The Chiltern League Round Three took place on Saturday 22nd April at the Aquavale Leisure Centre in Ayelsbury. City of Oxford Swimming Club (COSC), competing in division two, swam against seven other teams: Buckingham Swans, Henley Swimming Club, Four Shires, Tring Swimming Club, Bicester Bluefins, Kings Langley Swimming Club and Newport Pagnell Swimming Club.

As with the previous two Chiltern League Rounds, Oxford swimmers were on fast and furious form on Saturday winning eight speeding tickets, two first places, six second place spots and eight third place finishes. A team of 33 swimmers age nine upwards were chosen by the coaches to compete in individual 50m and 100m events and 4 x 25m relay events.

The aim of the Chiltern League is to provide swimmers with less competitive experience the opportunity to practice their competition skills in a fun and supportive atmosphere.  With the final round on Saturday taking place at the Aquavale Leisure Centre (which usually hosts the Oxon and North Buckinghamshire Counties) this opportunity to gain competition experience was perhaps even more valuable.

There were some great swims on Saturday, perhaps most notable from our swimmers who were asked to swim up an age group (or two!!).  Eleven year old Kayden Sillah achieved a fantastic second place finish (and valuable points for the team) in the Boys 14/U 50m freestyle, which he swam in 34.54.  Twelve year old Michael Cadle gained a third place finish in the 14 and under Boys, 50m butterfly, swimming it in 39.59.  Competing in several men’s open events, 13 year old Logan Bryan brought lots of points to his team with his second place finish in the 100m backstroke (1:14.48); third place in 100IM (1:15.03) and fourth place in 50m butterfly (33.26).  Both Michael and Logan helped their teammates Alex Underwood and Tufyal Ahmed win third place in the Men’s Open 50 meter freestyle relay in the very last event of the meet with a time of 2:13.34.

It was not just the boys who showed courage and strong swimming in round three but also COSC’s girls  – who shined even brighter achieving our two first place finishes.  Annalise Bischoff achieved our first 1^st place finish of the evening in the 12 and under 50m freestyle with a time of 36.43. Lili Ashton followed shortly, achieving first place in the Girls 14 and under 50m breaststroke.

Beautiful swimming was also seen by Emma Sherwood in the Girls 10 100m backstroke which proved to be too fast with a time of 45.45 and Petch Rojchuphan in the Ladies Open 100m Breaststroke (too fast with a time of 1:29.78).

Special mention to our relay teams, clocking a collection of 2^nd and 3^rd place finishes and precious additional points to add to the club’s tally.

After the three rounds of galas, COSC finished a respectable fifth place. Four Shires were the winners; Henley and Bicester achieving second and third places respectively.

COSC Academy Head Coach, Liz Basterfield, said:

 “All of our swimmers made me very proud not only by how they swam and showed great team spirit (with several swimmers cheering until the very end) but also in how they behaved with the officials and other teams.  One of the officials came up to me at the end of the gala to tell me that our team was such a nice and polite team.”

As with any gala, our swimmers would not have the opportunity to compete without the support of our coaches, team managers and officials.  Huge thanks goes to coach Liz Basterfield, team managers Ann Bischoff and Pete Valdiserri and our officials:  Karen Underwood, Gill Cadle, Jean-Baptiste Bolcato, Karen Holliday and Gordon Jowett.

The full results can be found on the COSC website.

8 x Speeding Tickets:

2 x First Place Finishes :

3 x Second Place Finishes :

8 x Third Place Finishes :