RTSC Gala Reports

Saturday 20th June - 1st Southbury Summer Sprints
Southbury Leisure Centre, Enfield

There were many ‘firsts’ at the inaugural Southbury Summer Sprints, a gala jointly organised by Romford Town SC and Enfield SC. Whilst Town swimmers were picking up plenty of gold first place medals there were a number of swimmers competing for the first time and many competing in events that they hadn’t previously attempted.

Hannah Binning is now adapting well to the demands of her training programme and was rewarded with gold medals in the 9 year old Girls 50m Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke, 50m Butterfly and 100m Individual Medley. Although Hannah had to be content with silver in the 50m Freestyle which was won by team mate Chloe Thompson. Chloe was also a winner in the 100m Freestyle and picked up silver medals in 50m Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke and 50m Butterfly. Daisy Nolan-Day underlined her potential with good swims for 3rd in the Breaststroke, 4th in the Freestyle and 5th in the Backstroke.

Sam Ellis is another who is starting to cope better in a competitive training environment and his 5 medal haul in the 9 year old Boys age group came as no surprise. Sam picked up the first of his 3 gold medals in the 50m Breaststroke where team mates Mitchell Wilson and Harry Taylor were not far behind in 3rd and 4th place respectively. It was a similar story in the 100m IM where Sam and Mitchell again took 1st and 3rd with Harry 5th on this occasion. Sam’s third win came in the 50m Freestyle with Mitchell once again 3rd. Mitchell went one better with silver in the 50m Butterfly with Sam having to settle for the bronze and Harry 6th. In the 50m Backstroke Sam, Mitchell and Harry finished 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively.

In the Girls 10 year old category Jessica Watts and Lois Loucaides also showed promise as Jessica picked up second places with Lois coming 4th in both the 50m and 100m Breaststroke. Jessica was 3rd in the 50m Freestyle with Lois 6th. A busy night for Jessica saw her add 4th place medals in the 50m Backstroke and 100m IM and a 5th place medal in the 100m Freestyle to her collection.

Town’s 10 year old Boys also picked up plenty of medals with Oliver Coles second in both the 100m Butterfly and 100m Backstroke. Conor Julian and Robert Benson did well to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively in the 50m Backstroke. Oliver claimed bronze medals in the 100m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle where Ben Davis did well to come home 4th and 5th respectively. Robert was 6th in the 100m Freestyle. Ben was also 4th in the 50m Breaststroke, where Conor just pipped him to the bronze medal. The 50m Butterfly saw Oliver in 4th and Conor 5th. Conor was 5th in the IM and also 5th in the 50m Freestyle, just ahead of Robert in 6th.

There was success for Jodi Whitehead in her favourite Breaststroke and Backstroke events in the 11 year old Girls age group. Jodi won gold with a particularly impressive swim in the 100m Backstroke and added another gold in the 50m Breaststroke. Silver medals came from her swims in the 50m Backstroke and 100m Breaststroke. Sixth place medals in the 50m and 100m Freestyle and 100m Breaststroke marked a very encouraging evening for Emily Dietz.

Toby Mascall was a double gold medallist in the 50m and 100m Butterfly events for the 11 year old boys. Jonathan Toolis was 5th in the 100m and Sam Coker 6th in the 50m. Toby also picked up a silver medal in the IM and a bronze in the 50m Breaststroke. Jonathan was 5th in the 50m Breaststroke. Jonathan won bronze in the 100m Freestyle and was 5th in the 100m Backstroke behind Sam who was 4th. Sam was also 5th in the 50m Backstroke.

Laura Brooks continues to progress well and picked up Gold medals in the 12 year olds 50m and 100m Breaststroke and 100m IM for her efforts. Two silver medals accrued from the Backstroke events and a bronze from the 100m Freestyle. Anne Marie Smith will have gained confidence from her 4 medal haul, silver in the 100m Breaststroke, bronzes in the 100m Backstroke and IM and 4th place in the 100m Freestyle.

Sam Allsop collected 3 Gold medals for his efforts in the Boys 12 year age group. His first came in the 50m Backstroke where team mate Lewis Julian picked up bronze. Sam also won the 50m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle events with Lewis 5th in the Freestyle. The 50m Breaststroke saw Sam in second place and Lewis in 6th. Lewis produced his best result of the night with a 2nd place in the IM and another 3rd place in the 50m Freestyle where Sam was 5th.

Town were well represented in the 13 year olds Girls category where the 100m Backstroke saw Shara Islam, Courtney Wilson, Sophie Thompson and Charlotte Chuck take the first four places. Shara was 3rd in the 50m Backstroke with Abbie Harold just behind in 4th. Sophie Thompson was a winner in the 100m Butterfly, whilst Courtney Wilson was 4th in the 50m event. The IM saw Courtney in 2nd place, Shara in 3rd and Sophie in 5th. Shara picked up 2 silver medals in the Breaststroke events with Sophie 5th and Abbie 6th in 50m event. Courtney was 3rd in the 100m Breaststoke, narrowly behind Shara, with Charlotte 5th. Shara’s third silver on the night came in the 50m Freestyle with Sophie in 3rd. In the 100m Freestyle Courtney, Shara and Charlotte were 3rd. 4th and 5th respectively.

13 year old Tom Benson’s dedication to training earned him silver medals in the Boys 100m Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly and IM events. He was also 4th in the 100m Freestyle.

There was also plenty of success in the Girls 14 years age group where Hannah Coles and Vanessa Sutton picked up gold and bronze medals respectively in the 100m Fly. Hannah also won gold in the 100m IM. Hannah added silver medals to her collection in the 50m Fly and in the 100m Backstroke (where Vanessa was 5th). In the 100m Breaststroke Hannah was 3rd with Vanessa 6th. Hannah took 4th place in the 100m Freestyle with Vanessa 6th. Hannah was also 5th in the 50m Freestyle.

Conor Toolis had a good win in the Boys 14 years 100m Butterfly. Conor also picked up silver in the IM where team mate Billy Bass was 4th. Michael Fearon took second place in the 100m Breaststroke with Conor 4th and Billy 5th. Michael was also 2nd in the 100m Freestyle, whilst Conor was again 4th. Michael picked up further medals with 4th places in the 50m Freestyle and 50m Breaststroke. Billy was 5th in the 50m Breaststroke and 4th in the 50m Backstroke and Butterfly.

Impressive Breaststroke swims from 15 year old Isabel Allsop won both the 50m and 100m 15 years and older Girls events. She also picked up a pair of bronze medals in the Freestyle events.

David Ward picked up seven medals from his busy schedule with gold medal swims in the 100m Breaststroke and the IM. Silver medals were earned in the 50m Breaststroke and 100m Butterfly and bronze in the 50m and 100m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly.

Well done to all those that took part in an exciting evening of swimming.