RTSC Gala Reports

Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th June - Northampton Summer Festival Open Meet
Ken Marriott Sports Centre, Rugby

Day 1. The Northampton Summer Festival Open Meet has, over the years, become a very popular and successful competition for Romford Town swimmers. This year was no exception as Romford Town again retained their Top Visiting Club Award and their swimmers came away with a stack of medals.

Romford picked up the first of these medals in the opening event, the 200 metres Freestyle, as 12 years old Victoria Christmas took seven seconds off her previous best to take the bronze, with a time of 2mins 23.05sec. In the 14 years age group, Hannah Coles grabbed 2nd place and there was also silver for 13 years old Bethaney Hall, who set a PB time of 2mins 17.02secs.

In the Boys 200 metres event, 9years old Samuel Ellis notched up his, and Romford’s, first gold as a 20 seconds PB time, of 2mins 45.30secs blew away all of the opposition . In the 11 years age group, Kieran Gore set off on his 'golden streak', taking the 200 Freestyle in a PB time of 2mins 28.61secs. This was to be his first in a ten event winning spree. 12 years old Sam Bishop showed that he was on the comeback trail after having much of his season disrupted through illness, with a bronze and a PB time of 2mins 23.58secs in the same event.

Romford swimmers chalked up seven medals in the Girls 100 metres Butterfly event. Having just missed out on a medal in the 200 metres Freestyle, Sophie Ward recorded a time of 1min 20.05secs to take Butterfly gold. There was gold this time for Hannah Coles and in the 13 yeas age group, Amy Beardwell-Lacey got her medal collection underway with gold with a PB time of 1min 11.78secs. Team mate Bethaney Hall was not too far behind in 3rd place. 19 years old Natalie Ward and 16 years old Jessica Coles gained their first medals, a silver and bronze respectively in the same Butterfly event. There was also a bronze for 12 years old Rosie Webber.

In the Boys 100 metres Butterfly, Kieran Gore made it win number two and there were 3rd place finishes for Samuel Hollington(12), Thomas Clark(15) and David Ward(16) in their respective age groups.

The afternoon session kicked off with two more golds in the 200 metres IM event for Bethaney Hall and Jessica Coles. Sister Hannah Coles was 3rd in her age group, as was Victoria Christmas in hers. Bethany Moore followed up her success in the Backstroke with a 2nd place this time out. In the Boys it was now three for Gore and 16 years old Andrew Ward set a PB to snatch silver. Tom Clark dipped under 2mins 30secs for the first time, but had to settle for 4th spot. In the sprint 50 metres Backstroke event, there was a win for 11 years old Bethany Moore with a PB time of 36.93secs. In the age group above Victoria Christmas, a little outside of her best, finished 2nd, while Laura Brooks sliced three seconds off her previous best to take 3rd place. Natalie Ward and Rachel Welsh(14) both set PBs to secure their first gold medals. Gore made it win number four in the Boys event.

Bethany Moore added silver to her growing medal collection in the Girls 100 metres Backstroke. 12 years old Rosie Webber’s PB time of 1min 17.08secs also brought her silver in her age group. Bethaney Hall this time finished 2nd before Natalie Ward and Rachel Welsh rounded off the event with wins in their respective age groups. Young Sam Ellis was back in action in the Boys event as he added silver and five more points to Town’s mounting club points tally.

Romford swimmers again showed their strength in the Butterfly events, this time over 50 metres. The girls' three gold medals went to Sophie Ward, Victoria Christmas and Natalie Ward, while Rosie Webber and Amy Beardwell-Lacey came close, both finishing in the runner up spot. 9 years old Chloe Thompson was 3rd in the youngest age group, while for the boys, Kieran Gore again set a PB time for win number five and Sam Hollington chipped in with silver.

Going into the evening session, there was gold again for Ward and Welsh in the girls 200 metres Backstroke and as in the 100 metres event, Webber was 2nd. Moore, Hannah Coles and Christmas each secured a bronze.

Hall and Jessica Coles were back to winning ways in one of their favoured Breaststroke events, over 100 metres. As we neared the end of a tough day of competition, both showed a clean pair of heels to their opponents to take gold with some to spare. Beardwell-Lacey set another PB to take another silver medal. Gore was the lone gold medal winner among the boys, though Oliver Applebee (12) and Connor Toolis (14) were both close with 2nd places. Sam Ellis was 3rd.

The 50 metres Freestyle was the day's last event and Bethany Moore finished it off with gold in the 11 years category, while 14 years old Rachel Welsh did likewise in her age group. Christmas was 2nd and Chloe Thompson and Bethaney Hall were both 3rd. Kieran Gore PB'd once more for gold medal number seven and Hollington bagged himself another medal, a bronze.

Day 2. Recharged and ready to go, Bethaney Hall stamped her mark early in the opening 400 metres Freestyle event. Having opened up a strong lead, she controlled the race from the front taking gold by a clear five metres, with a PB time of 4mins 47.25secs. Sophie Ward sliced 3 seconds off her previous best for a time of 5mins 16.60secs and a bronze. In the Boys event, there was gold for 16 years old Thomas Toolis just ahead of 2nd placed team mate Sam Whitehead, both with PB times. Sam Bishop also added silver, lowering his best by five seconds.

In the 200 metres Butterfly Beardwell-Lacey and Hannah Coles secured their second golds of the weekend, while Rosie Webber notched up her first win. Jessica Coles was close to her best for silver and in the next event her brother Oliver Coles was also 2nd in his 10 years old age group.

Bethaney Hall added another Breaststroke gold over the 50 metres distance with Shara Islam in close contention for the silver. 9 years old Victoria Bishop, who already had a number of impressive swims under her belt, this time had a bronze medal to show for her efforts. Kieran Gore was back on the golden trail in the Boys 50 metres Breaststroke event, with a winning time of 40.49secs. Andrew Ward smashed his previous best time to take silver in his age group with 35.78secs. 11 years old Connor Houlihan was another swimmer that had had a number of PB swims already. It wasn't until his 50 metres Breaststroke swim though that he chalked up his first top three finish, taking bronze.

The final Session of the weekend produced another seven gold medals for Romford swimmers. The first if these came from Jessica Coles and Bethaney Hall in their main 200 metres Breaststroke event. Beardwell-Lacey, as in her 100 metres swim, collected silver and Victoria Bishop, secured her second bronze of the meet. There was still no stopping Gore and yet another PB and a win in the boy’s event made it nine out of nine. Oliver Applebee picked up his second silver of the weekend and in the youngest age group Samuel Ellis was 2nd with Mitchell Wilson 3rd, both with great PB swims.

After only two medals from the 100 metres Freestyle event, for the Girls a silver for Rachel Welsh and the Boys a bronze for Sam Bishop, there was a flurry of medals in the final event, the 100 metres IM. For the Girls, there were wins for Hall, Welsh and Ward and for the Boys, Gore made it ten from ten. There were Girl's runners up places for Chloe Thompson and Beardwell-Lacey and for the Boys a 2nd place for Thomas Clark too. Sam Ellis rounded of a successful weekend for both him and Romford Town with a bronze.

There were so many good swims and so many personal best performances as everybody contributed to Romford's overall team success. Well done to all.