Last week Dolphin’s five National Youth Championships qualifiers were in Sheffield to compete amongst the best of Britain’s 14 to 18 year olds, some of whom will undoubtedly become Olympians in the not too distant future.

As Dolphin’s highest ranked swimmer going into the championships, [...]]]> Event: British Gas ASA National Youth Championships (50m) 2010
Venue: Ponds Forge, Sheffield
Date: 3rd to 7th August 2010

Last week Dolphin’s five National Youth Championships qualifiers were in Sheffield to compete amongst the best of Britain’s 14 to 18 year olds, some of whom will undoubtedly become Olympians in the not too distant future.

As Dolphin’s highest ranked swimmer going into the championships, Elizabeth Beckett had the Dolphin contingent on tenterhooks as she eased her way through the heat stages of the 200m breaststroke in personal best and new club record times in both 200m and 100m split times, and later in the day went faster still in the semi-final.  Her 2:35.31 second swim secured a second ranked place in the 16/17 years final just half a second behind first ranked Francesca Marr of Hillingdon.  However, the challenge in the final came not from Marr, but from Avril Kiritschenko from City of Leeds who took command of the race at the 100m mark and powered her way to victory with Beckett finishing in 6^th place.

Liam Herbert had qualified for the 100m butterfly as well as his more usual 100m and 200m backstroke events.  Despite a personal best in the 100m event, overall performances in the backstroke events were not as expected. However, this did not deter the 16 year old when going into the butterfly later on in the week.  A determined heat swim in an unfavourable outside lane secured a semi-final place as well as breaking the club record for the 50m and 100m distance in times of 27.18 seconds and 59.63 seconds.  Herbert went faster again in the semi and finished a creditable 18th place overall.

Dolphin's National Youth Competitors ~ Liam Herbert, Joe Kerslake, James Clark, Elizabeth Beckett, Samantha Berry

Samantha Berry’s best performance came in the 100m butterfly with a personal best swim of 1:06.83 and also competed in the 200m butterfly and 200m freestyle.

Other competitors for Dolphin were Joe Kerslake in the 200m backstroke and James Clark in the 100m and 200m breaststroke and 400m individual medley. Despite disappointing performances from both the whole experience served, as it does for all competitors, a valuable learning experience in their continuing development as swimmers.

Next week sees the conclusion of the ASA Championships season with the National Open Championships at the magnificent Sunderland Aquatic Centre where Swindon Dolphin’s Jon Audis will have the honour of being the Town’s only competitor.

In the last week of July, the ASA National Swimming Championships commenced with the pool programme for the younger Age Group competitors at Ponds [...]]]> Event: British Gas ASA National Age Group Championships (50m) 2010 / British Gas ASA National Age Group Open Water Championships 2010
Venue: Ponds Forge, Sheffield / Rother Valley Country Park
Date: 28th July to 1st August 2010 / 2nd August 2010

In the last week of July, the ASA National Swimming Championships commenced with the pool programme for the younger Age Group competitors at Ponds Forge Sheffield immediately followed by the Age Group Open Water event at Rother Valley Country Park.

Dolphin’s Alex-Chantler Mayne was competing in the 800m and 1500m freestyle as well as the 1.5km open water event.  Finishing a respectable 25^th and 18^th in the pool events, Alex went on to win bronze in the 12 years age group of the Open Water swim, a discipline that he is clearly starting to enjoy.

Alex Chantler-Mayne ~ National Open Water Bronze Medallist and future British Record Holder?

Alex has been training since January with the Bristol English Channel Swim Team (BEST) and learned this week that he has been selected from a squad of eight for the final team of six swimmers to attempt to become the youngest team ever to swim the channel. The swim is planned to take place sometime after 15th August with the 17th and 18th being more likely due to favourable tides.

Results from the National Age Group Championships are available on the Competition page.
For more information on BEST and the record attempt, visit www.bestswim.co.uk

Matthew Thomas was Dolphin’s sole representative at the 2010 FINA World Masters Swimming Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The competition displayed its usual high standard with some exceptionally fast swims, particularly in Thomas’ 25-29 year age group, that would not have looked out of place in the [...]]]> Event: XIII FINA World Masters Championships 2010
Venue: Gothenburg, Sweden
Date: 31st July to 6th August 2010

Matthew Thomas was Dolphin’s sole representative at the 2010 FINA World Masters Swimming Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The competition displayed its usual high standard with some exceptionally fast swims, particularly in Thomas’ 25-29 year age group, that would not have looked out of place in the forthcoming domestic Open National Championships.

