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Fareham Nomads |
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| I had the pleasure of the second day with a small contingent of Newbury swimmers and they came away from the 2 day Fareham Nomads level 3 meet with a huge clutch of personal best times, and at the same time a few medals too. It was unfortunately my last Every swimmer came back after their swim with the biggest grin imaginable, fantastic attitude and listened intently to what I had to say and most, if not all of them with at least a personal best. Individual performances are going to be difficult to pick out as every swimmer just got up to the blocks and performed!!! Throughout the meet, there were magnificent swims from them all. James, who battled his way against a swimmer from Staines, eventually went on to win the TOP BOY!! The Hall brothers who never floundered but kept up the smiles and swim downs, oh I did I mention they were late!! Amelia who held her own throughout the day and always came back with an “Oh Well, next time, smile”. Matt Pudney who throughout the two days excelled in his strokes and times, Amy who joined us late in the day but didn’t disappoint! Harry who entertained us with his stories of whom and what he could beat ……..but Harry I have to say you were still beaten by a girl!!! But in saying this he held his own with a good series of swims! Iain Bruce always the optimist kept putting in spirited performances. Lucy Wilkins who competed in nearly every event with that never ending smile and dogged determination came away with a fantastic set of results. But why does she never come back tired???? Beats me!! That under 3 min IM is looming!! Day one was also a great day for the young Molly Dummett who swam fantastic I hear! Abigail woods also put in a consistent set of swims as did Lauren Wall. Blake Clark was in a big age group and again performed well. I have not put individual times here, check out the website http://fnsc.wikidot.com/visitingclubs My thanks as always go to the swimmers whose humour and dedication does them proud, not forgetting all these consistent performances they keep putting in. Fantastic job as always, thanks for your undying enthusiasm, determination and company, Thanks must go to the parents who keep all of us swimmers and coaches alike, company provide us with coffee and help put the smiles back!! Derek for his assistance on the Saturday |
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Bournemouth Dolphins Level 3 open meet, 30 May 2010 |
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| A team of 21 swimmers travelled from Newbury to the Bournemouth Dolphins Level 3 open meet on the May bank holiday Sunday. Despite an early start, the Newbury swimmers were raring to go and began with 2 PBs in the first event from Mena and Paige who also picked up silver. This carried on throughout the day with a total of 86 improvements on personal best out of a total of 121 swims. The medal count came to 21 gold’s, 16 silvers and 20 bronze. Congratulations to Rory who took the “Best Boy” trophy by winning every event he entered and congratulations to Paige who took “Best Girl” by winning all her events bar 2 where she got the silver. Gold medals went to Iain Bruce, Rory Butcher, Paige Pope, Ben Shillam and Lizzy Shore. Silvers went to Mena Chmielewski, Harry Willingale, Abi Wood and Lucy Wilkins. Bronze went to Will Butcher, Alex Jones, Imogen Jones, Millie Pope and Lauren Wall. Freyja Baker, Louise Barlow, Imogen Barrett, Molly Dummett, Lexi Fellows Kerry read and Jasmine wills all came very close to medal position in many cases missing out by just hundredths of seconds. Once again Newbury was well represented in the 10 and under category which turned out to be a very tough field. Well done to everyone who swam! |
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COUNTY CHAMPS DAY 4 |
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| The final day (27th March) of the 2010 County Champs was another successful one for Newbury swimmers but there were particularly rich pickings in store for Aman and Zara! Aman secured Gold medals in 15/16yrs age group for 400m IM, 50m Back, 100m IM and 100m Back. In addition, he claimed the title of County Champion in 400m IM, 50m Back and 100m Back! Zara secured Gold medals in 11yr age group for 400m Free, 50m breast, 100m Free, 200m Fly, 100 IM and a silver medal in 50m backstroke in addition to claiming 7th place overall in 200m Fly and claiming new 11yr Age Group records for 50m Breast, 100m Free and 100m IM. It therefore came as no surprise when she was later named BAGCAT champion for her age group and picked up The Parker Silver Cup as winner of the girls’ aggregate competition to boot! An amazing achievement! Elsewhere, Silver medals were scooped by Georgia (17yrs+, 50m Breast), James (11yrs, 100 IM, 100m Back) and Bronze medals by Jake (14yrs, 400 IM, 50m Back (3rd in Junior Champs as well) & 100m Back), Lucy (17yrs, 50m Back), Iain (10yrs, 200m Free, 100m Back), James (11yrs, 200m Free). Lucy qualified for the Championship Final in 50m Back finishing in 7th place and Georgia qualified for the Championship Final in 50m Breast finishing in 8th place. Newbury was also represented in the B Finals as follows: Emily, 50m Breast, 5th place Loulou, 50m Back, 5th place Jake, 100m Backstroke, 6th place Jacob, 50m Free, 4th place Iain and James both secured 3rd place podium positions in the BAGCAT awards in their respective age groups whilst Amelia, Loulou, Charlotte, Jess, Iain, James, Luc, Lucy, Paige, Jake, Jacob, Rory, Amy, Emily and Georgia all achieved at least one position in the last 8 (i.e. worthy of a rosette!) of their Age Group events. Again, many swims were rewarded with new PBs or regional times. Well done to everyone who took part – if you want to check where you finished overall please see www.bsbasa.org on the Championship pages - and thanks to coaches, Derek and Carolyn, and to all friends and family for their support! |
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COUNTY CHAMPS DAY 3 |
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| It might have been only a small contingent of Newbury swimmers (Aman, Jess, Charlotte, Loulou, Luc, Amelia, Zara, James) who took part in this long-course session of the Counties (20 March) but they returned with a big haul of prizes - 4 golds, 2 silvers, two new Age Group records and a New County Championship record! In the first event, the Girls 800m Free Zara claimed gold and Charlotte 5th place in their respective age groups. Aman then went on to collect gold and become the new County Champion for his swim in the equivalent boy’s race where Luc also collected the silver medal in his age group. In the Girls 1500m Free, Zara claimed gold and a new Age Group record with Amelia collecting the silver in the same age group. Racing in the same heat, Loulou had to settle for 4th in her age group whilst Jess and James, who also secured his Age Group record, both picked up the top spot in their respective races. Well done to all who took part and thanks to Derek and Chris Ryan for their support. |
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COUNTY CHAMPS DAY 2 |
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| Day 2 (13 March) started with a fantastic Gold Medal swim for the 11yr Girls Medley Relay team (Zara, Amelia, Amy, Lizzy)! Setting a new Championships age group record along the way. Zara continued her unbeaten Counties campaign by collecting a further 5 individual Gold medals, and achieving 2nd place in the “B” final of the 100m Fly. She also broke the County Records for her Age Group in both 200m IM and 100m Fly! Aman was 3rd in the 400m freestyle County Championships overall. He also took part in the “B” final of 100m Free, also finishing in 3rd place with a very fine PB and Regional Qualifying time of 56.13 in the heats. Lizzy Shore, Lucy Wilkins, Harry Willingale and Simon Harris all made their first appearance at the Counties and there were 41 top 8 Age Group placings in the day’s events. A summary of the medal winners is as follows: Gold Zara Ryan (11yrs, 200m IM, 100m Breast, 200m Back, 100m Fly, 200m Breast) James McFadzen (11yrs, 50m Breast ) Silver 11yrs Freestyle Relay team (Zara, Amelia, Amy, Lizzy) Lucy Singleton (17yrs, 200m Back) Aman Shah (16yrs, 400m Free – 3rd overall in County Champs) Bronze Iain Bruce (10yrs, 100m Free, 50m Fly) Louise McFadzen (13yrs, 200m Back) Jake Jezzard (14yrs, 200m Fly, 50m Fly) James McFadzen (11yrs, 400m Free) Again there were many new PBs but some particularly impressive ones were achieved by Amy McBride (200 IM, 200 Breast), Zara Ryan (100 Breast, 200 Breast), Jake Jezzard (200 Fly) and James McFadzen (400 Free). Well done to Regional qualifiers Aman Shah, Zara Ryan, Amy McBride, Jake Jezzard, Louise McFadzen, James McFadzen and Luc Schreiber who all recorded more of their required times today! |
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Hats Off to relay team at County Champs 2010 |
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| There have been some fantastic swims at the counties including many new regional times and PBs from younger and older boys and girls. However the NDSC 9-11 year old girl's relay team provided a few heart-stopping moments to rank alongside Maradonna's handball, Wilkinson's drop-kick, and the Jamaican Olympic bobsleigh team crash (aka Cool Running). The team came away with a silver medal in the freestyle relay and a gold and record breaking county time in the medley relay. So hats off (not yet Lizzy!) to Abi, Amelia, Amy, Lizzy and Zara and all the coaches that make these special moments happen. Success is relative, good luck to everybody swimming on Day 4. |
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COUNTY CHAMPS DAY 1 |
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| Newbury swimmers made a great start to the County Championships on Day 1 (Maidenhead, 27th February) with 44 swims achieving one of the top eight Age Group placings (and therefore a medal or County rosette) in one of the 22 events! A number of swimmers were also making their first appearance at the Counties: Charley Knight, George Tyler (11yrs Freestyle/Medley relays), Imogen Jones (10yrs, 100m Back), Lauren Wall (10yrs, 100m Back), Lexi Fellows (10yrs, 50m Free/50m Fly), Kerry Read (10yrs, 50m Free) and Millie Pope (10 yrs 50m Fly) and none seemed overawed by the occasion! Both Lexi and Millie picked up rosettes in the 50 Fly as did Iain Bruce – also in his first Counties - in the 200 IM which he topped with a bronze medal in the 10 yrs 200m Back! Amy McBride, another first-timer, also made a strong impression with a bronze medal swim in the 50m Fly. Aman Shah became County Champion in 200m back, setting a new County record in 2:03.06 which surpassed the previous record set by Simon Burnett no less. Aman was also 2nd overall in the County Championships in the 200 I.M. Zara Ryan showed her supremacy in the 11yr Age Group by winning all 5 of her events and by also setting a new County Age Group record in the 100m Back! A summary of the other age group medal winners is as follows: Gold Zara Ryan (11yrs, 100m Back, 50m Free, 400 IM, 50m Fly, 200m Free) James McFadzen (11yrs, 200m IM, 100m Breast, 200m Breast) Aman Shah (16yrs, 200m Back) Silver Aman Shah (16yrs, 200m IM) James McFadzen (11yrs, 200m Back) Jake Jezzard (14yrs, 100m Fly) Bronze Jacob Glanville (17yrs, 200m IM) Lucy Singleton (17yrs, 100m Back) Iain Bruce (10yrs, 200m Back) Amelia Wenlock (11yr, 400 IM) Amy McBride (11yrs, 50m Fly) Lucy Singleton qualified for the ‘B’ final in the 100m back, where she came 5th and Jacob Glanville qualified for the ‘B’ final in 100m breast where he finished 6th and ‘B’ final for 100m fly where he finished 5th. Many PBs were bettered and in some cases shattered throughout the day – e.g. by Iain Bruce (200 IM/200 Back), Luc Schreiber (200 IM), Ben Shillam (200 Back), Rory Butcher (200 Back) and Zara Ryan (400 IM). Congratulations are also due to the following swimmers who all recorded Regional QTs for their efforts: Jake Jezzard, James McFadzen, Zara Ryan and Louise McFadzen. |
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WINDSOR SC, OPEN MEET, 23-24TH JANUARY |
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| It was a great chance to try out the Magnet Pool ahead of next month’s County Championships for the 15 Newbury swimmers who made the trip to Maidenhead over the weekend. What’s more, some strong swims against tough competition, secured them a fine collection of medals, PBs, improved County- and new Regional times! Gold medals were scooped by Aman (16u 400 Free), Zara (11u 400 Free/11u 200 IM), and James (11u 200 Breast) whilst silver medals went to Amelia (11u 400 Free), Jess (15u 100 Back) and Jake (14u 400 IM). Third places and bronze medals went to Jess (15u 400 Free/15u 200 Back), Amelia (11u 400 IM), James (11u 200 IM/11u 200 Back) and Jake (14u 200 Back). The following swimmers were also rewarded with new Regional times for their efforts: Jake (400 IM/100 Back/200 Back/200 Breast/100 Free), James (200 Free/200 IM/200 Breast), (Amelia (400 Free), and Loulou (200 Back). Several other swims got tantalisingly close to the Regional mark but didn’t quite make it – better luck next gala to all of them and congratulations to everyone who managed a PB and there were some big ones!! Thanks to Derek, Dave Mason and Kathleen Waddington and to Cambria who, together with Stephanie, kindly stepped in to support the swimmers on Sunday |
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Thames Valley League Round 1, Magnet Pool , Maidenhead, 6th February 2010 |
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| The team assembled on the bus in Pelican lane for the 45 minute trip to Madenhead. Spirits were high and the news that this would be the first of only 2 rounds added to the excitement. We needed a good first round as we would only get one more chance to add to our point tally. Newbury had drawn lane 7, the outside lane right next to the stroke judge. Swimming would have to be precise in order to avoid loosing points through disqualification. Newbury started well with two second places and two first places in the first 5 races. It was looking promising until the announcement that the Boys 10 YO relay had picked up a debatable DQ despite coming in first. However, the team kept their heads high and managed to get 9 of the first 16 races in the top 2. Chalfont took an early lead with 79 points, Windsor were behind them with 69 and Newbury in third just a point behind with 68. Wycombe, Reading and Amersham were all just behind and within reaching distance. There was more of the same from the next 16 races with four 1st and six 2nd places in the individual events. Despite our efforts Chalfont managed to extend their lead and Newbury were still just a point behind Windsor in 3rd. It would be a battle with Windsor for the last 10 races. Windsor crept ahead slightly but Newbury came back with convincing wins in both 11 year old relays. The 12 year olds came in second for both of their relays. With just the Squadron relay to go it would be an exciting finish with the scores so close. Newbury started the race well but the takeovers were close. This was anybody’s race and the spectators were on their feet. Soon Chalfont and Newbury began to pull away from the pack but it was impossible to see who would win. The two teams jostled for the lead right to the end with Chalfont just winning by a broken finger nail. The finish to this meet could not have been more exciting!!!. The scores finished: Chalfont 210 Windsor 188 Newbury 185 Wycombe 130 Reading 99 Amersham 74 This was a strong first leg for Newbury and we are within reaching distance of the leaders. Well done to all the swimmers! |
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Rushmoor Royals New Year Meet, 16 & 17 January 2010 |
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| The snow finally gave way allowing everyone to get to Aldershot at the weekend. There were quite a few of the swimmers who had not seen a 50m pool before and were shocked by the distance to the other end. Despite that, after the warm up everyone seemed seemed to settle in well and got used to the distance. The event was very well attended by NDSC with 22 swimmers taking part. Again it is good to see some new faces at these meets especially from Sprinters. The medal count came to 17 with the following reaching the podium. Iain Bruce (10) M Male Open 50 Free 1st Iain Bruce (10) M Male Open 100 Back 1st Lexi Fellows (10) F Female Open 200 IM 3rd James McFadzen (11) M Male Open 200 IM 3rd James McFadzen (11) M Male Open 200 Breast 2nd Louise McFadzen (13) F Female Open 200 Free 2nd Louise McFadzen (13) F Female Open 50 Back 1st Louise McFadzen (13) F Female Open 200 Back 1st Louise McFadzen (13) F Female Open 100 Free 3rd Louise McFadzen (13) F Female Open 100 Fly 2nd Louise McFadzen (13) F Female Open 50 Free 3rd Louise McFadzen (13) F Female Open 200 IM 3rd Paige Pope (12) F Female Open 200 Back 1st Paige Pope (12) F Female Open 100 Free 3rd Paige Pope (12) F Female Open 100 Fly 3rd Paige Pope (12) F Female Open 200 Fly 2nd Amelia Wenlock (11) F Female Open 200 Free 1st The Judges were ruthless with every hint of an error being punished with a DQ. A total of nine from Newbury over the weekend. Despite this, there were some great performances. Well done to everyone who swam. |
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Tigersharks XMAS Meet 5 & 6 December 2009 |
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| A very wet December morning saw 21 Newbury District swimmers head down the M4 for the Tigersharks Christmas meet at the Link pool Swindon. The popularity of this meet meant that there was limited viewing and parents had to vacate their seats after each race so that the next parents could get in. All very stressful but worthwhile as the Newbury swimmers did not disappoint. Jasmine Wills started the event off with silver in the 100 IM, Millie pope would have also been in the medals but her entry was time trial only. Here is the full medal list: 9 Years 100 IM Jasmine Wills Silver 9 Years 100 IM Millie Pope Time Trial (Medal Position) 13 Years 200 Back Ben Shillam Speeding Ticket 13 Years 200 Back Harry Willingdale Gold 10 Years 50 Free Iain Bruce Silver 13 Years 50 Free Ben Shillam Silver 11 Years 100 Fly Hannah Waddington Bronze 13 Years 100 Back Ben Shillam Bronze 11 Years 200 Fly Hannah Waddington Speeding Ticket 13 Years 100 Breast Holly Britton Bronze 10 Years 200 Back Lauren Wall Speeding Ticket 11 Years 200 Back Hannah Waddington Speeding Ticket 11 Years 200 Back Lucy Wilkins Speeding Ticket 11 Years 200 Back Lizzy Shore Silver 10 Years 50 Back Iain Bruce Silver 10 Years 50 Fly Iain Bruce Silver 13 Years 200 breast Holly Britton Bronze There was more excitement with all of the Newbury team producing strong swims with positions often just outside of the top three. Along with those already mentioned, team was made up of Elysia Britton, Emily Tulloch, Kerry Read, Lexi Fellows, Louise Barlow, Simon Harris, Chloe Thurston, Freya Baker, Emily Tulloch, Rebekah Cussen and Mat Pudney. It was good to see some of the younger swimmers competing in their first external event. Lets see if we can get a few more new faces at the next meet. well done everyone |
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Berks and Bucks County Masters |
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| November 28 saw a 10 strong squad from Newbury Masters compete in the Berks & South Bucks County Masters gala. The Newbury team consisting of Paul Broomfield, Mike Friday, Chris Glover, Marcus Van Heerden, Ross Jervis, Melisa Mason, Danny Melia, Dave Milburn, Daryl Payne and Liz Pudney came away with 14 individual golds, 8 silvers and 6 bronze medals whilst achieving a total of 25 PB times - including Dave Milburn again breaking his own British record for 100m Breatstroke. Overall Newbury finished 6th out of the 45 competing clubs with Dave Milburn finishing 3rd overall. Paul, Marcus, Ross, Danny and Liz were all competing in their first external Masters individual events and turned in some outstanding performances. Danny - having only just joined the squad turned in an outstanding 50m Fly event winning the Silver medal; Marcus excelled winning the 50m Backstroke; Liz achieved a 2nd and 3rd place in the 100m Breaststroke and 100m IM respoectively; Ross won the 50m Free and 100m IM and Paul, the oldest in his age group, achieved excellent personal bests. Everyone also competed in the relay events with Newbury entering teams in the Mixed 160+ years Freestyle relay, Mens 160+ years Medley relay, Mens 120+ years Freestyle Relay, Mens 160+ years Medley relay and the Mens 120+ years Medley relay. The evening session was wrapped up with a couple of very close relay events - first of all with Daryl, Dave, Danny and Ross finishing second in the Mens 120+ Medley Relay and then Dave, Marcus, Mike and Ross just pipping Maidenhead to win a very exciting Mens 160+ Freestyle Relay. |
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National Arena League R2 |
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| The Club continued our successful National Arena League campaign by scooping the top three places in over half of the 50 events at Round 2 of the competition which took place on Saturday 14 November at Basingstoke. This time the opposition was provided by Basingstoke Bluefins, Wycombe, Hamble Aquatics, Alton & District and Littlehampton. The squad was as follows: U11 girls: Rebekah Cussen, Amy McBride, Zara Ryan, Chloe Thurston U13 girls: Holly Britton, Loulou McFadzen, Paige Pope, AbbieWood U15 Girls: Menna Chmielewski, Jess Francis, Charlotte Preston-Howes Ladies Open: Holly Argent, Emily Herbert, Melisa Mason, Georgia Marriott U11 Boys: Iain Bruce, James McFadzen, Chris Regan, George Tyler U13 Boys: Sam Scholl, Luc Schreiber, Ben Shillam, Jafer Shah, Harry Willingale U15 Boys: Rory Butcher, Henry Crosby, Jake Jezzard, Men’s Open: Jacob Glanville, David Martin, Dave Milburn, Aman Shah The Girls 9-11 relay squad were our most successful team of the night winning both their 200m freestyle (Amelia, Chloe, Rebekah, Zara) and 200m medley (Chloe, Amy, Zara, Amelia) events whilst in the individual events maximum points went to Zara for both the 11/U Girls Backstroke and 11/U Butterfly, to Aman for Men’s Open Backstroke, to Amy for 11/U Breaststroke, to Dave Milburn for Men’s Open Breaststroke and to Amelia for 11/U Freestyle. Well done! Despite Newbury’s best efforts, the strong opposition provided by Basingstoke and Wycombe meant the team was unable to improve on the 3rd place finish we achieved in Round 1. However, we do take a creditable 178 Gala Points through to the final round which is due to take place on Saturday 12 December at Bracknell Leisure Centre. After two rounds, Newbury lies in 7th position overall, which means we miss out on the ‘A’ final, and need to win the ‘B’ final to retain 7th place, which is very achievable as we will be ranked highest of the teams in our pool. If we manage this, then it will equal last year’s achievement. Well done to all our swimmers and thanks to Derek, Carolyn, Chris Ryan and Neville for their poolside support! With Janet and Dave Mason doing their officials duties. For full Newbury results/pbs/placings see the results download section of the website and for more information on the league see www.nationalswimmingleague.org.uk (South Region, Division One West) |
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Dave Bags a new British record!! |
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Dave Milburn had competed over the weekend of 24th, October at the British Gas ASA Masters and Senior Age Group Championships and returned with three medals 2 gold and 1 silver, and a new British record. Coping with an injury he sustained a few years ago and aggravated, he managed with the help of his family to hobble to the ponds forge arena and compete in the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke over the two days His achievement at this weekend was that he managed, to shave 16/100ths and to retain the British record for the 50 breaststroke; he also managed a gold in the 100 and silver in the 200, a fantastic result!! Well done Dave. 1. 100 Dave Milburn Newbury 1:10.95 2. 200 Dave Milburn Newbury 2:38.98 1. 50 Dave Milburn Newbury 31.82 New BR |
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National Arena League R1 |
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| Newbury made a fantastic start to their National ARENA League campaign by taking first and second places in almost half of the 50 events at Round 1 of the competition which took place last Saturday at Waterlooville, Hants. Aiming to improve on our overall 7th position from last season, the opposition was provided by Chesham, Eastleigh & Oaklands, Mid-Sussex Marlins ’A’, Rushmoor Royals ‘B’ and Wycombe District. We were in pool 1 of 3 featuring a total of 18 teams in our division. The squad was as follows: 11&U girls: Amy McBride, Zara Ryan, Lizzie Shore, Amelia Wenlock, Lucy Wilkins 13&U girls: Holly Britton, Laura McBride, Loulou McFadzen, Paige Pope, Abbi Wood 15&U Girls: Jess Francis, Charlotte Preston-Howes Ladies Open: Holly Argent, Emily Herbert, Melisa Mason, Georgia Marriott, Lucy Singleton 11&U Boys: Iain Bruce, James McFadzen, Chris Regan, George Tyler 13&U Boys: Sam Scholl, Luc Schreiber, Ben Shillam, Jafer Shah, Harry Willingale 15&U Boys: Rory Butcher, Simon Harris, Jake Jezzard, Mens Open: Jacob Glanville, Dave Milburn, Daryl Payne, Aman Shah The team triumphed in a total of 14 events, the 11/U Girls Freestyle Relay (Amelia, Lucy W, Lizzie, Zara), the 11/U Boys Freestyle Relay (Iain, James, George, Chris), the 13/U Girls Medley Relay (Loulou, Holly, Paige, Abbi), the 11/U Girls Medley Relay (Lucy, Amy, Zara, Amelia) and the 11/U Boys Medley Relay (Chris, James, Iain, George) whilst in the individual events top marks were gained for the 11/U Girls Backstroke (Zara Ryan), the 11/U Boys Backstroke (Chris Regan), the 11/U Girls Butterfly (Zara Ryan), the 13/U Girls Backstroke (Loulou McFadzen), the Ladies Open Backstroke (Lucy Singleton) the Mens Open Backstroke (Aman Shah), the 11/U Boys Breaststroke (James McFadzen), the 13/U Girls Butterfly (Zara Ryan) and the 11/U Girls Freestyle (Amelia Wenlock). Having led the competition to the mid-way point and despite a heroic team effort which saw many swimmers swimming “up” an age group and prompted many PBs, ultimately Newbury had to settle for third place behind eventual winners Mid-Sussex Marlins (relegated from Premiership last season) with 226 points and runners-up Wycombe 220 points. Nonetheless we take a creditable 206 Gala points (some 50 clear of 4th placed team) through to the next round which is due to take place on Saturday 14 November (venue TBA). The club results on are on the downloads page of the web site available here Full results will be published on the National Arena League website, here Well done to all the squad – but in particular to Lucy Wilkins, Lizzie Shore, Holly Britton, Laura McBride, Iain Bruce, George Tyler, Sam Scholl, Harry Willingale and Simon Harris who were making their first appearance for Newbury in a National League event! |
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National Age Group Championships 2009 |
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| Lily Glover and Zara Ryan represented Newbury District Swimming Club at the National Age Group Championships which took place at Ponds Forge national swimming centre in Sheffield from 22nd July and concluded on Sunday 26th July. It was the first time that either of the girls had qualified for the Nationals, both girls having birthdays just before the meet, meaning they were the amongst the youngest in their respective age groups. Lily took part in the 13 years age group 200m backstroke heats on Wednesday, going in lane 5 in heat 10, she performed solidly, coming home in 2:31.47, finishing 30th overall in her age group. Zara took to the water the following day in the 11 year old age group 200m butterfly heats. She was in the very first heat in lane 4, winning the heat comfortably in 2:45.14 a PB of over 1sec and just missing out on a place in the final, finishing in 11th place overall. Well done both, magnificent achievement. Aman Shah represents the club at the National Youth Championships which start on Tuesday 28th July. |
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Novice & Sprints Gala 2009 |
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| Well done to all swimmers, some great races and times. A full set of the results are now published on the web site, you can download from here. Congratulations to the clutch of record breakers: Blake Clarke (3 events) James McFadzen (3 events) Zara Ryan (2 events) Lily Glover (2 events) Megan Crook (2 events) Jacob Glanville Lucy Singleton Dave Milburn NB: where a J prefixes the time, this means a Judges decision was made on the placing (i.e. the swimmers were in the same heat, but timing recorded didn't match placings, hence they were given an accurate place but are recoirded with the same time), a common phenomenen with manual timing. Where a * appears next to their position, this means the swimmers gained identical times, usually in different heats. |
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Master Swimmer Nicci bags a bronze! |
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| Master swimmer Nicci bring home a bronze! Nicci competed in the age group squad for Great Britain and it was held in Holten, Holland. Olympic distance event (1500 swim / 40K bike / 10K run) she managed 2h23 and took the bronze medal in her age group! Race Day!!!!!!! Awoke to breaking sunshine and already warm temperatures . . . the day was going to be a hot one. Racking was a different experience having two different transition areas so racked my run kit in the village centre then cycled the 7.5K to the lake to rack bike kit, then it was just a case of waiting around and doing the usual worrying about the race to come. Midday came around and we headed off on the two lap swim course (non-wetsuit) which involved exiting the lake between the laps to dive back in again - interesting! Biking through Holten and off up to the national park on the "mountain", then back to transition to head out on what was to be a long, hot and hard run. Eventually came in to the finish in a respectable time of 2h23 taking Third place for my age group!! And placing 28th overall!!!! Needless to say I am delighted :o)Had to rearrange our ferry home and are now staying for the presentations! Great place Holten and the triathlon has been fantastic! Thanks to all who have been supporting me along the way I couldn't do it without you all! N :o) |
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NDSC Open Meet 2009 |
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| Well done to everyone yesterday, some excellent results and races. Congratulations to James McFadzen for collecting the Top Boy prize. Well done to the team overall as Newbury collected the shield for Top Team with 220 points Full results are available on web site download here Club Results with PB's can be viewed here download |
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Vanessa Knight Memorial Gala |
