There never seems to be a free weekend for the more competitive members of the Tenby Dolphins swimming squads. No sooner had the dust settled on this year's Swansea Valley Open in Neath, when it was  time for a large contingent of our enthusiastic swimmers to head off to Swansea for the annual Swim Swansea Long Course Open Meet. This competition is the last long course event held in the 50m Welsh National Swimming Pool, before the deadline for achieving the necessary qualification times for those wishing to compete at the highest level of the sport in the UK. (Read on for more exciting news on this subject!). This open meet is also the only long course (50m) event in the Welsh swimming calendar where it is not necessary for the younger swimmers to have a qualifying time. Consequently, it is an ideal introductory event for long course swimming, and several of our younger members took advantage of this and tried it out for the first time.   Competition Results   This gala is split into two separate age group sections spread over three days of competition. Commencing on Friday, May 18, each morning a series of events were held for swimmers aged 11/ O, and each afternoon a separate series of races were staged for swimmers aged 10/U. For those swimming in the afternoon, it was a matter of producing an all out effort in a single HDW race (Heat Declared Winner) for the various stoke and distance categories. However, the format for the older swimmers reflects that of any standard large swimming competition in that a series of morning heats preceded finals in the evening. This can make it a very long day for those who are successful in the morning heats. The swimmers making the trip to Swansea were: Gemma Amos, Coral Lewis, Sam Lewis, Nathan Clarke, Matt Davie, Bethan Davie, Lewys Canton, Josh Thomas, Elliot Hoad, Lloyd Delahunty, Niamh Slack, Hari Truman, Billy Truman, Madison Vickery, Rebekah Gwyther, Hannah Saunders, Daniel Davies and Ffion Davies. Over the course of the three day event, the Tenby contingent had varying degrees of success, but overall there were some very encouraging results. The notable performances and those achieving podium positions, in no particular order were: Sam Lewis, first in 11/U 100m backstroke, third in 11/U 100m freestyle, fourth 11/U 100m Butterfly; Nathan Clarke, third in 14/U 100m backstroke, third in 14/ U 200m backstroke, third in 14/U 200m freestyle; Rebekah Gwyther, third in 10/U 200m breaststroke; Matt Davie, second 14/U 400m IM, second 14/U 400m freestyle, second 14/U 400m butterfly, second 14/U 200m breaststroke, third 14/U 100m breaststroke, fourth 14/U 100m freestyle, fourth 14/U 200m IM; Bethan Davie, first in 11/U 200m breaststroke, first 11/U 100m breaststroke, fifth 11/U 100m freestyle, 5th 11/U 200m IM; Lewys Canton, second in 14/U 200m freestyle, second 14/ U 100m freestyle, third 14/U 400m freestyle. (Apologies if I have failed to mention someone, but full results not available at time of writing!) As well as this, the 10/U girls entered the relay events on both days of the weekend and won a silver and bronze medal. Nice swimming! Disguised within the list of results above is the exciting news that despite finishing second in the 14/U 200m freestyle, Lewys Canton swam to an awesome new PB and dipped below the necessary time to qualify for the ASA Age Group National Championships in Sheffield in July. Very well done Lewys it was a tremendous race with a nail-biting clock-watching finish. Our on-the-spot reporter was certainly on the edge of the seat like the rest of the Tenby contingent at the end of that one! As an extra fillip Lewys also achieved the necessary time to join the South West Wales Regional Squad, so it was doubly successful swim. (We hear that mum and dad are already arguing about who is going to drive to Swansea on Wednesdays for the extra training! Maybe they'll settle on a bus pass!) The last two weeks has been a bit of a purple patch for Tenby's top swimmers, with both Lewys and Bethan now qualified for the British Championships. Very conveniently for us supporter types, the qualification rounds for their individual events happen to be scheduled to occur after each other on the second day of the championships! How did they manage that? Anyway, watch this space for more news as the big event approaches! We have one further qualifying gala taking place on June 18, and a few of our top-dogs are entering to see if they can make the grade, or improve on what they have already done. We wish you the very best. The achievements of our top swimmers will also surely motivate our younger members to go on to mimic their success. Indeed, some of our other swimmers deserve a bit more of a mention particularly those who were experiencing their first taste of a long course event. By all accounts Niamh, Harry, Hannah, Madison, Billy, Daniel, Ffion and Rebekah also responded to the big stage in some style, and posted some really impressive results. We are particularly excited about this input of new swimmers to this race format as the club as whole is placing a big emphasis on trying to develop our younger swimmers to reach their full potential. Head coach John Amos was in attendance to monitor the performances of the young-guns and was very pleased with what he saw over the weekend. Well done all of you who had a go. Those of you with aspirations to reach the top who did not enter should also consider broadening your horizons at the earliest opportunity as you receive a huge benefit from exposure to competition at this level. There will be more about this in coming article, but Swim Wales have a talent development program in place with the intention that the best talent in Wales is spotted at an early stage. To get yourselves in the Welsh ranking system, you need to enter the open meets you are advised to attend. Just ask any of the regular club faces at the pool for more details. Also, swimmers should chat to Bethan and Lewys who we are sure will be glad to tell you more about how the different squad systems work over the coming months.   Forthcoming Events   May 27 - Pembrokeshire Sprints at Pembroke Leisure Centre. We have a huge Tenby entry for this, so we are looking forward to some big performances from the members. Good luck everyone. Let's bring home a pile of medals and some new Pembrokeshire records. June 9 - Amman Valley Sprints. Llanelli. June 18/19 - Last chance qualifier at the WNP Swansea. Those near the mark will be giving it one last big try. June 23 - Dyfed Junior League Round 2, Tenby.  July 1 - Dyfed Junior League Final, TBA. July 23-26 - ASA Age Group National Championships, Sheffield. July 27 - August 1 - ASA Youth Championships, Sheffield.  August 2-5 - Welsh Summer Nationals, WNP, Swansea. This is the last chance to post a good time and get yourself up the rankings before the Welsh squads for 2007/2008 are announced. Check to see if you qualify and go for it! As always, keep checking the noticeboard regularly for more details, and always ask for advice if you are not sure what to enter.   Club News   The new order for the 'named' club hats has been sent in, and we will advise everyone as soon as we take delivery. Perhaps you will all be unrecognisable as soon as the Dyfed League Final in a few weeks? Not much extra to add to what has already been written above, but we would like to reiterate our congratulations to Lewis on an excellent performance. With our two qualifiers and Jane Clarke and Simon Johns from Fishguard also having made the grade, this is probably Pembrokeshire's most successful year ever in terms of production of national qualifiers. Let's hope we can replicate it many times in the future, and that Tenby can continue to make a valid contribution! Just as an aside, this report was emailed to Tenby from Madrid, having been prepared at 35,000-feet over France and Spain in a very cramped airline seat, squashed between a very nervous Spanish tourist and a rather large grumpy German businessman. The things we 'sports journalists' have to through for our art!

S.D.