Over the last few weeks, the busy swimmers from Tenby Dolphins have once again been in action in a number of competitions both in Pembrokeshire and further afield. The senior team took part in the Dyfed League final in Llanelli. The younger members of the club have been taking on some local opposition in two Pembrokeshire Junior League meets, and some of the more seasoned campaigners have been competing with the best in Wales at the 2007 Swim Wales Age Group and Youth Competition. This was held over the Easter weekend at the Wales National Pool in Swansea, and is the annual National Championships for age group swimmers in Wales.   Competition Results   On March 25, a young team from Tenby travelled to Milford Haven Leisure Centre to take part in a Pembrokeshire Junior League gala against Milford Tigers. As the club has come to expect, the swimmers performed very well and came out on top in both the girls and boys competitions, and hence were victorious overall. A similar result was achieved on the evening of April 2 when Tenby hosted Fishguard Flyers for another round of the Junior League competition. This time there were some very close exciting races and Fishguard put up a good fight, before Tenby once again emerged victorious. The team lists are not on hand to include in this report, but well done to all of you who took part in both the above galas. Round one of the Dyfed Junior League competition is coming up, so they will now have the chance to try to improve even more. On Saturday, March 31, the Dyfed Senior League final was held in Llanelli. The Tenby swimmers were up against some tough competition from the teams from Llanelli and Carmarthen. In the preliminary rounds of the competition, Tenby performed very well and came out on top on both occasions. However, in this instance they were without several of the older team members, and on the day, not quite able to produce the form shown earlier. Eventually, they were squeezed down into third place by their main rivals. Nevertheless, there were some encouraging swims from some of the younger members of the team which bodes well for the future. The main race meeting covered by this report is the 2007 Welsh Age Group and Youth Championships which were held over five days. This was a closed entry long course (50m) competition where it is necessary to achieve qualifying times for the various events held throughout the championships. Tenby were quite well represented, but as the gala was held over the Easter weekend, family commitments sometimes take precedence, and a few regular competitors who had achieved the necessary qualifying times were away on family holidays. Nevertheless, those who did attend put on some great performances.  The club members who made the trip as part of the Pembrokeshire Aces entry were: Gemma Amos, Andrew James, Coral Lewis, Sam Lewis, Matt Davie, Bethan Davie, Lewys Canton, Eleri Canton, Holly Watkin-Rees and Danny Brown.   One of the unusual features of the competition is that the finals are split into A and B levels. In the 200m events, only the four fastest swimmers were able to make the A final, and the next eight went into the B final. In 100m events, sic swimmers were able to qualify for the both the A and B finals. The reason for this was that Swim Wales is trying to encourage a higher level of competition, so reaching a final is deliberately made very difficult, and swimmers have to be on top form throughout the gala to stand any chance of reaching the podium. Although medals were only awarded for the first three places in the A finals, it should be noted that reaching a final of either grade was a major achievement in this level of competition. Throughout the long weekend, Tenby swimmers competed in quite a number of different events and the majority managed to achieve good results and record some nice new long course (50m pool) personal best times (PB's). Danny Brown (back from Kelly College for the Easter break) was in good form and although not reaching any podium positions, recorded some good PB's and as a bonus a national qualifying time in the 15 -16 years 100m freestyle event. Nice one Danny! Already a qualifier in another event, this will now also allow Danny to compete in this classification at the British Championships in Sheffield in August. Lewys Canton had a great run of 14/U freestyle swims, reduced his PB's significantly, and was a well placed B finalist in several of his events. His 200m freestyle result was particularly impressive, and was less than a second off the national qualifying time. Coming at the end of a very long weekend, his 100m freestyle time was also impressively close. Very well done Lewys keep it up! Matt Davie sliced some huge chunks off several of his entry times and was a B finalist in both the 100m and 200m 14/U breaststroke events, and was well placed in the 800m freestyle. Andrew James also made gains in the 15-16 years 100m freestyle and was a B finalist in both the freestyle and breaststroke races. Coral, Eleri and Sam battled well and should be pleased with the new times they posted over the weekend. However, the most impressive Tenby performance of the weekend was by Bethan Davie, who swam to victory in both the 200m and 100m 11/U breaststroke events. Qualifying third fastest for the 200m A final and second fastest for the 100m A final, Bethan powered through to win both races in impressive style. In the 200m event, Bethan reduced her previous time by about seven seconds to qualify for the final, and then somehow made another massive five- second improvement on her way to gold. Her times in these two events were significant PB's, and only just outside the national qualifying standard. Very well done Beth, Tenby's double 2007 Welsh champion! Everyone is very hopeful that both Bethan and Lewys will be able to find the extra bit of speed needed to dip below the national times in the next couple of months. John will certainly be working you guys hard in training over the coming weeks to find those extra tenths of a second! The club probably doesn't mention this enough, but all the swimmers who attend these big competitions should be applauded. With heats starting early in the mornings and finals in the evenings, the days can be very long and tiring. Depending on what has been entered, there is sometimes the chance of a bit of a break in the afternoon. If not, 10-11 hours at the pool requires a lot of stamina, and being able to swim to your best at the end of a long day takes a huge amount of effort and concentration. However, it is the same for everyone, so if you want to compete with the best it is just part of the game.   Forthcoming Events   May 5-7 - Pembrokeshire Aces host Sunday's Well Swimming Club from Cork, Ireland. Gala and Party on Sunday, May 6. May 12-13 - Swansea Valley Open Meet, Neath. This is a great competition for the club's younger swimmers to enter. May 18-20 - Swim Swansea Long Course Open Meet, WNP Swansea. This is the ideal long course introductory event for those wanting to swim in the 50m pool for the first time. Closing date imminent! As always keep checking the notice board regularly for more details, and always ask for advice if you are not sure what to enter. Team manager, Steph Amos, has started to help swimmers out with the decision making process when it comes to gala entries. A list of suitable events for each member is now highlighted on the notice board. Just put a tick next to the events you would like to try.   Club News   The Irish team from Sunday's Well Swimming Club, Cork are coming in early May, and as usual Ann Adams, of Pembrokeshire ASA, will be looking for volunteer families to host the young swimmers. This will involve collecting a couple of children from the ferry terminal when the team arrives. You will then hopefully keep them amused over the weekend and take them to the gala and the party on Sunday before finally dropping them off at the ferry terminal once again on Monday. Those who have hosted in the past will confirm that they are a friendly bunch and it is always a lot of fun. Please contact Steph Amos if you are able to help. On the subject of volunteers, the club is always looking for people to help out with things at the club. The tasks are varied, you can just lend the occasional hand at local swimming galas, or if the urge takes you, help out with the regular training. Many hands make light work, so if there are any parents who would like to come forward and get a little more involved in what their offspring are up to then please make yourselves known to John, Steph or any of the other regulars. The club is placing a new order for club hats with the swimmers name on. They will only be doing this once this year. A list has been placed on the notice board, so please fill in the necessary details if you would like to buy one.