Thomas’ opening event was the 100m freestyle, finishing 14^th in a respectable 54.88 seconds.  Personal bests in the 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke in times of 25.10 seconds and 32.48 seconds followed and a 28.48 second 50m butterfly just outside his best.  Thomas was pleased overall with his performances and happy to be the highest placed Briton in three of his four events.

Matthew Thomas ~ World Masters Competitor

Swindon Dolphin rounded off their 2009/2010 season with their increasingly popular End of Season Open Meet last weekend at the Link Centre.

Almost 200 swimmers and 21 visiting clubs ensured the level 3 meet provided a high degree of competition for all competitors [...]]]> Event: Swindon Dolphin End of Season Level 3 Open Meet
Venue: Link Centre, Swindon
Date: 24th & 25th July 2010

Swindon Dolphin rounded off their 2009/2010 season with their increasingly popular End of Season Open Meet last weekend at the Link Centre.

Almost 200 swimmers and 21 visiting clubs ensured the level 3 meet provided a high degree of competition for all competitors and a final chance for all athletes to assess their progress over the past year. With Dolphin’s new squad structure coming into place next season, there was the added incentive for their swimmers to record a time that would see them climb another rung of the ladder.

Conditions were therefore ideal for some superb swimming and the results did not disappoint. As expected, the younger age group swimmers all recorded significant improvements in their best times, many of these over the more appropriate 200m and 400m distances. Notably, the top improvers were largely swimmers destined for the new County Squads whose primary ambition will be to qualify for the 2011 Wiltshire Championships next March. Some fine performances by some, however, would suggest that the Regional Championships are also a realistic target. Some notable improvements came from Liam Jefferies, Millie Jeans, Jerzy Pilipczuk, Denice Gardo, Abigail Ross and Josh Smith.

The youth and senior age group swimmers also put in some fine performances with all but a few also recording personal best times. Making an impression at the older end of the scale were Abigail Easter, Gina Popal, Matthew Watson, Patrick Seed, Lauren Matthews and Natalie Evans.

As well as recording best times, there was also some inspired head to head racing. Dolphin’s Liam Herbert calmly fended off top heat challenges from team-mates James Clark and Jon Audis in the 200m and 400m freestyle respectively to touch home first on both occasions, whilst in the 200m butterfly a titanic battle in the 11 year old age group saw Dolphin’s Sean Purvis trail Tigershark’s Jack Patey for 190 metres only to pull back in the final 10m to take gold on the touch. The girl’s 200m freestyle was no less competitive as Charlotte Pitts and Megan Jones fought off a challenge from Worcester’s Holly Horton to take a 1-2 finish for Dolphin.

Top medallist of the meet was Dolphin’s Liam Jefferies taking an incredible 7 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze from 11 events with team-mate Niall Westman earning 7 gold from 7 events. Other top medal winners were Maddie Easter (6 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze), Lauren Matthews (5 gold, 3 silver), Noah Kirby (5 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) and Georgina Pitts (5 gold, 1 silver). Swimmers earning Certificates of Time for exceeding the meets “no faster than” limits included Jon Audis, Charlotte Pitts, James Clark, Joe Kerslake, Kath Baker and Matthew Rose.

Full results are available on the Competition Page.

This year’s Wiltshire County Open Water Championships at Coltswold Water Park drew a record entry of over 100 swimmers; a far cry from the 21 that took part in the inaugural competition in 2007. Many Dolphin swimmers featured in the medal positions, winning an incredible five out of [...]]]> Event: Wiltshire County Open Water Championships
Venue: Cotswold Water Park
Date: 7th and 14th July 2010

This year’s Wiltshire County Open Water Championships at Coltswold Water Park drew a record entry of over 100 swimmers; a far cry from the 21 that took part in the inaugural competition in 2007. Many Dolphin swimmers featured in the medal positions, winning an incredible five out of the eight Championship trophies and 12 out of the 22 age group gold medals.

The first event, the gruelling 3km, took place on the 7th July.  The overall women’s champion was Dolphin’s Kath Baker, just having the edge over team-mate Sharna King in second place with John Wood of Trowbridge taking the men’s title.  Baker and King also took age group gold along with Andrew Butler, Jon Audis and Glenys France with Matthew Thomas taking silver.  Butler‘s swim also earned him silver in the Junior Championships behind Chris Chapman of Tigersharks.

