It seems that our galas are now a bit like London buses. You wait ages for them to come along, and then three turn up together!
This is how the competitive season for the members of Tenby Dolphins got off to a flying start over the first weekend of October. Weeks and weeks of hard training were put to the test for the first time, in three different competitions in Pembroke and Llanelli.
Team Competitions
The first gala of the weekend was the annual Team Relay gala for the Tudor Shield, which was held at Pembroke Leisure Centre, on Friday, and was keenly contested by swimmers from Haverfordwest, Milford Haven, Pembroke and Tenby.
This is very much a fun event and was the ideal way to get the competition season underway. It is one of the only galas in the calendar that allows members from all the different sections of the club to compete as one. Tenby's team selection was as follows:
Talia Merriman, Hazel Fox, Keira Slack, Carys Davies, Ashleigh Willars, Lydia Dilks, Bethany Slack, Georgia Poole, Sydney Vickery, Madison Vickery, Bethan Davie, Elena Ciccotti, Sophie Stanford, Gemma Amos, Heather Whittaker, Stephen Ward, Harry Cook, Jacob Knox, Gareth Davie, Luke Dedoncker, Ben Rees, Daniel Davies, Lewis Bridle, Nick Allen, Sam Lewis, Henry Whittaker, Jack Lear, Matt Davie, Carl Amos and Martyn James.
There was a profusion of exciting races, and it was great to see the members of all the clubs thoroughly enjoying their evening, and catching-up with friends from around the county.
Pembroke have a very strong team at the moment and their coaches are doing an excellent job in developing their squads. They have a number of swimmers who are on very good form, and quite a few others who are clearly ones to watch for the future. They won a fair number of the races, and Haverfordwest and Milford competed very well to add to the excitement.
Consequently, Tenby had to work hard for their eventual victory. Ultimately, the difference between the teams was that Tenby were able to put competitive entries in all the different age groups. A big thanks to our 'veterans' who turned out to swim for us once again. Thanks also to Pembroke for hosting the event.
Anyway, well done to all our swimmers for making a winning start to the season!
The second team gala of the weekend also took place at Pembroke Leisure Centre, on Sunday, and it was the turn of the future stars of Pembrokeshire swimming to take to the water. This time the competition was the annual RAOB gala, which is for club swimmers of 10 years and under.
This time our team consisted of: Harry Batty, Dominic Belli, Lewys Blanc, Harry Cook, Megan Cook, Gareth Davie, Carys Davies, Luke Dedoncker, Emily Dilks, Hazel Fox, Billy Greenwood, Kaitlyn Hicks, Alex John, Kieran Johnson, Talia Merriman, Sabrina Morgan, Caleb Bowen, Ben Rees, Caitlin Rees, Kiera Slack, Alanya Thomas, Stephen Ward, Ashleigh Willars, Ameya Neye, Madison Neye, Harry Thomas, Jemma Hurds, Morgan Blanc, Myles Johnson, Jemma Whalley, Charlotte O'Neill, Tudor Hurle, Scott Dowler, Sam Collinson and Lauren Watkins.
As is the case with this gala every year, this was the first time many of our youngsters had represented the club in a competition, so it was a very exciting event for them. Head coach John Amos and junior team manager Sarah Hicks were in attendance throughout and were delighted with the way the swimmers performed. Overall the team won 25 out of the total 43 races which made up the competition, and there were bucket loads of new personal best times set.
The competition has three separate awards. In the girls' competition, the scores were as follows: Tenby 75, Pembroke 64, Haverfordwest 41, Milford 40 and Fishguard 29. In the boys' competition, the score were: Tenby 83, Pembroke 58, Haverfordwest 46, Milford 38 and Fishguard 16.
Finally in the overall competition, the scores were: Tenby 158, Pembroke 122, Haverfordwest 87, Milford 78 and Fishguard 45.
Very well done to all the team members for once again retaining all three trophies. Also well done to our competitors who put up such a great fight in so many of the races.
Fishguard Flyers, who are very much in the process of rebuilding, had a team of just eight swimmers, yet still managed to win several races despite being unable to field any relay teams. We wish them well and hope they are able to turn out a bigger team next year.
On behalf of all the Pembrokeshire swimming clubs, we would also like to take this opportunity to thank the South Pembrokeshire Provincial Grand Lodge RAOB for their continuing support of this event, which is now in its 30th year. It is always an eagerly anticipated competition, and a very important fixture within the junior swimming calendar. We are very pleased that Provincial Grand Primo Bro Mickey Marsh was on hand to make the presentations to the winning teams at the conclusion of the competition.
Open Competitions
We keep repeating this for the benefit of those of you for whom the world of competitive swimming is relatively new, but open competitions are for club swimmers who wish to travel to take on opposition from a little further afield. Swimmers at these events do not generally swim for team results, but for personal glory.
There are various levels of competition aimed at different swimming abilities and different personal targets, and the first such event of the swimming year in West Wales was the Llanelli Autumn Meet. This was held on Saturday and was a Level 3 meet, aimed mainly at club level swimmers.
