East Region Championship – Weekend 2 (14 & under)

Regional Championships for the 14 year and under qualifiers began over the early May bank holiday weekend. Splitting the Sunday with the older swimmers who raced in the morning, the 1500m freestyle swimmers took to the water in the afternoon. Our first swimmer of the day was Catherine Hatherly who had a fantastic swim to take 5th place in the 11/12 year age group. Next to swim was George Sims followed in the next heat by his brother, Leo, in the 13 year old boys. With strong swims, Leo placed 8th with George 14th. Neive Ives was our final competitor. She finished in 6th place in the 14 year age group.

The next morning began the first of three heat sessions which were followed by a finals session in the evening. The first event was the girls’ 200m IM. Catherine again kicked things off for the Pink Army with a strong swim and a 10th place result just outside the final in second reserve spot. In the 13 year old age group, we had two swimmers. Jorgie Bhasvi and Aoife Blessing both swam well, finishing in 17th and 18th respectively. Nieve was our final swimmer and qualified for her final in 7th place. The boys were up next with Julien Vannier in the 11/12 age group. He finished in 13th place. Leo and George were in action agin. This time, Leo qualified for the final by taking 5th in heats and George came 17th. The session came to a close with a sprint as the girls’ 50m breaststroke was contested. Selena Spaho swam a good race to take 10th place and second reserve spot for the final. Jorgie also swam the event and was 19th in her age group. Nieve was also competing and qualified for this final as well, this time in 3rd place.

After the break it was the turn of the boys to race the 50m breaststroke. Oliver Barrows swam a speedy 50m and placed 7th to book his place in the final. In the 14 year old category, Ching Yau raced to 20th place. Catherine was in the water again for the 100m butterfly next. Narrowly missing out on the final, she touched in 9th place and was first reserve. There were two Hatfield swimmers in the 14 year age group. Nieve placed 15th with Sara Onobrauche finishing in 22nd place. The boys competed the 100m fly after the girls. George and Leo were in the water again coming in 15th and 16th. The last race of the session was the girls’ 50m backstroke. Aoife was the first to take on the sprint event and in a very close race, she tied for 9th place. Aria Waters was our only 14 year old girl to compete and finished in 22nd place.

With one session to go before the finals, Julien was our lone swimmer in the boys’ 50m backstroke. He had a good race and finished in 13th place. Next was a slightly longer event, the girls’ 200m freestyle. Catherine produced a strong swim and took the final position in the final, touching in 8th. Jorgie also had a good swim and qualified for her final in 7th place. Aoife, in her last swim of the day, finished the race in 28th. Nieve was also in the water again for this event and placed 32nd. To round out the session, the boys took on the same event. Julien qualified for the 11/12 year old final in 6th place with Tommy Camilotti finishing in 21st. Leo and George raced again as well coming 9th and 17th.

The long day came to an end with an exciting finals session. Kicking things off for Hatfield was Nieve with an 8th place finish in the 200m IM. Leo was in the boys’ 13 year old final and touched in 7th place. Nieve was up again in the 50m breaststroke. With a drop in time from the morning’s heat swim, she claimed a bronze medal! Oliver followed in his final and touched in 8th place. Next up was Catherine in the 11/12 year old final of the 200m free. With a big 4 second drop, she moved herself up to 5th place. In her 200m freestyle final, Jorgie also moved herself up the placings by touching in 6th. Our last finalist of the weekend was Julien. He swam a great race, dropping 3 seconds from his earlier swim, to finish just outside the medals in 4th.

Well done to all our swimmers on a brilliant first weekend of regional competition. Next weekend, we’ll be back at Luton for the final weekend and plenty of more fast swimming!