Hatfield dominant at County Champs
After leading the 2025 Hertfordshire County Championships medal table at the halfway point, our swimmers dove into action for the last two weekends of Counties, determined to hold onto their lead and remain in top spot.
Weekend three began early on Saturday morning with the 50m breaststroke and 200m freestyle heats. Some fast swimming saw a good number of our breaststroke swimmers making it through to finals, whereas the 200m free was run as timed finals with the fastest 10 swimmers overall moving on to a Championship final.
In the breaststroke, the girls swam first and our 10/11 year olds occupied 4 out of the 10 lanes with Catherine Hatherly and Selena Maria Spaho winning silver and bronze medals. Neive Ives then won gold in the 13 year age group taking down a County Best Time in the process and Ashley Ransome took gold in the 16+ after a very tight race, finishing 0.01sec ahead of the second place swimmer! The younger boys had a couple of close races where they just missed out on medals. In the 16+ age group, Lucas Hartley held on to take gold in a close race, breaking not only the 30 second barrier for the first time, but also achieving a new County Best Time.
In the 200m freestyle timed finals, we fared well. Catherine was in action again and won a bronze in her age group. Neive also swam the event and captured silver, beating the bronze medallist by a mere 0.03 seconds! In the older girls categories, Alexandra Nurney continued her winning streak from last weekend by taking gold in this event as well as another Junior Championship. Ever Ives took gold in the 16+ age group adding to her medal tally along with a County Best Time. Both girls swam again in the Championship final where 4 Hatfield swimmers featured. Ever came first and Alexandra was second! Not to be outdone, the boys took to the pool where Julien Vannier swam to second place in the 10/11 age group and Tommy Fenwick won bronze in the 14 years. Niccolo Camilotti was victorious in the 15 year old boys, winning by a fingernail 0.03 ahead of the next competitor. Daniel Williams and Daniel Belsey made it a 1-2 in the 16+ boys. Without much rest, the men swam again in the Championship final with Hatfield showing our strength having 5 out of the 10 finalists! In a wave of pink hats, we took another 1-2-3 with Daniel Belsey, Daniel Williams and Ben Davison sweeping the medals.
After a short break it was the turn of the sprint backstrokers and 200m breaststrokers to take to the water. The backstroke heats went quickly with only a few girls entered for Hatfield but still qualifying for finals. There were a few more boys who progressed and as they waited for their final swims, the 200m got underway. Perissa Yau claimed our first bronze, soon followed by another gold for Neive who completed a very impressive clean sweep of the breaststroke events! In the boys event, Perissa’s brother, Castiel, made it a family affair and also won a bronze medal.
Now rested, the backstrokers raced in their finals. Alexandra got her hand to the wall first again and won another gold. Erin Currie and Camille Vannier followed in the 16+ final taking another 1-2 finish for the pink army! Camille’s younger brother, Julien, was in action in the race after her where he won bronze. Makes you wonder if stroke preferences run in the genes?! Tommy, in action again, claimed silver in a very close finish. Another silver was won by Rufus Kellie in the next age group up. Oliver Baskerville continued the trend in the 16+ age group, also taking second. With only two Championship finals left in the session, Sam Jeffrey took another silver for us in the 200m breaststroke.
The final session of Saturday was all about speed with the 50m free followed by the open relays. Our first medal went yet again to Catherine. This time it was a bronze. Aoife Blessing followed in the next final and also came away with a bronze medal. Neive then triumphed in a very close race to bring home the gold. Another couple of golds were claimed by Alexandra and Ever in their finals. Impressively, they both now had a clean sweep of the 200m, 100m and 50m freestyle events!
Julien hit the water again and stormed to victory in his 50 free in another close race! George Sims then claimed a bronze in his age group and in the 15 year age group, Niccolo took 2nd. In the last final of the night, Liam Rumball took gold as well as setting a new County Best Time and Lucas Hartley followed him home in silver medal position.
And then came the relays…
From the first relay of the night, Hatfield showed their intentions. With an ‘A’ and ‘B’ relay entered in every event the goal was for both teams to medal and the Pink Army to dominate! And boy, did they? The Mixed Medley was first up and each team had different tactics with men and women swimming different strokes making the lead changeable and exciting throughout. First to the wall was our ‘A’ team of Erin Currie, Ashley Ransome, Lucas Dyson-Diaz and Lucas Hartley. In a close finish, the ‘B’ team claimed bronze with Oliver Baskerville, Megan Gray, Ever Ives and Liam Rumball out touching Watford by one tenth of a second!
The men were up next and after very little rest the Pink Army’s teams hit the water. The ‘A’ team led from the start and extended their lead with every leg. When the waves settled, Liam, Ben Davison, Lucas and Lucas finished 3 seconds ahead of Watford. Less than a second behind them, our team of Daniel Williams, Oliver, Sam Jeffrey and Daniel Belsey claimed another relay bronze.
