Since our last report there have been two more competitions that our swimmers have taken part in. Unusually they took place over the same weekend, but were aimed at different abilities from within the club. Also, we have more details of the recent sponsored swim that was held to raise club funds.

Tenby Junior Development Meet

This was held at Tenby Leisure Centre on Sunday and was firmly aimed at the younger and up-and-coming elements of the Pembrokeshire swimming community.

Ever since it was deemed that it was no longer appropriate to stage the Pembrokeshire Junior League, there has been an urgent need to provide 'entry' level competitions for the very youngest swimmers and those who are taking their very first steps on the competition ladder.

To accommodate their needs, Tenby arranged a development gala and invited swimmers from all of the Pembrokeshire clubs to attend. To qualify, the swimmers had to be aged 12 and under and not be part of the Pembrokeshire skills or squad programmes. A programme of 25m, 50m and 100m races was laid on for the various age groups.

We are delighted to report that there was a tremendous uptake from across the county, with 104 swimmers taking part in at least one event.

Twenty-eight of these were from our club, namely: Nick Allen, Lewys Blanc, Morgan Blanc, Megan Bridges, Megan Cook, Gareth Davie, Carys Davies, Luke Dedoncker, Emily Dilks, Lydia Dilks, Kate Evans, Hazel Fox, Billy Greenwood, Kaitlyn Hicks, Edward Hurle, Tudor Hurle, Kieran Johnson, Myles Johnson, Caitlin Kelly, Talia Merriman, Ben Rees, Safiya Rooney, Kiera Slack, Miles Thompstone, Billy Truman, Madison Vickery, Lauren Watkins and Ashleigh Willars.

Head coach John Amos reports that there were some super swims from our team and it is great to be able to include quite a number of new names in a competition report. Well done to all of you, and a big thanks to those of you who did the hard work of arranging and helping to run the meet.

Tiger Bay Open Meet

This took place over the weekend of March 27-29, and was held at the Cardiff International Pool. By all accounts, most of the swimmers who were attending were treating the event as a very large time trial, so it did not have quite the atmosphere as some other galas.

We are sure that you all read the technical bit in our last report, so if we mention that this was a Level 3 meet, you are sure to know what we mean!

Just three of our swimmers, Sam Lewis, Daniel Davies and Ffion Davies, travelled to Cardiff to take part in this meet and attempt to improve their long course (50m pool) times.

All three of them performed well, with Ffion setting the fastest times in all of the events she entered in the nine years age group category. Unfortunately, because she was so fast, she exceeded the lower time limits for all the races she entered. As a reward for this, she was issued with 'speeding tickets' instead of medals, but never mind it was a great performance and the times she set still count of course.

Older brother Dan had a great weekend and improved all his entry times and picked up four gold medals. Sam Lewis, who was not quite on the same form as he was at Llanelli a few weeks ago, won a gold and a silver and also improved his long course times.

Well done to all three of you.

Forthcoming Events

April 10-13: Welsh Age Group Championships. Wales National Pool, Swansea. Entrie closed.

May 9-10: Swansea Valley Junior Open Meet. Neath. A good gala for club swimmers. Always a nice atmosphere. Highly recommended!

May 16-17: Swim Swansea Long Course Open. WNP Swansea. Good LC meet. Try it if you have the qualifying times.

May 23-24: Pembrokeshire Whitsun Weekender. The inaugural meet at the new pool in Haverfordwest. Can't afford to miss it. No excuses if you have the qualifying or consideration times! Let's see a huge Tenby entry!

June 6: West Wales Region Junior Development Meet. This competition is designed for swimmers who have not qualified for the Welsh Age Groups. It's a one day event, so make sure you enter!

Club News

We have a bit more information about the recent sponsored swim to pass on to you. As we alluded to previously, it was a very well organised and supported event and a significant amount has been raised for club funds. In total, the swimmers completed the massive total of 4,980 lengths between them. This equates to 124,500m, or 77.8 miles. What an achievement! Many of the swimmers completed well over a mile, with many going on to record up to 2.5 miles, which equates to 160 lengths of the pool. Top distance was achieved by Henry Whittaker, who swam 302 lengths, or 4.5 miles, and is the equivalent of swimming to Caldey and back!

Next big event on the competition calendar is the Welsh Age Group and Youth Championships, which take place and the Wales National Pool in Swansea. Good luck to all of you who have qualified.

Finally, in our last report, it seems we somehow omitted two of our swimmers from the list of those who attended the Llanelli Open that was held on March 7-8. Both Georgia Poole and Jack Parkinson were there and swam in three events each. They recorded some good times, and made a valuable contribution towards Tenby winning the best visiting club award. Well done you two.