The 1.5km and the shorter 750m event for the 11 year olds took place a week later. A neck and neck girl’s 11 years race saw Dolphin’s Joanna Farley touch out team-mate Mya Bell on the finish, after the leading pack had the misfortune to drift off course towards the end of the swim. Flying the flag for Dolphin in the boy’s 11 year race was Jake Lewis who finished a creditable third.

The 1.5km event attracted the most entries and was swum in two heats.  The men set off first and, with the sun just setting towards the back end of the race, experienced the largely unexpected hazard of glare on the water and therefore being unable to see the marker buoys.  This caused many swimmers including the leading pack to drift off course, but despite this Dolphin’s James Clark grafted his way through the course and took on a sprint finish against Trowbridge’s Kieran Hill to take the men’s Senior Championship.

By contrast, the ladies only had the cold to contend with as they set off as dusk approached, with Dolphin’s Charlotte Pitts pulling clear of the front pack at an early stage and winning by a clear margin over Emma Hill of Trowbridge. The victory gave not only the 14 year old the Senior Championship but also the Junior Title.  To complete a Dolphin full house of Championships for the evening, Mathew Sambrook was also later announced as the Junior Boys Champion.

Dolphins James Clark, Charlotte Pitts and Mathew Sambrook alongside Wilts County ASA President, Rob Hart

As well as Clark, Sambrook and Pitts winning their respective age groups, also taking gold for Dolphin were Jon Audis, Katie Hislop and Helen Hanks.  Other silver medallists were Alex Chantler-Mayne, Anthony Clark, Rebecca Saunders and Glenys France with bronze going to Andrew Butler, Liam Herbert and Victoria Jennings who also earned Junior and Senior Championship bronze.

Full results are available on the Competition Page.

Swindon Dolphin enjoyed one of their most successful results in recent years at the South West Regional Sprint Competition last Sunday at Gloucester.

A team of 15 from Dolphin produced an overall haul of 6 gold, 11 silver and 5 bronze plus 6 top 3 overall age group awards.

Top performer for Dolphin [...]]]> Event: South West Region Sprint Competition
Venue: Gloucester
Date: 4th July 2010

Swindon Dolphin enjoyed one of their most successful results in recent years at the South West Regional Sprint Competition last Sunday at Gloucester.

A team of 15 from Dolphin produced an overall haul of 6 gold, 11 silver and 5 bronze plus 6 top 3 overall age group awards.

Top performer for Dolphin was Kath Baker with 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze closely followed by Charlotte Pitts with 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze.  Also grabbing gold were Georgina Pitts (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) and Charlotte Gardo (1 gold, 1 silver) and striking silver was James Watson (2 silver, 1 bronze), Victoria Jennings (2 silver) and Noah Kirby (1 silver, 1 bronze).  In the overall age group awards, Baker and Charlotte Pitts took gold with Georgina Pitts scooping silver and Watson, Kirby and Gardo finishing the day with bronze.

The annual meet at the superb GL1 short course competition pool always attracts a quality field, and combined with the relaxed nature of the event continues to provide a flurry of personal best swims.  Both Charlotte Pitts and Victoria Jennings set new lifetime bests on all five swims whilst a further seven Dolphin competitors dropped their mark on four.  This included Adam Coleman whose rise to regional level swimming this year saw him make huge gains in both his freestyle and breaststroke swims.

Full results are available on the Competition Page.

Dolphin swimmers Andrew Butler and Alex Chantler-Mayne both took up the challenge of sea water competition last weekend in the South West Region Open Water Championships at Weymouth.   The event took place as part of the “Spirit of the Sea” Weymouth and Portland Maritime Festival and attracted a field of almost [...]]]> Event: South West Region Open Water Championships
Venue: Weymouth
Date: 4th July 2010

Dolphin swimmers Andrew Butler and Alex Chantler-Mayne both took up the challenge of sea water competition last weekend in the South West Region Open Water Championships at Weymouth.
 
The event took place as part of the “Spirit of the Sea” Weymouth and Portland Maritime Festival and attracted a field of almost 100 swimmers across the four separate events that also incorporated the Dorset and Somerset county championships.
 
Butler was competing in the 3km event and completed the course in just over 49 minutes, finishing way ahead of the second placed swimmer to take the 14 and under gold medal.  Chantler-Mayne, however, had more of a battle on his hands in his 1.5km swim just touching out Jordan Edwards of Trowbridge by a few seconds to also take gold.

Andrew Butler and Alex Chantler-Mayne ~ South West Region Open Water Gold Medallists

Full results are available on the Competition Page.

The penultimate round of the Moonraker Summer League took place last Saturday with all competing teams facing their respective league counterparts for the third time in as many months.