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| The Arun leisure centre was the venue for the 2009 Vanessa Knight Memorial Gala and a team of 11 from Newbury made their way down to Bognor Regis on a sunny bank holiday weekend. Rebekah Cussen started the proceedings with an impressive 50 backstroke swim only to have her glory denied by a marginal DQ decision. Lizzy Shore and Elysia Britton followed both with PBs and Lizzy took the Gold in the B category. Next was the boys 50 freestyle and Thomas Warne, Harry Willingdale, Ben Shillam and George Walters all smashed their PBs by well over a second. Geroge picked up the gold medal in the B Category and was only 8 hundredths of a second away from breaking the 30 seconds barrier. The morning proceeded with some great swims from everyone and the medals followed accordingly. Lizzy Shore picked up a bronze in the B category 50 breaststroke and a gold in the C category 50 fly. Rebekah Cussen went on to get PBs in all her other events and Elysia Britten picked up a bronze medal in the C category 50 fly and a PB in the 50 freestyle. Ben Shillam managed PBs in 4 out of the 5 events entered and took home gold in the B category 50 fly and silver in the A category (and overall) 50 Backstroke. Harry Willingdale took silver medals in the C category 50 fly and the 50 breaststroke along with PBs in 50 fly, breaststroke, IM and a massive 6.5 second PB in the 50 backstroke nearly destroying the finish board. Thomas Warne continued the success with PBs in 4 out of 4 events and only narrowly missed out on the medals. George Walters continued his impressive start with PBs in 50 fly and breaststroke and took home a Bronze in the B Category 50 fly. The Afternoon session started with James Ibbetson and Iain Bruce getting PBs in the 50 back. Katie Ibbetson picked up a bronze medal in the 50 free and Holly Britton a PB and a B category silver in the same event. The afternoon was shaping up to be a repeat of the morning. James Ibbetson went on to get a bronze medal in the category C 50 Fly. Iain Bruce managed a PB is all his 5 events and but finished just outside the medals with A category times in all of them. Katie Ibbetson bettered her PBs in the 50 fly and 50 Backstroke. Holly Britton beat her PBs in all 5 events and took gold medals in the B category 50 Breaststroke and 50 Fly and another silver in the C category 50 Backstroke. Everyone swam with determination and passion. With 38 PBs from 52 swims and lots of medals, all the swimmers should be congratulated on a very successful event. |
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South East Region BAGCATS |
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| Chris Regan's withdrawal, owing to illness, meant that 10 year old James McFadzen was the only male and youngest NDSC representative at the second weekend of the 2009 Regional Championships in Crawley on 13/14th June 2009. James duly delivered by winning a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke for 10 year old boys and claiming 7th position in the 100m breaststroke for 10 year old boys. Other highlights of the second weekend included: Amelia Wenlock swimming through a shoulder injury early on Sunday morning to claim 8th position in the gruelling 800m freestyle for 11 year old girls. Megan Crook, swimming towards full fitness, claiming 11th position in the 200m breaststroke for 12 year old girls Lily Glover, winning a shield for joint 4th position in the overall BAGCATs for 12 year old girls (after running 1500 metres in the Berkshire schools athletic championships the day before) Zara Ryan winning a shield for 1st position in the overall BAGCATs for 10 year old girls. Charlotte Preston-Howes supporting the swimmers throughout Sunday afternoon. Derek Carley and Chris Glover coaching the swimmers throughout the 4 days of the championships. Full Newbury results available at: SER Website |
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Bournemouth Junior Open 2009 |
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| A quick mention to say Congratulations to the following NDSC swimmers at the Bournemouth Open meet on 31st May Jake Jezzard, swam like a demon and picked up Top Boy and Amy McBride collected her first major success with Best 10 and Under award. BIG well done to both. thanks to Tony Shore, who was coach for the day. full results are available at Bournemouth Site |
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SER BAGCAT Championships |
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| A quick comment to say congratulations to Newbury swimmers competing at the South East Region BAGCAT Champs this last weekend. Some fantastic results, on what is the first weekend of two. Zara Ryan picked up Gold in 200IM, 100m Fly, 400m free, 100m free and 400IM, silver in 200m back and bronze in 100m back. WELL DONE! Lily Glover picked up gold in 100m and 200m back, and bronzes in 100m free and 200IM. CONGRATULATIONS on gaining your first NQT in the 200m back. Credible performances from Louise McFadzen, Amelia Wenlock and Megan Crook too. Full results are available at the SER web site click here Goodluck all on the second weekend, 13th and 14th June |
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South East Region Youth Championships 2009 May 2nd – 4th |
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| Just three swimmers this year from the club competed at the South East Region Youth Championships, an event held at the Aldershot Garrison 50m pool. A meet where the top swimmers from the South East (one of eight regions in UK) participate, aiming for NQT’s or improving their standing. Club Captain Aman Shah, who is on fire this year, competed in a very impressive 8 events and Jacob Glanville in his usual 3 freestyle events took part on the Saturday. First up was Aman in his only sprint event, 50m back coming home in 30.62 which was a PB, a fine start. Both Aman and Jacob went in the 200m free, both falling shy of their PB’s, Aman in 26th and Jacob 42nd with only 3secs separating them. Aman then went in the gruelling 400IM, finishing in 4:56.96 picking up an excellent bronze medal in his 15/16yr age group. Jessica Francis joined them both briefly in the afternoon session for 50m free, posting 30.90 finishing 84th overall. Jacob then took part in 100m free, posting 59.04 frustratingly 5/100th shy of his seasons best, finishing 41st overall. Aman concluding the first day with his main event the 200m back, posting an exceptional 2:11.22 a time which improves his GB Champs time by nearly 2 secs and bodes well for the Nationals later this summer. Oh, and he qualified for the final with the fastest time! Unfortunately for him, no soon as he was out of the water in the heats he had to go in the final, finishing a credible 5th in 2:16.82 amongst the best backstrokers in the South East (well a couple were missing because they were at GB swim camps in the US). Aman collected his second bronze medal finishing 3rd overall in his age group. Day 2 saw Jessica and Aman continue flying the Newbury flag. Aman was up first in the 400m free, finishing in 10th place overall with a time of 4:21.96. Jessica then went in the 50m back, finishing 40th overall in 34.84. Aman went again in the 200IM, finishing in a respectable 12th place in 2:22.72. Jacob then joined proceedings in the afternoon session briefly, for the 50m free. With a much better dive than of late, came home in 26.79 a solid PB of .35secs (a lot at this distance) and at last a happy smile! Aman then went in the 100m back, another speciality event, coming home very strongly in a PB time of 1:02.33, again qualifying for the final. Up against strong competition, he came home very well in 6th place overall in 1:02.95. Again, he claimed the bronze medal in his 15/16 age group. Jess went in the 200m back immediately after, posting 2:36.38 a solid swim just shy of her best in 30th. Aman stayed the duration, on into the evening session in the 800m free, perhaps feeling somewhat tired (not surprisingly as he already done 9 swims) coming home in a creditable 4th place, but off his PB in 9:11.81. But, we’re not done yet! Jess came back on the Monday to do the 1500m free, posting 19:20.21 finishing in 15th. Full results are available at the Swim South East web site click here and the ASA rankings have already been updated here Well done to all 3 swimmers, and especially to Aman for making two finals and gaining 3 bronze medals. Many thanks to Derek for supporting the swimmers throughout the weekend, good spirited team comradery was displayed throughout. The younger swimmers get their chance at the SER BAGCAT Champs starting 30th May. |
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Thames Valley Junior League 'A' Final |
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| Newbury’s squad of 27, 9-12 year old, swimmers from across the squads, faced teams from Chalfont, Slough, Wycombe and Windsor in the “A” final of the league at Northcroft on Saturday 4th April. Starting the gala in 2nd place overall after the previous 2 rounds and with one of the major threats to Newbury’s championship prospects (Amersham) withdrawn from the competition, morale in the Newbury camp was high from the outset! The 12 year old girls Louise McFadzen, Megan Crook, Lily Glover and Emma Wedgewood opened the scoring with a fantastic victory in the medley relay. They repeated their success in the freestyle relay and by winning all their individual events 50m free (Lily Glover), 50m back (Louise McFadzen), 50m fly (Lily Glover) and 50m breast (Megan Crook). The 11 year old girls Abigail Wood, Paige Pope, Zara Ryan and Amelia Wenlock came a close 2nd in their medley relay but beat off the competition to touch first in the freestyle relay. In the individual events Zara Ryan and Paige Pope scooped 1sts in the 50m fly and 50m back respectively whilst 2nd places were claimed by Abigail Wood in the 50m free and Zara Ryan in the 50m breast. The 10 year old girls Amelia Wenlock, Amy McBride, Zara Ryan and Chloe Thurston won brilliant first place in both their medley- and freestyle relays. In addition, they picked up top spots in the individual 50m fly (Zara Ryan), 50m back (Zara Ryan), 50m free (Amelia Wenlock) and 2nd place in the 50m breast (Amy McBride). The 9 year old girls Lauren Wall, Harriet Denton, Lexi Fellows and Ellie Janowski had a great competition coming 2nd in both their relay events whilst the 9 year old boys Charlie Knight, Jamie Maughan, Matthew Pudney and Sam Praill came a respectable 3rd in both their medley and freestyle events. The mixed relay squad (Matthew Pudney, Harriet Denton, Charlie Knight, Lexi Fellows) picked up 3rd in their medley and a great 2nd place in their freestyle relay. The 10 year old boys Will Butcher, James Ibbetson, James McFadzen and Charlie Knight picked up 3rd places in both their relay events whilst James McFadzen touched first in the 50m breast and 4th in the 50m fly with Will Butcher gaining 5th in the 50m free. The 11 year old boys George Tyler, James McFadzen, Chris Regan and Sam Scholl won 4th places in both their relay events and also in the 50m fly (Chris Regan) and the 50m breast (James McFadzen). A great second place went to Chris Regan in the 50m back. The 12 year old boys Chris Regan, James O’Conner, Jafer Shah and Ben Shillam came 4th in both their relay events and also in the 50m back (Chris Regan) and the 50m breast (James O’Conner). Fifth places went to Ben Shillam (50m free) and Jafer Shah (50m fly). On this occasion, the Newbury girls outshone the boys with 14 first places compared to the boys’ 1! However, their combined talents in the final event, the squadron relay, proved to be a winning formula as well as the highlight of the gala! Harriet Denton, Charlie Knight, Zara Ryan, James McFadzen, Paige Pope, Chris Regan, Lily Glover, and Ben Shillam swam their hearts out to bring Newbury in to touch in first place to thunderous applause from the home crowd! However, despite the valiant effort of all the squad, Newbury finished the night on 189 points – 7 points short of Windsor’s 196. And, after adding these points to those awarded in Rounds 1 & 2, Newbury had sadly to settle for 2nd place (out of a total of 12 competing teams) with 588 points behind Windsor’s impressive 605. This result is still an improvement on last year when Newbury came 3rd overall so with just a little bit more effort in next year’s competition, the trophy ought to be in the Northcroft cabinet in 2010! Well done to all swimmers who took part in the final or contributed to the club’s success in the previous two rounds! Thanks are also due to coaches Jane Hester, Chris Glover, Carolyn McLeod, Derek Carley and Janet Hopkins and to Dave Mason, Giles Waddington, Chris Ryan, Ann Wenlock, Liz Pope, Chris Wedgewood and to everyone who supported the team in the league galas. |
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2009 County Championship’s Day 4 |
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| The Last day!! A still vibrant and spirited team along with the new club mascot turned out for the last three sessions of the County championships! First up the Girls youth 4 x 100 free relay team consisting off Jess, Stephanie Mangan, Holly and Lucy. A superb swim by them all against some very strong teams! The girls 400 free, 6 girls up for it, Jess finishing in 5th place with a strong swim, Charlotte in another strong field kept battling to a 10th place finish, Megan finished in a well deserved 5th, and Lily taking another one of her Pb records with 10secs and a gold medal placing, Zara just pipped again into second but with a massive 16 sec Pb, and Amelia into a bronze medal placing again with a 20 sec Pb!! The Boys 400IM, only two boys were up for this gruelling event, Aman gained another fine silver medal placing and Jake Jezzard complete with long hair gained a well deserved 4th place and a 6sec pb!! The Boys 50 back, again a small band of boys battled for placing’s, Young James finishing with fine Pb and a very good 4th place, Lucas just outside the rosette placing in 9th , Jake finishing in 8th again with another Pb and Aman making the ‘B’ final and coming home first! The Girls 50 back, again another one of those events where it’s over before you blink!! Lucy started us off with the smooth style we are used too and making the ‘A’ final, 6th in the final and 4th overall, Jess an ever bubbling swim 7th overall, Megan placed 8th and Lily making another ‘B’ final placed 7th and gold medal overall in the age group, Paige battled to a fine 4th place finish and Zara picking up a bronze medal place and Amelia placed 14th. The Boys 200 free, again some fine swims from all, James pulled a 14 sec Pb out of the bag and another 4th place finish, Lucas again valiantly gaining a 9th place, Jafer still ever consistent with a 11th place, Jake also into 11th place, finally Aman and Jacob going in the same heat pulling each other along, Aman gaining another small Pb 1 sec and a 9th, Jacob also a 1 sec pb and 11th place. The Girls 50 breast, 11 girls entered for this event. Georgia Marriott in her favoured stroke led off with a good performance and a 9th overall, Emily her third breaststroke event another pb and a rosette placing 7th! Lucy also swam a spirited race to finish 10th, Jess again still in high spirits to finish 11th , Charlotte gaining a small Pb but one none the less finishing 6th, Megan and Lily finishing in 7th and 5th respectively, Paige finishing in 12th, and the three youngest Zara, Amy and Amelia finishing in 1st , 10th and 16th respectively. Last event of the session The Boys 100IM, Aman and Jacob led off with this four stroke event Aman coming in 5th , Jacob 7th , Rory Butcher finishing in an impressive third place (sort the turns, Gold is yours!!) Jake complete with all his hair!! 6th place finish!! Lucas came in a valiant 10th and James a very creditable 5th! The last 4 boys plus Aman all getting Pb’s. Onto the last session of the County Championships! All the swimmers still with high spirits prepared for the final session. First up the Girls 100 free, Jess still with a smile turned in a strong 7th in what was a very competitive field, Georgia also finishing strong in 7th just a blur!!! Lucy still battling finished 12th, Holly also kept slogging away never wavering 17th, Charlotte finishing off in fine style and a 9th place, Lily and Megan rose up and finished very strongly 3rd and 5th respectively, Zara strong second place and Amelia in 3rd. The Boys 100 back, Aman’s favoured event and made the Championship ‘A’ final finishing 5th place overall with a new pb and another NQT! Jake finishing in a fine 4th place, Lucas getting a well deserved rosette placing 6th and James once again just outside the medals in 4th place all the above achieving new Pb’s! The girls 200 butterfly, a lone figure swam majestically………….Zara!! 1st place once again and 17 sec Pb, and yet another County Record!!! The Boys 50 free, probably the quickest event of the Championships!! Jacob blasted out of the blocks but was disappointed with his time and his 13th place there’s always next year! Rory and Jake finishing in 7th and 14th place’s both with impressive Pb’s. Lucas and James both finishing in 9th but again both with Pb’s!! The last event!!!! The Girls 100 IM, never a faltering swimmer and the team never stopped smiling!! Emily, Lucy, Holly, Jess, Charlotte, Megan, Lily, Abigail, Paige, Amy, Amelia and Zara all shone throughout!! All swam with style and grit It was the last event and they went all out, with 8th, 4th, 15th, 6th, 9th, 5th, 1st, 11th, 5th, 11th, 4th, and finally another 1st place!! The two outstanding swimmers were in my eyes Zara Ryan (10 & under) breaking a total of five County Records and Lily Glover (12 & under) with one County Record and who both won their respective BAGCAT age group. With a special mention to all those attending their first Counties Champs –Amy and Laura McBride, James McFadzen, Rory Butcher, Paige Pope, Abigail Wood and Amelia Wenlock who achieved a very impressive third place in BAGCATS. Zara Ryan 1st BAGCAT (10 & under) Amelia Wenlock 3rd BAGCAT Girls (10 and under) Amy McBride 15th BAGCAT (10 & under) James McFadzen 4th BAGCAT (10 & under) Lucas Schreiber 13th BAGCAT (11 & under) Paige Pope 12th BAGCAT (11 & under) Abigail Wood 19th BAGCAT (11 & under) Jafer Shah 16th BAGCAT (12 & under) Lily Glover 1st BAGCAT (12 & under) Megan Crook 7th BAGCAT (12 & under) Louise McFadzen 9th BAGCAT (12 & under) Laura McBride 30th BAGCAT (12 & under) Jake Jezzard 9th BAGCAT (13 & under) Rory Butcher 13th BAGCAT (12 & under) Charlotte Preston-Howes 13th BAGCAT (13 & under) Menna Chmielewski 25th BAGCAT (13 & under) Thanks go to Derek and Carolyn - coaches for the County’s And finally to all you parents who sat tirelessly through all the swimmers events, encouraging and consoling!! I thank you all!!! |
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2009 County Championship’s Day 3 |
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| Day 3 the 800 and 1500 girls and boys, A small representation of swimmers gathered at Aldershot for these Long Course distance events, Namely Aman, Jess, Holly, Charlotte and Zara. First the girls 800m Free, Zara battled valiantly to a fine silver place finish and a huge 35sec pb!!! Then Charlotte with a super bronze medal placing!! Aman, the only boy to swim gained a silver medal place in both the age group event and the County championship! With a NQT to boot. The 1500 Holly led the way with a fine a spirited performance to gain the Gold medal place in her age group! Jess followed with a super fine performance with a 4th overall placing! |
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2009 County Championship’s Day 2 |
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| Day 2 started as we left day 1!! First the girls 11 & Under 4 x 50m medley relay, Zara Ryan, Amelia Wenlock, Paige Pope and Amy McBride with a fine 3rd place. Great start by the girls, and there was more to come! Second event of the day, one event I admire any swimmer for was the 200IM, Zara claiming another county record and a gold medal win, with an impressive 2:46:1, Amelia a very creditable 4th place and Amy a fine 7th place finish. Lily also claimed the gold medal and a new PB, Lou Lou taking 6 secs of her posted time and Megan still suffering the effects of her illness with a valiant effort, placed 9th and 13th respectively. Menna, Charlotte, Jessica, Holly and Lucy all competed and fine performances by them all in a competitive field 11th, 12th, 9th, 14th and 7th . The girls 11 & under relay team once more stepped up for the freestyle and again a spirited performance resulting in 6th place. The Boys 100 free, James McFadzen, Luke Schreiber, Rory Butcher, Jake Jezzard, Jacob Glanville and Tom Howes, competed in a vigorous test of stamina over a short distance and finishing with 6th, 7th, 7th, 14th, 14th, and 24th. The boys put on a fine display in an extremely competitive event. On to the girls 100 Breaststroke, an event swam in reverse order as most were with the fastest going first! Emily Herbert her first appearance of the competition and ripping a 2 sec PB, after not competing for over a year testament to the hard work she has put in and a 6th place! Lucy and Holly 9th and 10th respectively, Jess just outside her best but a fine 8th place. Menna unfortunately moved on the blocks arrrgh!!! Charlotte finished a creditable 8th again in a tightly contested age group. Lily not a favoured event but one she has been working on gaining gold and a 3 sec PB Megan again with a fine performance and a rosette for 6th. Paige obtained a very smooth placed 4th and then the 10year old threesome of Zara, Amelia and Amy all with new Pb’s and a Gold, 12th place and 9th. The boys 50 breast stroke, Young James pulled out an impressive Silver medal placed swim and a 2 sec Pb! Luke feeling a little under the weather swam his heart out just outside a rosette place in 9th, Rory finishing in 6th (need to work on those turns!!) Again, Jacob not at his best but managed to get himself into the ‘B’final finishing 3rd and a valiant 7th place overall! The girls 200 back, the penultimate event of the first session of day two, Lucy, Jess and Lily all in the same heat, they all swam with smoothness and consistency with Silver, Bronze and Gold, then Bronze for Lily in the Junior Championship’s and a 4.5 sec pb! The 200 Butterfly, Aman and Jafer the only two representatives from the club and the ever cranking Jafer just kept on going to a well deserved 4th place, and Aman a creditable silver medal placed swim, and 3rd overall in the Senior County Champs. Session 2 Again swimmers in fine spirits and ready to step up again! Another whirlwind event the 50 Butterfly, Tom winning the ‘B’ final and finishing in 8th overall, Jacob a 10th place very disappointing for him. Jake obtaining a 7th place rosette and last but by no means least was young James, a fine 8th place. Girls 100 Butterfly, the girls gamely stepped up again with Melisa, a very creditable 4th, Lily making the ‘B’ final finishing in 7th, and a fine 1st, place overall, Lou Lou, 6th, Megan, 9th, Paige a bronze medal finish and Zara another 1st place finish and another County Record. The Boys 400 free, all set off in this event looking for glory! Aman ever consistent 4th led off, Jacob again suffering came in 16th, followed by Jake 7th, Jafer 5th and Lucas a creditable 8th place, all rosette winners. Last event of the day the girls 200 breaststroke, with ten of the girls competing we were set, what followed was testament to the stamina of the girls!! Emily in her second favoured event pulled out fine 4th place and a 5sec Pb! Jess a battling 8th place and another 5sec Pb!! Menna (still this time!) ripped a fine 11 second Pb and 4th place!! Charlotte not quite getting on the boil but a good swim none the less and 11th place, Megan sill suffering but battled valiantly to a 4th place finish, Lily with a very powerful swim and pulled another 9 secs of her time to a gold medal place, then Paige however walloped her time by a massive 12 secs!!! Just outside the rosette placing!! Which left Zara, Amy and Amelia, again pb times fell with Zara 3 sec, Amy 5 secs and Amelia a 12sec (must be something in the water!!!!) and placed 1st, 8th and 12th respectively. |
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2009 County Championships - Day 1 |
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| 28th Feb, the County Champs started with the first event of the day, the boys 11 & under 4 x 50 medley relay team. the boys were led off by George Tyler then followed by Iain Bruce, James McFadzen and Sam Scholl, the boys first county event and finished a creditable 8th place to earn the first rosettes of the day. The second event was the girls BAGCAT 4 x 100 F’Style relay team comprising of Louise McFadzen, Megan Crook, Lily Glover and Zara Ryan coming in a very close 4th place. What a great first session to start, spirits started to rise as the fiercely competitive squad started their onslaught of the club record books!! The boys getting into the 200IM, Aman, Rory and first time entry for spirited James McFadzen! Aman 6th and Rory 13th coming home with good P.B’s and James follows with a creditable 5th place. The second batch of relays and the end of the first session saw the girls and boys, again pick up another rosette each in the 4 x 100 Girls BAGCAT medley relay, with Louise, Megan, Lily and Paige Pope coming in 7th. And the boys in the 4 x 50 F’Style relay with George, James, Iain and Sam. Second session as the first we were of to a great start as the swimmers swam in reverse so the fastest went first to the slowest allowing finalists to recover, Lucy Singleton qualified for the ‘B’Final of the Girls 100 open backstroke, and competing in the final, put on another fine performance with a very smooth and well paced final to finish 7th overall. Jess Francis came 6th, Lily Glover winning the gold medal and a new pb in the 12 and under age group along with Loulou, Megan , 4th, 8th and a very well earned bronze medal for Paige, again all with new pb’s respectively and Zara and Amelia in the 10 and under also taking 4 and 9 second off their previous pb‘s and silver for Zara and a fine 5th for Amelia. The boys in the 100 breaststroke, Jacob Glanville dogged by illness this season put on a fine performance, not at his best and his lack of training showing, but still in there fighting!! Rory Butcher and Jake Jezzard put on fine performances and gaining 8th and 10th respectively and again pb’s however small, you take them fella’s!! James McFadzen then pulls out all the stops with a 9 second pb and a new club record, one which has stood since 1999 (the year he was born!!) way to go!! The 50 freestyle event, just a blur as this is swum at such speed for all swimmers, Jess, Georgia ,Lily, Lucy, Megan, Holly, Charlotte, LouLou, Paige, Lizzy Shore, Chloe Thurston, Abigail Wood , Zara, Amelia and the ever fizzing Melisa Mason ….9th, 8th, 2nd, 15th, 6th, 18th, 17th, 11th, 17th, 24th, 25th, 6th, 1st, 7th, 12th respectively!! The Boys 200 backstroke again provided us with exciting and very competitive swim starting with Aman a very creditable second place in the 15/16 age group, matching his GB Champs qualifying time (which takes place next week), and was on the rostrum claiming 3rd place in the Senior County Champs. Rory took 6 seconds off his PB and a 7th place finish. Jake coming in 9th, Jafer taking just under 4secs of his pb and a 8th place finish. James again fizzing up and down the pool again with a 7th place finish The girls 400IM, what can be said about the most gruelling event of the session but all three girls in majestic form!! Zara Ryan claimed gold and a new county record with a magnificent display and huge personal best time of 5:50:31, 15 seconds off her entered time, what a swim! Lily also claimed the gold and a PB, another majestic display of IM swimming! Megan also in fine form taking a very well earned 5th place. I take my hat off to those girls!! Session three carried on in the same dazzling form from all our swimmers the boys 100 butterfly with Tom Howes, Jacob Glanville and Jake Jezzard 8th, 10th and 7th respectively. Tom did make the B Final but unfortunately had to leave, spirited performances by the boys! The girls 50 butterfly, another splash and dash event with Lily, Zara, Melisa, Jessica, Holly, Megan, Charlotte, LouLou, Laura McBride, Amelia and Amy McBride. 3rd, 1st, 8th, 9th, 11th, 8th, 11th, 10th, 14t, 14th, 15th respectively. Zara taking another club record to boot as well as the gold medal Lily picking up a bronze. Boys 200 breaststroke, possibly the second best swim of the day was James’s 35 second PB and a new club record. He maintained form throughout and was superb! Jake also completed the 200 in fine style just outside his posted time. The last event of the day and a very battle weary squad, who had not lost any of the enthusiasm which they started with. Jess, Lily, Charlotte, Megan, Holly Melisa, LouLou, Menna and Amelia.8th, 4th, 9th, 5th, 17th, 1st, 10th, 8th, 22nd, 3rd.another majestic swim by Zara at the end of the day, showing no signs of fatigue, along with Amelia who paced her race exceptionally well! Lily being pipped at the finish! Charlotte putting in her best performance of the day with a 7 sec pb, LouLou also putting in a superb 6 sec pb to finish off an excellent day. Zara has re-written the all time club records yet again with the 50 free, 200 free, 100 back and the 400IM although we don’t have age group records for this event!! James McFadzen has taken the 100 br and the 200 br ( the 100 has been in place since 1999 the year he was born!) Aman has lowered the 200 backstroke yet again! So in closing the following have all gained regional qualifying times, Zara, LouLou, Paige, Lily, Megan, James and Amelia. Well done to you all!! |
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Victory for Newbury in Round 2 of the Thames Valley Junior League |
