March 14, 2019 By Deb Smit

City of Oxford finish 7th in the National Arena Swimming League Final 2019

City of Oxford Swimming Club joined 9 other teams from Cardiff, Derby, Millfield, Northampton, Guilford, Plymouth, Stockport, Wycombe and Hatfield at the National Arena Swimming League Final 2019 at Cardiff International Pool. This premier event in the swimming calendar decides the top ten clubs nationally and is the conclusion after three previous rounds in the corresponding district leagues, with Oxford taking part in the Southern League alongside Wycombe and Guilford.

Left to right, Oli Conway, David Murphy, Bully (George Rudd), Emily Ford, Tiana Porter and representative from arena.

This fast-paced event showed great team spirit and proved that our raging bull swimmers were up for the challenge and ready for serious fast racing in the 50m pool. Outstanding performances or steals as they’re known in the league occurred in the following events and helped the team finish 7^th overall with a point’s total of 257. The overall winners of the event were Plymouth and Leander with 361 points.

Steals:

Girls 11 and under 4 x 50m freestyle relay (Pearl Sophastienphong, Zara Porter, Scarlett Shorter and Bella Green) were ranked 7^th and finished 4^th.
Girls 13 and under 4 x 50m medley relay (Megan Peake, Ellen Bagley, Lilly Brabin and Mila Burovska) were ranked 8^th and finished 3^rd.
Women’s open 4 x 50m medley relay (Emily Ford, Illizane Pinfold, Kate Mills and Safiya Sillah) were ranked 3^rd and finished 2^nd.
Boys 13 and under 100m breaststroke, Oli Conway was ranked 9^th and finished 7^th.
Women’s open 100m Fly, Kate Mills was ranked 4^th and finished 3^rd.
Men’s open 100m Fly, Chris Motha was ranked 10^th and finished 9^th.
Boys 13 and under 100m backstroke, Chris Skelton was ranked 9^th and finished 7^th.
Girls 15 and under 100m Fly, Delphine Little was ranked 7^th and finished 6^th.
Men’s open 100m backstroke, Dan Jenkins was ranked 4^th and finished 2^nd
Girls 11 and under 100m breaststroke, Zofia Conway was ranked 10^th and finished 9^th
Boys 11 and under 100m breaststroke, Jeffery Cheung was ranked 6^th and finished 1^st.
Boys 13 and under 100m freestyle, Chris Skelton was ranked 8^th and finished 5^th.
Men’s open 100m freestyle, Dan Jenkins was ranked 10^th and finished 9^th.
Boys 11 and under 4 x 50m medley relay (Monty Salmon, Jeffery Cheung, Ted Bowling and Faaris Sharif) were ranked 7^th and finished 6^th.
Boys 13 and under 4 x 50m freestyle relay (Andrew Taylor, Kayden Sillah, Lachlan Middleton and Chris Skelton) were ranked 9^th and finished 8^th.
Boys 15 and under 4 x 50 medley relay (Nick Skelton, Billy Wotton, Geo Ratouly and Logan Bryan) were ranked 4^th and finished 2^nd.
There was also a 1^st place position for David Murphy in the men’s open 100m breaststroke.

Missed the final, you can check out all the action in the following video.

Photo gallery from the National Arena Swimming League Final

Tiana, Oli, Logan, Connor, Bully (George Rudd) and Adam Peaty

March 7, 2019 By Deb Smit

City of Oxford young swimmers selected for Oxon & North Bucks Swimming Pathway Programme

Six young ragingbulls from the City of Oxford Swimming Club have been selected to take part in the Oxon & North Bucks Swimming Pathway Programme for 2019. The selection of Zofia Conway, Scarlett Shorter, Neretva Spengler, Monty Salmon, William Turner & Tristan Dennis (all born in 2008) comes from their recent performance and podium positions that these amazing swimmers achieved at the Oxon & North Bucks County Championships. The programme will run over the rest of 2019 and will see them taking part in three camps alongside a further 18 swimmers from various clubs in the two counties. The programme will help develop their understanding of strokes, strength and conditioning, nutrition etc and is based on the principles of the Swim England talent programme and has the aim of achieving a seamless development pathway within the sport.

