Pink Army make strong start to Counties 2025
As the battle for the top team in Hertfordshire commenced this month, the Pink Army made a strong start to their 2025 campaign!
The first weekend was all about the distance swimmers with the Mixed 800m heats. When the waves subsided Saturday night, our swimmers came away with a total of 9 age group medals (2 Gold, 3 Silver, 4 Bronze). In the Male Junior Championships, Perrin Ma secured Silver while in the Female Senior Championships, Ever Ives also won Silver. The Male Senior Championships saw Daniel Belsey turn up the pressure after 200m to power home with Gold as well as a County Best Time and Sam Jeffrey win Bronze.
Weekend 2 and the Pink Army were on a medal winning rampage with an age group haul of another 19 Gold, 21 Silver and 14 Bronze medals!
In the Female 400m free, we had individual wins for Catherine Hatherly, Alexandra Nurney and Ever Ives in their age groups with Jorgie Bhasvi taking third in hers. Alexandra also came first in the Junior Championship and Ever won the Senior Championship. This was followed by the Men’s 400IM where Tommy Fenwick and Sam Jeffrey won their age groups and Daniel Williams won Bronze. Sam and Daniel also medalled in the Senior Championships winning Gold and Bronze respectively.
The next events of the day were the Female 100m fly and Male 100m back. Alexandra raced to Gold in the 15yrs age group while in the 16+, Ever placed second with Ashley Ransome just behind in third. The boys had a run of silver medals starting with Julien Vannier in the 10/11 age bracket, Leo Sims in the 12 yr old, Todd Leung, age 13 and Rufus Kellie, age 15. Tommy Fenwick and Oliver Baskerville both swam their way to Gold medal positions in the 14 and 16+ ages. There were also more Championship medals collected.
After a short break, the next session began and this time it was the girls swimming the 100m backstroke while the boys took on the 100m fly. This was a quieter set of finals for the pink army but we still managed a few medals. Alexandra brought home another Gold in her age group with Erin Currie and Camille Vannier claiming Silver and Bronze in theirs. Lucas Harley was our lone medallist in the butterfly, topping the podium in his age group and the Senior Championship.
The end of session 3 was hectic and exciting as our younger swimmers teamed up to take on the relays and parents were out in force in the gallery to cheer them on. In a closely fought battle, the mixed medley team of Todd, Nieve, Hardy and Aofie were just out touched into Silver medal position by Watford. Todd, Castiel, Hardy and George were also in a tight finish in their medley relay and came away in second place.
With one final session left of the day, the 200 Individual Medley swimmers got ready to do battle! Silver was a popular medal with Catherine, Aoife and Nieve all collecting one. Alexandra won yet another Gold and Ever claimed a Bronze and also a Silver with a storming last 50m free in the Championship final. On the boys side, there were 2 Bronze medals with Tommy winning one and Niccolo Camilotti another. The Championship final of the 200IM was perhaps the most exciting and definitely the closest finish of the competition so far. With 4 pink hats in the race, Sam and Lucas broke free of the field and sprinted for the wall where .01 separated them at the finish. Following them home was Ben ensuring that Hatfield claimed the first 1-2-3 finish at Counties!
The climax of a long day was the last group of relays. Hatfield were victorious in the boys free with a team of Nic, Perrin, Tommy and Rufus. There was more success in the mixed event when Rufus, Alexandra, Tara and Nic came away with Silver.
After a good nights sleep, a refreshed group of coaches, team managers and officials returned to Westminster Lodge to support our swimmers through another day of racing. And they did not disappoint! Nieve was our only medal winner in the girls 400IM with a Silver to her name. It was the 400 free for the men where Julien, Leo and Sam all took Bronzes, Tommy a Silver and Daniel a gold with another Championship win.
Next up were the female 100m breast and male 100m free. Both events were very strong for the pink army with lots of medals won. The girls won medals in all but 1 age group and the 16+ final had 4 pink hats representing! Catherine stormed to Gold in the youngest age group then Jorgie tied for Silver in her final. Nieve flew though the field to win Gold 5 seconds clear of the rest! Alexandra claimed Bronze in an event we don’t often see her swim then in a Hatfield packed final, Ashley claimed Gold along with a new County best time. Not to be outdone, the boys had a magnificent run of finals and won a medal in each age group! In another final with 4 Hatfield swimmers, Julien was our highest place finisher winning Bronze. George, Todd and Tommy all then picked up Silvers in their age groups. Rufus claimed a Bronze in his. In the last final of the session there were again 4 pink hats in the field. Lucas came away with the victory followed by Ben with Silver. Hatfield also claimed 4th and 5th!
The weekend came to an end with the finals of the girls 100m free and boys 100m breast. Catherine nabbed herself Bronze while Alexandra swam to another first. In a packed final of 4 Hatfield swimmers, Ever and Erin brought home an impressive 1-2! Castiel and Tommy both out touched competitors in close finishes to claim Silver medals and Lucas managed to outlast a fast closing field to touch first in the 16+ final.
So, at the halfway point of the meet, Hatfield are sitting on top of the medal table but still have plenty of work to do in order to remain there! It’ll take a team effort to keep the momentum going and show the rest of the County what the Pink Army are made of. The swimmers are ready. Be loud, parents! Let’s go Hatfield!