Records, Relays and Really Fast Swimming

Sunday morning rolled around and the last full day of this year’s counties began. The swimmers (and coaches, TM’s, officials and parents) may have been tired, but that wasn’t going to stop the Pink Army from digging deep for one more big day at the pool.

Session 10 kicked off with the female 50m butterfly followed by the male 50m free, the fastest race in the program. Female 200m backstrokers were up next with the male 200m butterfly swimmers after that. Finals of the 50’s would be followed by the mixed 10 and over free and medley relays where some fast swimming was expected.

Hatfield had a strong start to the session in the 50m fly heats with Skyla Hodges qualifying for the 10-11 year old final. Also making it back in her age group was Catherine Hatherly. Jorgi Bhasvi and Aoife Blessing both performed well again to earn themselves finals spots. Nieve Ives continued her busy run of swims by claiming another finals place in the 50m fly as well. In the 16+ age group, Hatfield claimed half of the final places with Alexandra Nurney, Ashley Ransome, Caitlin Hartley, Honor Beverstock and Ever Ives all taking spots. Katie Jeffrey was first reserve.

Tate Bailey was back in action in the 50m free and earned himself another finals swim. Julien Vannier was the only 12 year old to have a heat swim under 30 seconds and was joined by Tommy Camilotti in qualifying for another swim. With a nice drop in time, Leo Sims ensured he took a spot in the 13 year olds final with Todd Leung also making it back for the 14 year olds. Three more senior boys booked their places with sprinters Lucas Hartley and Liam Rumball being joined by Daniel Williams.

The 200’s came next with the girls taking on the backstroke. With both swimmers setting new PB’s by over 5 seconds, Aoife and Jorgi claimed well deserved silver and bronze medals. In the 16+ age group, Camille Vannier swam a strong race to take silver with Erin Currie taking the bronze. Camille and Summer would both be back again for the Championship final at the end of the session.

In one of the most gruelling races, the 200 fly, Tate toughed it out and was rewarded with a silver medal. Daniel Williams finished in gold medal position in the 16+ age group and along with Joshua Ellis, qualified for the Championship final. Who wouldn’t want to swim another 200m fly?!

In the finals, Skyla touched the wall in fifth place for the 10-11 year olds with Catherine coming ninth in the next eldest category. Both Jorgi and Aoife dropped time in the final and finished seventh and tenth respectively. Nieve claimed a forth place finish in the 14 year olds. Two medals were won by Hatfield swimmers in the senior final with Alexandra taking the win along with a Championship medal and Ashley finishing third. Honor came seventh and Caitlin was eighth, both in new PB times. Ever was ninth.

The 50m free finals were next and Tate dropped time in his race with an eighth place finish. Julien was involved in another nail-biting finish where he claimed a silver medal this time. Tommy came home in eighth. Todd finished in tenth in the 14 year old age group. In the fastest race of the weekend, the senior men flew up and down the pool in a race that saw the top three all under 24 seconds. Top of the pile was Lucas setting a new County best time in 23.34 seconds to claim the age group and Championship golds. Liam touched in fifth place with Daniel in eighth.

The 200m back Championship final was next and Camille equalled her heats time to finish second and take silver. Summer was just touched out into tenth place. Josh and Daniel both raced the 200m fly again with Daniel just out of the water from the 50m free. Josh improved his heats time to earn himself a bronze medal with Daniel in forth.

The mixed relays were next with Hatfield entering two teams in both the free and medley races. The swimming was fast and furious with all clubs competing hard for the titles. The free relays were first and the Pink Army achieved an amazing 1-2 finish! The team of Liam, Katie, Alexandra and Lucas touched the wall first and in the process set a new County best time. Only a second behind was our other team of Daniel W, Erin, Ever and Lucas Dyson-Diaz.

The medley teams brought the session to a close and Hatfield teams excelled again. With another brilliant 1-2 finish, both teams were well clear of the rest of the field. Another County best time was set by our first place team of Oliver B, Ashley, Alexandra and Lucas. Second went to the team of Erin, Caitlin, Lucas DD and Liam. What a fantastic end to the session!

After a short break for lunch, the swimmers were back and ready to go again. This was the session of the 100m Individual Medleys. Lastly, 200m free relays would determine the top teams in the County.

Skyla swam another PB to qualify for her final. Catherine dropped two seconds to confirm her place and Yuet Yau took off three seconds to guarantee herself another swim. More PB’s followed as Jorgi and Aoife booked their finals places. In the 14 year age group, both Nieve and Aria made it through. Four seniors qualified for their final with Alexandra, Caitlin, Honor and Summer all progressing. Dangis was the first of the boys to take a final spot. Julien also qualified in the 12 year old group. Leo dropped three seconds from his entry time to make sure he qualified. Tommy had a good heat swim to ensure he would be back for finals. His brother, Oliver swam a big PB in his race to make sure he was one of four seniors to come back and do it all again. The three others were Sam, Lucas and Daniel W.

The first to race in the 100IM finals was Skyla and she finished in tenth. Catherine had another great race in her final taking a bronze medal with a three second drop. Yuet Yau came tenth. In their 13 year old final, Jorgi came home with a bronze medal while Aoife dropped time to take fifth. Nieve raced to a PB in her final, just out-touching her closest competitor and claimed another gold while Aria moved up to ninth. In another tight finish for the medals, Alexandra was second just two tenths behind the winner while Caitlin just missed out on a medal when she was out touched by a mere .02 seconds. Honor finished in seventh while Summer was tenth.

Finishing in ninth place in the 10-11 year olds was Dangis. Julien lost out on a medal in his final when he finished just .03 seconds behind the third place swimmer. In a very exciting and close race which saw the lead change throughout, Tommy held off a fast finishing competitor to claim the Junior title with a big PB. In the last individual final of the night, Lucas swam a dominant race to finish clear of the field in another County best time. Sam swam a new PB to take the silver ensuring that Hatfield got another 1-2 finish while Oliver took more time off his PB as did Daniel W to finish in eighth and ninth respectively.

The relays caused more excitement as our teams battled for medals with the rest of the County. Our female 200m free teams were pushed all the way with our A team being victorious in yet another County best time. Katie, Ever, Erin and Alexandra produced great swims to bring home gold. Our B team, Imola, Honor, Caitlin and Camille, was just outside the medals in forth but also all had fantastic swims, especially as most of them aren’t sprint freestylers.

In another dominant sprint display by the Pink Army, our men’s A team finished in clear water, four seconds ahead of the competition. Liam, Lucas DD, Daniel W and Lucas combined for a final gold medal win. In a very exciting race for second through fifth, the results were decided by just over a second between the teams. Our B relay of K-ets, Sam, Oliver B and Daniel B swam a brilliant race to capture a well earned bronze medal.

In a change of pace next weekend, the 2026 competition will come to an end with the 1500m races. We will also have some swimmers competing internationally in Luxembourg. Good luck to all of you!