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| After the disappointment of having to settle for second place in Round 1 (Northcroft, 10 January), victory over nearest rival Chalfont was particularly sweet for Newbury at Round 2 of the gala in Reading on February 7th. Twenty-eight of Newbury’s junior swimmers, aged 9-12, faced tough opposition from Reading, Maidenhead, Tilehurst, Wycombe and Chalfont in a total of 43 events. Having finished strongly in the previous round, Newbury was hopeful of doing well but our young squad* surpassed all expectations achieving 1st, 2nd, or 3rd places in 35 of the 43 events! (*Cara Brincat, Elliot Brincat, Iain Bruce, Megan Crook, Harriet Denton, Lexi Fellows, Lily Glover, Ben Hall, James Ibbetson, Ellie Janowski, Charlie Knight, James McFadzen, Louise McFadzen, Paige Pope, Matthew Pudney, Chris Regan, Zara Ryan, Yasmin Ryder, Sam Scholl, Jafer Shah, Ben Shillam, Lizzy Shore, Chloe Thurston, George Tyler, Lauren Wall, Emma Wedgewood, Amelia Wenlock and Abigail Wood.) The event got off to a great start with a win for our 12 year old girls medley relay team (Loulou, Megan, Lily, Emma) - a victory echoed by our 11 year old girls medley relay team (Abigail, Paige, Zara, Yasmin) . Further triumphs followed in the 11 year girls 50m fly (Zara), the 12 year girls 50m free (Lily), the 10 year girls 50m fly (Zara), the 12 year girls 50m back (Loulou), the 10 year girls 50 back (Zara), the 12 year girls 50m fly (Lily), the 11 year girls 50m back (Paige), the 11 year boys 50m back (Chris), the 12 year girls 50m breast (Megan), the 10 year girls freestyle relay team (Amelia, Lizzy, Chloe, Zara), the 11 year girls freestyle relay team (Paige, Yasmin, Abigail, Zara), and the 12 year girls freestyle relay team (Megan, Loulou, Emma, Lily). Just pipped into second place were the 10 year girls medley relay team (Amelia, Chloe, Zara, Lizzy), the 10 year boys medley relay team (Iain, James M, Ben H, Elliot), the 11 year boys medley relay team (George, James M, Chris, Sam), the 9 year girls medley relay team (Lauren, Harriet, Lexi, Ellie), the 9 year boys medley relay (Charlie, Iain, Ben H, Matthew), the 10 year boys 50m breast (James M), the 12 year boys 50m free (Ben S), the 9 year mixed relay team (Ian, Harriet, Ben H, Lexi), the 12 year girls 50m free (Abigail), the 9 year mixed medley relay team (Iain, Harriet, Ben, Lexi), the 10 year girls 50m free (Amelia), the 9 year boys freestyle relay (Iain, Matthew, Charlie, Ben H), the 10 year boys freestyle relay team (Iain, Ben H, Elliot, James M), the 12 year boys freestyle relay team (Jafer, Sam, James M, Chris) and the very exciting final event the squadron relay (Lexi, Iain, Zara, James, Paige, Chris, Lily, Ben) was only narrowly lost to hosts Reading! The 11 year boys 50m fly (Chris), 10 year boys 50m fly (James M), the 9 year girls freestyle relay (Harriet, Lauren, Lexi, Cara) and the 11 year boys freestyle relay (George, Sam, James M, Chris) were all awarded very respectable third places. This was a fast-moving and very exciting event where all the squad swam exceptionally well to give Newbury overall victory, but Zara, Chris, James M, Ben H, Charlie and Iain, who all successfully swam up an age group, deserve a special mention as do the youngest squad members, Lauren, Harriet, Cara, Lexi, Ellie, Charlie, Matthew, Ben, Iain and Elliot who were making only their second appearance at a club gala and showed no sign of nerves with their confident swims. Thanks are also due to coaches Carolyn, Jane and Chris, to Janet Hopkins and Dave Mason, to whips Anne Wenlock and Chris Ryan as well as to family and friends for their support. A great team spirit also helped the squad to their fantastic result which saw Newbury amassing a points total of 203 giving the team a clear lead of 26 points over nearest Round 2 rival, Chalfont!! This score, when added to the 180 points secured in Round 1, puts Newbury in 2nd place out of the 12 teams competing in the league and qualifies the squad for the “A” final (top 6 teams). This is due to take place at Northcroft on 4th April when the team will hopefully continue their winning streak against fellow finalists Windsor, Chalfont, Amersham “A”, Wycombe and Slough. Well done and Good Luck everyone!! For further information on the Thames Valley Junior League see www.tvjl.org.uk |
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Aman shines through a Gold fest at Wycombe Open Meet |
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| This Level 2 long course meet was held at Wycombe Sports Centre’s 50m pool over the weekend of 14th & 15th Feb. A total of 14 Newbury swimmers attended over the two days. The best haul yet by the club at this meet, bringing home an impressive 16 Gold, 6 Silver and 3 Bronze from a small squad of swimmers. Throughout the meet there were so many impressive performances, Megan Crook dominated her 11 year old age group on the Saturday (her Mum still kicking herself for not entering both days) bringing home 5 golds and 1 silver from six events. Zara Ryan claimed 3 gold from 3 events, and she was magestic in 200m Fly, knocking some 17 secs off her PB in 2:56.10, beating her nearest rival by over 34secs! Gaining an automatic South East Regional qualifying time along the way. But performance of the meet has to go to Aman Shah, he was magnificent in his 200m backstroke, aiming for a qualifying time at the National Youth Championships in August having just missed by fractions at his last two meets, but also a British Championships time (in March) which has to be achieved at a Long Course 50m meet. He was up against another swimmer in his age group aiming for the same qualification times, and Aman came home ahead of his rival in a staggering 2:13.19 which was a massive PB, knocking over 3 secs off his best. Needless to say he qualified for both Nationals and British Champs. So much for it being a slow pool Aman, can’t use that excuse again!! These impressive performances outshone a few other very good achievements and milestones, Amelia Wenlock winning gold in 200m freestyle and claiming a South East Regional a base qualification for the first time, as did Jacob Glanville in 50m fly (first time in this event) along with Tom Howes in 17+ age group both collecting gold medals. Senior girls captain Holly Argent stuck to her task consistently, contributing valuable points to the team and was third highest point scorer (108) closely followed by junior boys captain Ben Shillam (102) and neither were that far behind Megan (117) and Jacob (129). Melisa Mason and Jessica Francis battled valiantly, with Jess managing a very good PB in 50 breast, and Jafer Shah making two excellent PB’s in 100 back and 200m free. It was great to see first timers at a Level 2 meet (to my knowledge) Amy and Laura McBride along with Lucy Wilkins, all achieving very good PB’s. Gold Medal Winners: Megan Crook (6) in 200 & 400I.M, 100 & 200 breast, 50 free, Zara Ryan (3) 200back, 400 free and 200 fly, Melisa Mason (2) 100 fly and 100m free, Tom Howes (2) 50 and 100 fly, Jacob Glanville (2) 50 & 100 fly, Amelia Wenlock, 200 free and Aman Shah 200 back Silver Medal Winners: Aman Shah (2) 100 back and 200 free, Melisa Mason - 50 fly, Megan Crook - 50 fly, Jacob Glanville – 100 free and Amelia Wenlock – 400 free. Bronze Medal Winners: Tom Howes – 50 back, Jacob Glanville – 50 free and Melisa Mason – 200 I.M. I think this was another great performance by our swimmers, in their final competition before the County Championships which start on 28th February. The full results are available on the Wycombe District Swimming Club web site. www.wycombe-swimming.org.uk Our club results available here As this meet was a licensed ASA meet, the results will eventually appear in the ASA rankings database click here Many thanks to Derek (Saturday) and Carolyn (Sunday) the coaches who supported the swimmers at the event, also Dave Mason (Timekeeper). |
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Lily Glover shares Top Girl honours at Windsor Centenary Open meet |
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| A small but fiery competition squad of 11 Newbury swimmers came away from the two day Windsor Centenary Level 2 Licensed Open meet on the 24th and 25th January with a haul of 33 medals with impressive and sometimes phenomenal personal best times!!. As always it was a time consuming two days with no complaints from any of our small but competitive squad. Newbury for the second year claimed a major prize, and this was down to 12 year old Lily Glover who totalled 67 points and was awarded the joint overall Top Girl prize (out of approx 300+ swimmers), they both received a Cup and a voucher for ‘skins’ from Mailsports, the award sponsor Performance of the weekend goes to Lily, she recorded an impressive 2 Gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze and a fourth place in her 10 events and raced exceptionally well, although most of her PB’s were small ones she thoroughly deserved her Top Girl prize. 4th overall was Megan Crook with 6 medals from her 10 events 1 gold 3 silver and 2 bronze, and in 6th was Jessica Francis, also picking up 5 medals from her 6 events 2 Gold and two silver and a bronze let us not forget the Newbury team swimmers who ALL competed exceptionally well! Throughout the meet there were magnificent swims from every participant. The weekend started with the 400free and saw the girls start us off well, 3rd place to Jess, Jess then dominated the 100 and the 200 Backstroke. Jake Jezzard started the boys off in the 100 breast and then pulled out the stops and achieved a massive 22 second Pb in the 200 breaststroke! This was preceded by Aman Shah swimming some thoroughly deserved P.B.s, although early in the season just missing the national qualifying time by 2/100ths in the 200 backstroke (needed more weetabix!!) This was then followed by Megan and Lily going head to head in their continual breaststroke battle, Lily taking the 100 breast and the 200 was taken by Megan in a fiercely contested swim right until the last 5metres!! Exciting stuff!! Holly and Melisa ever reliable, kept battling away although not their best swims still managed a smile and kept upbeat both showing there character as club captains! Both bringing home a bronze medal and well deserved! (Melisa ex-club captain but, still gave encouragement!) Lou Lou came in and waited and waited for her events and showed her potential, in the 100 backstroke against good competition! Chris Regan, the pocket rocket kept his winning ways although swims not up to his standard he still came away with a handful of medals 3 Gold’s and 2 Silvers!! And a very firm hand shake!! Jafer …….still asleep managed to find his way to the blocks and be the ever consistent swimmer, and George Walters the ever smiling George, came away with 3 very impressive P.B’s in the 100 and 200 breast and the 100 free. Well done to you all thanks as always for your undying enthusiasm, determination and company, Thanks also to the parents who keep us company and help put the smiles back!! Derek for his assistance on the Saturday and Dave Mason for his officiating! Gold medal winners: Lily Glover (100 Fly 200 Back) Jessica Francis (200 Back 100 Back) Megan Crook (100 Breast) Aman Shah (400 IM 200 Back) Chris Regan (200 Fly 200 IM 200 Back) Silver: Lily Glover (200 IM 50 Free 400IM 100 Free) Jessica Francis (200IM 50 Free 200 Free) Megan Crook (200IM 200 Breast 400IM) Aman Shah (100 back) Chris Regan (200 Free 200 Breast) Bronze: Lily Glover (100 Breast 200 Breast 100 Back) Jessica Francis (400 Free) Megan Crook (100 Fly 100 Free) Aman Shah (400 Free) Jake Jezzard (200 Fly) Holly Argent (400IM) Melissa Mason (100 Fly) Full club results are available click here |
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Round 1 of the Thames Valley Junior League |
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| Thirty-one Newbury swimmers, aged 9-12, faced the visiting teams of Amersham “A”, Maidenhead, Chesham, Chalfont and Bracknell & Wokingham in the first round of the TVJL at Northcroft on Saturday 10 January. Having finished 3rd in the “A” final last year, Newbury was hopeful of doing well but our young squad* surpassed all expectations achieving 1st, 2nd, or 3rd places in 34 of the 43 events!! (*Cara Brincat, Elliot Brincat, Ian Bruce, Megan Crook, Harriet Denton, Lexi Fellows, Lily Glover, Ben Hall, James Ibbetson, Ellie Janowski, Charlie Knight, James McFadzen, Louise McFadzen, James O’Connor, Paige Pope, Marcus Prendeville, Matthew Pudney, Chris Regan, Zara Ryan, Yasmin Ryder, Sam Scholl, Luc Schreiber, Jafer Shah, Chloe Thurston, Emily Tulloch, George Tyler, Lauren Wall, Tom Warne, Emma Wedgewood and Amelia Wenlock.) The event kicked off well with our 12 year old girls medley relay team (Loulou, Megan, Lily, Emma) beating the field a victory echoed by our 10 year old girls medley relay team (Amelia, Chloe, Zara, Emily) and 11 year old girls medley relay team (Paige, Megan, Zara, Abigail) . Further victories were captured in the 10 year girls 50m breast (Amelia), the 12 year girls 50m free (Lily), the 10 year girls 50m fly (Zara), the 11 year girls 50m free (Megan), the 12 year girls 50m back (Loulou), the 10 year girls 50 back (Zara), the 11 year girls 50m breast (Megan), the 12 year girls 50m fly (Lily), the 10 year girls 50m free (Amelia), the 11 year girls 50m back (Paige), the 11 year boys 50m back (Chris), the 12 year girls 50m breast (Megan), the 10 year girls freestyle relay team (Amelia, Chloe, Emily, Zara), the 11 year girls freestyle relay team (Paige, Yasmin, Abigail, Megan) and the 12 year girls freestyle relay team (Megan, Loulou, Emma, Lily). Solid second places went to the 12 year boys medley relay team (Chris, James O, Jafer, Luc), the 11 year boys medley relay team (Chris, Sam, Luc, George), the 9 year boys medley relay team (Charlie, Ian, Ben, Matthew), the 11 year girls 50m fly (Zara), the 9 year mixed relay team (Ian, Harriet, Ben, Lexi), the 11 year boys 50m free (Luc), 12 year boys 50m back (Chris), 9 year mixed medley relay team (Ian, Harriet, Ben, Lexi) 9 year boys freestyle relay team (Ian, Matthew, Charlie, Ben), the 11 year boys freestyle relay team (George, Sam, Luc, Chris), 8 x 25 squadron relay team (Harriet, Ben, Zara, James M, Megan, Luc, Lily, James O) and respectable third places were awarded to 10 year boys medley relay team (Ian, James M, Ben, Charlie), 9 year girls medley relay team (Lauren, Harriet, Lexi, Ellie), 10 year boys 50m breast (James M), 12 year boys 50m breast (James O), 10 year boys freestyle relay team (Ian, Charlie, Elliot, James M). This was a fast-moving and very exciting event where all the squad swam fantastically well to give Newbury overall victory but the following swimmers deserve a special mention: Megan Crook who contributed, or was responsible for, 7 (!) of our first places. Zara, Chris, Luc, George, Ben, Charlie and Ian who all successfully swam up an age group. And last but not least our youngest squad members, Lauren, Harriet, Cara, Lexi, Ellie, Charlie, Matthew, Ben, and Ian who together with Elliot and James O were making their first appearance at a club gala and showed no sign of nerves with their strong swims. Thanks are also due to all the coaches, club officials and family and friends whose support combined with a great team spirit and performance resulted in Newbury amassing a points total of 209 by the end of the meet giving us a clear lead of 13 points over our nearest rival, Chalfont!! The squad now has every good reason to look forward to Round 2 of the league which will take place in Amersham on 7 February! N.B. Results from Round 1 are expected to be ratified by 19 January and posted soon after. For further information on the Thames Valley Junior League see www.tvjl.org.uk Unfortunately, due to an oversight, we had a swimmer who was actually overage (by just 4 days!) in the 11 years age group, so big apologies to Megan who swam briliantly all evening. The results on the TVL web site reflect the corrected situation. So it means we finish second, but you all know that you can win. So good luck in Round 2. - NG |
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DOUBLE TOP STARTS THE NEW YEAR OFF WELL!! |
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| It was a very worthwhile New Year trip to Abingdon Vale on Sunday 4th Jan for Newbury’s 31-strong contingent – who attained an impressive tally of 11 speeding tickets, 11 gold medals, 8, silver, 4, bronze and claimed some new times and greatly improved on their P.B.s. To top that and congratulations, we had both top boys, Jake Jezzard and Ben Hall in their age groups!! Out of the 139 swims 59 were P.B’s, little or small they bagged them all!! And only 3 DQ's, we're getting better!!! Swims of note, and there were many. Paige Pope who tore a huge 9 secs out of her 200 IM and the same again in the 100 fly!! Louise McFadzen also gained a huge 5 sec PB but picked up speeding ticket in the 200 IM also! Amelia Wenlock not to be out done picked up 4 speeding tickets and continued to smile even during races!!! We had a 1, 2, 4 in the girls 50 free but all picked up speeding tickets once again well done to Lizzy, Chloe and Amy! The Walker sister’s kept on chipping away at their P.B.s, however small take them all!! Of course we had Giverny hampered in her 100 free with chipped nail varnish!! (Sorry Giverny)!!! But still managed silver!! The boys also had their moments, swimmer of note Iain Bruce in his first External gala picking up 2 speeding tickets and 2 gold medals in the 50 fly and the 100 IM, Nathan Crook swam his socks off again, Harry Willingdale picked up two very good P.B.s; young Matt Pudney an impressive 4th place in the 100IM, also Tom Warne who picked up a 3 sec P.B. George Walters achieved a good time and a P.B to boot in the 100 fly! Not forgetting Ben and Jake who were top boys, both swam consistently (I think Bens first external Gala with Newbury) Jake put in four very consistent swims, for him, his best the 100 breast with nearly a three second P.B! So many swimmers I have mentioned, but lets not forget the other team members who also swam their hearts out, Laura McBride, Charlotte Holden, Lucy Wilkins, Sam Scholl (another smiler when swimming!),Katie and James Ibbotson, Ben Shillam, Holly and Elysia Britton, Brooklyn Spearing, Yasmin Ryder, Jenny Pudney, Serina Coe, Hannah Waddington and last but certainly not least Hannah Wenlock. Speeding tickets (i.e. they swam faster than the specified fastest permissible time for their event and age group) went to Amelia Wenlock (4), Iain Bruce (2), Louise McFadzen (2 and a Time Trial), Lizzy Shore (1), Chloe Thurston (1), Amy McBride (1). Gold medals were scooped by Sam Walker (3), Iain Bruce (2), Charlotte Walker, Jake Jezzard, Chloe Thurston, Louise McFadzen and Amy McBride. Silver medals went to Jake Jezzard (3), Giverny Barrett (2), Ben Hall, Sam Walker and Jafer Shah, and finally Bronze, Paige Pope (2), Jake Jezzard, and Charlotte Walker. There were some hectic moments when we had 4 swimmers in one race and only three watches!!! My thanks as always go to the swimmers whose humour and dedication does them proud, not forgetting all these consistent performances they keep putting in, and of course not forgetting my poolside assistants, Tony Shore and Anne Wenlock who kept me sane!! Well done and thanks to you all. Apologies: I inadvertently forgot Charlotte Walker, who won a gold medal for the 200 IM swim (added in above) Full results available at the AVSC web site here and club results with PB's on the downloads page here |
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Winning Performance in National League R3 2008 |
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| A small team of just 27 Newbury swimmers took part in the third and final round of the 2008 National League at Central Pool, Reading on Saturday evening of 13th December. This was the middle final of three separate finals taking place in Division 1 South West featuring teams lying in 7th to 12th place in the league after the first two rounds, where Newbury were in =7th place at the start. League Table after R2 This time we were up against Tilehurst (hosts), Hamble Aquatics, Havant & Waterlooville, Hart and Chesham. We felt it was going to be difficult for Newbury to maintain their 1st place ranking as we were eight first choice swimmers short before the start as a result of illnesses, and holiday season, which meant several swimmers having to swim up an age group. Lucy Singleton, then Jacob Glanville led the gala off in the 100m I.M. with Jacob posting a magnificent PB of 1:06.99 setting a new all time club record for 15yr boys in the process, picking up 3rd place whilst swimming up an age group. The 11yrs girls freestyle relay team of Paige Pope, Amelia Wenlock, Abigail Wood and Zara Ryan were superb winning their 4x50m event easily in a time of 2:17.08. We were in a lowly 5th place overall after the first phase, but the team rallied with a sublime middle phase posting some excellent individual results. First up was 11year old Paige Pope in the 50m backstroke, proving she is definately one to watch, claiming a fantastic first place and a nearly 2sec PB in 38.22. Jessica Francis claimed 2nd in her 100m backstroke individual and Aman Shah went one better with 1st in his 15&under 100m backstroke. Zara Ryan with an excellent 1st place in 50m butterfly and Lily Glover likewise in 13&under 100m backstroke again with a great PB in 1:12.89. Zara went on to claim another first place in 50m breast (not her first choice event) and Lily produced another 1st place in 13&under 100m Butterfly. Then Dave Milburn, who had set a new British Record a couple of months ago at a masters meet, swimming in his specialist breaststroke event recorded an unofficial British record time for the 100m distance in 1:08.85 breaking his own all time club record he set in 1999! By the end of this middle phase we had moved into first place overall, some seven points clear, leaving an exciting closing finale. It proved to be a real mixed bag, but yet again the 11&under girls relay team showed how it should be done, winning their 4x50 medley relay and a fine 2nd place by the 15&under medley relay team of Aman Shah, Rory Butcher, Jacob Glanville and Adrian Tucker kept us in contention, but we had slipped into second place behind Hart after the penultimate event. So it was left to the boys open 6x50m freestyle team to try and pull it out of the bag, Miles Warren led off, Tom Howes, Jacob Glanville, Dave Milburn, Aman Shah followed in quick succession and Dave Martin brought the team home in a fine second place, headed by Tilehurst but crucially Hart trailed in fifth. Newbury had done it!! It was a really exciting end to a very close gala. So, Newbury maintained 7th place in the league, three places higher than last season. Newbury had recorded 9 wins and 10 second places, actually less than our closest rivals, proving that everyone’s swims counted and best of all no DQ’s. Some truly magnificent swimming on show, a spirited team performance with everyone playing their part and it was really great to hear our team joining in with the chanting at the end, (just needs a little polish) ;-) WELL DONE to everyone for producing the best Newbury result in this league for a number of years, full club results are published on the web site. download Full Speedo League results and final table will be found here click here Many thanks to head coach Derek Carley who accompanied the swimmers, officials Janet Hopkins and Dave Mason, poolside helpers Anne Wenlock, Lotty Walker and Chris Ryan. |
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Many successes at Guildford Winter Open |
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| A small team of just 15 Newbury swimmers competed at the Spectrum Leisure complex at the Guildford City Winter Open meet over the weekend of 6th/7th December 2008. I arrived on the Sunday to be greeted with so many Newbury swimmers names over the tannoy, I was left thinking, wow what happened on Saturday!! Top 3 places in the senior girls overall, led by Lily Glover, Megan Crook and Holly Argent, Zara Ryan was 3rd overall in Junior girls and Chris Regan 6th the in boys events. So how could it get better? Well it did, but not necessarily the same swimmers, as not all continued through to the Sunday. Lily managed to repeat her success of the Summer meet and claimed top senior girl overall (they start them young at this meet), junior being 9-10 year olds and seniors above, she picked up a silver salver and £50 swimwear voucher. Megan Crook chased hard, but unfortunately didn’t complete the same number of events, but still managed to claim second overall. Neither Holly nor Zara featured on Sunday, leaving us only to imagine what might have happened. But, your right we’re not finished yet!! Lily went on to claim Top Girl BAGCAT trophy in 12 year old age group, Megan claimed second in 11 years category and Louise McFadzen claimed 3rd overall in same age group. The club finished 5th overall in the visiting club competition, considering we only had 15 swimmers there, this was a magnificent achievement, especially with so many big clubs, such as Romford, Croydon, Haslemere, Killerwhales and Wandsworth who all had over 25 swimmers competing. Individual performances are going to be difficult to pick out, but let me identify those in my view were the best performances of the meet. Starting on Saturday Aman Shah was taking part in his first 200m backstroke event of the season, bearing in mind he hasn’t been to the Nationals for two seasons in this event, missing his NQT by just 5/100ths of a second, knocking some 3 secs off his PB this early in the season!! Me thinks he’ll be there next year. Holly Argent claimed silver and a massive 14.5 sec PB in the 400IM, and young Zara Ryan claiming gold in the same event with a 6.7sec PB. Lily claimed gold and a 4 sec PB in 200m free, whilst Megan continued to show her strength in the breaststroke events by picking up gold and a 3 sec PB in 200m breast, and a 25sec PB in the 400 Free. Jake Jezzard picked up 4 PB’s from his 5 events, a 2.5 sec PB in 200m back being the pick of his bunch. Jessica Francis finally picked up a deserved PB in 200m back, and Jacob Glanville claimed an impressive PB in 50m Breast, a very punchy performance. Lily also knocked an amazing 26secs off 200m Fly to claim gold. James McFadzen in his first Level 2 meet knocked over 7 secs in 100IM, and his sister Louise who would have claimed a full house of PB’s had she not been DQ’d for the 50m Fly, her most impressive being 200m Free, a 6.5 secs improvement on her PB. Chris Regan improved his 200m Back time by over 10secs, whereas Luc Schrieber knocked a massive 3 secs of his 50m Breast time. Well done everyone for what I think was the best club performance overall at an external meet for the club that I can recall. The medal winners, bringing home a massive total of 46 medals, were:- Gold: Lily Glover (400IM, 200m Free, 200IM, 100m Fly, 200m Back, 200m Fly), Lucy Singleton (50m Back and 100IM), Zara Ryan (400IM), Megan Crook (200m Breast and 400m Free), Holly Argent (100m Breast), Aman Shah (200m Back) Silver: Holly Argent (400IM, 50m Fly, 100m Fly), Megan Crook (100m Free, 100m Breast, 200m Free), Lily Glover (200m Free, 200IM, 100m Fly), Chris Regan (200m Back, 50m Back), Aman Shah (100m Back, 400m Free), Lucy Singleton (100m Back, 200m Back), Zara Ryan (200IM) Bronze: Megan Crook (400IM, 200IM, 100IM, 50m Breast), Lily Glover (100m Free, 50m Breast), Jacob Glanville (200m Breast, 50m Breast), James McFadzen (50m Free, 50m Breast), Louise McFadzen (100m Back, 50m Back), Zara Ryan (200m Free, 200m Breast), Holly Argent (200IM), Jessica Francis (50m Back), Aman Shah (200IM) Marco Loughran was again doing some impressive exhibition swimming in the backstroke for his team Guildford, this time along with team mate Rachel Solway who represented GB at the European Juniors in the Breaststroke, but encouragingly (for the younger swimmers) was competing legitimately in this Level 2 meet in some events. Thanks to Chris Glover who was coach poolside supporting the swimmers. |
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Club Championships 2008 |
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| Well, we’re now through three rounds of this years Club Champs, and there have been an unprecedented number of entries, coupled with some magnificent swimming, resulting in so many PB’s and records, I don’t know where to start. Without doubt, it really must start with one of our most promising young swimmers at the club, still only aged 10, who has collected their ninth (yes ninth!!) Club Champs records out of only eleven age group events so far completed. Amongst them, three are All Time Club records – 200m Back, 100m Fly and 200m Fly…..so no prizes for working out who…..a MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS goes to…………………. …….Zara Ryan!!. I must admit it begs the question what happened in the other two events? Well, a meagre 3 tenths short of the 100m Free, but a little distant 4 secs off 100m breast (OK so not perhaps her strongest stroke)….but both these results still represented a 3.5sec PB. What can I say, just staggering! Well done Zara! What is more, there were no less than a total of 32 Club Champs records broken so far (with the distance freestyle events still to go), incredible! So, who were the ‘other’ record breakers? In a particular order, i.e. most first: Megan Crook with four: 100m I.M., 100m Breast, 200 I.M. and 400m I.M. (that awesome and wonderfully aggressive breaststroke claiming all of these) Chris Regan with three: 100m and 200m Back along with the gruelling 400m I.M. Lucy Singleton with two: 100m and 200m backstroke Aman Shah with two as well: ….exactly the same as Lucy! Daryl Payne also with two: 100m Fly (to be expected) and 100m Back (now where did that come from? David will be miffed when he comes back at Christmas!!) With one each: Lily Glover: 400 I.M. (that was an amazing swim, one of the few I managed to see) Melisa Mason: 100m Fly (just so dependable on that stroke) Serina Coe: Sprinters 50m Free (perhaps a tad unexpected? but definitely well deserved) Caitlin Bancroft: 25m Breaststroke (yes, you equalled the old record) Jacob Glanville: 100m Fly (this is your new best stroke! Watch out Daryl!) Marcus Prendiville: Sprinters 50m Back (following in illustrious shoes) Ben Hall: Cruisers 25m Fly (one of 4 swimmers breaking the old record! but of course he had to make his own record safe!!!!) Harry Willingale: Sprinters 50m Fly (main one of two record breakers!) That’s what this internal club competition is about: (almost) everyone taking part, new marks beings set, friendly competitive performances and that leads me neatly to the local secondary school relays……I must say I was impressed and relieved (thankyou teachers!) that for the first time (and long may it continue) I received every school’s entry in time to publish the teams in the program (OK so there were a few changes on the night)……and I have spoken to a few parents since, and it definitely helps to list the teams and explain a little that is going on, otherwise it is just one big noise and a chaotic series of dives, splashes and dashes. So a big well done to St Barts for retaining the same three cups from last year, I must say that was one very impressive comeback on the last leg by St Barts boys in the medley (OK, I admit I’m a little biased!) but one shouldn’t get out of the pool as if it was a training session at the end (you know what I mean, and fortunately it is no longer a disqualification offence). A BIG well done to Downs School girl’s medley relay team for picking up their first win (that I have witnessed), can we recruit the girl who finished the last leg please! So for those who were counting, the final two records went to Downs School in their girls medley relay by nearly 0.75 sec and to St Barts boys for their freestyle relay with a 1.5 secs improvement. Many thanks to all the helpers on the night, and it should go without saying, but without whose help the event wouldn’t be possible. Don’t forget the last two rounds of the Club Champs will take place on 11th and 14th December, 400m, 800m and 1500m free. In the meantime I will publish the entry forms for R4&5 soon, and wrestle with my spreadsheets to work out the overall trophy winners for the presentation evening in January! |
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National League Round 2 |
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| An early start for a long trip to Bognor Regis was the order of the day, with more or less a full strength team, but at least no last minute pull-outs this time. At one point in the early stages we were in last place, but with a string of first places we pulled back to joint 1st place against teams from Havant & Waterlooville, Basingstoke, Chesham, Hamble and of course the home team Bognor Regis. After the first of the final set of relays we were in first place on our own, but unfortunately it was not to last, as the strength in depth of the Havant & Waterlooville and Basingstoke teams meant we finished, as the very last boys 6x50m relay result showed, in third place, Havant & Waterlooville were second, sneaking ahead by 3 points, but Basingstoke pulled clear to win the last event and overall gala, some 14 points ahead. An exciting finish to a very competitive gala, our team put in a magnificent performance, with no DQ's at all (first time I can ever remember in this league), and with 9 first places and no sixth places at all. It will be interesting to see how the league placings pan out, but we are on equal points now with Havant & Waterlooville on 8 points, probably sitting comfortably in mid table, which also means we're likely to meet them again in R3. More later when I recieve the results. |
