Hadleigh Dolphins,
their Parents and Families and Volunteer helpers and officials, spent
two weekends at the beginning of December 2007 participating in their
annual championships. The new Committee and coaching team had organized
8 sessions over two weekends, a new format. This seemed to work well and
was most people's preference than previous years' formats. It also meant
that the Teaching section of the club was not disrupted and they could
take part and continue with their weekly lessons.
Hadleigh Dolphins obtained a special Grant from a local Grants network
applied for by the former chairman, Tony Slade. This was in 2006/7. It
funded IT software and hardware to improve the running of the event and
one of it's main aims was to include all members from the club,
regardless of age or ability. This " inclusive" philosophy seems to have
continued as 158 New Times were recorded and new swimmers participated
from the teaching section, junior and senior squads, including adult
(masters) swimmers.
Since getting the grant, The Championships has seen more
events, more swimmers swimming and more trophies awarded, all great
incentives for competitive swimming locally.
The first weekend staged a variety of events over Saturday and Sunday.
Some of the dolphins were competing in their first championships. Events
1- 36 occurred and some great swims happened in an air of relaxed
friendliness.
The second weekend ran as smoothly as the first, and on the final night
the under 14 Skins and Open Skins events took place for the first time.
This sees the 5 fastest 50m Freestylers in each category for Boys and
girls swimming 5 heats, eliminating the slowest swimmer on each round
till the Skins champion is revealed. The participants have to race
tactically, doing enough to qualify for each round, yet leaving enough
in the tank to win the swim off in round 5. It makes for an exciting and
entertaining spectacle.
Overall Skins Champions were: Jake Howard , Boys U14 Champ.
Fiona Manthorpe, Girls U14 Champ. Tom Olive, Boys Open Champ
and Lucy Mackenzie Girls Open Champ.
A record 375 PB's were recorded. New swimmers were able to try new
events and 158 new times were registered. Many medals were won and the
gold Medalists will be presented with trophies at the Annual
presentation evening next year. As well as trophies for gold medalists
HSC also award top girl and top boy cups (most points obtained by an
individual over 10 events) and a boys and a girls Endeavour trophy.
These swimmers will be named on the night of the Presentation evening.
To date an estimated 127 Championship records and 103 Club records
tumbled, some had not been broken for some years. Many county
qualification times were achieved and a few elite swimmers even clocked
some regional times, meaning there could be a squad of swimmers going to
Norwich next year, if they can repeat these times at the county event in
march 2008.
Swimmers competing in their first Club Championship were:- 7 years old:
Anna Vince, William White and Xena Lari. 8 years old: Adam Morseman,
Esme Leydon, Georgina Payne, Luke Wilson, Megan Boardman, Molly Batram
and Olivia Sherred. 9 years Old: Bethan Garrity and Max Griffin. 11
years old: David Rose, Edward Seeley, Gena Leydon, Bethany Cole
and Sean Brennan. 14 year old: Sam Hunt and 17 year old Rebecca Hunt.
New Masters swimmers competing were:- Sue D'Souza, Anita Malster, Sarah
Sheridan and Paul Perrin. Swimmers in the 2 widths races were:-
Catherine Hood, Daisy Linge, Lewis Bell and Edward Salisbury.
Notable swims, of which there were many, came from Abi Malster aged 14 ,
Alanah Barton aged 9, Amy Pettitt aged 9, Ben Olive aged 11, Jake Howard
aged 12 years, Kezia Tan aged 15, Collette Bunce aged 12, Fiona
Manthorpe 13 years, Georgia Howard 10 years, Georgie Salibury 25 years,
Gerraint White 11 years, Lucy Mackenzie 14 years, Matt D'Souza 12 years,
Nathan Garrity 15 years, Richard Goodchild aged 30, Sue D'Souza aged 46
and Tom Olive aged 15, all of whom not only achieved Personal best
times, but also broke championship and Club records.
Well done to everyone who competed from the Teaching and coaching
sections of the Club. A BIG THANK YOU to all the volunteer helpers, who
gave up their free time to help run and stage the event. Special
mentions go to Steve Mitchell (Former coach, Chairman and all things
known to man) who refereed for both weekends. Our appreciation to the
committee, but especially, Laura Salisbury, (current Vice-Chair,
Teacher) who promoted and organized the whole event. It ran smoothly and
was friendly, fun and very enjoyable. Lastly, a special mention to Kern
Death. Head Coach and his Team, only in post for 6 months, he has
transformed the coaching programmes and the successful results speak
volumes. |