It was the girl’s turn next and on to their medley relays. The fight for gold was a tough one with Erin, Ashley, Alexandra and Ever going head to head with Bishop Stortford. On the last length of the freestyle leg, Ever managed pull slightly ahead and get to the wall first ensuring not only gold but also a new County Best Time! Finishing strongly to claim yet another medal in third place, Camille Vannier, Megan, Katie Jeffrey and Imola Jozsa left clear water between themselves and the fourth place team.
Halfway through and the men and women combined again for the Mixed Freestyle teams. In the closest race of the session, with water churning, the top 3 teams all finished within .77 seconds of each other. Yet another 2 medals were taken with Liam, Ever, Erin and Lucas H claiming silver while Ben, Alexandra, Louise and Lucas DD captured bronze.
It was the turn of the men again with their Medley relays. Oliver, Lucas H, Lucas DD and Liam led from start to finish to collect another gold while Ben, Sam, Daniel W and Daniel B battled with Bishop Stortford eventually claiming bronze by a very slim margin.
Lastly, to finish the night, it was time for the girls Freestyle teams. With a final dominant performance, Ever, Louise, Alexandra and Erin claimed the final gold on offer. In a tight race for bronze, Katie, Megan, Honor Beverstock and Imola got the better of Watford to ensure another medal came home with them.
When all was said and done, the Pink Army relays ensured that Hatfield finished the night on a high. It was undoubtably a performance that will be remembered for a long time and nothing short of dominant. 12 medals from 6 relay events, 5 of them being Championship wins!
Sunday rolled around and the events in the first session were 50m butterfly and 200m backstroke. After the heats of the butterfly came the backstroke timed finals. With no girls 14 and under entered, the coaches snuck a quick coffee break while waiting for the 15 and overs to compete. Alexandra won by a clear 3 seconds and also set a new County Best Time in the process along with the Junior Championship title. In the oldest age category, Camille swam to a silver medal.
There were a few more boys in this event for us than girls, the first one being Julien who came away with gold. Leo Sims, swimming in the 12 year age group, won bronze and Tommy Fenwick captured gold in the 14 year old boys. Oliver Baskerville took first place in his age group too.
The finals of the 50m butterfly were next in the programme and Ashley got her fingernails to the wall just in front of a close field. Julien grabbed another medal, this time it was bronze. Rufus Kellie also came third in his 15 year old age group. The older boys, Lucas H and Liam managed another 1-2 finish for Hatfield.
With just the Championship finals of the 200 back to go, Hatfield had 4 girls in the race and won 2 medals. It was a silver for Alexandra and a bronze for Camille. Oliver finished off the session for us with another Championship win and set a new County Best Time too.
The last session heralded the 100IM and the toughest of events for most, the 200 butterfly. What a way to end a long weekend! With multiple swimmers progressing through to the finals, we moved on to those 200 butterfly timed finals. Ever Ives and Antonia Elias finished 1-2 in the 16+ girls followed by Leo Sims taking the first of the boy’s medals in bronze. Hardy Shipton then collected a bronze in his age group too before Daniel Williams earned himself a silver.
Catherine Hatherly was in action again in the 100IM final and raced to a second place finish. Next, Aoifa Blessing and Jorgie Bhasvi came second and third in the 12 year age group. Neive Ives went for, and achieved, another gold medal as did Alexandra Nurney. Ever also gained a bronze. Another bronze came for Julien just in front of his teammate Oliver Barrows who placed 4th in multiple events across the championships. Niccolo Camilotti came a close second, taking another silver in the 15 year old boys. The older boys again showed their dominance with a final 1-2-3 finish led by Lucas Hartley, finally breaking the minute in this event. He was followed home by Ben Davison and Sam Jeffrey to complete the medal sweep.
Finally, it was time for the 200 fly swimmers to go again in a test of endurance. Rising to the challenge, Ever again won the Championship final and the last gold on offer for the girls that night. In the men’s final, Daniel Williams produced a valiant effort to come second.
One final day and one final race to go! Time for Daniel Fogg’s favourite pool event, the 1500m. The night started strongly with twin brothers George and Leo Sims making it a 1-2 finish for the 12 year olds. Todd Leung was in action next and with a sprint finish over the final 50m, he grabbed a bronze medal. We had another 1-2 finish with our 14 year old boys, Tommy Fenwick and Perrin Ma. On the girls side, Ever and Millie Richardson took the final 2 medals of the competition with silver and bronze. After a tense, week long wait for the final medal tables, they were finally published. The Pink Army had totally smashed it! The overall combined medal haul had us well clear at the top of the table with 89 Golds, 73 Silvers and 57 Bronzes!!! What a fantastic result! Well done to all our swimmers and congratulations on an amazing County Championships!