A series of upper and lower qualifying times are set to ensure that swimmers of the correct ability enter each meet. Nevertheless, some higher ability swimmers still enter to swim in events they do not normally focus on. Also, in the case of this meet the entry was split into 'AA' and 'B' qualifying standards, so that within many events there was the opportunity to compete in two divisions, so to speak.
We are thrilled to report that no less than 23 of our members entered this competition, which was our biggest entry at an open for some time. Without exception, it was well worth the trip for all of them.
The Tenby swimmers who travelled to Llanelli were: Nick Allen, James Crowney, Bethan Davie, Gareth Davie, Matt Davie, Carys Davies, Luke Dedoncker, Hazel Fox, Anna Garvey, Abigail Hicks, Kaitlyn Hicks, Jemma Hurds, Jack Lear, Sam Lewis, Talia Merriman, Georgia Poole, Hannah Saunders, Madison Vickery, Sydney Vickery, Stephen Ward, Lauren Watkins, Henry Whittaker and Ashleigh Willars.
The meet was generally very well attended and the atmosphere was great with a packed poolside, and spectator gallery filled to the rafters with literally hundreds of enthusiastic supporters.
It was a long day for all the swimmers, but our team members pulled out some truly spectacular performances and came away with loads and loads of medals and some quite remarkable personal best times.
Amongst the younger swimmers, Talia Merriman improved her personal best times in the 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly by over nine seconds in each case, and 13-year-old Abi Hicks took a massive 7.5 second chunk out of her 100m breaststroke time. Several swimmers had PB's in every race and 16-year-old Matt Davie set very quick times in the 100m IM and the 100m freestyle. On his way to a new personal mark of 57.59 seconds in the 100m free, Matt found himself swimming so fast he completely misjudged his distance off the wall in all of his turns, and would surely have gone faster still if he had got his timing just a little better.
There were heaps of other awesome swims, and several real highlights. Sam Lewis won the best overall boy award, and on his way set a new club record of 34.02sec for the 50m breaststroke for 13-14yrs boys. Jack Lear, swimming in the 15 and over category, showed a real return to form when he swam a hugely impressive 33.41sec for 50m breaststroke. This places both boys top of their respective age groups in Wales for this event. Not to be outdone, Hannah Sunders who also had an excellent day, swam to a Welsh leading time of 40.87 in the 50m breaststroke in her age group. Really fantastic swimming guys! (What is it with Tenby and breaststroke?).
There were so many other individual successes that we cannot really list them all here, but in summary, our swimmers won no less than 29 gold, 14 silver and 12 bronze medals. The truly amazing statistic is also that no less than 78 per cent of all the swims on the day resulted in a new personal best time. A very impressive group performance indeed. A big well done to all of you who travelled to take part. Thanks also to the various mums and dads who travelled to watch. We know it was a long day, but we hope you enjoyed it as much as the swimmers did!
Head coach John Amos was once again in attendance throughout the gala with the rest of the coaching team, and we are all really pleased with how the swimmers worked with the coaches throughout the day to pull out their best performances time and again. The camaraderie amongst the Tenby team members and the other Pembrokeshire swimmers, and the way they supported each other for the whole gala, was also really great to see. There was a real buzz about the team and it clearly brought out some great performances from our young swimmers.
Those of you who were there spread the word. More of the same next time please!
Forthcoming Events
October 24-25: Pembrokeshire Age Groups, Haverfordwest.
November 7: Neath and Nexus Valleys Open Meet. Another good meet. Great fun. Recommended.
November 20-22: British Gas Welsh Schools and Swim Wales Winter Nationals. WNP, Swansea. Tough qualifying time. See notice board.
November 27-29: Welsh Capital Open Meet. At Cardiff Int. Pool. A better option for you younger guys who don't have qualifying times for the Welsh Winter Meet.
Club News
We don't just do swimming you know! On the afternoon of Saturday, September 26, a group of 14 of our club members enjoyed a two-hour surfing session at Manorbier beach with Mr. Dean Gough, of Outer Reef Surf School. The waves were not exactly crashing onto the beach, but there was enough surf for our novices and they had a brilliant time. The day was such a success that we will almost certainly repeat the session in late spring next year, so those of you who missed out, keep an eye on the notice board in 2010.
We are very pleased to report that one of our parents, Mr. Darren Thompstone, of Trueform, has arranged a fantastic £200 donation from Costain Group. Costain are a civil engineering and construction company of international repute, who amongst other things are currently involved in the major roadworks on the A40 at Canaston Bridge. Mr. Phil Baker, of Costain, recently visited the Tenby pool to make the presentation, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their generosity.
Following on from our weekend of intensive competition, John and the rest of the coaches have made quite a few valuable observations about the performances of individuals throughout the team. We have a much clearer idea of what we need to be looking at in detail in our training plans over the coming weeks and months to make you all even more competitive the next time out. One thing that did stand out for all of us was, that almost without exception, the swimmers who pay the greatest attention in training reap the greatest rewards in the races. Everyone take note please!
S. D.