Some weeks have passed since we last prepared a report on the progress of our enthusiastic group of swimmers at Tenby and District Swimming Club.

Throughout the autumn period the training sessions have continued without interruption, and as a consequence of all the hard work the swimmers and coaches have put in over the past few weeks we have seen some great results in the pool.

Open Competitions

On the weekend of November 5 and 6, 13 swimmers from the club made the trip to Neath Leisure Centre for the annual Neath Open Gala.

The team consisted of Harrison Cole-Picton, Luke Dedoncker, Emily Dilks, Arabella Haley, Amy Morgan, Lillie Murray-Coller, Caleb O'Neill, Tilley O'Neill, Alanya Thomas, Harry Thomas, Charlotte O'Neill, Owen Thomas and Lauren Watkins.

From the start it was evident that all the hard training over the autumn was paying off, as nearly every swimmer was beating their previous times. Outstanding performances for the weekend were:

Nine to 10-year-old boys - Harrison won no less than two gold, three silver and two bronze medals, picking up a meet record for the 50m freestyle in the process. Charlotte O'Neill won a silver medal in the 11 to 12-year-olds 100m IM, Luke Dedoncker also had a good meet, claiming one gold and two silvers, and Owen Thomas, who only swam on the Sunday, managed one gold and one bronze. Caleb O`Neill had a good Sunday - picking up two silvers and a bronze. Amy Morgan and Arabella Haley picked up a bronze medal each.

Finally, in their first gala for Tenby Dolphins, Lillie Murray-Coller swam a superb 50m butterfly and claimed a deserved silver medal, and Tilley O'Neill and Harry Thomas swam admirably in the eight-year-old races.

Out of 78 individual swims - Tenby Dolphins managed four gold, nine silver and six bronze medals; this included 65 individual personal bests for the team. Well done to you all.

We then had a few weeks more training before the next open meet took place at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre on December 3 and 4. A squad of 16 Tenby swimmers from both the club and county training programmes took to the pool.

This meet attracted swimmers from all over West Wales and our group of super swimmers from Tenby Dolphins did not disappoint.

The Tenby swimmers entered a total of 83 individual races and seven relays. In the individual races, the Dolphins produced some excellent performances, totalling 62 personal best times between them.

The notable results were as follows: Ffion Davies - gold medal in the 12 & under 100m breaststroke and 400m freestyle; Hazel Fox - gold medal in the 12 & under 100m butterfly; Talia Merriman - gold medal in the 12 & under 200m butterfly; Arabella Haley - gold medal in the 10 & under 200m breaststroke. There were silver medals for Katie Hicks and Arabella Haley in the 200m individual medleys. Carys Davies won a silver medal in the 12 & under 100m freestyle and Arabella Haley also won a another silver medal in the girls 10/U 400m Freestyle.

There were bronze medals for Amy Morgan in the 200m butterfly (12 & under), Katie Hicks in the 100m breaststroke (12 & under) and Arabella Haley picked up two bronze medals for the 200m freestyle and 100m breaststroke (10 & under).

As the result of some excellent swims throughout the weekend, Arabella Haley ended the meet as third best girl overall.

In the relays, Tenby Dolphins triumphed in three races and came third in one. Most of the girls swam against older opposition and performed admirably.

Well done to all the girls who stayed for the relays -Talia, Hazel, Ashleigh, Carys, Ffion, Katie, Amy, Alanya, Lauren, Arabella, Lillie and Charlotte - great swimming from you all.

The next big event that took place was the British Gas Swim Wales Open Winter Championships. This long course event took place at the Wales National Pool, Swansea, over the weekend of December 16-18.

As this is a Level 1 meet with tough qualifying times, only our older club and county based swimmers took part.

County swimmers Hannah Saunders, Ffion Davies, Daniel Davies, Talia Merriman and Hazel Fox were joined by club swimmers Katie Hicks, Ashleigh Willars, Carys Davies and Jemma Hurds, together with Bethan Davie, who splits her training between Tenby and the Swim Swansea National Squad.

We are used to seeing our swimmers perform well at open meets, and once again they did not disappoint. All of the younger members of the group swam some nice PB's and collectively brought home a good collection of medals.

Club swimmers Carys Davies and Ashleigh Willars won a 50m freestyle bronze and 100m butterfly silver medal, respectively, against some tough competition, and Jemma swam to a very strong fourth in the girls 200m breaststroke.

The county based group all had a good weekend, with Hannah, Hazel and Ffion all adding to their haul of silverware.

Medals and PB's are not enough, however, and we are very pleased to report that Ffion Davies has added her name to the club hall of fame by recording her first National Qualifying time in the 100m butterfly. She will now have her chance to take on the best in the UK in Sheffield next summer.

Bethan Davie, who succumbed to illness during the weekend, also recorded a NQT in the 200m IM before having to withdraw from the remainder of the event.

Congratulations to all who took part and we will hopefully see more of our swimmers breaking through at this level as 2012 progresses.

Forthcoming Events

January 14-15: Swansea Valley Sprint Meet.

January 20-22: Swim Wales New Year Dragon Meet. Level 3 meet this year, so good chance for our younger swimmers to have a go at a long course swim.

January 29-30: URDD National Championships, Cardiff International Pool.

February 4-5 and 11-12: West Wales Regional Championships, Haverfordwest.

Club News

Our annual club Christmas party was held at Tenby Ex-Serviceman's Club on Sunday, and as usual a great time was had by all, this time spiced up by some excellent fancy dress costumes sported by swimmers and parents alike.

Each year we make several presentations during the party and after much deliberation, the coaches awarded the following swimmers with awards recognising their achievements over the year.

Most improved boy - George Greenwood; Most improved girl - Lillie Murray-Coller; Most improved overall - Katie Hicks. Finally the Coaches Choice award this year went to Billy Greenwood. Well done all of you. Well-deserved indeed.

Quite a few of our swimmers have made it through to represent their individual schools in the annual URDD National Swimming Championships which take place in Cardiff on January 29-30, 2012. Good luck to all who are taking part.

Tenby Dolphins are very keen to keep expanding our fantastic group of competitive swimmers, so we are currently looking for more youngsters to join in the fun at the club. Our swimmers have a great time at loads of different competitions, and over the years we have had success at all levels. If you have the basic swimming skills to swim a length or two and are interested in becoming part of vibrant and fun club, please come and have a look at what we do at one of our training sessions at Tenby Leisure Centre or get in touch with us to arrange a trial. You can contact us on 01834 871941, or via email to [email protected]">[email protected].

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all club members and their families a very happy Christmas and we look forward to seeing you back in the pool in the New Year refreshed and ready to go.