County Champs 2026 Gets Going in Earnest

The first of a few long days at the pool began this morning as swimmers, coaches and parents arrived at Westminster Lodge before 8am for what would be a 12 hour day for some. The first event of the day was the 400m free which was broken down to male 10-14 year olds, 15+, female 10-14 then 15+ heats to determine the age group, junior and senior medallists.

The pink army had a good start to the day with medals coming early on. Julien Vannier and George Sims claimed bronze medals in the 12 and 13 year old age groups. Tommy Fenwick went one place better in the 14 year category with Dan Belsey taking top honours in the 16 and over age. Tommy doubled up his silvers by coming second in the Junior championships as did Dan by collecting gold in the Senior grouping.

Next to swim were the girls where Catherine Hatherly and Jorgi Bhasvi both came away with silver medals in the 12 and 13 year age groups. Jorgi also dipped under the 5 minute mark for the first time. Nieve Ives was next to claim honours with a bronze in the 14 year age group. In the 16+ division, the Pink Army won two medals as Camille Vannier made it a family affair by winning bronze like her younger brother. Not to be outdone, the Ives family claimed gold with Ever taking the top spot. Ever also won the Senior championship and took home another gold for that.

The male 100m backstroke was the next event on the cards. Dangis Razma raced to a 5 second PB to claim his place in the 10/11 year old final. Julien continued his good form knocking off 2 seconds to qualify for the 12 year old final. In the 13 year category, Leo Sims earned a finals place as did Fox Foster along with Todd Leung in the next age group up. Tommy Fenwick qualified in first place in the 15 years and Oli Baskerville in second in the oldest age category.

The heats of the female 100m butterfly followed and Skyla Hodges swam a strong race to gain a finals place. Catherine Hatherly obliterated her entry time knocking off a whopping 14 seconds to earn herself a finals swim. Jorgi PB’d in her 100 fly to ensure herself another swim. Nieve also qualifed for her final. In the senior category, Hatfield managed to qualify an impressive 5 girls for the final with Honor Beverstock leading the way followed by Ever, Ashley Ransome, Caitlin Hartley and Erin Currie.

The boys competed in their finals first with Dangis placing a very respectable sixth. In a close race that was stroke for stroke, Julien knocked off another 2 seconds to claim a silver medal. Leo came home in fifth place in his final with Fox and Todd finishing in seventh and tenth in theirs. Tommy grabbed his second silver of the day and the event culminated with a win for Hatfield as Oli captured gold in the 16 and overs.

Skyla and Catherine again had strong swims in their respective finals, both touching in fifth place, as did Jorgi with her forth place finish just outside the medals. In a close finish, Nieve managed to earn herself a bronze medal in her final. In a stacked final final of the session, Ashley Ransome claimed a bronze medal while Ever, Honor and Caitlin finished forth, fifth and eighth.

After a very short break, the swimmers were preparing for the next session and a flip flop of events with the boys now competing in the 100m butterfly and the girls swimming the 100m backstroke. To round off the session, the younger age groups battled with other Hertfordshire teams in some relays.

In the youngest age group to swim the boys 100m butterfly, strong swims from Leonardas La Ville, Tate Bailey and Max Lu ensured their progression to a finals swim later in the session. Julien also qualified for his final as did both twins, George and Leo. Three of our senior swimmers, Daniel Williams, K-ets Yah-Khai and Josh Ellis also advanced from heats to finals.

In the girls backstroke, Skyla earned herself another finals place as did Tishe Fashubaa in the same age group. Selena Sapho, swimming in the 12 year old category also made it through to the finals session. Aoife Blessing qualified in second and was joined by Jorgi. Camille, Erin and Summer Boswell all booked themselves a second swim as well.

In the first final of the session, Tate raced home to a forth place finish, narrowly missing out on a medal. Leonardas touched just two places behind in sixth. Julien took fifth in his category as did George in his with his brother just behind in sixth. In the last boys final, Daniel Williams claimed a bronze while K-ets finished in seventh and Josh in tenth.

Skyla and Tishe took on the 10/11 age backstroke final and came home in sixth and tenth while Selena also finished tenth in her final. Both Aoife and Jorgi dropped time to touch the wall in third and sixth with Aoife winning a bronze medal. Erin also claimed a bronze medal in the last final with Camille just one place behind and Summer in tenth.

Relays rounded off the session starting with the male 10/13 medley teams. They were followed by the girls free relay where Jorgi, Yuet Yau, Charlotte Duggleby and Aoife claimed a third place finish for the Pink Army. Last up was the mixed 10/15 medley where our team of Tommy, Nieve, Perrin Ma and Aria Waters added to the medal count with their bronze medal winning swim.

With the day running behind schedule, the last session of the day started about 30 minutes late. This was the session of the 200m individual medleys. No age group finals for this but the ten fastest overall male and female swimmers would battle the event out once again at the end of the session for Championship medals.

The boys kicked off the session and our first medal was claimed by Leo taking silver in the 13 year age group. Daniel Williams managed to get to the wall ahead of Sam Jeffrey to collect a bronze. Both boys managed to earn a spot in the championship final and were joined by Ben Davison. The girls collected more medals with Catherine taking home silver and Jorgi and Aoife finishing second and third in their age group. Nieve also added to the collection if silver medals with her swim. Alexandra Nurney touched in third in the 16+ category with a time that put her in the girls championship final.

In the men’s championship final, Sam battled hard to get to the wall first and claim the victory. Ben just missed out on the medals in forth and Daniel was seventh. With barely and rest or time to recover, Alexandra raced her final touching the wall in seventh. It was a long but exciting day but let’s hope we’re all ready to do it again tomorrow! Good luck Hatfield!