East Region Championships – final weekend
The final weekend of Regional Championships was held at Luton this past weekend. Friday night was the 800m. We had a group of boys racing in the event. Brothers Leo and George competed in the 11/12 age group where Leo placed 9th and George came away with a bronze medal in a very close finish. Hardy Shipton swam in the 13 yr old boys and finished in 12th place. Finally, Tommy Fenwick and Perrin Ma competed in the 14 yr old category. Tommy finished 4th and Perrin won bronze.
The next day saw Hardy back in action in the 50m butterfly. He was followed by Jorgi Bhasvi, Nieve Ives and Aria Waters in the 100m breaststroke. It was double the distance for Ching Yau next in the 200m breast. The session rounded off with Catherine Hatherly and Aofie Blessing swimming the 400m free.
After a break, it the second session began with the boys 100m back. Here we had Julien Vannier, Leo, George, Todd Leung and Tommy racing. Nieve swam the 200m back next. A sprint followed with the 50m free. Julien, Leo and George were racing again as well as Todd and Tommy. Jorgi, Aofie and Nieve had the 100m free before George and Leo wound up a busy session with the 400m IM. Hardy and Todd also raced in this event.
Saturday finished with finals. Nieve was victorious in a close race, claiming gold in the 100m breast. Tommy was also involved in a tight 100m back where he placed 5th.
Sunday morning and the Sims brothers were back at it in the 200m fly. Hardy also took on the race in his age group. Jorgi followed them with the 50m fly with Ching Yau in the next event, the 100m breaststroke. Nieve was in the water again for the 200m breast as was Aria. The last event of the session was the 400m free for George, Leo, Hardy, Todd, Tommy and Perrin. This was a timed final event and Tommy claimed the bronze in his age group.
The last heats session started with Leo, George, Julien, Todd and Tommy in the 200m back. Aoife, Jorgi and Nieve went again in the 50m free before George, Leo, Julien, Todd, Tommy and Perrin raced again in the 100m free.
In the last finals session of the Championships, George placed 8th in the 200m fly while in the next age group, Hardy came 7th. Nieve went in the 200m breaststroke and took home a silver medal. Tommy was our last finalist and finished 7th in the 200m back.
Well done to all the swimmers who raced over the three weekends of the Championships. For some it as their first experience at this level and for others it may have been their last. All of you did the Pink Army proud!