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Dave bags British Record at National Masters Champs |
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| Dave Milburn, one of NDSC’s Masters swimmers was the sole representative of the club at the asa National Masters and Senior Age Group Championships, held at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, over the weekend of October 24th to 26th. The meet didn’t start off in the best circumstances for Dave, as he was held up for over two hours on the M1 following a multiple vehicle accident, which meant he missed his first event completely – the 200m Breaststroke. However, the following day he made up for that loss, by setting a new British Record in his 45-49 years age group, in the 50m breaststroke. Coming home in a time of 32.02secs shaving some 9/100th off the previous record, beating the previous record holder in the process by taking the gold medal. Dave wrapped up his meet with a silver medal in the 100m breastroke, again surpassing the old British record in a time of 1:10.81, only to be pipped to the gold by a swimmer in another heat. It was a shame they didn’t get to swim head to head. An excellent achievement by one of our master swimmers, a truly great example to set for our younger competitive swimmers at the club. Full results are available at the asa web site click here |
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A record breaking Novice & Sprints 2008 |
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| With a record number of swimmers (117) and a record number of entries (427) for our annual Novice & Sprint gala on Sunday 13th July, an exceptional evenings swimming was on the cards. With a sizeable contingent of first time competitors taking part having recently joined the Cruisers squad, it soon became apparent that we were not going to be disappointed. A massive total of 20 gala records went tumbling, including three by two very new swimmers who only joined in the last few weeks, Iain Bruce and Tiffany Leftwich leaving their mark indelibly printed on next years programme! In addition they both picked up 3 golds (and a DQ!!) and a Gold and Silver respectively along the way. Both showing early signs of being potential club stars of the future. However, two definite stars shone, Lily Glover broke records in 3 out of her 4 events and Zara Ryan went one better with an unprecedented 4 out of 4, and she smashed each record out of sight having stepped up to the Age Groups category this year. Congratulations to all the Record breakers, (previous records in brackets), they were: Iain Bruce 25m Cruisers backstroke, 21.80 (22.09) Natasha McManus 50m Sprinters backstroke, 41.39 (43.92) Jacob Glanville, 50m Butterfly, 15-16 year age group, 29.22 (29.23) Zara Ryan, 50m Butterfly, 10&under age group, 36.83 (41.19) Lily Glover, 50m Butterfly, 11-12 age group, 35.10 (35.59) Tiffany Leftwich, 25m Cruisers breaststroke, 23.28 (23.82) James O’Conner, 50m Sprinters breaststroke, 46.48 (46.76) Christopher Regan, 50m backstroke, 10&under age group, 39.86 (41.59) Zara Ryan, 50m backstroke, 10&under age group, 39.36 (43.59) Lily Glover, 50m backstroke, 11-12 age group, 36.32 (36.42) Lucy Singleton, 50m backstroke, 15-16 age group, 33.16 (33.47) Iain Bruce, 25m Cruisers butterfly, 21.55 (25.80) Julia Warren, 50m Sprinters butterfly, 42.80 (47.70) David Martin, 50m breastroke, 17-20 age group, 33.80 (34.70) Zara Ryan, 50m breaststroke, 10&under age group, 44.43 (49.17) Julia Warren, 50m Sprinters freestyle, 34.89 (37.45) Christopher Regan, 50m freestyle, 10&under age group, 35.36 (35.38) Zara Ryan, 50m freestyle, 10&under age group, 33.67 (37.30) Lily Glover, 50m freestyle, 11-12 age group, 31.06 (32.04) Jessica Francis, 50m freestyle, 13-14 age group, 30.36 (30.37) 268 of the total of 406 swims were either new times or PB’s, an excellent achievement. So, the first stage of this year’s Club Championships is now complete, and the Sprint aggregate trophies have been allocated (winners won’t be published until the annual presentation evening next January), but I expect some of you have worked out who you are already! The gala results are available from the web site, both full meet results and results with PB’s. Many thanks to all the officials and parent helpers on the night, without whom this meet wouldn’t even be possible. I think a few more officials were actually required poolside, and the evening would have gone a little quicker. So please bear this in mind for the Club Championships later in the year, and if you have timekeeping or judging skills, you WILL be needed. |
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Newbury District Open Meet |
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| 2008 Newbury District Open Meet A total of 12 clubs and nearly 300 swimmers descended on Northcroft Leisure Centre this weekend to take part in this years Newbury District Graded Open Meet. A tight schedule loomed ahead, and it was imperative that we kept to time. 9 year old Newbury swimmer Zara Ryan stamped her mark on the meet right from the first event, picking up gold in the 10&under 100m I.M. in fine style, edging out her namesake Nicole Ryan of Reading. Whereas Lily Glover in the 11-12 years age group was a tad too fast in her 100m back (her favoured event) picking up the meets first speeding ticket. Team mates Louise McFadzen and Charlotte Preston-Howes both qualifying for the final. In the boys equivalent, Jake Jezzard not only qualified for the final by winning the heats, but also set a new meet record on the way. 14 year old Jessica Francis set the pace for the 100m freestyle event by setting a new meet record whilst winning the heats and qualifying for the final along with team mate Holly Argent. In the boys event both Henry Crosby and Aman Shah played it cool, easing their way into the final in 4th and 6th respectively. Melisa Mason qualified easily for the 15+ 100m fly final in second place in the heats. Whereas with just four swimmers, the boys managed to complete their final directly in the heats, Daryl Payne claiming gold in a new PB time of 1:02.04 and breaking the meet record to boot, with Jacob Glanville picking up the bronze and Tom Howes finishing in 4th. Zara Ryan qualified for the 10&under 50m breaststroke final and Lily Glover and Charlotte Preston-Howes both breezed into the 100m freestyle final for 11-12 age group and Jake Jezzard made it final number two in the boys 100m free. Jessica Francis went on to claim silver in the 13-14 age group 200m I.M. whilst Aman Shah and Henry Crosby managed a perfect one/two in the boys event claiming gold and silver respectively. Louise McFadzen and Charlotte Preston-Howes came home in 5th and 6th in the 11-12 years 100m back final and Jake Jezzard stuck to form and claimed gold in boys event. Melisa Mason grabbed silver in 15+ girls 100m fly final and Jessica Francis added gold to her collection in the 13-14yrs 100m freestyle final. Aman Shah claimed a fine silver medal, and a new PB in the boys event, whilst Henry Crosby finished in fourth place. Zara Ryan collected gold number two in the 10&under 50m breast final. Whereas Lily Glover was too fast again in the 100m freestyle final, allowing Charlotte Preston-Howes to pick up the gold medal. Wrapping up session 1, Jake Jezzard claimed 4th in the boys 100m free. Kicking off session two, Lucy Singleton showed her class in the 15+ girls 100m backstroke, picking up a speeding ticket in the heats, while Daryl Payne and Tom Howes both qualified for the boys final. Zara Ryan picked up a speeding ticket in the 10&under girls 50m freestyle and young James McFadzen qualified for his first ever final in the boys event. Jessica Francis and Holly Argent both qualified for the 13-14 yrs 100m fly final, likewise Aman Shah did so in the boys event. Lily Glover finally picked up a deserved gold medal in the 200 I.M. with Megan Crook and Charlotte Preston-Howes finishing in 5th and 6th. Jake Jezzard picked up a fine silver and a PB in the boys event. Zara Ryan qualifying for the 50m back as did Jessica Francis and Holly Argent for their 100m breaststroke with Henry Crosby and Tim Newton qualifying in the boys event. Lucy Singleton was the sole qualifier for the 15+ girls 100m free whereas Daryl Payne and Jacob Glanville did so for the boys event. Onto the finals, James McFadzen claimed a fine 5th place in the 50m free final. Jessica Francis and Holly Argent finished 5th and 6th in their 100m fly, whereas Aman Shah timed it perfectly picking up gold in the boys event. Daryl Payne picked up silver in the 15+ boys 100m backstroke final with Tom Howes in 5th. Zara Ryan claimed gold number three in the 50m back, whilst Jessica and Holly came home in 5th and 6th in the breaststroke final. Henry Crosby claimed his first gold in the boys event with Tim Newton finishing 6th. Finishing session two, Lucy Singleton stuck to form coming in 5th in girls 15+ freestyle final, whereas in the boys event a neat one/two gold/silver by Daryl Payne and Jacob Glanville, with Daryl setting a new meet record on the way. Lucy Singleton picked up her first medal, by claiming silver in the 15+ 200m I.M. with Melisa Mason claiming bronze and Sarah Hubbard in 6th. In the boys event, Daryl Payne claimed his third gold medal with Jacob Glanville collecting bronze, and Tom Milburn finishing 4th. Zara Ryan picked up her second speeding ticket in the 50m fly, whereas Lily Glover, Charlotte Preston-Howes and Megan Crook all qualified for the girls 100m breaststroke final. Meanwhile a very tired Jake Jezzard made it final number three in the boys event. Jessica Francis set a new meet record in the 13-14 yrs girls backstroke, qualifying fastest for the final. Whereas Aman Shah and Henry Crosby qualified for the boys final. Clare Wills and Sarah Hubbard both qualified for the 15+ girls breaststroke final, but the boys again managed to complete their final in the heats, Newbury claiming a unique one/two/three with Jacob Glanville claiming gold, Tom Milburn silver and Daryl Payne bronze. Both Lily Glover and Louise McFadzen qualified for the 11-12 girls 100m fly final, and Jake Jezzard and Jafer Shah did so for the boys final. So on to the finals, Lily Glover picked up bronze in the 100m breast and Charlotte Preston-Howes was 6th with Jake Jezzard 6th in the boys event. Jessica Francis improved on her meet record in the 100m back final, collecting her second gold, and Aman Shah smashed the meet record in the boys event whilst claiming gold, with Henry Crosby in 5th. Clare Wills picked up a fine silver in the 15+ girls 100m breast with Sarah Hubbard 6th. Finishing off a long day, Lily Glover set a new meet record in the 11-12 years 100m fly, with Megan Crook coming home in 6th. A very impressive set of records were broken, totalling a staggering 34. Rebecca O’Brien of Amersham claimed Top Girl whilst our very own Daryl Payne claimed the boys prize. Windsor were the top visiting club. Club results are available here A great many thanks go to all the volunteer officials, club helpers and coaches for making this the best Newbury Open Meet yet, until next year of course. |
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Miles Warren takes Top Boy Honours at Bournemouth |
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| A brave band of Newbury swimmers defied the Bank Holiday traffic (and pessimistic weather forecast!) to take part in the 5th Bournemouth Dolphins Junior Open Meet last Sunday, 25th May. Luckily, the trip proved worthwhile because, not only did the sun come out, but our 18 swimmers’ haul included, a Top Boy award (congratulations Miles!) 33 medals and an amazing 55 PBs!! Newbury swimmers were: Elysia Britton, Holly Britton, Rory Butcher, Menna Chmielewski, Morgan Chmielewski, Megan Crook, Nathan Crook, Emily Herbert, Katie Herbert, Sarah Hubbard, Jake Jezzard, Stephanie Mangan, Louise McFadzen, Paige Pope, Ben Shillam, Chloe Thurston, George Walters, Julia Warren and (Top Boy with a personal tally of 8 medals from 9 events!) Miles Warren. Our medal-winners* were: Gold Menna Chmielewski (50 breast, 100 breast) Emily Herbert (100 breast) Jake Jezzard (100 back, 200 free) Louise McFadzen (50 back) Miles Warren (200 free, 100 free, 50 breast) Silver Menna Chmielewski (200 IM, 200 free) Morgan Chmielewski (200 free, 100 back) Megan Crook (100 breast, 50 free) Sarah Hubbard (200 IM) Jake Jezzard (100 back, 100 free ) Stephanie Mangan (200 free, 50m free) Ben Shillam (50 back) Miles Warren (100 breast, 50 back, 50 free, 200 IM, 100 back, 50 fly) Bronze Emily Herbert (200 IM, 50 breast) Sarah Hubbard (50 breast) Jake Jezzard (50 fly) Stephanie Mangan (50 free, 200m IM) Louise McFadzen (100 back) (* apologies if any medal winners have been left out or if you’ve been attributed the wrong value medal, but Bournemouth’s placings didn’t show where speeding tickets were awarded!) Amongst the new PBs particular mention is due to: Rory Butcher who claimed 5 new PBs and recorded a massive improvement in his 200 free time. Menna Chmielewski also claimed 5 new PBs and again made her biggest improvement in the 200 free. Her brother Morgan, who despite only training in the school holidays, also managed 5 PBs as did Louise McFadzen. Three PBs each were set by Katie Herbert, Elysia Britton, Jake Jezzard, Ben Shillam and Chloe Thurston whilst Nathan Crook and Paige Pope both picked up two new PBs . Holly Britton, George Walters, Sarah Hubbard, Miles Warren and Julia Warren, who was attending her first licensed meet, all picked up a PB each. Well done everyone! As nobody left without a PB, a medal or a title, this was a great meet for Newbury swimmers. And, as the venue offered great pool-side views from the Centre café to spectators and the possibility of a post-gala-paddle-on-the-beach (even at 8pm!), this is one event worth noting for next year! Finally, thanks to Jane Hester and daughter Zoë who provided welcome support and advice to the Newbury camp throughout the day. |
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Lily Glover takes top honours at Guildford |
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| A very small team of Newbury swimmers competed at the Spectrum Leisure complex at the Guildford City Open meet over the weekend of 24th/25th May. Big congratulations go to Lily Glover for winning the Top Girl prize in the 11 & over age group for the second week running, competing in 13 events! She was presented with a silver plate and a £50 voucher from Howsat sportswear. 9 year old Zara Ryan started the team off, in what was to be a memorable day for her competing in six events and claiming 6 Gold medal winning swims. She completely rewrote her record book with six PB’s, stunning stuff! Committed and consistent in all events. She was also presented with the trophy for top point scoring 9 year old in the BAGCATS. Lily, taking a leaf out of Zara’s book, gaining not gold but silvers with the same consistency and commitment. Lily also extended her own all time Club records in 100m free, 100m back, 200m back, 100m fly and 100m IM. Luc Schreiber was also poolside and with his never ending smiles and spirit completed a very good first session. Competing in one of his first meets at this level, he was in with good 10 year olds but was never over-awed, and collected PB’s in every event. Melisa Mason swam in the 200 free and the 200 IM, not her best times but fine swims nonetheless picking up a silver and 4th place. Jacob Glanville ripped a massive PB in the 200 breaststroke claiming 5th, but unfortunately had to be quickly back in the pool for his next event, again spirited swims by him and to boot a smile!! First places: Lily Glover (200 Back), Zara Ryan (400IM, 200 Breast, 200 Free, 50 Fly, 200IM, 50 Breast) Second Places: Lily Glover (100 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 50 Back, 50 Fly, 200 IM), Melisa Mason (200 IM) Third places: Lily Glover (50 Free, 50 Breast, 100IM) Full results available on the Guildford site here or via the usual downloads page here We were also given a preview of what can be achieved by an Olympic team swimmer as Marco Loughran was swimming in the backstroke for his team Guildford, after missing out on a place in the Beijing team by 0.018 of a second!! Tough times ahead team!! He spent just under the maximum permitted allowed underwater on every length of a 200 swim, swimmers and spectators in awe of this immensely talented young man. My thanks as always go to the swimmers whose humour and dedication does them proud, not forgetting all these consistent performances they keep putting in. Well done to you all. Thanks also to Chris Ryan for his company. |
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Top Girl and Boy at Bracknell & Wokingham Open, Aldershot 18th & 19th May 2008 |
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| A small squad of 10 swimmers represented Newbury at this Level 2 Long Course Meet, at the Garrison Pool, Aldershot. The quality of swimming was excellent, with some very good PB’s achieved by not only the experienced long course swimmers but also by the newcomers to a 50m pool too. A tally of some 38 clubs from all over the south of the country competed, from Barnstaple to Canvey Island, and Northampton to Lock’s Heath, and Newbury finished in a very creditable 8th place overall considering the size of squad. BIG Congratulations! go to Lily Glover who was Top Girl in the over 11 & Under age group and Jacob Glanville who was Top Boy in the 15 year age group, both were presented with goodie bags of swim gear by Mail Sports. Lily amassing a total of 55 points from 10 events with Jacob totalling 42 from 7 events. From a total of 58 individual swims, 23 were new PB’s, and 44 were new LC PB’s, resulting in a total of 5 Gold, 4 Silver and 5 Bronze medals, or should we say laser etched crystals (very nice they are too) 1st Places: Lily Glover (50m Free, 100m & 200m Back), Jacob Glanville (100m Fly), and Holly Argent (400m I.M). 2nd Places: Jacob Glanville (200m I.M. and 100m Free), Lily Glover (200m Free) and Aman Shah (200m Back). 3rd Places: Jacob Glanville (200m Free and 200m Breast), Lily Glover (100m Free and 100m Fly), Aman Shah (100m Back) Some National times were being attempted, first by Jacob in 50m Free, but unfortunately his last chance went begging, but he put this disappointment behind him and went from strength to strength to finish with one of his best ever meet results claiming some very solid PB’s enroute against strong opposition. Aman who already has an 800m Free slot booked, was going for the 200m Back, but disappointingly missing out by just 8/100ths of a second!! Still he gets one more chance next weekend at Millfield. Let’s not forget to mention the other swimmers, Miles Warren chipped in with a new 50m Free PB. Holly Argent knocked some 13secs off her 400m I.M. time, whilst claiming 1st place. Jafer Shah plugged away in his 6 events, and secured a solid 4 sec PB in the 200m Back. Megan Crook battled bravely in a total of 11 events, but found the jump up to 11yr age group tough going after recently turning 11 herself (too many elevens’s I think!), but a very good PB in 111m Free. It was great to see a couple of new comers at this level, Louise McFadzen who claimed two very good PB’s in the 50m Free and 100m Back, and young Sam Scholl completed his very first 100m Back in competition, but managed to get DQ’d in the 50m Free, need to avoid the wobble on the blocks! The full results are published on the BWSC web site. click here and the club results on the usual download page. Thanks go to Derek Carley (Saturday) and Chris Glover (Sunday) for supporting the swimmers during the event. |
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South East Region Youth Championships 2008 May 3rd/4th |
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| Six swimmers from the club out of those that had qualified for the South East Region Youth Championships would compete this year, an event held at the Aldershot Garrison 50m pool. However only 5 competed this weekend, as Holly Argent will compete in the 1500m freestyle next weekend. First up on Saturday was Jessica Francis who had qualified for an impressive 7 events, (most events for our small contingent). She took to the blocks for the 400m freestyle, finishing in 4:58.20, she was disappointed with that time, but to put her achievement into context, she was competing as a 14 year old although still only 13 (the qualifying date was not kind to her) and was one of the youngest swimmers at the meet, and she left several 14 and 15 year olds in her wake, finishing 39th overall in her 14/15 age group. Next Jacob Glanville and David Martin took part in the 200m freestyle. Jacob winning his heat from lane 1, achieving a PB in 2:10.27 finishing 38th overall out of 61 swimmers in the 15/16 age group. Whereas David posted a time of 2:09.40 finishing 28th out of 33 swimmers in the 17+ age group. Daryl Payne then took part in his first event, 100m Fly coming in 18th out of 24 in the 17+ age group, posting a time of 1:04.11, wrapping up the first session. In the next session, Jessica produced a very good PB a time of 30.30 in the 50m freestyle, pushing her way up the rankings into 46th out 92 swimmers. Melisa Mason competed in her solitary event finishing a very respectable 7th overall in the 17+ age group for the 200m Fly in a time of 2:37.90. Jacob and Daryl went again, this time in the 100m freestyle, Jacob again winning his heat from lane 1 in what was performance of the meet in a new PB time of 58.98 a long overdue first ‘sub-60’ in a long course meet (collecting the Club’s sub-60 trophy). Daryl finished in a fine 57.49 squeaking a 1/100th second PB. The day was wrapped up by Jessica in the 100m backstroke finishing 24th in a time of 1:13.11 and David in the 200m back, posting a time of 2:20.05 finishing 8th overall in his 17+ age group. Day 2 saw Jessica take part in four events, 50m back in 34.94 (38th), 200m freestyle in 2:24.37 (61st), 100m freestyle in 1:06.68 (68th) and 200m backstroke in 2:39.73 (34th). In between Jacob and Daryl went in the 50m freestyle one length sprint, both chasing perhaps long shot National times (less than a second to find, but still a lot in this event). Jacob was in lane 1 again, but this time his luck ran out, with both swimmers coming up short in 27.29 and 26.51 respectively, but Daryl again squeaking a 2/100th second PB. Both will have further attempts before the Nationals qualification deadline. All in all, a good positive meet, with some strong performances against very strong competition featuring all of the very best swimmers in the South East of UK. Good luck to Holly next weekend in the gruelling 1500m. Club results can be found on the downloads page or click here Full results can be found at the SER web site click here Many thanks to Derek Carley for supporting the swimmers throughout the weekend. |
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6th Allan Eyles Invitation Meet - Saturday 3rd May |
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| It was a worthwhile trip to Reading on Saturday for Newbury’s 32-strong contingent – who bagged an impressive tally of 18 speeding tickets, 7 gold medals, 5 silver, 6 bronze and claimed some new times and greatly improved PBs in their combined 148 swims over 12 events! In fact out of the 148 swims 89 were PB's 30 were new swims, 13 DQ's (disappointing!) but only 16 were non PB's. That's a very high 80% of PB's or new swims, WOW!. (NG) Speeding tickets (i.e. they swam faster than the specified fastest permissible time for their event and age group) went to Amelia Wenlock (3), George Tyler (3), James McFadzen (3), Jake Jezzard (3), Paige Pope (2), Yasmin Ryder (1), Louise McFadzen (1), Ben Shillam (1). Gold medals were scooped by Jake Jezzard (2), Chloe Thurston, George Tyler, Rory Butcher, Ben Shillam and Louise McFadzen. Silver medals went to Louise McFadzen (2), Rory Butcher, James McFadzen, Marcus Prendeville and bronze medals to Ben Shillam, Hannah Wenlock, Chloe Thurston, Jake Jezzard, Will Butcher and Douglas Ember. Congratulations to all who took part for their great performances in what turned out to be a very long day! A big thank you is also due to coach Carolyn McLeod, to whips Anne Wenlock and Helen Walters and to family and friends who withstood sweltering temperatures in the stands to offer their support! Results can be found on the result downloads page or click here Full results can be found on the Reading web site click here |
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Crawley Spring Open Meet 2008 |
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| Another big meet on the swimming calendar where It attracted an unprecedented amount of entries again, resulting in many being rejected, disappointing many swimmers, including several of our own, taking just three swimmers who’s spirit was never called into question. With an early start, just two swimmers competed in only three events on the first day. Lily, in the 100 breast not a favoured event and in a very strong field gave it her all with a new long course P.B. Second, the 100 fly where she pulled out the stops seeded 11th and finished in fourth place, again with another long course P.B. Aman, up for his favoured event the 200 backstroke looking to gain his National time, a spirited performance but he just missed out by a second! Here ended a very long first day but with three swims and three P.B’s what more could I ask for!! The second day, with an extra swimmer arriving making a grand total of 3! We started as we left of. Jacob started us of with a spirited performance and the first Long course P.B of the day against good competition and also swimming up an age group. Lily, swimming in one of her up and coming events the 100 back achieved a huge P.B and finishing 5th overall her first National time for the 11 year olds, but unfortunately her birthday falls 4 days before the cut off so has to swim as a 12year old, unlucky or what!! Then the second of her four events for the day the 200 free, this was a great performance achieving another long course P.B and being pipped by 3/100ths of a second at the finish Again Jacob managed a smile for his second event as he was attempting to attain his 50 free national time. Reaction time of 0.63 seconds he ripped his way down the 50 only to miss out by less than three-quarter of a second unlucky fella!! Lily again up for her third event the 100 free and yet again achieved a new long course P.B. Probably the best swim of the day had to come from Lily (proud Dad!) the 200 back, seeded 12th and in the first heat lily left the blocks with a reaction time of 0.78, came into the first turn in 5th but went out of the turn 1st with a fantastic turn (we keep telling you!) she then proceeded to pull away on each turn going under her previous long course time by three seconds and in the process winning the Bronze medal! Aman finished the day off for us in the 800 free again aiming for his national time, this he achieved by 3 tenths of a second! Well done Aman. A fine finish to a very long two days They say that sometimes less is more and I can only say the three swimmers over the two days gave more than their all, and all are banging on the Nationals Door, some have been let in! Well done to you all, thanks for your company. |
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Jacob takes Top Boy at Shrewsbury Open |
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| Jacob Glanville was the sole club participant at the Shrewsbury Open (level 2) on Saturday April 5th, mainly because it gave him the chance to compete in front of his grandparents for the first time, but also because he was chasing a couple of last gasp Regional Qualification times, so forgive a little self indulgence for this report, but he deserves a pat on the back! First up was the 200m free, one of the Regional times he needed, unfortunately the competition in this particular event wasn’t that strong so had to pace it himself from the front, which he duly did in a time of 2:07.56, almost a length ahead of his nearest competitor, picking up the gold medal and a 2 sec PB. He went on to take a further gold in the 200m breast (another PB), silver in 200m I.M, and 100m Fly (dipping below 1:10.00 for first time) and bronze in the 100m breast and 100m Free. However, it was in the 50m free event that he also needed a Regional Qualification time after timing errors at the Counties and he achieved this mark in impressive style in 26.59 well under the qualification mark of 27.00 coming in 4th place against 15 and 16 year olds, and another PB by 6 tenths. So it was mission accomplished, but it didn’t end there as he also picked up the Top Boy prize in what was his first meet as a 15 year old, competing in the 15/16 age group to boot. It was great to see a happy Jacob for probably the first time in a season so far blighted by injuries and illness. And yes, Grandma and Grandad were suitably impressed! |
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Thames Valley Junior League (TVJL) 2008 Final |
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| After the two previous rounds which had lifted the club into 3rd place overall, NDSC supporters were expecting a thrilling conclusion for our team at the “A” final of the league at Northcroft on Saturday 29th March. They were not disappointed! Our team of swimmers from across the squads, Menna Chmielewski, Megan Crook, Lily Glover, Alexandra Maughan, Louise McFadzen, Paige Pope, Zara Ryan, Yasmin Ryder, Chloe Thurston, Emily Tulloch, Emma Wedgewood, Amelia Wenlock, Abbie Wood, Will Butcher, Andy Friday, Brett Harmse, Oliver Hicks, James Ibbetson, Jake Jezzard, James McFadzen, Chris Regan, Sam Scholl, Ben Shillam, Jafer Shah, George Tyler and Thomas Warne faced stiff competition from the 4 visiting clubs, Amersham “A”, Windsor, Wycombe and Maidenhead. In the solo events, Lily Glover picked up first place in the 11yr 50m Fly, and then went on to smash her own club record in the 11yr 50m Freestyle with a time of 31.25s! And, just missing out on the top spot in their events, solid second places went to Chris Regan in the 10yr 50m Fly, Jake Jezzard in the 12yr 50m Back, Louise McFadzen in the 11yr 50m Back and Jafer Shah in the 11yr 50m Back. The team events were particularly exciting and the 11yr Boys Medley Relay Team (Chris Regan, Thomas Warne, Jafer Shah and Ben Shillam) the 9yr Girls Medley relay team (Amelia Wenlock, Chloe Thurston, Zara Ryan, Emily Tulloch), the 9yr Mixed Freestyle Relay (George Tyler, Amelia Wenlock, James McFadzen, Zara Ryan) and the 12yr Boys Freestyle Relay Team (Andy Friday, Jake Jezzard, Ben Shillam, Brett Harmse) all claimed well-deserved second places. A fantastic team win went to the 9yr Mixed Medley Relay Team (George Tyler, James McFadzen, Zara Ryan, Amelia Wenlock) and another after a (lucky for us!) disqualification of the Windsor team, to the 11yr Girls Freestyle Relay team (Megan Crook, Louise McFadzen, Emma Wedgewood, Lily Glover). Overall our swimmers finished in the top 3 places in 63% of the events and set many new PBs in the process - Paige Pope, Oliver Hicks, Jake Jezzard, Ben Shillam, Menna Chmielewski, Thomas Warne and Jafer Shah all shaved seconds off their PBs in their respective events and Brett Harmse took over 4 seconds off his 50m Fly- and over 3 seconds off his 50m Breast times!. Numerous relays legs were swum very impressively and also praiseworthy was the fact that Newbury was the only club not to suffer a DQ in this round! Sadly, and despite the team’s heroic performance, Amersham’s early lead, which was closely contested by Windsor, proved unassailable and Newbury had to settle for a hard-fought but very respectable 3rd place in the final standings. However, the strength and potential of our young swimmers – many of whom swam up an age-group in this event, suggest that we have every reason to be optimistic for the 2009 TVJL. Newbury for TVJL champions next season, why not?!! Well done to all who took part and thanks once again to coaches Carolyn McLeod, Jane Hester, Chris Glover and to whips Chris Ryan, Anne Wenlock, Liz Pope and Nicky Tulloch for their time and support, to friends and family for their encouragement and to Neville for getting the data out so efficiently! Full Club Results with PB's can be found on the downloads page click here And the overall results can be found at the Thames Valley Junior League web site click here |
