Northumberland and Durham Senior and Youth Championships 20-21st February

Eight of our A squad swimmers traveled to Sunderland Aquatic centre to compete against the best swimmers in the county. The squad competed extremely well throughout the weekend with some exceptional performances. Two Swimmers recorded their first National Qualifying Times. Thomas Butler achieved both the 100m and 200m Breaststroke NQT. Tom qualified to swim in 4 finals over the weekend (50, 100, 200 Breaststroke and 200 IM), finishing with a Silver medals in both the Open and Youth Catagory 50m Breaststroke. Sister Kim achieved the 100m breaststroke National Qualifying Time and qualified for all 3 breaststroke finals. Kim finished a succesful weekend with a Gold, Silver and Bronze in the Youth Catagory and a Silver in the Open Catagory 50m breaststroke.

Lydia Beeken also competed exceptionally well in the Breaststroke events, coming within 1 second of the National Qualifying standard in the 100m Breaststroke and within 2 seconds of the 200m breaststroke. Lydia finished the weekend with 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze medal, all in the Youth Catagory. Notably, Lydia and Kim occupied 2 out of the 3 podium places in all 3 Youth breaststroke events.

Charlotte Young, competing as a Youth for the first time, having turned 14 two weeks ago, also came close to the National Qualifying Standard, recording a 1:02.48 in the 100m Freestyle, just outside the required 1:01.46. She qualified for 2 finals (100 Freestyle and 50m backstroke) and recorded PB's in all of her events.

Luke Buxton competed well throughout the weekend, recording PB's in all 6 of the events he competed in. Luke qualified for the Mens 200m Butterfly, finishing 10th, less than 3 seconds away from national qualification. Qualification for this final was a superb performance as Luke is not yet old enough compete as Youth Swimmer and will join our age group swimmers for the BAGCAT championships in March.

Alec Wann returned from Loughborough University to compete in the Championships. Alec qualified for 4 finals (50m, 100m, 200m Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke), winning a Silver medal in the 50m Backstroke and a Bronze in the 200m Backstroke.

Naomi Moks and Cheyl Gartland also competed well, with Cheryl recording PB's in the 50m and 200m backstroke and Naomi recording PB's in the 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke.

Well done to all swimmers who competed.

Middlesbrough AA Grade Meet 7th February

This meet was aimed at younger squad members from the Dolphin, Development and B Squads. The swimmers recorded 72 Personnel Best Times. Top six finishes were achieved by Alasitar Civil (50 BK, 100 IM, 50 Br, 50 Fly), Johnathon Carr (200 FC, 50 Fly, 50 Br), Benjamin Fisher (50 Brst), Alice Heath (200 FC, 50 Br, 50 Fly, 50 BK, 100 IM), Karenza Blenkinsopp (50 Br, 50 BK), Holly Coulton (50 BK), Molly Wade (50 Brst, 50 FC), Keiron Fryer (50 BK, 100 IM, 200 FC, 50 FC, 50 Fly), Lewis Maguire (50 Brst), Elizabeth Mcnamara (100 IM, 50 Brst), Lousie Bray (50 Fly) and Daniel Fisher (50 Brst, 100 IM, 200 FC). First place finishes went to Keiron Fryer in the 50m Butterfly and Alice Heath in the 100 IM.

Well done to all those who competed.

Richmond and Hambleton Schools Gala 3rd February

This event took place at Bedale pool with current and ex club members representing their schools. Many of our swimmers won their events. Richmond school won the Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Intermediate Boys, Intermediate Girls categories. They also won the Overall Points despite missing 4 events in the senior category due students with exam commitments. Northallerton College won the senior boys and senior girls categories. The club had a least one member in each of the winning teams. Richmond School, will now represent the area in the North Yorkshire Youth games.

Harrogate Open Meet 30-31st January 2010

10 Swimmers from the Development, B and A Squads took part in this open meet at the Harrogate Hydro, recording 27 PB's. First place finishes went to Alec wann in all 3 backstroke events, Luke Buxton in the 100m backstroke, Josephine Barker in the 100m Freestyle and Lydia Beeken in the 200m Breaststroke. In total, the swimmers had eleven top 3 finishes. Luke Buxton and Lydia Beeken both finihsed second overall in the thier respective points catagories.

Molly Wade and Alice Heath recorded County qualifying times.

Peterlee Graded Meet 10th January

10 Swimmers from the Dolphin, development and B squads made the trip to Peterlee despite the bad weather. The swimmers recorded a massive 37 PB's from 40 swims, winning 30 Medals between them. Alice Heath (200 IM) and Benjamin Fisher (50m Breaststroke) also recorded N+D County Qualifying Times. This was a good start to the year and all swimmers performed exceptionally well.

North East Region Senior/Junior Short Course Championships 7-8th November

This event took place at Durham on 7-8th November We had a small team 7 swimmers competing. The swimmers recorded 23 PB’s from 30 swims. Given that this was the first meet of the year and where we are with regards to the training plan, this was a great effort from all the swimmers.
Alec Wann returning from Loughborough for the weekend won a silver in the 100m backstroke and bronze in the 200m backstroke, and also finished 4th in the 50m backstroke all in PB times. Kim Butler finished 3rd in the 50m breaststroke (2nd in the under 16 category). She also qualified for the final of the 100m breaststroke final finishing 7th. Lydia Beeken qualified for the final of the 200m breaststroke despite being one of the youngest competitors, finishing in 6th place. Other swimmers who competed were Tom Butler, Luke Buxton, Josephine Barker and Charlotte Young.

English Schools Championships 23rd-24th October

Three Swimmers took part in the English Schools Championships on 23-24th October. This was a long course event which took place at Crystal Palace. Swimmers are selected to compete after qualifying through regional championships.
Emma Willson, competing for Division 1 (North East), qualified for the final of the Senior Girls 100m Breaststroke, finishing in 7th place.
Tom and Kim Butler were competing for the Division 3 team (Yorkshire and Humberside). Tom, swimming in the Senior Boys 100m breaststroke, finished in 9th place just missing the final. Kim, who swam in the 100m breaststroke, finished in 10th place with a new PB time of 1:18.81. All 3 swimmers also competed in team events for their respective regions.
Well done to all 3 swimmers