were competing in their first open meets.

There was more success for Town in the 14 and over 100m Freestyle events where Louise Harrington claimed 3rd place for the Girls. Sam Whitehead picked up his second medal of the morning, a silver, in the Boys event with teammate Andrew Ward in 4th.

Emma Aston was 4th in the Girls 12-13 years 200m Individual Medley with Sophie Ward 5th in the 10-11 year age group.

The final event of a long morning was the Boys100m Individual Medley and this produced the most exciting swimming so far with Andrew Ward just holding off Sam Whitehead to win the 14 and over Gold by just 3 hundredths of a second. David Ward took 5th place. Mitchell Wilson won his second medal of the morning with a silver in the Boys 9 years category.

Day One – Session Two:

Victoria Bishop claimed Town’s first medal of the afternoon with a good 5th place in the 9 years 200m Breaststroke. In the Boys event 12 year olds William Harding and Charlie Davis were 3rd and 4th in the 12-13 year category. Sam Whitehead was 2nd in the 14 and over group.

Town’s next Gold was won by a very impressive swim from Hannah Binning in the Girls 9 years 50m Backstroke. In the Boys 9 years category Sam Fitzroy’s efforts were rewarded with a medal for 5th place.

Town achieved a golden double in the Girls 100m Butterfly with wins for Louise Harrington (14+) and Bethaney Hall (12-13). Rosie Webber, 12 years, was 6th.

There was a rare outing for Jamie Harrington in the Boys 100m Butterfly, but he still eased to a comfortable victory in the 14+ category. There was another medal for Sam Whitehead with 4th place and 6th place for 14 year old Alfie Burr.

The Girls 100m Individual Medley produced medals for two Town girls who are now starting to turn their potential into results. Massive personal bests earned 6th place for Jodi Whitehead (10-11 years) and Shara Islam (12-13 years).

Day one concluded with the Boys 200m Individual Medley and Sam Whitehead and Alfie Burr claimed silver and bronze medals in the 14 and over age group. William Harding picked up another bronze in the 12-13 year category.

Day Two - Session One:

With many of the younger swimmers competing at the Junior Swimming League Gala, in Braintree, there were fewer Romford swimmers in attendance on Day 2, but the good results kept coming for those that remained.

In the opening event, the Girls 200 metres Backstroke, there was a 3rd place from 12 years old Rosie Webber in the 12/13 years age group. Hot on her heals in 4th spot was 12 years old team mate Laura Brooks, who chopped nearly fourteen second off her previous best to finish with a time of 2mins 46.74secs.

13 years old Joshua Rogers took the bronze in the boys event with a PB and District Qualifying time of 2mins 39.00secs just 0.20secs ahead of William Harding who also swam a PB and District time for 4th. Jonathan Toolis and Oliver Coles (10 years) were 5th and 6th respectively in the 10/11 years age group.

There was gold, in a PB time of 39.09secs for one of Town’s youngest swimmers, 9 years old Mitchell Wilson, over 50 metres Freestyle and Robert Benson was not too far behind in 5th place.

In the 100 metres Breaststroke event, 15 years old Isobel Allsop was near to her best for 5th place, whilst in the boys event three boys finished in the top six. In the 14 years+ age group there was a close tussle between the Romford pairing of David Ward and Sam Whitehead for 3rd place, with Ward emerging the victor by only 0.01secs with a PB time of 1min 21.60secs. Joshua Rogers was 5th in his age group.

In the boys 50 metres Freestyle Sam Whitehead secured a bronze medal and qualified for the sprint ‘skins’ event at the end of the day. 13 years old Thomas Benson set another PB to sneak in to 6th spot in his age group.

Day Two - Session Two:

Sam Whitehead was again in the medals soon as he opened up a commanding lead to win the 200 metres Freestyle by nearly ten metres, recording a PB time of 2mins 06.09secs. Joshua Rogers time of 2mins 20.78secs was good enough for 4th place in his age group.

Robert Benson’s hard work in the training pool, improving his Butterfly stroke, paid off as he took gold in the 9 years 50 metres event.

In the 100 metres Backstroke event William Harding and Joshua Rogers were 5th and 6th in their age group and Sam Whitehead added to his collection with a silver medal.

Sam Whitehead was back in action immediately after this for the weekend finale, the 50 metres ‘skins’ sprints. In this event, the six fastest swimmers from the 50 metres Freestyle event went head to head in a five round knockout completion, the slowest swimmer being eliminated after each race. Whitehead judged each round perfectly emerging victorious in the last three swims, to take the title.

Over the two days, Romford swimmers amassed a little over 1300 team points which was more than enough for them to retain the Top visiting Club Award ahead of 2nd placed Epping.

Well done to all that swam.

Gary Rogers and Alan Ward