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Lily and Megan win top honours in their age groups at Reading Easter Open |
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| A small contingent of Newbury swimmers came away from the 3 day Reading Easter Open meet with a haul of 28 medals and a clutch of personal best times, and at the same time rewriting the club record books too. Every Newbury swimmer came away with at least one award and most of them with at least a personal best. The best of the Newbury swimmers was Lily Glover who amassed 5 gold medals as well as two silver and two bronze, all with P.B.s, to take top girl in her age group. Megan Crook also had a tally of 3 Gold’s 2 silver and 2 bronze medals and also won top girl in her age group. Both received a huge Easter egg! The medal tally was impressive from such a small team and medal winners were: Gold- Lily Glover (5) Megan Crook (3) Chris Regan (2) Aman Shah (1) Daryl Payne (1),Silver- Lily Glover (2) Megan Crook (2) Aman Shah (1) Emily Herbert (1) and Bronze-: Lily Glover (2) Megan Crook (2) Chris Regan (2) Daryl Payne (1) Melisa Mason (1) Emily Herbert (1) and Dave Martin (1) Throughout the meet there were magnificent swims from all participants. Emily Herbert, Melissa Mason, Holly Argent and Daryl Payne achieved P.B’s. Jake Jezzard pulled out the stops and achieved 3 P.B’s in the 100, 200 back and the 100 free. Aman Shah also rewrote his record book, coming away with 6 P.B.s and 3 new club records in the 100 and 200 back and 200 fly, whereas Dave Martin attained an excellent bronze in the 200 back which also set a new 16 & Over club record. The two youngest swimmers, Lily and Megan, continued their relentless assault on the record books by claiming 4 new club records each in the same events for their respective age group (100 free, 100 back, 200 back and 100 fly), both swimming a total of twelve events, including the finals, over the three days. These two kept us on the edge of our seats at all times during the 4 finals they competed in, surpassing their heat times. Chris Regan also pushed himself faster than ever, first claiming a new 10&U club record in 100m back, and then two impressive 200 results, his best being the 200 back where he posted a P.B by over 12 seconds; his delight was shown by the punching of the air! As always it was gruelling and time consuming three days with no complaints from any of our small but fiercely competitive swimmers. My thanks go to you all, as well as the coaches who gave their time Carolyn, Derek and Lee. My thanks also to Dave Mason who tried but failed to drop me in it!!! |
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2008 County Championships |
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| The County Champs started on 23 Feb, and the final weekend is now done and concluded on 15th March. A total of 23 Newbury Swimmers have taken part, a little disappointing as I’m sure that several other swimmers had actually qualified. But the overall performance was superb, each and every swimmer performed well, with 114 PB’s recorded out of 197 total swims, a healthy 58%. Jacob Glanville recorded the most swims with an amazing tally of 20 swims throughout the 4 days, made up of individual events, finals and relays, and finished in the top 8 in every event. Throughout the meet there were many magnificent performances from our swimmers, a grand total of 9 all time club records have fallen during the meet, which are: Zara Ryan: 10&U Girls 200m Fly Megan Crook: 10&U Girls 100m Breast, 200m Breast and 200m I.M. Lily Glover: 11yrs Girls 200m I.M and 100m I.M. Lucy Singleton: 15yrs Girls 100m Back Aman Shah: 14yrs Boys 200m Fly and Open Boys 800m Free Aman’s 800m swim was a very impressive feat, leaving him under 3 secs away from a National Time at his first attempt this season, knocking some 16secs off his PB, and his efforts were rewarded with the County Junior Trophy for the event and he also finished 2nd in the overall County Championships in the 800m mens event. But perhaps, performance of the meet was first timer Zara Ryan with an absolutely amazing swim in the 200m fly, she paced it perfectly and came home in 3:12.88 smashing the all time 10&U club record by over 7 seconds, picking up the silver medal and lets not forget she’s only 9, and she will swim in the same age group again next year. I for one, am looking forward to seeing her swim next year, and I think the new county record is under threat. Our swimmers continued to do an excellent job at qualifying for finals, with a further 5 berths secured on the final day, making a total of 6 swimmers representing Newbury in the finals (their final positions in brackets). Jacob Glanville qualified for no less than six 14 & Under age group finals, 100m Breast (6th), 100m Fly (8th), 50m Breast (6th), 100m Free (6th), 50m Fly (8th) and 50m Free (4th). Jessica Francis qualified for 14 & Under 100m Back (7th) and 50m Back (8th), Lucy Singleton in 15 & Over 100m Back (6th) and 50m Back (7th), Daryl Payne in the 15 & Over 100m Fly final (8th) and 50m Free (7th), Aman Shah in the 14 & Under 50m Back (5th) and 100m Back (2nd) and finally Melisa Mason in 15&O 100m Fly (7th) Our overall medal count was 5 Gold, 16 Silver and 24 Bronze, a massive improvement over 2007, almost doubling the tally for each. Gold Medal winners were Megan Crook (2), Lily Glover, Henry Crosby and Aman Shah Silver Medal Winners: Lily Glover (5), Megan Crook (3), Zara Ryan (2), Aman Shah (2), Jessica Francis, Henry Crosby, Daryl Payne, and Jafer Shah. Bronze Medal winners: Aman Shah (4), Megan Crook (3), Zara Ryan (3), Jessica Francis (2), Jafer Shah (2), Lily Glover (2), Henry Crosby (2), Luc Schrieber (2), David Martin, Melisa Mason, Lucy Singleton and Jacob Glanville To close, firstly a big mention for our younger swimmers, competing in their first ever County Champs, and no doubt they will be competing at them for a few years to come. 10 year old Megan Crook collected 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze finishing 2nd overall in the 10&U BAGCATS competition closely followed by 9 year old Zara Ryan who notched an incredible 15 PB’s (out of 16 events) collecting 2 silver and 3 bronze medals in the double age group for 9-10 year olds and she actually finished just behind Megan in 3rd place overall in the 10&U BAGCATS, and the for boys Chris Regan finished in 7th place overall in the 10&U BAGCATS just above Luc Schrieber who picked up 2 bronze medals and finished 8th overall in the BAGCATS. Sprinters squad members Ben Shillam and Sam Scholl also attended their first Counties representing the club in the boys 11 & Under relays, with their teams finishing 6th and 7th in their two events. The 11 & under girls relay team of Megan, Zara, Louise McFadzen and Lily Glover also notched up an impressive 4th in the 4x50m freestyle, finishing not that far behind the big clubs. Finally, the other BAGCAT (British Age Group) placings were as follows: Jafer Shah 6th in 11yrs boys category, Lily Glover 5th 11yrs girls, Louise McFadzen, 22nd, Jake Jezzard 12th in the 12 yrs boys, Menna Chmielewski 24th 12 yrs girls, Henry Crosby was 4th in 13yrs boys, Jessica Francis 6th in 13yrs girls and finally Aman Shah finished 4th overall in the 14yrs boys and Jacob Glanville 6th. Club results are available on the downloads page click here Full results are available at the Counties web site click here and a searchable results is available at the Reading web site click here Thanks to the coaches who supported the swimmers during the meet, Derek Carley, Carolyn McLeod, Lee Spindlow and Chris Glover. Also a big thanks to those officials who volunteered their time to support the County meet: Janet Hopkins, Kathleen and Giles Waddington and Dave Mason. |
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2nd place repeated in Thames Valley League R2 |
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| Lying in 3rd place overall after Round 1 (out of 10 competing teams) after finishing second in our gala with 139.5 points at Northcroft on 19th January, expectations were high for the second round of the TVJL in Amersham on 9 February. Our 28, 9-12 year olds from across the squads, Menna Chmielewski, Megan Crook, Lily Glover, Alexandra Maughan, Louise McFadzen, Paige Pope, Zara Ryan, Yasmin Ryder, Chloe Thurston, Emily Tulloch, Emma Wedgewood, Amelia Wenlock, Abbie Wood, Rory Butcher, Will Butcher, Oliver Crosby, Andy Friday, Oliver Hicks, James Ibbetson, Jake Jezzard, James McFadzen, Chris Regan, Sam Scholl, Ben Shillham, Luc Schreiber, Jafer Shah, George Tyler and Thomas Warne, gave the NDSC supporters plenty to shout about – first or second places were achieved in 23 out of the 43 races and there were some fantastic swims throughout the night! In the individual events first places went to: Luc Schreiber, 10yr 50m breast and 50m free, Lily Glover 11yr 50m fly and 11yr 50m free, Louise McFadzen 11yr 50m back and team firsts to 10yr boys medley relay (Oliver Hicks, Luc Schreiber, Chris Regan, Sam Scholl), 9yr girls medley relay (Amelia Wenlock, Chloe Thurston, Zara Ryan, Emily Tulloch) 9yr mixed relay (George Tyler, James McFadzen, Zara Ryan, Amelia Wenlock), 10yr boys freestyle relay (Oliver Hicks, Chris Regan, Sam Scholl, Luc Schreiber) and 11yr girls freestyle relay (Megan Crook, Louise McFadzen, Emma Wedgewood, Lily Glover). It was a closely fought contest which Newbury enjoyed leading for a short time (!) but we were eventually beaten into 2nd place by a strong Amersham A team. (149 points to 171!) All our swimmers did a brilliant job but special mention must go firstly to Lily and Zara who ably plugged some gaps in the girls’ squad swimming 9 and 7 races respectively (!) and to those who made their first appearance for the club in Round 1 and continued with strong relay swims in Amersham namely: James Ibbetson, Alexandra Maughan, James McFadzen, Paige Pope, Ben Shillham, Emily Tulloch, Emma Wedgewood and Tom Warne. Thanks also to coaches Jane Hester and Carolyn McLeod and to whips Chris Glover, Chris Ryan and Anne Wenlock for their support and advice and to all family and friends for their encouragement! Our swimmers can now look forward to take part in the “A” final at 6pm on 29 March at Northcroft where they start in 3rd place overall. If you’re looking for some riveting, nail-biting Saturday night entertainment, the TVJL “A” final should be just up your street!!! Your support for this talented bunch of swimmers in the final at their home pool will be much appreciated! Full Club Results with PB's can be found on the downloads page click here And the overall results can be found at the new Thames Valley Junior League web site click here |
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Fine 2nd place finish in Thames Valley League R1 |
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| The club junior squads competed extremely well in the first round of this seasons Thames Valley Junior League. The gala took place in the evening of 19th January, and we hosted it at Northcroft Leisure Centre. There is a new web site for the Thames Valley League where the full results can be found click here Full club results with PB's have now been posted under the downloads section click here to download |
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Megan Crook is Top Girl at Windsor Open 2008 |
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| This Level 2 meet was held at the Magnet Leisure Centre, Maidenhead over the weekend of 26th and 27th January 2008. A total of 20 Newbury swimmers took part (5 less than last year), in what was our 3rd appearance at the event. Again there was very stiff competition for the top club with a total of 24 clubs competing, an increase on last year, and as a result although the club amassed more points than last year 460 (compared with 396), we finished lower in 4th place, which considering the company and the relatively small squad was a very good achievement. However, Newbury for the first time claimed a major prize, and this was down to 10 year old Megan Crook who totalled 59 points on her own and was awarded the overall Top Girl prize (out of approx 300+ swimmers), she received a Cup and a voucher for ‘skins’ from Mailsports, the award sponsor. This was very well deserved, she recorded an impressive 5 Gold, 2 silver and a fourth place in her 8 events, which included 7 PB’s. Throughout the club there was some great swimming with 43 PB’s recorded out of 99 swims. Some swimmers claiming South East Region Championships times as well as several last gasp County Championships qualification times. An amazing haul of 20 Gold, 18 Silver and 8 Bronze medals were claimed by our swimmers, which again improved our result over 2007, with fewer swimmers. Gold Medal Winners: Megan Crook (5), David Martin (2), Charlie Davies (2), Melisa Mason (2), Daryl Payne (2), Stephen Tucker (2), Lucy Singleton (2), Henry Crosby, Lily Glover and Jessica Francis. Silver Medal Winners: Henry Crosby (4), Lily Glover (3), Jessica Francis (3), Megan Crook (2), Charlie Davies, Jacob Jezzard, David Martin, Daryl Payne, Jafer Shah and Miles Warren. Bronze Medal Winners: Melisa Mason (2), Stephen Tucker (2), Henry Crosby, Charlie Davies, David Martin, and Aman Shah. Performance of the weekend of course goes to Megan, she raced exceptionally well, and most of her PB’s were big ones and thoroughly deserved her Top Girl prize. However, race of the meet was between Charlie Davies and Jacob Glanville in the 200m freestyle on Saturday, going into the meet Jacob lead Charlie by 1/100th of a second in the rankings, but after an epic race where they were neck and neck literally throughout, Charlie managed to pip Jacob to the line and now leads by 5/100th of a second, both picking up PB’s and finishing 4th and 5th in their 14 year old age group. Lily's 'smilies' costume didn't go unnoticed, when on Sunday the electronic scoreboard announced "Lily Glover wins best outfit award!" Georgia's Australian hat was fitting for the day on Saturday being Australia Day, it just made it difficult to spot her when she raced! Points were awarded for 1st to 8th place, and amongst the 460 points were top points scorers for Newbury: Megan Crook (59), Henry Crosby (47) and Lily Glover (44). Along the way, no less than 7 All time Club Records fell during the meet, including: Megan Crook in 10yrs girls 200m Breast and 200IM, Lily Glover 11yrs girls 100m Fly, Lucy Singleton 15yrs 100 Back, Charlie Davies 14 yrs 100m and 200m Back, David Martin Open Boys 200m Back. The club results with PB’s can be found under ‘downloads’ or the full results are published on the Windsor Swimming Club web site. click here As this meet was a licensed ASA meet, the results will eventually appear in the ASA rankings database click here Many thanks to Derek (Saturday) and Lee (Sunday) the coaches who supported the swimmers at the event. Also Dennis Tucker (Judge) and Dave Mason (Timekeeper) for volunteering their time to perform these important duties. |
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Club Champs 2007 |
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| Apologies for not putting any reports on the Club Champs as they happened, was just a tad busy with work. But I thought I'd provide a summary and offer my warm congratulations to the very numerous record breakers. There were an unprecidented 47 records (club champs only) broken during the five sessions. No less than 29 girls records tumbled, and the list provides a very clear indication of a few rising stars coming through the ranks, and perhaps the first glimpses of potential ones just starting out. Firstly, 9 year old Zara Ryan captured a very impressive tally of eight 9 & under records in the 100 & 200m Back, 200m Breast, 100m & 200m Fly, 100m, 200m and 400m IM's, several of which have stood since 1995-99. Then relative newcomer 10 year old Megan Crook stamped her mark on the record books by claiming four in the 100m and 200m Fly, 100m and 200m IM, and again two of these are very long standing records from 1996, established the year before Megan was born! Then Lily Glover continued her assault on the record books, by claiming a further four in the 100m and 200m Fly, 100m and 400m IM this time in the 11yrs age group. Jessica Francis extended her tally with a further 3 records, now in the 13yrs age group, for the 200m and 400m IM, and also established the fastest recorded 1500m freestyle for the club (a new event for girls in the last season). Lucy also ticked off 3 more, this time in the 15 yrs age group for the 100m and 200m back as well as the 100m IM. Melisa Mason likewise for her favourite events the 100m and 200m Fly in the 16yrs age group. Leaving the newcomers to set their first marks, Hannah Bright in what was probably her first competitive event at the club, setting a very high standard in the Cruisers 25m Freestyle (that time will take some beating!), Louise McFadzen continues her impressive progress, notching up 3 records in the Sprinters 50m Free, 50m Back and 50m Fly. Completing the tally for the girls, Lizzy Shore notched up her first record in the Cruisers 25m Fly. Boys beat that!! Well, not surprisingly they fell a little short. But nonetheless established 19 of their own new records. Leading the way was 9 year old Christopher Regan, capturing the most with an incredible eight new records in the 9 & Under category for 100m and 200m Back, 100m and 200m Breast, 100m Fly, 100m, 200m and 400m IM. Again some of these previous times were set before Chris was born! Charlie Davies captured yet another, this time 14 yrs 100m Back, whilst fellow age grouper Aman Shah set new marks for the 200m Back and 200m Fly. David Martin extended the standard for 16 & Over 100m Back, whilst Daryl Payne did likewise in the 100m and 200m Fly. Finally, in contrast to the girls, the younger swimmers were more content in sharing the spoils, starting with Louis Lyne in the Cruisers 25m Free, Sam Scholl in the 25m Back and Nick Goodwin in the 25m Breast. Whilst Ben Jackson captured my eldest son's record in Sprinters 50m Breast. Special mention also goes to Miles Warren, the newly elected Senior Boys Captain, who claimed the Sub-60 (SC) trophy in a time of 59.94 in the 100m Free. A BIG well done to all the record breakers, and to everyone who participated during the 5 rounds making it a very enjoyable and fair spirited series of events. For a full set of the records and results browse the downloads and results section of the web site. A final mention must go to the school teams who managed to assemble their teams, most albeit on the day, (I won't complain too loudly!) and added a very noisy, yet exciting 30minutes during Round 3, and congratulations go to St Barts boys team (Miles Warren, Jacob Glanville, Tom Howes and Jack Praill) claiming both the relay trophies and St Barts girls (Steph and Laura Mangan, Rebecca Harris and Kate Pritchard) in the freestyle and Kennet girls (Sam Lee, Georgia Marriott, Jessica Francis and Emily Herbert) in the Medley relay. Last and not least, many thanks to the various parent helpers, whips, time keepers, judges, coaches and to those that just about managed to keep me sane at the computer! |
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Plymouth Leander Level 1 LC Open Meet, Dec 14th – 16th 2007 |
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| This meet was a big one, the first Open Meet held by Plymouth Leander, the country’s top age group swimming club, at the excellent Millfield School 50m venue. It attracted an unprecedented 4500 entries resulting in many being rejected, disappointing many swimmers, including several of our own. However, it attracted over 72 clubs, and turned out to be a Who’s Who of British Swimming, including many of the top swimmers such as the likes of double Commonwealth Gold Medal winner from Scotland – David Carry, Ross Davenport, Melanie Marshall, James Goddard, Euan Dale and several more of our international swimmers. We ended up taking a small squad of just 6 swimmers, but they were not overawed by the occasion and who they were competing with, and they put in some excellent performances. First up was Aman Shah, attending just the Friday for the 1500m freestyle. He put in a very good performance, chopping some 11 secs off his PB, and picking up his age group silver medal. On the Saturday, young Chris Regan went in the 100m free, coming in 6th picking up points for the club, followed by Jacob Glanville, who was still feeling under the weather with a persistent cough, but was determined to go for the illusive long course sub-60. It was not be, yet again! The young pair of Megan Crook and Lily Glover faired better in the 50m free, both coming back with excellent PB’s, and Megan finishing in 6th picking up more points. This was Megan’s first ever meet in a 50m pool, but I guess not that different to those US 50yarders. It was the boys turn again, this time in the 50m back, certainly not Jacob’s favoured event, but they both put in solid performances, with Chris coming home 4th in his age group and 5 points in the bag. He went again in the 200m I.M. bagging a further 2 points in 7th. Jessica Francis joined us in the afternoon, going in the 200m free, putting in solid effort, but with lots of serious competition from around the country. Megan went again in the 200m breast, coming back with a massive PB, knocking over 9secs of her pervious PB set at the Club Champs only a month or so earlier. Jess went again in the 100m back and Jacob went in 50m fly lining up with 17 and 19 year olds, but came back with a smile at last, holding his own with the big boys. But Megan had the last laugh, finishing the day off in fine style, finishing 4th with a new PB in the 50m breast. The girls kicked off Sunday, Megan and Jess going in the 100m free, followed by Jacob in the 50m free, with his performance of the meet, youngest swimmer in his heat, finished 5th with a good PB in the bag but finishing half way down the field in his age group in 17th emphasising the strength of the competition. Lily got another PB in 50m fly, and again in the 200m I.M with perhaps her performance of the meet knocking nearly 5secs off her PB. Megan also went in the 200m I.M coming home 4th bagging another 5 points. Jess finished with 200m back with her best performance of the meet. Lily managed to fit in yet another PB in 50m fly and finished 4th, and Megan got what she deserved, a bronze medal in the 50m fly, (just hope she picked it up!). Jacob wrapped up the meet with a solid effort in the 50m breast, not as far outside his PB as he thought, but fortunately he slept most of the way home! Club results are available on the downloads page here and the full meet results are available at the Plymouth web site click here As this meet was a licensed Level 1 ASA meet, the results will eventually appear in the ASA rankings database click here Many thanks to coaches Derek (Saturday) and Lee (Sunday) who supported the swimmers at the event. |
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Spirited Performance in Speedo League R3 2007 |
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| A small squad of just 28 Newbury swimmers took part in the third and final round of the 2007 Speedo League Havant and Waterlooville on Saturday evening of 8th December. This was the second final of two separate finals taking place in Division 1 South West featuring teams lying in 9th to 16th place in the league after the first two rounds, where Newbury were in 10th place at the start. This time we were up against Fareham Nomads (hosts), Guernsey, Eastleigh & Oaklands, Hart, Alton and Chesham. It was going to be difficult for Newbury to maintain their 2nd place ranking as we were several swimmers short before the start as a result of illnesses, resulting in several swimmers having to swim up an age group and even more crucially being a swimmer short in one of the relay squads, and therefore having to concede full points in two events. But after being in a lowly 6th place after the first phase, the team rallied with some excellent results with a solid 2nd by the U16 Boys freestyle relay team, followed by a superb 1st place in the Open Girls Medley relay. The individual swimmers posted some excellent results, posting 17 PB’s out of the 34 events, helping us continue to climb up the field with 4 individual wins. It was a tremendous contest, with Guernsey leading the way all evening until the final two events, when they were eventually overhauled by Fareham Nomads. Newbury came in third, and feel we would have been up their fighting with the top two had we have been at full strength. Hart finished 4th, just ½ a point ahead of Eastley & Oaklands and Alton who tied for 5th, Chesham were 7th and Slough & Eaton 8th, leaving the final two teams relegated for next season. Newbury maintained 10th place in the league, ahead of Guernsey as a result of the previous rounds, 2 places higher than last season. During the evening there were a number of very strong performances, including event wins for: Open Girls medley relay team of Lucy Singleton, Clare Wills, Melisa Mason and Georgia Marriott Boys U14 100m Breast, Henry Crosby in a new PB of 1:22.92 Girls U16 100m Back, Lucy Singleton Girls U14 100m Back, Jessica Francis Open Girls 100m Back, Lucy Singleton (completing three sets of maximum points) Pick of the performances in Round 3 in addition to Lucy and all the event winners, go to three of our youngest swimmers, firstly 10 year old Louise McFadzen swam a superb individual U12 50m backstroke finishing an excellent 3rd in a new PB time of 39.71, then 9 year old Zara Ryan as a late replacement in the individual U12 50m free also posted a new PB in 35.75 and finally 10 year old Megan Crook, who filled in, in so many places and worked her socks off all night, posting a total of 5 swims, including the individual 12U 50m Fly, 14U 100m fly and 12U 50m breast, she even swam up an age group to help out in the relays. WELL DONE to everyone for taking part, full club results are published on the web site. download Full Speedo League results and final table can be found here Many thanks to Derek Carley and Lee Spindlow coaches who accompanied the swimmers, officials Janet Hopkins and Christine Chmeilewski, whips Cambria Jezzard and Chris Glover. |
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Tigersharks Autumn Open Meet |
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| A small team of 11 swimmers travelled from Newbury to Swindon for the Tigersharks meet. The morning session was a mid morning start, and 10 of our swimmers were keen to make their mark on the event. They did so in style too Katie Ibbetson, Hannah Wenlock, Sarah Hubbard, George Walters, Cameron Davis, Nathan Crook, Megan Crook, and not forgetting Zara Ryan, Amelia Wenlock and Chloe Thurston competing in their first full day external meet. From the eleven swimmers a total of 28 PB’s were achieved. It was Megan and Sarah who claimed gold and silver respectively for the 100 breast and Zara picking up a speeding ticket. The two outstanding swims of the morning were Amelia and Chloe in the 50 fly, both taking over 5secs of their posted times. The boys, George, Cameron and Nathan all putting in PB times also for the 100 breast. The second session started, just as we ended the first with Hannah posting an outstanding swim for the 100 free with a new PB, taking over 4secs off. Sarah followed with another fine second place. The younger members followed and Jenny Pudney arrived for her one event and put in a good performance. The day continued with all swimmers surpassing posted times and all competed with a fantastic team spirit. There was not one race where a team member was not being cheered on by their team mates. Again the third session was just as impressive even though the team have had a long day never showed signs of flagging, Zara picking up more speeding tickets and another gold and bronze for Megan. The boys were very consistent and improved their times, Cameron Nathan and George all achieving new PB’s. The later it became the faster they went (night owls!?) The support from each other spurred the team forward even into the final event. My thanks go to all of the swimmers and parents, but one swimmer in particular; Hannah whose presence at the end of the lane meant every member was given encouragement, of course not forgetting all of you without cajoling gave your support also. Time fly’s when you have this spirit poolside, a positive attitude; there are never loser’s only winners! Many thanks go to Chris Ryan and Anne Wenlock for their support and not forgetting all the parents who sit numb bummed all day! Ta ever So!! The results can be found under downloads, or click here for full results, or here for club results with PB's |
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Novice and Sprints Gala 2007 |
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| A total of 104 club swimmers completed 359 swims during the Novice and Sprints Gala on Sunday 8th July at the Northcroft Leisure Centre. This gala is the first of a series counting towards the overall Club Championships and trophies awarded at the annual presentation evening in January. Of the 359 swims an impressive 238 were either new PB’s or new times. Also, many of the swimmers were competing in their first ever competitive meet so well done to all of you, and I hope through this meet you have got the ‘bug’ to compete in other external meets, a full calendar of which will be published on the web site for next season. A total of 63 Gold, 54 Silver and 42 Bronze medals were awarded. Also, as usual new club milestones were achieved, there were 21 record breakers and 13 new gala records were set (previous record in brackets): James O’Conner - Boys Cruisers 25m Backstroke 22.09 (22.71) Elizabeth Dunmore – Girls Cruisers 25m Backstroke 21.76 (22.80) Louise McFadzen – Girls Sprinters 50m Backstroke 43.92 (44.67) Lucy Singleton – Girls 15-16 Age Group 50m Butterfly 33.22 (33.44) Rachel Walker – Girls 21 & Over Age Group 50m Butterfly 34.51 (35.70) James O’Conner – Boys Cruisers 25m Breaststroke 23.41 (24.12) Lucy Singleton – Girls 15-16 Age Group 50m Backstroke 33.47 (34.09) Daryl Payne – Boys 17-18 Age Group 50m Breaststroke 34.70 (35.18) Lucy Singleton – Girls 15-16 Age Group 50m Breaststroke 38.64 (39.01) Clare Wills – Girls 21 & Over Age Group 50m Breaststroke 37.66 (40.35) James O’Conner – Boys Cruisers 25m Freestyle 17.40 (19.05) Elizabeth Dunmore – Girls Cruisers 25m Freestyle 17.98 (19.72) Clare Wills – Girls 21 & Over 50m Freestyle 30.92 (36.97) If you hadn’t worked it out on the day, the ‘Age Up’ date for swimmers was set to age at end of year (31st Dec) in order for all Club Championships events to be calculated on the same basis. As a result Lily Glover managed to set a new club record for 11 year old girls (although she doesn’t actually turn 11 until later this month) in the Girls 11-12 Age Group 50m Butterfly in a new time of 36.20 secs (37.50), and even stranger it wasn’t even a PB!! So plenty of time for her to improve on this during the next year. Congratulations to all the new record holders. The full results will be available on the web site for download. Many thanks goes to all the various helpers too numerous to mention, but especially to Tracy Davies and Teresa Glanville for their organisation and without whose help this event wouldn’t be possible, and my personal thanks to Giles Waddington for stepping in to help out on the computer side as I recover from a recent operation. |
