RTSC Gala Reports

Saturday 6th February - Sid Barrett Trophy Gala - Southbury Leisure Centre

A week ago Town's senior swimmers were rubbing shoulders with Olympians in Luxembourg, so it was intriguing to watch our new crop of young swimmers embarking on their first competitive swimming experience. Our youngsters produced many performances of which we can be so proud. Who will have the talent and dedication to emulate our current star swimmers?

Having readily accepted Enfield's invitation to this 'graded' gala we elected to take a team comprised entirely of our C and D Squad swimmers with a couple from Learn-to-Swim thrown in for good measure! What a great night we all had!

First off the blocks was recent recruit Rebecca Martin who swam to an impressive 2nd place in the Girls under 13 100m Medley with a time only just outside of the county qualifying time. 9 year old Harry Taylor swam for the boys in the under 13 Medley and although outside the top 3 places he produced one of the best times swum by any 9 year old in Essex this year.

The next two events were Medley Relays for swimmers who will reach the age of 9 by the end of the year and therefore gave our 8 year olds a first chance to show us what they could do. The huge potential that lies within our junior squads was soon demonstrated by our Girls team (Paige Jackson, Jess Ayling, Eloise Dietz and Emily Watts) and our Boys team (Sam Brown, Billy Harrison, Jack Whitehead and Joseph Lomas) who both achieved great 2nd places. Later in the evening Fern Stuart replaced Jess in the Freestyle relay as the girls again came home in second place.

In the individual events Eloise won the 25m Freestyle, Paige was second in the 25m Backstroke, Jess was 2nd in the 25m Breaststroke and Emily 3rd in the 25m Butterfly. Our boys haven't had as much preparation as the girls, especially Billy and Sam who have not yet made it to the squads, so they found the competition a little tougher, but they adapted themselves well and Jack claimed an impressive second place in the 25m Butterfly.

In the Boys under 11 category, Luke Harris, Liam Fearon, Alex Drury and Billy Wilson (9) won the Freestyle Relay, but had to settle for third place in the Medley. Alex swam inside an Essex qualifying time for the first time and destroyed the field to win the 50m Freestyle, Luke produced a textbook finish to win the 50m Backstroke and Liam produced a massive PB for 3rd place in the 50m Breaststroke.

For the Girls under 11, Georgia Milton (9), Daisy Nolan-Day, Megan Witton and Jessica Watts were third in both the Medley and Freestyle Relays. Georgia also placed third in 25m Butterfly and although only 4th in the 50m Breaststroke, she still managed to swim 2 seconds under the 9 year old girls county time. Despite having been ill all week, Jessica's new-found enthusiasm for training earned her a good third place in the 50m Freestyle.

Town had a hat-trick of wins in the under 12 age group with 9 year old Harry Taylor and 10 year old Erin Corney winning the 50m Backstroke events and Ben Davis, also 10, winning the 50m Breaststroke. In the Girls Medley Relay Erin was joined by Katie Trott (10), Yasmin Morris and Megan Drew with the girls achieving a good third place. Although, outside of the top 3 positions, Mason Marrable demonstrated his continuing improvement by slashing over 10 seconds off of his best 50m Breaststroke time.

Lileigh Argent was another to swim a big PB, taking 3 seconds off her time, for third place in the under 13 50m Breaststroke. Chloe Thompson (10), Emily Dietz and Rebecca Martin joined Lileigh for 2nd place in the Freestyle Relay. Our under 13 Boys swims were spread around our County-standard swimmers with Jack Rice (9), David Brooks (9), Harry Taylor (9), Ben Davis (10) and Tommy Beardsell (11) as expected outside the Top 3 places, but still gaining good experience.

There were many other great performances and personal bests that contributed to a magnificent team effort on a night when all swimmers were a credit to their parents and the club in terms of both their efforts and their behaviour.

Final Scores:

1. Enfield 'A' 298
2. Cheshunt 281
3. Romford Town 257
4. Bishops Stortford 254
5. Haringey Borough 240
6. Harlow Penguins 200
7. Broomfield Park 160
8. Enfield 'B' 89

Well done to all

Alan Ward