Dolphin A unsurprisingly extended their overall division 1 lead with a 12 point win over second placed Trowbridge whilst [...]]]> Event: Moonraker Summer League Round 3
Venue: Salisbury (A Team), Link Centre (B Team), Trowbridge (C Team)
Date: 3rd July 2010

The penultimate round of the Moonraker Summer League took place last Saturday with all competing teams facing their respective league counterparts for the third time in as many months.

Dolphin A unsurprisingly extended their overall division 1 lead with a 12 point win over second placed Trowbridge whilst Dolphin C consolidated their second place in division 4 with a second place to runaway winners Wroughton and now look virtually certain to remain in the group next year.

By contrast Dolphin B had something to fight for, going into the round in the fourth place relegation zone, 16 points behind Corsham A.  A superb team effort and fine individual performances ensured a creditable third on the night and although still in fourth place overall, a similar show in September should see continued division 2 action next season.

Division 1 third round scores:  Swindon Dolphin A 157, Trowbridge 145, Salisbury 100, Bradford-on-Avon 97

Division 1 overall league scores: Swindon Dolphin A 471, Trowbridge 438, Salisbury 302, Bradford-on-Avon 281

Division 2 third round scores: Tigersharks 160, Chippenham 118, Swindon Dolphin B 116, Corsham 105

Division 2 overall league scores: Tigersharks 466, Chippenham 371, Corsham 330, Swindon Dolphin B 325

Division 4 third round scores: Wroughton 170, Swindon Dolphin C 117, Melksham 110, Corsham B 101

Division 4 overall league scores: Wroughton 512, Swindon Dolphin C 396, Corsham B 320, Melksham 200

Two wins from the two preliminary rounds of the Southern Junior League ensured that Swindon Dolphin took their place in the final of the competition at Weston-super-Mare last weekend.

Six teams and their supporters packed the stands at the Hutton Moor pool for a competition that not only tests [...]]]> Event: Southern Junior League Final
Venue: Hutton Moor, Weston-super-Mare
Date: 26th June 2010

Two wins from the two preliminary rounds of the Southern Junior League ensured that Swindon Dolphin took their place in the final of the competition at Weston-super-Mare last weekend.

Six teams and their supporters packed the stands at the Hutton Moor pool for a competition that not only tests a team’s swimming ability, but also their teamwork and sportsmanship, and serves as a valuable learning experience in their future development for the 9 to 12 year olds taking part. The eventual winner of this final would go forward to the Southern region final in October, something last experienced by Dolphin swimmers in 2004. The 2004 squad included ten who have since progressed to competing at National level including some medallists.

Last years winners and this year’s favourites to make the Southern final were Ferndown. An incredible 34 winner and runner-up spots for the south coast club gave them a clear overall majority of these key positions and they proved unassailable, winning the overall competition by a clear 55 point margin over second placed Weston-super-Mare.

Dolphin still enjoyed a few moments of glory, initially with a win in the very first race by the girls 9 years freestyle quartet of Denice Gardo, Abigail Ross, Millie Jeans and Georgia Dicks. Success followed in event four with the boys 10 years medley team of Conor McGilligan, James Chantler-Mayne, James Watson and Ben Sarachi also touching home first. Event 13 saw Dolphin’s only individual win by Abbie Hawkins in the 50m backstroke.  Earning valuable second places for the team were Millie Jeans (25m freestyle), James Chantler-Mayne (50m breaststroke), Noah Kirby (50m breaststroke) and James Watson (50m freestyle).

Swindon Dolphin ~ Southern Junior League 2010

The extensive relay success enjoyed in the previous rounds could not be sustained, with Ferndown touching out Dolphin to the runner up spot on four occasions. Second place relay finishes went to the boys 12 years medley (Adam Coleman, Noah Kirby, Jerzy Pilipczuk, Liam Jefferies), girls 9 years medley (Millie Jeans, Abigail Ross, Denice Gardo, Georgia Dicks), girls 10 years freestyle (Rebecca Matthews, Amber Davies, Charlotte Brooker, Georgia Dicks), boys 10 years freestyle (Ben Sarachi, Conor McGilligan, James Chantler-Mayne, James Watson) and the boys 12 years freestyle (Liam Jefferies, Adam Colman, Jerzy Pilipczuk, Noah Kirby).

Final Points: Ferndown 234, Weston-super-Mare 179, Poole 176, Swindon Swim Squad A 168, Swindon Dolphin 166, Christchurch Seagulls 101

Click here to view photographs from the day.