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Newbury Allsorts at Bracknell Open |
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| 8 Newbury swimmers took part in the Bracknell Open Meet at Aldershot Garrison 50m Pool, which turned out to be a very busy meet with over 60 clubs from all around the country taking part in one of the last few long course events left to claim National Qualification times. First up in the morning session was 13 year old Aman Shah, looking to try and go one better than the “No Frills” and attain the National time in the 100m Backstroke event (although this event is the least likely of his 3 possibles), and despite a valiant effort he finished 3rd overall in the event, picking up one of the very nice laser etched crystal awards for the top 3 finish, with a time of 1:11.16, but was still 3 secs outside the required National time. UNLUCKY AMAN! Next a weary Stephen Tucker, who was very honest in his approach, aimed very high but unfortunately came up short of his own entered time. He was in good company however with the likes of Mark Harris! He will have opportunities at future meets. Lily Glover again pulled out the stops for the 100 backstroke, not a favoured event but took a four second chunk off her personal best time and finishing in 1:24:74. Jessica Francis came in equal second place with a creditable swim also, with a time of 1:15:36. Next National qualification attempt was 14 year old Lucy Singleton, who was aiming to be at Sheffield in the 100m backstroke for the second year running, a very smooth swim and finishing third overall with a time of 1:09:59, 0:57 under the required time for the nationals WELL DONE LUCY! The 50 free proved elusive for the boys Stephen and Jacob Glanville against some tough competition. Finishing 14th and 10th in their respective age groups, but both gained decent PB’s of 27.88 and 28.23 in the same heat. The girls came out with all guns blazing, Lily firing on all four cylinders posting another PB in 33:91 Jessica and Lucy swimming with fine style, but just a tad slower than posted times. All four boys entered the 200 free and a mixed bag of times achieved, Aman the Consistent Jacob the Blaster, Henry the Smoothie and Stephen the Tireless all came back to the camp with smiles but not the desired times, although both Aman and Henry again picked up PB’s. The day went on, relentlessly, with the swimmers waiting patiently for their turn to enter the water, Lily still shaving seconds of her times and achieving PB’s in all the remaining events, 200 free, 200IM and finally the 100 fly. Also finishing of the day with a smile in the 200IM also, was Jessica. Lest we not forget the fella’s, Aman smashed his PB in the 200m fly improving his time by 5secs and picking up 2nd place, but then retired for the day with an injured shoulder, Henry Crosby, Jacob and Stephen going for the 100 breast, again a mixed bag but, smiles all round, a credit to good sportsmanship and team spirit. Finally the close of a long first day and I must thank the swimmers for the company and laughter which kept us all going!!!! Day 2 continued in a very positive fashion, first Henry picking up bronze in the 400m free in a new PB and Jessica repeated the feat also in a new PB for the girls event. Next came Aman’s big one, his favoured 200m backstroke and although he came away with Gold in his age group by some distance, it was still not quite enough for his National time (he gets a couple more attempts in the next few weeks). Then it was Lucy’s turn in the 200m backstroke, going for another National time in her less favoured event, coming up short by just 2secs. Jessica competed well in her age group claiming another coveted crystal with a fine third place. In the 100m freestyle, all the boys had a go including Aman’s younger brother Jafer for this one, Jacob missing out on the elusive long course Sub 60 again with 1:00.37, Aman equals his PB and Henry picked up yet another PB to keep his full house intact. Henry and Jacob wrapped up the meet in the 200m breaststroke, Henry finishing a fine fourth place and completing his set of PB’s with a first swim at this distance. Jacob finally had reason to be pleased picking up one those crystals for 3rd place and a new PB to boot. So all in all a real mixed bag, but as always some very good performances en-route with a total of 18 PB’s out of 37 swims (actually 25 long course PB’s and as Derek rightly states, long course is a very different prospect to short course) and between them coming away with 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 7 Bronze awards. The full club results will be available from the download area on the web site shortly. Many thanks go to coach Derek Carley for supporting and coaching the swimmers, (even though he could have used a lie in!) ably supported by Chris Glover throughout Saturday. |
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Great finish for Newbury Masters at Wycombe |
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| A team of 7 swimmers entered the Wycombe District Open Masters meet and came away with a 5th place finish out of 20 clubs, and third placed top man, Dave Milburn. With an age range from 26 to 51, Dave Milburn got us of to a great start in the 400 free taking the gold, next up the Backstroke with Adrian Barker also taking gold. Next the ladies and Rachel Walker recently joined, and her second master’s competition took the silver in the 100 breaststroke. The first of four relays the men’s 200 Freestyle comprising of Dave, Mike, Chris and Adrian took an impressive gold medal. The 50 breaststroke Dave and Chris taking gold and bronze respectively. The second of the relays, the mixed 200 Freestyle Rachel, newcomer Mandy Morton in her first masters, Adrian and Chris also attained gold. The afternoon progressed with many fine performances by Dave, Mike Adrian, Chris and not forgetting the ladies Rachel and Mandy. The second session started as we left of with 2 gold medals from Dave and Graeme Nicholson in the 50 butterfly. Events came thick and fast with swimmers finishing one race and taking a few minutes rest and competing again! The third relay the Men’s 200 medley, again Dave, Mike Adrian, and Graeme this time bringing home the gold. Rachel went one place better in the 50 breast stroke and brought home the gold in fine style. The 50 free always a well attended event saw Dave, Graeme, Adrian, Mike and Chris all perform well with 2 gold’s, bronze and two 4th place finishes respectively. The last relay was the Mixed 200 medley with the team Rachel, Mandy, Chris and Adrian attaining silver for the collection. Finally Dave and Mike albeit very tired competed in the last event the 200 freestyle, gold and silver achieved by both to round off a final Masters meet for this season. A total of 21 medals brought home by a very small team Well done to all, thanks for your company see you poolside and look forward to next season |
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‘Top Club’ At Allan Eyles - Again! |
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| Newbury came away from last weekends Allan Eyles invitation meet with the ‘Top Club’ trophy for the second year running. We had a large squad with 46 swimmers entered. The team amassed an impressive 29 ‘speeding tickets’, 16 gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze medals. Speeding tickets went Jafer Shah (5), Chris Regan (4), Jake Jezzard (4). Luc Schreiber (3), Andrew Friday (2), Rebecca Scott (2), Holly Argent (2), Zara Ryan (2), Brett Harmse, Jack Praill, Sam Farquhar, Louise McFadzen and Aaron Mason. Gold medals and top points went to Zara Ryan (4), Sarah Hubbard (2), Sam Scott (2), Jack Praill (2), Chris Regan, Jake Jezzard, Aaron Mason, Morgan Chmielewski, Abigail Wood and Luke Job. Silver medals were awarded to Andrew Friday (2), Aaron Mason (2), Bethany Hicks, Sarah Hubbard, Sam Scott, Jack Praill, Yasmin Ryder and Menna Chmielewski. Bronze medals for Morgan Chmielewski(3), Brett Harmse (2), Oliver Hicks (2), Luc Schreiber, Haydon Lucas, Sam Scott, Holly Argent, Zoe and Luke Job. …………..and many more pb’s besides! In fact out of a total of 168 swims 127 were either new times or PB's - very impressive! (NG) Well done to all those who took part! |
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Near misses at Berks & South Bucks “No Frills” Open Meet, 28th April 2007 |
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| A total of 10 Newbury swimmers took part in the “No Frills” Open Meet at Aldershot Garrison 50m Pool. This meet is specifically set as a long course meet where swimmers can aim to get their National and/or South East Regional BAGCATS qualification times, and as the name suggests no medals are awarded, as swimmers are solely aiming to get their qualification times. It was a case of near misses for the small Newbury squad. Between them they recorded just 16 PB’s from their 42 swims struggling to adapt to the conditions of the 50m pool. But nonetheless, amongst these there were some magnificent swims. First up in the morning session was 13 year old Aman Shah, aiming for a National time in the 1500m freestyle event, and despite a lonely journey along the 60 lengths (the lanes either side were empty) he finished 2nd overall in the event and finished in 18:11.41, but was agonisingly still 1.45 secs outside the required National time. UNLUCKY AMAN! Aman’s younger brother Jafer improved his 400m freestyle PB time by over 22secs, making up for his errors at the County Championships and gaining a base consideration time for the Regional Champs whilst Henry Crosby was aiming for what was perhaps an ambitious National time but finished in 4:57.83 which was some 10secs short, but still an impressive 4.4 secs improvement on his PB. He will have opportunities for a few more attempts at forthcoming meets. Next National qualification attempt was 14 year old Lucy Singleton, who was aiming for qualification in the 100m backstroke, but she finished a tiny fraction short missing the mark by just 9 100ths of a second, how close can you get!! UNLUCKY LUCY! Next qualification attempt was a bit of a long shot, with Jacob Glanville in the 200m I.M. aiming to knock some 4.39 secs off his PB to gain a base consideration time for the Regional Champs, but he came up short by just 18 100th’s in 2:36.38. However, he stood a much better chance in the 200m freestyle, his favoured stroke, and was aiming for automatic qualification, but needed an over 2secs PB to clinch his place and he did so in a fine style with a heat win charging through the field to record 2:13.55. Meanwhile 10 year old Lily Glover was attempting to achieve automatic Regional Champs times in the 200m breaststroke, 200m I.M and 200m freestyle and impressively achieved all three in new PB’s of 6.81secs, 2.03secs and 1.10secs respectively, which were amongst a total of 5 PB’s from her 6 events and continues her relentless assault on the club records book. Inbetween, Jacob Glanville was attempting to achieve his second “sub 60” of the month, this time for the Long Course (50m) time, but although he won his heat impressively, he continued the theme of this meet for the Newbury swimmers, falling just short in 1:00.25 which was still a (short course) PB for him, shaving some 6 hundreths sec off his previous best, consolidating his automatic qualification time for the Regional Champs, and getting ever closer to a National time. He was the only swimmer maintaining a 100% record during the meet recording 5 out of 5 PB’s during the day. The final event saw brothers Aman and Jafer Shah going for automatic qualification for National and Regional champs respectively, but it was probably a case of an event too far for both as they both missed the mark by some way, wrapping up a meet which saw a few highs amongst several disappointments. The good news for those still chasing National times, they have a couple of meets left to achieve their times. Whereas for those competing at the South East Region BAGCATS Championships, this was the last chance as the event starts on June 2nd at the K2 Leisure complex at Crawley in Sussex. Good luck to Melisa, Daryl and David at the South East Regional Youth Championships which start next weekend at this very venue, in Aldershot. Many thanks go to coaches Carolyn McLeod and Derek Carley for supporting and coaching the swimmers, ably supported by Chris Glover throughout the day. |
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Hot and Sticky Reading Easter Open Meet, 6th to 8th April 2007 |
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| A total of 12 Newbury swimmers took part in the 3 day Easter Open Level 2 Meet at Central Pool in Reading 6th to 8th April 2007. Between them they recorded 34 PB’s from their 68 swims. Amongst these there were some magnificent swims resulting in 10 Finalists including 2 Grand Finalists, collecting along the way 7 Gold medals, 10 Silvers and 4 Bronze. First success went to 10 year old Lily Glover in the 50m Freestyle where she took the gold medal in a field of 8 swimmers, setting a new club record for 10yrs girls in a time of 33.86. In the 1500m freestyle event Aman Shah (13) and Henry Crosby (12) collected golds in their respective age groups while Daryl Payne collected the bronze in the overall event in a time of 17:44.66. Remarkably, Aman Shah actually finished with 4th best overall time at the meet although just 13 years old, setting a Regional Championships qualifying time along the way and not that far off a National time. That boy just has amazing stamina! and Oh by the way he actually did 4 lengths more than he was supposed to after a timekeepers mixup! But I think he could have swam another 1500m ;-) Meanwhile, Henry Crosby collected silver for his 50m freestyle, and same again for the 200m I.M. But he went one better in the 400m freestyle collecting gold, as did Aman Shah in the 13 years age group. Lily Glover collected her second gold medal of the meet in the 100m butterfly (only after suffering a DQ mixup scare), setting another club record in a time of 1:28.43 by winning the heats and then went on to better it in the final in a time of 1:26.68. Aman Shah came away with the silver in the 200m butterfly, and his younger brother Jafer also came away with silver in the 10 years age group. Aman then went onto qualify as second fastest in the heats of the 100m backstroke and repeated the feat in the final collecting the silver medal. Aman also collected the bronze in the 400m freestyle, and Henry Crosby went one better in his age group gaining the silver medal. In his strongest event the 200m backstroke Aman inched closer to a National qualifying time, setting a new club record in 2:24.91 and collected his 3rd gold medal. Meanwhile David Martin qualified for two finals, first the 100m backstroke where he finished 5th in the final, and then he qualified for the Grand Final of the 200m backstroke just missing out on a bronze award by finishing 4th. Melisa Mason performed well in the 100m butterfly qualifying for the final and then went on to finish 3rd. In the 200m event she finished 5th in an exciting final where just 0.5 secs separated 2nd and 5th places setting a new club 16yrs girls record in a time of 2:31.34 at the same time gaining a Regional Championships qualifying time. Then to wrap up the meet two of our swimmers qualified for the finals of the 100m freestyle, first up was Henry Crosby who set 3rd fastest time in his 12 year old age group and went on to collect the bronze medal in the final. Then 14 year old Jacob Glanville qualified fastest for the final in a Regional Championships qualifying time of 1:00.15 just missing the ‘magic’ sub 60 barrier by the narrowest of margins. In a strong field in the final, he went on to claim the silver medal smashing the sub 60 barrier in an incredible 58.71 obliterating his previous PB by over 3secs! that's only 1.64 secs off a National time as well! A BIG WELL DONE to Jacob in claiming the Sub 60 Trophy, sorry Charlie that you only 'owned' it for such a short time. Jacob's big challenge now is to repeat that time!! So who is next for the trophy? Many thanks go to Carolyn McLeod for coaching support on Friday, Chris Glover on Saturday and Club Captains Daryl Payne and Melisa Mason on Sunday, and even I had my first taste of poolside action to help out Daryl and Melisa with recording the splits. I must say it was very enjoyable, and probably slightly cooler (only slightly) than being up in the spectator gallery! |
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BSB County Championships 2007 (Days 1 & 2) |
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| The 2007 Berkshire and South Bucks County Championships started on February 23rd and will conclude on 24th March, they are held at the Magnet Centre, Maidenhead. We are now at the halfway stage, and some excellent results have been achieved so far, highlighted in fine style by the boys BAGCATS (British Age Group Category, 14 and under) relay squad who competed this last Saturday. The team members are Charlie Davies, Henry Crosby, Aman Shah and Jacob Glanville. First up was the 4x100m freestyle relay, and this resulted in a magnificent double, with two of the swimmers breaking the ‘magic’ barrier of 60secs for the 100m freestyle for the very first time, first up was Charlie Davies in a time of 59.64 and then Jacob Glanville brought the team home in a totally unexpected 59.87 overtaking the Bracknell ‘A’ team in the process helping the team finish a very creditable 4th place. For the in between legs, Henry Crosby recorded a PB with 1:06.44 and Aman Shah also with a new PB of 1:05.57. The team then went onto claim 4th place again in the 4x100m Medley event, Aman Shah leading the way claiming another PB in the backstroke leg in a time of 1:09.44, Henry was next in a new PB of 1:29.30 in the breaststroke leg, Charlie Davies powered through the butterfly leg overtaking the same Bracknell team on the way in another PB of 1:09.29, and Jacob Glanville brought the team home in 1:01.05, not quite matching his previous feat. Although they just missed out on podium places in both events, it was nonetheless a very impressive achievement. The team will now go on to compete at the South East Regional championships in June. Later on Saturday afternoon Lucy Singleton claimed a Silver medal in the 200m Backstroke, and in the process broke the 14 year old girls Club Record in a time of 2:28.79 improving her PB by almost 4secs and the record by almost 8secs. She also claimed the Bronze medal in the 100m backstroke on the first day. Jafer Shah broke his own Club Record for the 10 & under 200 I.M. in a time of 3:20.71 (a new record established at beginning of this season), shaving some 40secs off it!! Lily Glover broke the 10 & under girls 100m fly by 4.67secs in a time of 1:29.04, collecting the Silver medal at the same time. She also collected the bronze in the 50m free, 50m fly and 200m freestyle. CONGRATULATIONS to all the record breakers. Not to be outdone, Jessica Francis took home an impressive Gold medal in the 12 year age group 200m freestyle in a new PB time of 2:19.81. The clubs only gold medal so far. A mention should be made for the three swimmers who just missed out on a place in the finals of the 100m events, Lucy Singleton in the 100m backstroke, David Martin in the 100m breaststroke and Daryl Payne in the 100m butterfly, each had to suffer an agonising wait to see if any swimmers decided not go ahead with the finals, but was not to be, so close! In total the clubs swimmers claimed a total of 16 medals over the 2 days of competition so far. 1 Gold, 5 Silver and 10 Bronze. The other medal winners were: David Martin, silver in the 17 years and over 200m breaststroke. Aman Shah, silver in the 13 years 200m backstroke Charlie Davies, silver in 14years 200m Butterfly David Martin, bronze in 17 years and over 100m breaststroke. Henry Crosby, bronze in the 12 years 100m breaststroke David Martin, bronze in the 17 years and over 200m backstroke Aman Shah, bronze in the 13 years, 200m butterfly Jacob Glanville, bronze in the 14years 200m butterfly Henry Crosby, bronze in the 12 years 400m freestyle Overall a total of 32 Newbury swimmers qualified for the championships, and out of 124 individual swims so far, no less than 72 were new PB’s, a massive well done to all, already looking forward to the next instalment on 17th March when the distance swimmers and the junior relay teams participate. Many thanks to Derek, Carolyn and Richard for coaching duties, Dave Mason, Jane Hester and Dennis Tucker for judging and timekeeping duties and various parent helpers manning the entrance and raffle on day2 |
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Thames Valley Junior League ‘A’ Final |
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| Another great performance by a team that was spirited until the very end! The final round of the Thames Valley League was held at Amersham on Saturday the 17th February and the squad gained a fine fifth place finish out of a total of 10 teams in the A and B finals. The overall ‘A’ final results were: 1. Windsor 218 points 2. Amersham 184 3. Slough 154 4. Wycombe 141 5. Newbury 132 It was a totally enjoyable evening where some great swims took place. Based on the results of rounds 1 and 2 we started the ‘A’ final in fifth place but the relay teams kicked the team into gear with fine 4th place finishes, then the under tens boys went one better, cranking it up with a third place! Not to be out done, the under 9 girls then took a second place! In the individual races Yasmin Ryder was placed fourth in the 50m breaststroke. Lily Glover gained a well-fought third place just being touched out for second. There were also fine swims from Jafer, Menna, Brett and Olly Hicks. Chris Regan and Zara Ryan made it three wins out of three in the TVJL under 10 backstroke and butterfly respectively. Together with Amelia Wenlock and George Tyler Chris and Zara also started and finished the winning under 9 mixed freestyle relay team - a good indication of Newbury’s current and future potential. The swimmers kept up the good work with many third, fourth and fifth place finishes. Rebecca Scott, Jake Jezzard, Katie Herbert, Abigail Woods, Bethany Hicks, Elisha Roberts and not leaving out Luc Schreiber and Andy Friday who all played a valuable part. We do have to say a special thanks to the younger members of the squad who also played their part in the team with their relay results, Chloe Thurston, Rhea Walter, Will Butcher, Douglas Ember, George Tyler, Marcus Prendirville, Toby Davies, Callum Brown and Haydon Lucas. So at the end of all the cheering and encouraging we finished a very credible fifth in the ‘A’ Final and we were only 9 points behind Wycombe – a position that can easily change in next year’s 129 TVJL races! Well done to all of you, you are all diamonds that will continue to shine! Special thanks go to the Whips Anne Wenlock and Chris Ryan and also thanks to Jane Hester, Chris Glover and Richard Payne, the coaches that lend a sympathetic ear, and of course the parents who give their time and support. Team Spirit long may you reign!!! WELL DONE TEAM!! |
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Wycombe District Level 2 Classic Open Meet, February 10th & 11th 2007 |
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| This Level 2 long course meet was held at Wycombe Sports Centre’s 50m pool over the weekend of 10th and 11th February. A massive total of 43 clubs took part, from all over the UK, in what was one of the last 50m meets before the British Swimming Championships, and therefore attracted several top swimmers, including Commonwealth gold medalist Matt Clay and Ben Hockin of Swansea Performance who were getting in some extra competition before their forthcoming major meets. A total of 11 Newbury swimmers participated, and whilst almost everyone struggled to gain new short course (converted) PB’s, no less than 68 out of the 86 swims were actually long course PB’s or new times. Let's not forget that long course is a very different prospect to short course. An incredible haul of 8 Gold, 14 Silver and 12 Bronze medals were claimed by our small squad of swimmers. Points were awarded for 1st to 6th place, helping Newbury finish well in the overall club competition with 222 points, but the bigger clubs won out topped by Bracknell & Wokingham. Performance of the weekend goes to Jessica Francis, with her magnificent haul of 8 medals including 5 gold. She finished very close to the top of the Top Girl competition with a total of 44 points, not that far behind the third placed swimmer who amassed 47 points. Charlie Davies (42) and 10 year old Jafer Shah (28) completed the top 3 points gathers for Newbury. Gold Medal Winners: Jessica Francis (total 5) in the 200m Back, 50m Free, 400m Free, 100m Back and 100m Free Aman Shah 200m Back Jacob Glanville 50m Free Tom Howes 50m Fly Silver Medal Winners: Charlie Davies (total 6) in the 400m Free, 100m Back, 100m Free, 400m Individual Medley, 50m Fly, and 100m Fly Jafer Shah (4) in the 400m Free, 50m Fly, 200m Back and 200m Individual Medley Jessica Francis (2) 200m Free and 50m Back Aman Shah in the 50m Back Daryl Payne in the 400m Individual Medley. Bronze Medal Winners: Charlie Davies (total 3) in the 200m Free, 200m Back and 200m Individual Medley Henry Crosby (2) in the 200m Free and 100m Breast Melisa Mason (2) in 50m Fly and 200m Fly Aman Shah (2) in 400m Free and 100m Back Jacob Glanville in the 100m Fly Jessica Francis in the 200m Individual Medley Jafer Shah in the 200m Free. I think this was another great performance by our swimmers, in their final competition before the County Championships which start on 24th February. The full results will be published on the Wycombe District Swimming Club web site. (click here for further details) Again, this meet was a licensed ASA meet, the results will be published in the ASA rankings database, see: (click here for further details) Many thanks to Derek (Saturday) and Carolyn (Sunday) the coaches who supported the swimmers at the event, also Dave Mason (Timekeeper). |
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THAMES VALLEY LEAGUE ROUND 2 |
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| Team Spirit reigns!! The second round of the Thames Valley League was held at Amersham on Saturday the 3rd February and a great second place finish for the squad. It was a great evening and some determined swims took place. During the evening Zara Ryan was placed 1st in 50m Fly and the 9/u relay teams swept the board with an impressive 4 wins out of 4!! We gained many 2nd and 3rd places, including Lily Glover, Brett Harmse, Yasmin Ryder, Andrew Friday, to name but a few. Many of the team had either second or third placing, Chris Regan, Katie Metalli, Lily, Menna, Brett, Olly Hicks, Luc Schreiber. First time swimmers Cameron, Douglas all did well Not forgetting the relay teams, 12/u boys, 10/u girls, 11/u boys, 10/u girls, who all gained valiant 2nd and 3rd places. The relays, swimmers finishing in one event and then going straight down to the start for another! Again because of a shortage of swimmers many had to swim up in age and made a fine showing. It has to be said that the 9/u boys and girls relay teams shone a special mention To William Butcher in the relay a great 25meters, he never gave up!! The final relay had every one on their feet, what a race every team member cheering, parents hoarse, but unfortunately we were pipped on the last length, a credit to you all. It is great to see such emerging talent from our younger swimmers. Finally, to everybody who took part, well done. Thanks must go to all the parents who give up there time support their children and the team, I hope you enjoyed it as much as the children! Thanks to Jane and Richard for looking after the Team, Anne and Keith for the whipping and if you ever feel the need to become hoarse and assist at galas, feel free to ask the squad rep about helping poolside!! WELL DONE TEAM!! |
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Newbury claim ‘Top Boy’ at the City of Southampton Sprint Open Meet, February 4th, 2007 |
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| This annual Level 2 sprint meet was held at the Quays Swimming Complex, Southampton on Sunday 4th February. A total of 15 Newbury swimmers took part. Yet again there was some very good swimming by our squad and as usual a very high number of PB’s recorded, in fact a total of 46 from 71 swims, or 65%. The morning session was for the under 12’s, so an early morning start was necessary, but 5 of our younger swimmers were keen to make their mark on the event. They did so in style too, Menna Chmielewski, Rebecca Scott, Lily Glover, Brett Harmse and 9 year old Luc Schreiber competing in one of his first external meets. From the five swimmers 14 PB’s were achieved. First up Luc Schreiber set us off with an impressive second place and he continued to perform superbly throughout the day with his tally of 2 Silvers in the 50m Free and 50m Back and Bronze in the 50m Fly. An impressive win in the 50 Fly for Lily Glover, followed by Silver in 100m I.M and Bronze in 50m Free. Menna and Rebecca both swam extremely well against tough competition and both gained PB’s. Brett also had mixed fortunes, but none the less came away with very creditable swims. In the afternoon, the 12 and overs took part. The level of competition that this meet offers was capped by the presence of a certain Katy Sexton MBE no less, our very own World Champion 200m Backstroker, who swims for local club Portsmouth Northsea and competed in the 16+ Age Group. Our swimmers were not overawed, and special congratulations go to Henry Crosby in his very first external meet for the club, after joining Newbury from Cambridge City before Christmas, he claimed a very impressive tally of 5 Silver medals in his 5 events and went on to capture the ‘Top Boy’ trophy in the 12years age group, a magnificent achievement. Next up was Jacob Glanville who claimed Silver in 50m Free, and a total of 3 Bronze in the 50m Fly, 50m Breast and 100m I.M, a big well done to him in his 3rd year competing at this meet, collecting his first medals of any colour at this meet, a measure of his improvement during the last year. Lucy Singleton claimed a solid Silver in 50m Back and Emily Herbert collected a well deserved Bronze in 50m Breast. Southampton had arranged the presentations at the very end of each session, so Henry and Jacob had their medals presented by Mayor of Southampton at the tea-time break. Then at the very end of the meet for the last session meaning we had to wait for the final event, and this was especially enjoyable, the 25m skins event, where the 8 fastest boys and girls compete in a knock-out 25m sprint, a thrilling way to end what was a very enjoyable meet. The female skins was finally won by Katy Sexton, but she was pushed hard all the way by 13year old Portsmouth team mate Sophie Teasdale, who undoubtedly will be a star in the future. Not sure how Newbury fared overall in the top club award, but we amassed a total of 188 points, a magnificent 35 point improvement over last year, with 5 fewer swimmers. Top points scorers for Newbury were Henry Crosby (35), Lily Glover (29) and Jacob Glanville (28). The full results will ultimately be published on the City of Southampton’s web site in due course, so keep checking the following link.(click here for further details) Again, this meet was a licensed ASA meet, the results will be published in the ASA rankings database, see: (click here for further details) Many thanks to Jane Hester for coaching and encouraging the swimmers at poolside. |
