Our swimmers enjoyed a good couple of weeks at competitions during the latter part of January.
A small contingent of Tenby swimmers entered the Swansea Valley Sprint Meet 2009 which was held at Pontardawe on January 17, and more recently a big group of Tenby Dolphins club members competed at the finals on the National Urdd Swimming Competition; this year held at the new Cardiff International Pool for the first time.
Competition Results
Gemma Amos, Talia Merriman, Safiya Rooney and Henry Whittaker made the trip to Pontardawe to take part in the very busy Swansea Valley Sprint Meet.
All four of the swimmers produced some good results, coming home with either PBs or medals.
Gemma Amos recorded 2nd 16/O 50m Fly, 3rd 16/O 50m Backstroke and 3rd 16/O 200m IM; Henry Whittaker was 3rd 14 yrs 50m Fly and 3rd 14 yrs 50m Backstroke. Both Talia and Safiya recorded PBs in at least one of their events.
Head coach John Amos was in attendance at the gala and was pleased with the way the Tenby swimmers swam, but would like to see more entries in galas of this level in future. Those of you who enjoy swimming in races, but don't want to compete at the ultra competitive events take note! There are several galas of this level held in our region throughout the year where there are loads of medals up for grabs. They are fun events and not ultra-competitive. Talk to any of the club officials for more information.
On a different tack, the finals of the Urdd National Swimming Competition were held at the Cardiff International Pool on January 24 and 25. These are events where the swimmers represent their schools, having previously qualified at the Urdd county gala. Tenby Dolphins had a large number of entrants in both individual and relay events.
The first day of the competition was for junior school swimmers and the booms were raised in the 50m pool to allow short course 25m races to take place. We are delighted to report that both Hazel Fox and Hannah Saunders were gold medallists. Hazel won the Year 3 and 4 25m Breaststroke and Hannah the Year 5 and 6 50m Backstroke. That is not all. Dan Davies was 2nd in the Year 5 and 6 100m IM and the 50m Breaststroke, and Billy Kinnear 3rd in the Year 3 and 4 25m Freestyle. In addition, the Pembrokeshire relay teams were very successful and picked up medals in a number of events.
On the Sunday, it was the turn of the senior school students and the Tenby club swimmers once again enjoyed some success. Bethan Davie won the Year 7 and 8 100m Breaststroke and was 2nd in the 200m IM. Jack Lear was 2nd in the Year 9 and 10 100m Breaststroke and Gemma Amos 3rd in the Year 11 and Over 100m Butterfly. As with the previous day, the relay teams swam well and a number of other Tenby swimmers came back with medals from this part of the competition.
Very well done to all of you who took part.
Forthcoming Events
February 6-16: West Wales Regional Competition, Penlan Leisure Centre, Swansea. Good luck everyone !
February 20-22: Celtic Meet (incorporating the Celtic Tri Nations), WNP Swansea.
March 7-8: Llanelli Open Meet, Llanelli Leisure Centre. This is a good meet for club swimmers.
March 14-15: WISE international, WNP Swansea. (Home Nations swimming gala. Selection only).
March 27-29: Tiger Bay Open, Cardiff International Pool.
April 10-13: Welsh Age Group and Youth Championships, WNP, Swansea.
Club News
As we mentioned above, we are very pleased that so many of our swimmers enjoyed success at the Urdd Finals in Cardiff. We are sure that your respective junior and senior schools must be chuffed with all the results. It is always nice to see one of our younger swimmers experiencing their first taste of success on a big stage. So, well done Hazel!
We have more news on national swimming events. As you may or may not realise, the Celtic Tri Nations Meet takes place in Swansea from February 20-22. This is one of the very few events where Welsh swimmers can actually represent their country, the main one being the Commonwealth Games.
The Tri Nations competition takes place during the Celtic Meet, and swimmers from Ireland, Scotland and, of course, Wales will be in action. Each country nominates eight boys and eight girls to score in the various races, but as well as these swimmers, many other Welsh athletes will be taking part in the gala.
As part of the Welsh development programme, Swim Wales are entering a number of junior (16/U) relay teams in the competition and we are delighted that two Tenby swimmers have been selected to take part.
Johnnie Delahunty has been selected for the 100m and 200m freestyle relay teams, and Bethan Davie for the 100m medley relay. This is super achievement, and, although they won't form part of the scoring group, their teams have been tasked by the Welsh coaches to try to beat the Welsh junior records for these events.
We also have a number of swimmers entering the accompanying Celtic Open Meet. It should be an exciting competition and we will bring you details of the results in due course.
Finally for this report, we would like to wish all our entered swimmers the very best of luck at the West Wales Regional Championships which take place over the next two weekends.
S.D.