Scottish National Open Swimming Championships

A group of Hatfield’s senior swimmers travelled to Edinburgh to compete in the Scottish National Open Swimming Championships held June 27-29. They were accompanied by coaches, Daniel Tshuma and Becky Hartley, along with some parents for support. Most of the group took the train on Thursday in time to get to the Royal Commonwealth Pool in time for a training swim that evening.

The competition was run as heats in the mornings divided into two sessions with the fastest 4-6 heats swum in the early session and the remaining heats slightly later. There were also finals for para athletes as well as B and A finals in the evenings. Competition was tough as some of the best of the Scottish swimmers were in attendance as well as some university teams.

Our team members were Millie Richardson, Katie Jeffrey, Imola Jozsa, Louise Fiddes, Liam Rumball, Oliver Fenwick, Tommy Fenwick, Sam Jeffrey, K-ets Yah-Khai, Ben Davison and Lucas Hartley. All of them competed well and really enjoyed the experience. Finals were hard to come by but Louise qualified in her events and even came home with a silver medal in the 200IM. Sam also got a final swim in the 200IM. He and Lucas both managed to get second swims on Saturday as both tied for reserve places and had to compete in swim-offs!

The team also had the chance to bond with team meals and, once the swimming was over, for a bit of exploration around Edinburgh. It was a good weekend with opportunities to practice race plans before the end of season meets.