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Windsor Level 2 Open Meet, January 27th & 28th 2007 |
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| This Level 2 meet was held at the Magnet Leisure Centre, Maidenhead over the weekend. A total of 25 Newbury swimmers took part, in what was our 2nd appearance at the event. There was stiff competition for the top club and top boy and girl swimmers with a total of 21 clubs competing, mainly from the South East region, but with several London clubs too. There was some fantastic swimming with a high number of PB’s recorded (57%), with some swimmers claiming South East Region times as well as the odd last gasp County qualification time. A superb haul of 13 Gold, 15 Silver and 14 Bronze medals were claimed by our swimmers, which was even an improvement over 2006’s impressive result. Gold Medal Winners: Charlie Davies (3), Aman Shah (2), Lucy Singleton (2), Daryl Payne (2), Georgia Marriott, David Martin, Brett Harmes, Jessica Francis and Stephen Tucker. Silver Medal Winners: Jessica Francis (3), Daryl Payne (3), David Martin (3), Melisa Mason (2), Stephen Tucker (2), Lucy Singleton (2), Charlie Davies, and Aman Shah Bronze Medal Winners: Jacob Glanville (3), Stephen Tucker (3), Melisa Mason (2), Aman Shah (2), Jessica Francis, Georgia Marriott, David Martin and Jafer Shah. Points were awarded for 1st to 8th place, and we amassed a total of 396 points meaning we finished joint 2nd (with Chesham) in the overall visiting club competition, but only 34 points behind top visiting club (Rushden Royals), which could have been overhauled had we not had so many no-shows. Top points scorers for Newbury were: Aman Shah (50), Stephen Tucker (45) and Jessica Francis (44) The club results with PB’s can be found under ‘downloads’ (click here) or the full results are published on the Windsor Swimming Club web site. (click here) Also, as this meet was a licensed ASA meet, the results will be published in the ASA rankings database, see: (click here for further details) Many thanks to Derek (Saturday) and Chris Glover (Sunday) the coaches who supported the swimmers at the event. Also Dennis Tucker (Judge) and Dave Mason (Timekeeper) for volunteering their time to perform these important duties. |
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Bracknell & Wokingham B/C Meet - 27th January 2007 |
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| A small contingent of Newbury swimmers came away from the Bracknell Level 2/3 Meet at the 50 metre pool at Aldershot on Saturday with a haul of medals and a clutch of personal bests times. Whilst every Newbury swimmer came away with at least one award and most of them at least personal best aswell, the best of the Newbury swimmers was Sam Scott who won double gold in the 14 and over B grade 100m backstroke and C grade 50m Butterfly with P.B.s in both as well as another two silver medals. Gold also went to Haydon Lucas in the 50m U11 C grade Butterfly and to Abbie Wood on the C Grade 100m Backstroke. Lucas also claimed 4 medals in total with a further silver and two bronzes and along with Cameron Davies, who was taking part in his first open gala, both collected 4 P.B.s each! The best of the girls was Katie Metalli, who, after the organisers re-arranged the schedule, was the only swimmer in the entire meet from any club to take part in all five events. It was probably not the best decision however as she finished some 20 seconds adrift of her best time in second of her (100m) Butterfly swims. This was however still good enough for the B grade bronze medal to go along with two further silvers and a bronze and three personal best times. Katie Herbert collected Newbury’s other medal with a bronze in the Girls’ C 12/13 years 100m Freestyle to bring Newbury’s medal haul to a total of 14 and 20 awards overall and was enough to secure 2nd place in the team competition behind the host club who made up a massive 80% of the accepted field. Between them, the team of 8 Newbury swimmers also recorded 17 personal bests with Sarah Hubbard getting improvements in the 14 and over B 100m Freestyle and just missing a medal by just 13/100th of a second in the 100m Breaststroke. Newbury’s other swimmer, Rebecca Scott collected two 5th place awards in the 100m B grade Back and C Freestyle with the former being unlucky as she swam just a second and a half too fast to collect the gold in the C grade race. Full results will available under downloads or directly from the BWSC web iste (click here) |
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Disappointing end to Speedo League 2006 in R3 |
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| A total of 30 Newbury swimmers took part in the third and final round of the 2006 Speedo League at the Central Pool, Reading on Saturday evening of 9th December. This was gala 2 of 3 separate galas taking place in Division 1 South West featuring teams lying in 7th to 12th place in the league, Newbury were in 10th place at the start. This time we were up against Winchester Penguins, Eastleigh & Oaklands, Hart, Alton and Chesham (who were hosts). It was going to tough for Newbury to maintain their 4th place ranking as we were already 6 key swimmers short before the start, resulting in several swimmers having to swim up an age group. But after maintaining 4th place virtually throughout the gala, further disappointment followed with 3 DQ’s leaving us in 6th place at the end, however we should maintain our Division 1 place, and although we await the official results, it’s likely we will drop 2 places from last year to 12th place. It was a closely fought contest, with teams swapping places throughout, Eastleigh ended up being the winners, followed by Winchester who had led all evening (but also suffered a DQ towards the end). In third were Alton, fourth Chesham and fifth Hart. During the evening there were a number of very strong performances, including event wins for: Boys 13&U 100m Back, Aman Shah (who made it 3 out 3 wins in Speedo 2006) Boys 13&U 100m Fly, Jacob Glanville (who finally got a win after two 2nd places in previous rounds and had finished 4th in 15&U 100m Fly event only a few events earlier) Boys 13&U 100m Freestyle, Charlie Davies (who also made it 3 out 3 wins in Speedo 2006) Pick of the performances in Round 3 goes to all those swimmers who had to swim up an age group, they all rose to the challenge exceptionally well, so special congratulations to Jessica Francis, Stephanie Mangan, Emily Herbert, Holly Argent, Giverny Barrett, Lily Glover, Elisha Roberts, Jacob Glanville and Charlie Davies. WELL DONE to everyone for taking part, full club results will be published on the web site shortly. Many thanks to Derek Carley and Carolyn McLeod coaches who accompanied the swimmers, officials Janet Hopkins, Christine Chmeilewski and Dennis Tucker, whips Tracey Davies, Jane Tucker and Chris Glover. |
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Oxford “City Leisure” Open Meet and Peter Bull Development Meet Waterlooville |
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| The first external meet of the season was the annual Level 2 “City Leisure” meet held at the Temple Cowley Pools, Oxford over the weekend of 2nd and 3rd of December. A total of 20 Newbury swimmers took part, with a total of 32 clubs competing including some big clubs like City of Milton Keynes, Wycombe, Reading and City of Coventry. This was a really tough meet for our swimmers, but there was some really great swimming, and out of 100 swims 48 were PB’s, with swimmers also aiming for County Consideration times. Congratulations to the following swimmers who took home medals: Gold Medal: Melisa Mason, 200m Fly Silver Medal: Jessica Francis, 200m Back and 200m Free; Lily Glover, 200m I.M, 50m Fly & 200m Fly; Daryl Payne, 100m I.M & 200m Fly Bronze Medal: Jessica Francis, 100m Back; Stephen Tucker, 100m I.M, 100m & 200m Back 4th place medal: Lily Glover, 50m Back 5th place medal: Charlie Davies, 100m Free & 100m Back; Jacob Glanville, 100m Butterfly; David Martin 100m Breast; Daryl Payne, 50m Fly & 100m Fly 6th place medal: Melisa Mason, 100m Fly; Daryl Payne, 50m Free & 100m Free; Aman Shah, 100m Back Performance of weekend though has to go to Jacob Glanville who competed in no less than 11 events and accomplished 11 new PB’s which included 8 County (14 yrs) times, an incredible feat!! (and cost his Dad a hefty contribution to his World Challenge fund!) The full results will be published on the City of Oxford web site for you to download ( click here) The Newbury club results with PB's are on our web sites under downloads. Also, as this meet was a licensed ASA meet, the results will be published in the ASA rankings database, see: (click here for further details) Many thanks to Derek (Saturday) and Carolyn (Sunday) the coaches who supported the swimmers at the event. Also thanks to Dave Mason for giving up his time to be timekeeper at the event for the weekend. (Meanwhile) 10 year old Kate Metalli was Newbury’s only representative at the Peter Bull Development Meet in Waterlooville. The day started badly for her in the 200m Freestyle were her lack of experience showed as she reacted to the crowd rather than the starter and was disqualified for falling in at the start. Her determination showed through in the next event however and in her very first attempt at the distance she won her heat and recorded a County Qualifying Time for the 50 metres breast-stroke in 49.93. Her best however was yet to come and in the 200m breast-stroke, her triathlon endurance showed through as she finished more than 10 seconds inside the County time and just two seconds away from a District qualifying time in 3:49.84 and in the process produced a new PB for the 100m aswell. |
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Tough Competition in Round 2 of Speedo League 2006 |
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| A long coach trip to Bognor Regis for the second round of the 2006 Speedo League at the Arun Leisure Centre on Saturday 11th November, where 33 of our swimmers took part. In this gala we were up against City of Southampton (again), Jersey, Littlehampton, Fareham Nomads, and Winchester Penguins. Like Guernsey in the first round, Jersey had already done a time trail and their times were announced at the beginning of each event. It was hard fought contest won by Fareham Nomads with Southampton just pipping Winchester for 2nd, we finished 4th with Littlehampton 5th and Jersey 6th. Overall our performance was actually better than the first round, but the competition was much tougher, our swimmers actually posted improved times in no less than 32 of the 50 events, an overall performance which should be congratulated, even more so as 3 of the swimmers (that I know of) had only just recovered from illness, and we were missing Miles Warren who has broken his ankle playing rugby at school (hope it mends soon!). It was difficult to single out one performance, but my pick was Brett Harmes in the 11&U 50m Free where he improved his PB again and took individual honours. Newbury are also getting a reputation for being good backstrokers, with 3 individual wins and a second place, and I must say the 13&U Boys Freestyle team looks very strong with another storming win. The event winners were: Girls 15&U Back, Lucy Singleton Boys 15&U Back, Stephen Tucker Boys 13&U Back, Aman Shah Boys 11&U Freestyle, Brett Harmes Boys 13&U 100m Freestyle, Charlie Davies Boys 13&U Freestyle Relay Team (Samuel Scott, Jacob Glanville, Aman Shah, Charlie Davies) WELL DONE to everyone for taking part, full club results will be published on the web site shortly. Many thanks to Derek Carley coach who accompanied the swimmers, officials Janet Hopkins, Christine Chmeilewski and Dave Mason, whips Tracey Davies, Jane Tucker, and Chris Glover. Round 3 will take place on 9th December (draw and venue yet to be announced) |
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Great start for Newbury Masters |
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| A team of 6 swimmers entered the Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire Open Masters Meet in Maidenhead on Saturday 21st October and came away with no less than 15 PB’s and 24 medals between them! With an age range from 23 to 50, Dave Milburn got us of to a great start in the 100 breast stroke taking the gold, next up the Butterfly with Chris Glover taking 11 secs of his entered time and gaining a PB and silver, Richard Payne and Mike Friday had a close finish in their heat, Richard just edged Mike out by 4 tenths of a second finishing 4th and 5th. Dave Brookes also gained gold for the team in the 50 fly. As the session progressed more records and more medals were taken and by the close of the afternoon session we were lying in 4th position, not bad for such a small team! The evening session got under way with 100 freestyle event. Yet again a great finish by Dave Milburn and Graeme Nicholson less than one tenth separating them! With both swimmers going under their entered times. Chris Glover attained silver. Mike Friday and Richard Payne kept up the inter club rivalry with very close swim in the 50 backstroke. A quick fire session of events saw Dave finish one race and then have start the next race! The highest no of entry’s was for the 50 freestyle, all six of our team members were in, and 4 came away with the medals 1 gold, one silver and two bronze, from 3 different age groups. Two relay teams also completed the 200IM and the 200 Freestyle silver and bronze were achieved respectively. Our overall placing for the two sessions was 4th out of 16 teams. We are a Masters squad that is progressing, but we are always looking to encourage and welcome parents and friends to come along and join us. All six members came away with medals. Dave Brookes Gold and Bronze Mike Friday Silver, Bronze, 4th place, 6th place, 7th place Richard Payne Silver, Bronze, 5th place, 8th place Dave Milburn 7 Gold’s, 2 Silver 1 Bronze Graeme Nicholson 2 Gold’s Silver Chris Glover 5 Silver, 1 Bronze |
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Solid performance at Round 1 of Speedo League 2006 |
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| A total of 36 Newbury swimmers took part in the first round of the 2006 Speedo League at the Magnet Pool, Maidenhead on Saturday evening of 14th October. This was one of 3 separate galas taking place in Division 1 South West with a total of 18 teams in our league. In this gala we were up against Maidenhead Marlins, City of Southampton, Guernsey, Basingstoke Bluefins A, and Chalfont Otters (who didn’t compete). It was a little odd without Guernsey being there too, having already done a time trail earlier (as they don’t travel to the physical meet because of the cost), so their times were announced before each event. It was close fought contest won by Southampton with Basingstoke challenging hard for 2nd, we managed to hang onto their coat tails in 3rd with Guernsey 4th and Maidenhead surprisingly in 5th. It was a very strong performance by our squad against two of the stronger squads in our league, and we finished with no less than 11 event wins (more than Basingstoke!). Pick of these was Lucy Singleton’s win in the 15&U Girls Backstroke where she set a new All Time Club Record for 14yr Girls in 1:08.35 improving on her own record time set at the Nationals. Other winners were: Girls 11&U F/S Relay (Rebecca Scott, Menna Chmeilewski, Elisha Roberts and Lily Glover) Boys 13&U Medley Relay Team (Aman Shah, Samuel Scott, Aaron Mason, Charlie Davies) Boys 15&U F/S Relay Team (Thomas Milburn, Tom Howes, Miles Warren, Stephen Tucker) Boys 15&U Back, Stephen Tucker Boys 13&U Back, Aman Shah Male Open 100m Breast, Dave Milburn Boys 13&U 100m Freestyle, Charlie Davies Boys 13&U Freestyle Relay Team (Samuel Scott, Jacob Glanville, Aman Shah, Charlie Davies) Girls 15&U Medley Relay (Lucy Singleton, Georgia Marriott, Louise Neal, Stephanie Managan) Boys 15&U Medley Relay Team (Stephen Tucker, Thomas Milburn, Tom Howes, Miles Warren) WELL DONE to everyone for taking part, full club results will be published on the web site shortly. Many thanks to Derek Carley coach who accompanied the swimmers, officials Janet Hopkins, Christine Chmeilewski and Dennis Tucker, whips Tracey Davies, Jane Tucker, Chris and Sharon Glover. Already looking forward to Round 2, which will take place on 11th November (draw and venue yet to be announced) |
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Cracking start to the Club Championships 2006 |
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| A total of 91 swimmers took part in the first round of the 2006 Club Championships at Northcroft on Sunday evening October 1st. What a cracking start to the championships it was, with no less than 10 Club Championship records being broken as well as a new All Time Club Record being set for the Girls 10yrs 100m I.M which had stood for 10 years! From a total of 257 swims 151 or 59% were either new times or PB’s. Well done to everyone. The records that were broken were as follows (previous records in brackets): Lily Glover, Age Group Girls 10yrs 100m Fly, 1:34.27 (1:38.00) Lily Glover, Age Group Girls 10yrs 100m I.M, 1:27.63 (1:31.60) **NEW ALL TIME RECORD** (1:29.03) Lucy Singleton, Age Group 14 yrs, Girls 100m I.M, 1:13.29 (1:16.32) Melisa Mason, Age Group 15yrs Girls 100m Butterfly, 1:14.04 (1:14.37) Georgia Marriott, Age Group 15yrs Girls 100m I.M, 1:17.68 (1:18.48) Zara Ryan, Sprinters Girls 50m Butterfly, 48.06 (49.36) Charlie Davies, Age Group Boys 13 yrs, 200m Free, 2:16.99 (2:18.78) Charlie Davies, Age Group Boys 13 yrs, 100m Fly, 1:11.04 (1:11.82) Charlie Davies, Age Group Boys 13 yrs, 100m I.M, 1:11.88 (1:15.73) Arlen Greensmith, Cruisers Boys 25m Butterfly, 22.29 (26.61) Congratulations to all record breakers, and especially to Lily Glover for cracking the Girls 10yrs 100m I.M. record. which was set in the year she was born!! I’ve a feeling that some of the records set above will stand for quite some time too! BIG WELL DONE to all of you for taking part and there were only 3 empty lanes because of ‘no-shows’ all night which was really great to see. I was really grateful and thankful for the great improvement made on the entries turn around and promptness, which made my task so much easier come the day, my hair will stay intact for a while longer!! Many thanks go to all parent helpers, whips, coaches, timekeepers and judges. Special thanks to Stephanie Shah for being my runner on the night. Bring on Round 2! |
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Sweltering Finale at Fareham Nomads Summer Open, 15th/16th July 2006 |
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| A small squad of just 11 swimmers took part in this final meet of the season, a Level 2 Meet, at the Quays Pool, Southampton, on what was a very hot weekend, and it meant the spectators were more tired at the end of it than the swimmers! No major hiccups this year, at what was a well organised meet open to all competitors who had not achieved a National Qualifying time. Strong competition from a total of 30 teams and Newbury performed very well considering the small squad. From a total of 61 individual swims, 33 were new PB’s. Newbury amassed a total of 186 points, with top points scorers for the club being Stephen Tucker (49), Jacob Glanville (29) and Melisa Mason (24). A total of 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 7 Bronze medals (or should I say cups were won), and a further 13 x 4th, 6 x 5th and 4 x 6th places resulting in nice blue trophies were collected by our swimmers, and to many this was a pleasant surprise. Meaning for several plenty of shelf space was required when they arrived home! Jacob Glanville achieved a full house of PB’s and trophies, 6 out of 6 – nice one! Stephen Tucker ended up taking home 9 trophies, and it should have been 10 out of 10 had it not been for a mysterious disqualification in the 200m IM in which he came second. (seemed the judge got the wrong lane!), his brother Adrian took home 6, meaning the Tucker household is now awash with Fareham Nomads mementoes. Gold Cup Winners: Stephen Tucker in the 100m Back Silver Cup Winners: Melisa Mason 100m Fly; Daryl Payne, 200m Free; and Stephen Tucker in 50m Back. Bronze Cup Winners: Jacob Glanville, 100m Free and 50m Free; David Martin, 100m Back; Melisa Mason, 200m IM and 50m Fly; Daryl Payne, 200m IM; and Stephen Tucker, 200m Free. The full results will be published on the Fareham Nomad’s web site when their webmaster returns from holiday, but in the meantime they are available on the Hants County site. (click here) As this meet was a licensed ASA meet, the results will eventually appear in the ASA rankings database (click here for further details) Many thanks to Derek (Saturday) and Dennis Tucker (Sunday), coaches who supported the swimmers at the event. |
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Impressive tally of Records and PB’s at Novice and Sprints Gala 2006 |
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| It was great to see a total of 105 swimmers from Cruisers right through to Masters participating in the 2006 Novice and Sprints Gala at Northcroft on Sunday evening. On what had been a very hot and sticky weekend, I guess the last place everyone wanted to congregate was on the inside of Northcroft pool! I’m sure many would have welcomed the opportunity to have a dip in the outdoor pool instead. But it was not to be and despite the heat, from a total of 345 swims a very impressive 275 or 79% were either new times (in my database at least) or PB’s. Well done to everyone. Amongst these a total of 14 records were broken, and they were as follows: Cameron Davies, Cruisers 25m BackStroke, 22.71s Louise MacFadzen, Cruisers 25m Backstroke, 22.80s Mark Harris, Age Group E 50m Butterfly, 26.56s Melisa Mason, Age Group D 50m Butterfly, 33.44s (phew that was a close finish with Rebecca!!) Freddie Fane, Cruisers 25m Breaststroke, 24.12s Mark Harris, Age Group E 50m Backstroke, 28.90s Jessica Francis, Age Group B 50m Backstroke, 36.32s Lucy Singleton, Age Group C 50m Backstroke, 32.91s Thomas Hall, Cruisers 25m Butterfly, 25.80s Jake Jezzard, Sprinters 50m Butterfly, 47.41s Zara Ryan, Sprinters 50m Butterfly, 47.70s (wow! everyone who finished actually broke the old record, but I’m afraid only 1 can claim it, well done Zara) Mark Harris, Age Group E 50m Breaststroke, 35.18s Matthew Hall, Sprinters 50m Freestyle, 35.67s (very impressive, I actually watched that race) Mark Harris (again!), Age Group E 50m Freestyle, 24.85s (A National qualifying time, Good luck in the Nationals next month Mark) Yes that’s right Mark Harris now holds records in all four Sprint events! Well done to all record breakers, as I said some very impressive swims. But, a BIG WELL DONE to all of you for taking part and particular mention to the older ones (sorry Masters) where it was good to see a competition taking place, shame Chris couldn’t make it (he was ‘walking for life’). And NO you won’t get me taking part next year Richard! Finally, in an attempt to arrest any further loss of my hair, and to provide an altogether less stressful evening for the computer folks, I will be looking at ways to revise the way entries are made for the Club Championships later in the year, incidentally I received no less than 31 entries after the close date (that’s almost a third!) making it very difficult to get organised before the day. Apologies to James Wolstenholme for entering you into Sprinters! It wasn’t deliberate I assure you, just simply didn’t toggle between you and the Sprinter I had entered before you!! Many thanks go to all parent helpers, whips, coaches, timekeepers and judges. Thanks to Giles for being my gofer ;-) and special thanks to Laura Jane for being the results runner. |
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Newbury win Top Club Award at Bournemouth Junior Open Meet, 28th May 2006 |
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| A small squad of just 14 swimmers took part in this Level 3 Meet, at The Littledown Centre, Bournemouth. Strong competition from a total of 33 teams competed and Newbury performed brilliantly and ended up winning the Top Club Award, an impressive feat considering the small number of swimmers. From a total of 78 individual swims, 46 were new PB’s. Newbury amassed an impressive total of 263 points, with top points scorers for the club being 13 year old Jacob Glanville (40), 9 year old Lily Glover (36) and 10 year old Menna Chmielewski (35). In addition to the top club award, Lily won the accolade of being the fastest swimmer in the 10&under age group. A total of 9 Gold, 6 Silver and 6 Bronze medals were won. Even a Speeding Ticket was won by Menna Chmielweski in a superb swim in the 200m freestyle knocking nearly 11secs off her previous best in 2:48.25. Jacob Glanville finally broke through the 30 secs barrier in another impressive swim to take the gold in the 50m freestyle in 29.81secs. Gold Medal Winners: Menna Chmielewski (2), Lily Glover (2), Jacob Jezzard (2), Jacob Glanville, Sarah Hubbard and Morgan Chmielewski Silver Medal Winners: Menna Chmielewski (2), Rebecca Scott (2), Jacob Glanville and Jack Praill Bronze Medal Winners: Lily Glover (2), Morgan Chmielewski, Katie Herbert, Aaron Mason and Jack Praill. Pictured on the right are some of the swimmers who took part (the few I managed to muster on Thursday night training!). Showing off the trophy from left Menna Chmielewski, Morgan Chmielewski, Brett Harmes, Aaron Mason and Jacob Glanville, with coach Jane Hester hiding at the back! The full results are published on the Bournemouth Dolphins Swimming Club web site. (click here) Many thanks to Jane Hester, coach who supported the swimmers at the event, aided by Jane Newton and Chris Glover. |
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Top Girl and Boy at Bracknell & Wokingham Open, Aldershot 20th & 21st May 2006 |
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| 18 swimmers represented Newbury at this Level 2 Long Course Meet, at the Garrison Pool, Aldershot, a venue very familiar to many of our attending swimmers. The quality of swimming was excellent, with some very good PB’s achieved by not only the experienced long course swimmers but also by the newcomers to a 50m pool too. An impressive total of 63 clubs from all over the country competed, from Ipswich to Bath University, and East Grinstead to Watford, and Newbury finished in a very creditable 7th place overall. From a total of 79 individual swims, 26 were new LC PB’s, and 46 were new swims at 50m. BIG Congratulations! go to Emma Harris who was Top Girl in the over 16 age group and Aman Shah who was Top Boy in the 12 year age group, both were presented with goodie bags of swim gear by Mail Sports. But incredibly neither of them were actually the top points scorer for the club, that honour goes to Jessica Francis who was runner up in her 11 years age group to the overall girls winner and finished 3rd overall. A total of 6 Gold, 6 Silver and 7 Bronze medals were won. Gold Medal Winners: Emma Harris (3), Aman Shah (2), and Jessica Francis. Silver Medal Winners: Jessica Francis (3), Oliver Waddington, Emma Harris and Rebecca Harris. Bronze Medal Winners: Aman Shah (2), Jessica Francis (2), Charlie Davies (2) and Mark Harris. The full results are published on the BWSC web site. (click here) Thanks go to Carolyn who was coach on Saturday and Emma Harris for stepping up to the challenge on Sunday and supporting the swimmers during the event. Also thanks go to Kathleen Waddington and Dave Mason for giving up their time as Officials during the meet. |
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Newbury win Top Club Award at Allan Eyles Meet, Reading 6th May 2006 |
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| There was tremendous support for this meet by our swimmers, with an unprecedented total of 33 swimmers taking part in this Level 3 Meet, at Central Pool, Reading. Culminating in the fantastic result of Newbury winning the Top Club Award. See photo on the right, which shows Reading SC Chairman Peter Tiley handing over the trophy to a few Newbury Swimmers, from left Alex Alberts, Jacob Glanville, Oliver Roberts, Alexander Ball and Brett Harmes. From a total of 141 individual swims, 83 were new PB’s, of which an amazing 13 were over 10sec improvements, the total also included 18 new swims. This meet was the first external event that several of our swimmers had participated in, so it was great to see Oliver and Elisha Roberts (and what a first meet for them both too!!), Holly Argent, and Samantha Farquhar compete alongside the more experienced club swimmers. During the day there were some tremendous swims too numerous to mention individually, but special mention and congratulations go to Menna Chmielewski for breaking the meet record in the 10 yrs girls 100m breaststroke knocking nearly 5 tenths off the old record in a new time of 1:44.09 and also Alexander Ball in the 13 yrs boys 100m I.M, shaving 2 tenths off the previous best in a time of 1:16.24. The quality of the swimming was demonstrated by the number of ‘Speeding Tickets’ issued to swimmers for exceeding the event times (no less than 24!!), and as a result these swimmers missed out on medals (but just think of the new PB’s you achieved!). A total of 12 Golds, 15 Silver and 13 Bronze medals were won. Speeding Tickets awarded to: Jacob Jezzard (4), Andrew Friday (3), Rebecca Scott (2), Jacob Glanville (2), Menna Chmielewski (2), Lily Glover (2), Aaron Mason, Elisha Roberts, Sarah Hubbard, Brett Harmes, Jack Praill, Sam Scott, Jafer Shah, Samantha Walker, Morgan Chmielewski and Alexander Ball. Gold Medal Winners: Alexander Ball (3), Elisha Roberts (2), Alex Pearson-Jones, Brett Harmes, Samantha Walker, Charlotte Walker, Menna Chmielewski, Oliver Roberts and Lily Glover Silver Medal Winners: Sarah Hubbard (3), Morgan Chmielewski (2), Jack Praill (2), Laura-Jayne Ball, Samantha Walker, Lily Glover , Zoe Job, Jacob Glanville, Jafer Shah, Katie Herbert and Menna Chmielewski Bronze Medal Winners: Sam Scott (2), Alex Alberts (2), Elisha Roberts, Oliver Roberts, Morgan Chmielewski, Lily Glover, Jacob Glanville, Charlotte Walker, Haydon Lucas, Brett Harmes , Jack Praill. Points were awarded for 1st to 6th places. Newbury amassed a total of 275 points, therefore lifting the Top Club Trophy. Top points earners for the club were Elisha Roberts (19), Alexander Ball and Sarah Hubbard (18 each), Jack Praill and Oliver Roberts (17 each) The full results are published on the Reading Swimming Club web site. (click here) Many thanks to Carolyn, coach who supported the swimmers at the event, aided by whips, Linda Ball, Richard Hicks, Jackie Walker and Anne Wenlock. Also thanks goes to Chris Glover, Jane Newton, Christine Chmielewski and Paul Roberts (Timekeepers) for volunteering their time to perform these important duties. |
