The major short course event of the year for most club swimmers in West Wales is the annual Regional Championships, and to the delight of all of us who live out here in the west, this year's gala was staged for the first time at the new pool in Haverfordwest.

We also have some news of the fantastic Great Britain v Germany international that was recently held at the Wales National Pool, Swansea.

Competition Results

The West Wales Regional Championship was held over two weekends from February 6 to 14 and swimmers from clubs across the West Wales region descended on the pool in Haverfordwest.

This year, 21 of our club members entered individual events, namely: Harry Cook, Bethan Davie, Gareth Davie, Matt Davie, Carys Davies, Daniel Davies, Ffion Davies, Luke Dedoncker, Hazel Fox, Abigail Hicks, Kaitlyn Hicks, Jemma Hurds, Sam Lewis, Charlotte O'Neill, Ben Rees, Hannah Saunders, Kiera Slack, Niamh Slack, Jemma Whalley, Henry Whittaker and Ashleigh Willars.

This has been the main target meet for the majority of the club squad swimmers and clearly they were in the right frame of mind for the competition, with a string of really solid performances. All in all, our club members swam no less than 281 individual races in total, and achieved a massive personal best count of 81 per cent of all the swims, along with a big haul of new club records and championship medals. A truly excellent all round performance.

As is always the case in situations such as this we cannot list the individual success stories in detail, but those winning a host of gold medals between them were Bethan Davie, Dan Davies, Ffion Davies and Sam Lewis. Congratulations to the four of you and all the other medal winners over the four days of competition.

Head coach John Amos was poolside with the team throughout the two weekends and was absolutely delighted with the way the swimmers performed, both those who train with us regularly and those who are part of the county programme. Very well done to all of you.

Also, many congratulations to Carys Thomas, of Pembroke (and the county programme), for her fabulous National Qualifying time in the 200m freestyle, and the amazing time she set in the 1500m. The county squad is picking up the pace!

At this stage we would generally add that the full results are available on the notice board at the leisure centre, but this week we are pleased to report that in addition they are now available on the newly upgraded web site. See club news section for more details.

International Swimming

We would not normally report on things like this, but over the weekend of February 20-21 a top flight swimming international was held in Swansea. For the first time in 30 years, a Great Britain team took on international opposition at a Welsh venue. A top German squad provided the competition, and those of us who went along were treated to a feast of world class swimming. Double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington, together with world champions Liam Tancock and Paul Biedermann were just a few of the stars on display.

With the help of some very enthusiastic support from a packed National Pool, the British team swam to an impressive victory after two days of competition.

The international competition was supported by a Welsh regional event, and several swimmers from the county programme took part, including Tenby members Niamh Slack and Hannah Saunders. We hope you all enjoyed the experience, and drew a massive amount of inspiration from watching these superstars of the swimming world in action.

Forthcoming Events

March 13-14: Llanelli Open, Llanelli. (Closed).

March 20-21: Tiger Bay Meet, Cardiff Int. Pool. (Closed).

March 29 - April 3: British Long Course Championships, Sheffield.

April 2 - 5: Welsh Age Group and Youth Championships, Swansea. (Closed).

May 8: Swansea Valley Junior Open, Neath. (We recommend this gala to all our junior swimmers).

Club News

This is rather negative, but it must be mentioned. We have been relentlessly reminding swimmers of their obligation to enter competitions if they wish to remain where they are in Tenby Dolphins. We will shortly be making a further full review of the club structure and of the commitment shown to training and competition by our members. We are very concerned that those who are genuinely interested in advancing their swimming careers are being held back by the overcrowded lanes and the inevitable disruption this causes.

We are delighted that so many of you want to be part of our fantastic club, but the commitment shown by our band of volunteer coaches must be matched by a similar commitment from the swimmers and parents alike. Turning up for the occasional training session is not enough, so if you receive bad news with your forthcoming swimmer assessments, please do not complain. You have been reminded of the requirements over and over again for the past six months.

On a more positive note, we are dragging ourselves into the 21st century and are very pleased to report that the newly upgraded club website is up and running. Please go to http://www.tenbydolphins.co.uk">www.tenbydolphins.co.uk for the latest news, results and a whole heap of other useful information. We also have a Facebook group linked to the site where you will have the opportunity to post comments and pictures and be advised of last minute news and events.

Finally, due to a bit of a camera disaster we are unable to bring you any photos of our swimmers competing at West Wales. We hope the alternatives will suffice!

S.D.