This is generally the quietest time of year for competitive swimming, nevertheless there are still a number of events taking place, and some of our most enthusiastic members have been carrying on the round of competitions by taking part in the Swim Wales, Welsh Summer Nationals which were held in the National Pool in Swansea from August 2-5. Competition Results Despite the Summer Nationals event taking place in the middle of the holiday season, eight of our swimmers competed, namely: Tom Baker, Matt Davie, Bethan Davie, Johnnie Delahunty, Lloyd Delahunty, Rebekah Gwyther, Andrew James and Niamh Slack. The medallists and finalists were as follows: Andrew James, 1st 15-16yrs 100m Breaststroke, 3rd 15 -16yrs 200m Freestyle, 7th 15-16yrs 100m Freestyle; Bethan Davie, 3rd 11/U 1500m Freestyle (at first attempt!), 6th 11/U 200m Freestyle, 5th 11/U 200m IM, 8th 11/U 100m Freestyle, 8th 11/U 800m Freestyle; Johnnie Delahunty, 3rd 13-14yrs 100m Freestyle, 8th 100m 13-14yrs Fly, 8th 13 -14yrs 200m Backstroke; Lloyd Delahunty, 6th 12/ U 100m Freestyle; Matt Davie, 5th 13-14yrs 200m Freestyle, 5th 13-14yrs 1500m Freestyle, 7th 13 -14yrs 100m Freestyle. The results, however, do not tell the full story at this competition! Johnnie and Lloyd Delahunty had just arrived back from a Middle Eastern holiday in Qatar. The baking hot desert sun had obviously had a galvanising effect because they were both on great form. Lloyd set some tremendous new PB's in the four events he entered, and Johnnie produced some fine swims to PB all his events as well. Not only that, Johnnie dipped under the 60-second mark on his way to recording a great third place in the 13-14yrs 100m Freestyle. To put icing on the cake, Johnnie also achieved a last-minute West Wales Regional Squad qualification time in this event. Fantastic result. Well done! Andrew and Bethan were unable to enter the events for which they had previously achieved UK Nationals qualifying times, so used the competition to try to improve their PB's in other less favoured strokes and distances. It was no doubt mission accomplished, because they came away with a collection of good new times. Matt also set some excellent new PB's, the most impressive being the 200m freestyle. He also recorded a very good result in the 1500m considering it was his first attempt at this distance. Rebekah swam very well and reduced her previous bests by significant margins in all her events. Well done to everyone.

Forthcoming Events Here are the events looming on the horizon: September 7-8: West Wales Regional Squad Training Camp 1, WNP Swansea (selected swimmers only). September 15: Pembrokeshire Gala in Aberystwyth. September 29: Dyfed Fastwater Meet, Llanelli. October 6: Llanelli Sprint Meet. October 7: RAOB Junior Gala, Pembroke (ages 7 -10). October 20-21: October Swim Swansea Junior Open, Penlan, Swansea. Club News As we partly eluded to earlier, the Welsh Regional Squads for 2007-2008 have been announced, and we are delighted to report that this year three of our senior swimmers have made the grade and achieved the necessary qualifying times for selection for the West Wales Region. They are: Lewys Canton, Johnnie Delahunty and Bethan Davie. The qualification times are very difficult to achieve, and for the boys are in most cases faster than the UK Nationals qualification times. In fact, only 20 swimmers from the West Wales Region have recorded the necessary times this year! As a result of their selection, they will now be required to attend two special training camps, and take part in representative competitions next May. They will also have access to additional weekly squad training at the National Pool in Swansea. We must also once again congratulate Danny Brown who as the result of setting a phenomenal time in the 100m Breaststroke at the Youth Championships in Sheffield a few weeks ago, has now achieved the necessary time to elevate himself to the dizzy heights of the Welsh National Youth Squad. Fantastic achievement Danny! All these swimmers and the other club members will no doubt be eagerly awaiting the new season's qualification benchmarks for the UK Nationals and the various regional and county squads to see what they have to aim for in the coming months!