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Thames Valley Junior League - apology |
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| A big apology goes out to Haydon Lucas who swam valiantly in the final of the Thames Valley Junior League. He did in fact come FIRST and not the second that was reported. Ooops sorry Haydon!! | ||
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Thames Valley League Final round |
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| What a great performance by the team! The final round of the Thames Valley League was held at Amersham on Saturday the 1st April and a fine second place finish for the squad. It was a very good evening and some very good swims took place. For five members of the team it was their first gala and they coped extremely well, well done to you all, you took it in your stride and came up with some determined swims Lewis, Hannah, Jenny, Yvette, Abigail and Oliver Cooper, what more could we ask for! During the evening Lily Glover was placed 1st in 50m Fly and Jessica Francis 1st in the 50 free. We gained many 2nd places, including Adrian Tucker, Brett Harmse, Jafer Shah, Rebecca Scott and Naomi Stannard. Haydon Lucas and Jake Jezzard will now understand the meaning of swimming into the wall, just being out touched! Hayden just missing out for first place, and Jake for second place. But good swims none the less. Not forgetting the relay teams, 12/u boys, 10/u girls, 11/u boys, 10/u girls, who all gained valiant 2nd places. The relays, swimmers finishing in one event and then going straight down to the start for another! Not to be outdone the girls special relay with first time gala swimmers came in a creditable fourth, well done girls. Finally, well done to everybody who took part. Thanks must go to all the parents who give up there time support their children and the team, I hope you enjoyed it as much as the children! And if you ever feel the need to become hoarse and assist at galas, feel free to ask the squad rep about helping poolside!! WELL DONE TEAM!! |
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The Thames Valley Junior League Final |
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| The Newbury District Swimming Club got an outstanding 2nd place in the Thames Valley League Final. It was a brilliant swim from Jessica as she swam her 50m fly, congratulations to Jessica for winning 1st place in that exciting race. Also we have Adrian Tucker’s brilliant swim of 50m freestyle, well done to Adrian. A very good swim from Bethany Hicks managing to get a 3rd place in the 50m breaststroke (very quick in getting that 3rd place I must say.) An enjoyable race to watch as Naomi Stannard wins a 2nd place in her backstroke race very good indeed. Mentioning Jessica, she has got a new PB as have I in my freestyle. Originally it was 36.61 now I have beaten it and it is now 36.04 which I for one am very impressed with. Lily Glover obtained a 1st place in her 50m fly, and a well deserved 2nd in her 50m freestyle. We do hope that all the children who took part in their first Thames Valley League Final, had a lot of fun and enjoyed being there. A big thanks to all the coaches who looked after the children naming Carolyn, Jane, Stephanie and all those other lovely helpful coaches who made sure that the children got to Amersham and back safely. Let’s just think 2nd place is a very good place to be and if you think about it. Wycombe were very fast, but we caught up with Reading which got us a place in front, they came in 3rd place. We came 2nd.. Give them all a round of applause. CONGRATULATIONS NEWBURY DISTRICT! |
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Berkshire & South Bucks County Championships 2006 |
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| As usual the County Championships were held at the Magnet Pool, Maidenhead over 4 separate weekends starting Saturday 25th February and concluded last weekend. A total of 36 of our swimmers took part across all of the sessions, consisting of members from Sprinters and Challengers as well as the A & B squads. The standard of swimming was very high, out of 229 individual swims and 10 relays, 153 PB’s were recorded, along with a number of ASA South Eastern Region qualifying times and a few National QT’s achieved. Emphasising the quality of the swimming was the number of Newbury District Club records that were broken during the course of the Championships, a total of no less than 13 new club ‘All Time’ records being set. Incredible!! Highlights of Day 1 - 25th Feb Emma Harris represented Newbury in the 50m Free final. After winning her heat, she finished with the Silver medal in a time of 28.17secs. Mark Harris also represented Newbury in the final of 100m Fly again after winning his heat finishing 4th in the final in 1:00.43 exactly the same time as the heat. Emma Harris also went on to win Gold in the 200m Free as did Jessica Francis in the 11 years age group. Rebecca Harris collected Silver in 200m Free, and Lucy Singleton Silver for 100m Back. Bronze medal winners were Jessica Francis in 100m back, Stephen Tucker and Aman Shah in their respective age groups for the 200m back and Stephen Tucker for the 200m breast knocking some 11secs of his previous PB!! Highlights of Day 2 – 4th March This was the turn of the younger swimmers featuring the 9&10 year olds in the relays. The boys just eclipsing the girls by finishing 6th in both the 4x25m Free and 4x25m Medley relays where the girls managed 7th in both their events. These events featured 10 and 12 clubs respectively. It was also chance for the distance swimmers to show their stamina, 3 of our girls competed in the 800m freestyle, with Rebecca Harris picking up a Bronze medal in a time of 9:22.44. Highlights of Day 3 – 11th March Mark Harris qualified for two finals, first up was the 100m Free, in which he qualified 1st in the heat, finishing 4th in the final in a time of 55.17. Later in the session he qualified 1st in the heat of the 50m fly and went on to win the event in a time of 27.14, lifting the Wycombe District SC Cup. Congratulations Mark! Congratulations also go to David Martin who is the latest claimant of the Sub-60 Cup in a time of 59.40, I wonder how long he will manage to hang on to it, as the previous two winners had very short tenures. Silver Medal winners were Lucy Singleton and Jessica Francis in the 200m Back in their respective age groups and Charlie Davies in 200m Fly. Bronze Medal winners were James Wolstenholme in 200m Fly, Aman Shah in both the 200m Fly and 400m Free. Highlights of Day 4 – 25th March This was arguably the most successful day of the meet, with our swimmers winning 4 Gold, 3 Silver and 9 Bronze medals. Gold Medal Winners were Mark Harris in 100m I.M., Stephen Tucker in 50m Back and 100m Back and Jessica Francis in the 100m Free. Silver Medal winners were Emma Harris in the 400m Free, Stephen Tucker 400m I.M. and Jessica Francis 50m Back. Bronze Medal winners were Jessica Francis in 400m Free, Charlie Davies in 400m I.M, Stephen Tucker 100m I.M. and Aman Shah in 400m I.M, 200m Free, 50m Back, 100m Back and 50 Free. Mark Harris finished off the meet in style by qualifying for two sprint finals 50m back and 50m Free, but decided to compete in only the 50m Free coming away with a Bronze medal in a time of 25.06. Overall the Newbury swimmers amassed a total of 6 Gold, 9 Silver and 17 Bronze medals, all in all a very successful 2006 County Championships. Congratulations to all medal winners and well done to all competitors. The full results are published on the Berks & S.Bucks web site. (click here) The results will eventually appear in the ASA rankings database (click here for further details) Many thanks to coaches Derek Carley, Carolyn McLeod and Richard Payne for supporting and encouraging the swimmers at poolside. Officials Dave Mason, Dennis Tucker, Alan Pritchard, Janet Hopkins and Kathleen Waddington. Not forgetting the various parent helpers when it came to Newbury’s turn on Day 4. |
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City of Southampton Sprint Open Meet, February 5th, 2006 |
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| This Level 2 sprint meet was held at the Quays Swimming Complex, Southampton on Sunday 5th February. This event is always popular with our swimmers, and a total of 20 took part. Yet again there was some very good swimming by our squad and as usual a very high number of PB’s recorded. The morning session was for the under 12’s, so an early morning start was necessary, but 8 of our younger swimmers were keen to make their mark on the event. They did so in style too, 9 year old Lily Glover competing in one of her first external meets, clearly illustrated her emerging talent. Finishing with 2 Gold medals in the 50m free and 50m fly, and Silver in 50m back, just missing out on Top Girl in the 9yrs age group by 1 point, how unlucky, but very Well Done. But more was to come, when Jessica Francis went one better by becoming Top Girl in the 11yrs age group, picking up 2 Golds in the 50m back and 100m IM, a Silver in 50m breast and a Bronze in the 50m free. Congratulations Jess!! Not to be outdone, Ben Davies collected a Bronze in the 11yrs 50m back, and Jafer Shah completed the medal haul in the morning session with a Bronze in the 9yrs 50m fly, with Menna Chmielewski, Rebecca Scott and Adam Jackson contributing valuable points to the overall team result, where points were awarded for places 1 to 8. At least the 12 and overs had a lie-in and perhaps got some beauty sleep, but the club’s juniors proved to be a difficult act to follow. In the afternoon session congratulations go to Georgia Marriott for claiming Gold in the 50m breast, and Lucy Singleton with Bronze in the 50m back. With Tom Howes, Louise Neal, Aaron Mason and Jacob Glanville contributing valuable points for the club, in fact Jacob was ‘Mr Consistant’ and although missed out on a ‘shiny’ boxed medal finished with points in all five events and actually ended up being the 3rd highest points contributor of the overall event for Newbury with a total of 17, behind Lily (25 points) and Jessica (30 points). Not sure how Newbury fared overall in the top club award, but we amassed a total of 153 points. The full results will ultimately be published on the City of Southampton’s web site in due course, so keep checking the following link. (click here) Again this was a licensed ASA meet, the results now appear in the ASA rankings database (click here for further details) Many thanks to Jane Hester (coach) and Jane Newton for supporting and encouraging the swimmers at poolside. |
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Round 2 Bracknell Meet - 28th Jan. 2006 |
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| Newburys novice swimmers took the plunge in the concluding round of the B/C Graded Meet at Bracknell on Saturday, taking the 2nd place overall in the Top Club Award. There were plenty of personal best times achieved with an outstanding performance by 10yr Andrew Friday in 100m Fly who knocked an incredible 44secs off of his previous time. Other successes went to 13yr Charlotte Wenlock and 10yr Hayden Lucas who each knocked off 11 secs in their 100m Breaststroke events and to 10yr olds Emma Howes and Jacob Jezzard for 7second Pb's in 100m Free. Speeding tickets for exceeding the meet times went to Morgan Chmielewsk and Jacob Jezzard and placing rosettes were won by Andrew Friday, Katie Herbert, Charlotte Wenlock, Amy Jezzard and Rebecca Scott. The team won six gold medals, 5 silver and 7 bronze. Results in each age group 100m Back - 2nd Jacob Jezzard 3rd Menna Chmielewski 1st Sam Scott 2nd Morgan Chmielewski 1st Tom Howes 100m Free- 3rd Hayden Lucas 1st Charlotte Wenlock 2nd Laura-Jayne Ball 100 Fly- 3rd Andrew Friday 3rd Sam Scott 1st Tom Howes 2nd Alex Ball 1st Lily Glover 2nd Menna Chmielewski 3rd Laura-Jayne Ball 100 Breast- 1st Andrew Friday 2nd Sam Scott 3rd Morgan Chmielewski 3rd Katie Herbert 3rd Alex Ball Thanks also go to our stand in timekeeper Christine Chmieleski, our whip Linda Ball and the two coaches in attendance on the 14th and 28th - Janet Hopkins and Carolyn Mcleod. (JN) |
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Windsor Level 2 Open Meet, January 28th & 29th 2006 |
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| This Level 2 meet was held at the Magnet Leisure Centre, Maidenhead over the weekend of 28th and 29th January. A total of 18 Newbury swimmers took part. There was strong competition for the top club and top boy and girl swimmers with a total of 21 clubs competing, mainly from the South East region. It was my pleasure to watch some fantastic swimming with a very high number of PB’s recorded, with some swimmers claiming South East Region and National times as well as last gasp County qualification times. An incredible haul of 10 Gold, 17 Silver and 4 Bronze medals were claimed by our swimmers. Points were awarded for 1st to 8th place, thus helping Newbury finish (I believe) 4th in the overall club competition, and Aman Shah finished a very credible 3rd in the top boy competition. A massive WELL DONE to Stephen Tucker for cracking the magic 60sec barrier in the 100m freestyle in a time of 59.67. Gold Medal Winners: Aman Shah (3), Charlie Davies (2), Melisa Mason (2), Mark Harris (2) and Jessica Francis Silver Medal Winners: Aman Shah (4), Rebecca Harris (3), Mark Harris (2), Jessica Francis (2), Lucy Singleton (2), Charlie Davies, David Martin, Daryl Payne, and Jacob Glanville Bronze Medal Winners: Jacob Glanville, Daryl Payne, Sam Lee and Stephen Tucker The full results are published on the Windsor Swimming Club web site. (results) As this meet was a licensed ASA meet, the results will eventually appear in the ASA rankings database (click here for further details) Many thanks to Derek (Saturday) and Richard (Sunday) the coaches who supported the swimmers at the event. Also Dennis Tucker (Judge) and Dave Mason (Timekeeper) for volunteering their time to perform these important duties. |
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Thames Valley Junior League Round 1 - Saturday 7th January 2006 |
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| On Saturday evening the first of three rounds for the Thames Valley League took place. This is for the under 12's. The team is chosen by the swim coaches and it is considered to be an achievement to get chosen for the team. It also gives the younger swimmers a great opportunity to gain experience in galas. A coach took us all to Amersham where we competed against four other teams, Amersham, Windsor, Chalfont and Chesham. Overall we came fourth. It was a very good evening and some very good swims took place. For several members of the team it was their first gala and they coped very well, well done to you all. Unfortunately for Newbury we had a small mixed team and several swimmers had to 'swim up' an age group. You all took it in your stride and did your best, what more could we ask for! During the evening Lily Glover came 1st in 50m freestyle and Ben Davies in 50m backstroke. We gained several 2nd places, including Jessica Francis in both her individual races 50m free and butterfly. Jafer Shah in 10/u butterfly, in the 11/u Brett Harmse in 50m free and Andrew Friday in 50m breaststroke, in the 12/u Tim Newton in the 50m breaststroke not forgetting the boys 12/u medley team, Ben Hicks, Adrian Tucker, Tim Newton and Ben Davies. Well done all of you. You can find your results with your times on the website under 'downloads' (or click here) Finally well done to everybody who took part. Thank you to all the parents who came and supported their children and the team, I hope you enjoyed it as much as the children! (If you are interested in helping out at galas please speak to your squad rep, we always welcome new faces.) WELL DONE SWIMMERS!! |
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Oxford “City Leisure” Open Meet, December 3rd & 4th 2005 |
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| The annual Level 2 “City Leisure” meet was held at the Temple Cowley Pools, Oxford over the weekend of 3rd and 4th of December. A total of 12 Newbury swimmers took part. With a total of 28 clubs competing from as far away as Jersey, Newport Pagnell, Stratford upon Avon and Gloucester. There was really some great swimming with a very high number of PB’s recorded, with swimmers aiming for County Consideration times. Congratulations to the following swimmers who took home medals: Aaron Mason – 11/12 age 200m Butterfly, time: 3:21.77 (PB) took Bronze medal Tom Milburn – 13/14 age 50m Breaststoke, time: 38.40 (PB) took 5th place medal Jacob Glanville – 11/12 age 100m Butterfly, time: 1:25.47 (PB) took 5th place medal. Medals were awarded for 1-6th place in the 50m and 100m events, but only 1-3rd place in the 200m events. So a special mention goes to Tom Milburn who came 5th in 200m Breaststroke and Sam Lee who came 6th in 15/16 age group 200m Backstroke. The full results are published on the City of Oxford web site for you to ( download) Also, as this meet was a licensed ASA meet, the results are published in the ASA rankings database, (click here for further details) Many thanks to Carolyn (Saturday) and Derek (Sunday) the coaches who supported the swimmers at the event. |
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Thames Valley Junior League round 2 |
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| The second round of the Thames Valley league was held at Northcroft on Saturday with Newbury lying in fourth position overall after the first round. As with round 1, Newbury suffered from a lack of depth and experience in some of the relay events. However the girls 10/u medley team of Jessica Francis, Isobelle Rudgley, Hannah Wenlock and Amy Hopes and the girls 12/u medley team of Kate Pritchard, Nadeen Whitehead, Louise Neal and Stephanie Mangan both secured first places to keep us in touch so that by the end of the first block of eight relay events we were trailing in joint 3rd position behind Maidenhead and Reading. With the start of the individual events, Newbury began to show it’s strength with a string of PB’s and points from a number of swimmers. Louse Neal achieved a double first by winning the 12/u girls butterfly and f/s in PBs of 36.7s and 32.03s respectively. Charlie Davis also had a double first by winning both the 11/u and 12/u f/s, the latter in a PB of 31.39s. Our other individual winner was Jessica Francis who recorded a PB of 40.85s in the girls 10/u 50m f/s. By the time we reached the final relay events Newbury had moved firmly into second, a position which was maintained until the final event. Further relay wins came from Rebecca scott, Jack Bolton, Menna Chmielewski and Callum Buchanan in the 9/u mixed special relay and from Gilbert Lewis, Alex Pearson Jones, Thomas Howes and Thomas Hastings in the 12/u boys f/s relay. A good all round performance from the Newbury team which hopefully will take us through to the final in April (See Results) |
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NDSC Club Championships Rounds 2 and 3 |
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| Even more great swimming in rounds 2 and 3 of the club champs, with no less than 13 records broken across the two sessions, bringing the total to 21 records falling during the first three rounds of the 2005 Club Championships. Also, as in Round 1 a very high percentage of swimmers gaining PB’s. Well done to everyone who took part. Congratulations to the following swimmers on breaking event records (previous records in brackets): Round 2 Ella Cooper, 50m Back, Sprinters, 45.99 (47.08) Melisa Mason, 200m Butterfly, Age Group F, 2:41.67 (2:52.23) Rebecca Harris, 200m Butterfly, Age Group G, 2:41.76 (3:06.86) Lucy Singleton, 200m Backstroke, Age Group E, 2:37.75 (2:42.19) Aman Shah, 200m Backstroke, Age Group D, 2:34.82, (2:38.27) Stephen Tucker, 200m Backstroke, Age Group F, 2:30.52 (2:33.02) Round 3 Jessica Francis, 100m IM, Age Group C, 1:24.90 (1:28.04) Lucy Singleton, 100m IM, Age Group E, 1:16.45 (1:18.06) Georgia Marriott, 100m IM, Age Group F, 1:16.32 (1:16.93) Rebecca Harris, 100m IM, Age Group G, 1:15.83 (1:20.36) Matthew Hall, 25m Freestyle, Cruisers, 17.79 (18.19) Matthew Stannard, 50m Freestyle, Sprinters, 36.54 (38.05) Charlie Davies, 200m IM, Age Group D, 2:40.70 (2:43.22) Rounds 4 and 5 will take place during December, forms will be distributed for these events soon. Good luck to the Speedo League competitors next weekend. |
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NDSC Club Championships Round 1 – 2nd October 2005 |
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| There was some great swimming at the first round of the club championships, with no less than 8 records broken and a very high percentage of swimmers gaining PB’s. Well done to everyone. Congratulations to the following swimmers on breaking event records (previous records in brackets): Lucy Singleton, 100m Backstroke, Age Group E, 1:13.36 (1:17.30) Aman Shah, 100m Backstroke, Age Group D, 1:11.86 (1:18.68) Stephen Tucker, 100m Backstroke, Age Group F, 1:10.48 (1:11.44) Melisa Mason, 100m Butterfly, Age Group F, 1:14.30 (1:18.14) Rebecca Harris, 100m Butterfly, Age Group G, 1:13.88 (1:14.37) Daryl Payne, 100m Butterfly, Age Group G, 1:08.47 (1:08.77) Isabel Rudgley, 50m Breaststroke, Sprinters, 49.30 (51.41) Zachary Glanville, 50m Breaststroke, Sprinters, 51.29 (53.55) Not long now until Round 2, your forms should have been returned by Sunday 9th October. We look forward to many more records being broken in the next round too!! |
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Aman Shah gets a Double Fourth at the Nationals |
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| Three Newbury swimmers: Aman Shah, Rebecca Harris and Emma Harris travelled up to Pond Forge International pool, Sheffield in August to compete in the National championships. Qualifying times were reduced yet again from the 2004 mark so getting there was in itself an achievement In the Age group section, Aman Shah had managed to quaalify in five events: 200 and 100 backstroke; 200 and 100 butterfly and the 400 freestyle. The first event on Saturday was the 200m backstroke in which Aman swam a comfortable heat to qualify for the final in 6th position. The final later that evening was a closely contested affair with Aman competing for a podium position through much of the race. In the end an extremely tight finish saw Aman finishing just out of the medals in 4th place and a new personal best time of 2:35.01s. The 100m backstroke later in the week followed much the same pattern with Aman qualifying for the final in 6th position. However, as one might expect from a 100m race, the race was even more tightly contested and with 25m to go Aman was marginally heading the field. However in a finger tip tight finish Aman was again just edged out of the medals into 4th position in a new new PB of 1:14.06s. Rebecca Harris was competing in the National Youth championships 14/15 age group. In the 400 freestyle Rebecca recorded a new PB of 4:40.00s to come 27th (14 yrs) and she was also 27th in the 800 freestyle in a time of 9:37.71s In the commonwealth trials girls club captain Emma Harris came 78th in the 100 freestyle in 1:00.89s; 46th in the 200 freestyle in 2:09.21s and 62nd in the 400 freestyle in 4:35.16s |
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Great Swimming at Reading Gala |
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| On Saturday 7 May 2005, 20 swimmers from Sprinters, Challengers and County squads, swum in the Allan Eyles Graded Meet at Reading. Every swimmer gained excellent PB’s and between them came home with 11 Golds, 8 Silver and 12 Bronze medals. 4 speeding tickets were awarded to Aaron Mason, Morgan Chmielewski, Alex Alberts and Hannah Wenlock for exceeding the events fastest times. A big congratulation goes to 12yr Stephanie Mangan, for breaking the 2 year event record in the 50m Free in a time of 33.01 secs. Well dones also go to novice competition entrants, Jacob Glanville and Jacob Jezzard who put aside their nerves and won 3rd in 50 Free and 2nd in 50 Free respectively. Hopefully this competition has given the swimmers huge confidence in entering our own Open Meet gala on Sat 18 June at Northcroft. You too could be part of their success ! Speak to any squad rep for details if you have not already received your entry forms via e mail. Open to all swimmers aged 10 and over and to 9yr olds if they are 10 by 31.12.05. Closing date 29 May. Results Golds to - Rebecca Scott, Sarah Hubbard, Steph Mangan, Alexander Ball Tom Howes Silvers to - Laura Mangan, Jacob Jezzard, Jack Praill, Morgan Chmielewski, Bronze to - Hannah and Charlotte Wenlock, Morgan and Menna Chmielewski, Scott Alexander, Tom Howes, Jacob Glanville, Jack Praill, Sam Scott, Tom Milburn. |
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Wycombe Open Meet 14/02/04 - 16/02/04 |
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| Newbury swimming club were at Wycombe at the weekend to take part in the Wycombe District Open Meet, an annual three day competition attracting top level competitors from all over the UK. National championship contender Chris Ferguson began in excellent form by winning the 10-12 boys 50m and 100m freestyle events in new meet records of 27.81s and 1:00.71s respectively. Chris completed his ‘hat trick’ by winning the 200m Individual medley event in a national championship qualifying time of 2:31.68s. Twelve year old national backstroke champion Zoe Hester also had a good Meet in spite of only just recovering from a recent virus. Zoe went below the magic 30s barrier to come 3rd in the girls 10-12 50m freestyle and followed this up by winning the 100m backstroke in a new personal best time of 1:10.08s. In the 200 backstroke event she set a time of 2:31.79s lopping a huge 3 seconds off her previous PB and in the 200m Individual medley she achieved another PB and national qualifying time of 2:38.96s. Girls club captain Emma Harris fought off some extremely tough opposition to come 2nd in the womens 400m freestyle in a new PB and long awaited national qualifying time of 4:33.56s. Other notable performances came from: Mark Harris 1:10.0s in the 100m butterfly and 3 seconds off his previous PB; Oliver Waddington 59.99s in the 100m freestyle and first time sub 60s in a 50m pool; Melisa Mason 1:17.13s in the 100m butterfly – a new PB and narrowly missing the final and Stephen Tucker Narrowly missing the 100m backstroke final in a PB of 1:16.38s |
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Speedo League round 3 - Final at Southampton 13th Dec 2003 |
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| In a tense exciting Speedo final at Southampton Newbury battled to third position to marginally miss promotion to the southern premier division next year. This was always going to be close with no more than 1 league point separating all 6 finalists after round 2. Charlie Davis had a good day breaking club records in the 50 backstroke and f/c in times of 38.09 and 32.04 respectively. Other club record breakers were new appointed junior boys captain Thomas Hastings who recorded a time of 35.86 in the 50m butterfly and senior boys captain Daniel Hester with a 1:01.8s in the 100m backstroke. In an extremely high calibre final 1st places were difficult to come by. However Zoe Hester go a 1st the 100m backstroke (1:09.51s), Chris Ferguson recovering from illness but still managed 1st and a creditable 1:12.96s. Luke Wakefield achieved a double 1st taking the 15/U 100m breaststroke in 1:11.73s and the 100m f/s in 54.63s. New junior girls captain Louis Neal finished strongly to just win in 33.18s in the 11/U 50 f/s and to complete a full set of wins for the girls captains Emma Harris won the 100m f/s in 59.99s. The relay teams on the whole performed extremely well with no DQs. But we clearly lacked depth in some age groups and many of our swimmers either swum up an age or were in the lower half of the age group band. This ultimately took its toll in a high calibre final such as this and notably we didn’t achieve any relay wins. Nevertheless it was an excellent effort with everyone – illness aside – performing at or beyond their previous best. In the end we were beaten into 3rd place behind Fareham and Jersey who significantly were relegated from the premier division last year. However we were well in front of Alton in 4th place Stains in 5th and Bracknell in 6th. We received a pennant for our efforts which Oliver Waddington ( the only NDSC swimmer left on the pool side!!) received on behalf of the club. (See Results) |
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NDSC Club Championships at Northcroft |
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| The 3rd round of the club championships took place on Sunday 23rd November. Over the 3 rounds 13 club records have fallen, numerous PBs and I anticipate, loads of county qualifying times. Particularly pleasing was the depth in the Cruisers and sprinters events - bearing in mind that we start the Junior league competitions. (See Results) | ||
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Speedo League Round 2 Havant & Waterlooville Saturday 8th Nov 03 |
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| Newbury travelled to Havant and Waterlooville Leisure centre on Saturday to compete in round 2 of the Speedo league. Following on from a win at Bracknell in round 1 Newbury's swimmers were seeking a win or at least second place to secure a place in the final in December. This was expected to be a close contest between us and a strong Fareham Nomads team only just relegated from the premier division last year with Eastleigh who we had previousely defeated in round 1 also in contention. From the outset this proved to be the case and by the end of the first block of 10 relays Fareham were leading with 55 points, Newbury with 49, Eastleigh 37 with Slough, Bognor Regis and Hart contesting the minor places. This situation never really changed for the rest of the gala and whilst Newbury did have a strong period in the middle with 6 first places we were never quite good enough to match the consistancy of Fareham. On an individual level two new club records went to Louse Neal in the 11/u fly in 37.5s and Luke Wakefield in the 15/u f/s in 54.97s. Congratulations to those two swimmers. There were also a number of new PBs (See Results), notably there were no DQs, we achieved 20 2nd places and to our credit no 6th placed swimmers! This was an excellent team performance which takes us through to the final in December . The final results was : Fareham Nomads 242, Newbury 229, Eastleigh 203.5, Hart 137, Slough 122.5, Bognor Regis 115 |
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