Joining them also on the Pathway Programme will be City of Oxford Coach Fabian Whitbread, after recently being appointed as one of the skills coaches by Oxon and North Bucks Swimming. This appointment on the coaching team and selection of the swimmers continues to show the success that the club is having in not just developing swimmers but also the key coaching team for a successful future of the club.

March 7, 2019 By Deb Smit

City of Oxford swimmer David Murphy signs sponsorship agreement with Solo Sport Brands / arena UK.

City of Oxford Swimmer David Murphy has just signed up to a one-year sponsorship deal with Solo Sport Brands and arena UK at the National Arena Swimming League Final. The team at Solo Sport Brands have been monitoring his success over the last year and combining this success with his continuation on the British Swimming Medal Potential Programme for the 2020 Olympics. It was clear to all the coaches involved in selecting suitable swimmers, that David fitted the requirements of the sponsorship programme. David joins a host of other top-class swimmers including Adam Peaty and Alys Thomas that are currently sponsored by arena.

December 20, 2018 By Deb Smit

City of Oxford Breaststrokers Dominate Swim England Winter Championships

City of Oxford Swimming Club took 16 swimmers to the Swim England Winter Championships in Sheffield for three days of competitive swimming in this short course event that was also live streamed on the BBC website. As has been seen at the recent National Arena Swimming League, our Ragingbulls are on fire at the moment and 10 County or South East Regional Records (subject to ratification) were broken during the meet and we brought home 8 medals in total across the junior and senior age categories. Our strength in the breaststroke was shown throughout the finals where we had David Murphy in the 50, 100 and 200m finals and also Toby Mackay Champion and Connor Bryan in the 100 and 200m finals. Illizan Pinfold also dominated in the breaststroke and Nick Skelton continued with his success in the backstroke and individual medley events. Head Coach Amanda Booth and Michael Peacock (Strength & Conditioning Coach) returned from Sheffield with a sense of achievement and are excited to see how the squad of 16 swimmers will continue to develop during the rest of this season

Records (STR):

Illizane Pinfold (14 years) 100m breaststroke 1.10.89 Oxon & North Bucks Junior and Senior records.

Nick Skelton (15 years) 200m backstroke 1.58.78 Oxon & North Bucks Junior record.

Mimi Morely Iszatt (15 years) 50m backstroke 28.80 Oxon & North Bucks Junior record.

David Murphy (20 years) 50m breaststroke 26.85 Oxon & North Bucks Senior & South East Regional Open records.

Safiya Sillah (15 years) 50m freestyle 26.34 Oxon & North Bucks Junior and Senior record.

David Murphy 100m breaststroke 58.19 Oxon & North Bucks Senior South East Regional Open records.

Nick Skelton 200m Individual Medley 2.05.15 Oxon & North Bucks & South East Regional junior records.

Illizane Pinfold 50m breaststroke 31.67 Oxon & North Bucks Senior and Junior & South East Junior records.

Nick Skelton 100m backstroke 55.71 15yrs Oxon & North Bucks Junior record.

Toby Mackay Champion (21 years) 100m breaststroke 2.10.40 Oxon & North Bucks senior record.

Medallists:

Nick Skelton 2^nd 200m Backstroke, Junior Champion 200m Individual Medley & 3^rd 50m Backstroke.

David Murphy 2nd 50m Breaststroke & 100m Breaststroke.

Mimi Morley Iszatt 3^rd 50m Backstroke.

Illizane Pinfold 2^nd 50m Breaststroke.

Toby Mackay Champion 3^rd 200m Breaststroke.

December 13, 2018 By Deb Smit

Winter Wonderland Awards Evening

There is nothing better than seeing our #ragingbulls having a great time out of the pool and building on their team spirit at our Winter Wonderland Awards Night. It was an evening of celebrating the success of all our swimmers and especially those that had entered into our Club Championships 2018 or taken part in National and International Swimming during the 2017/2018 season.

Who were the medallist’s and top girl and boy for each age group?

Announcer copy age groups

Winter Wonderland Awards Evening, Club Championship medallist's Girls Age 9 — Club Championship medallist’s Girls Age 9

Winter Wonderland Awards Evening, The winner of the Girls Age 9 trophy was Cerys Obbink — The winner of the Girls Age 9 trophy was Cerys Obbink

The winner of the Boys Age 9 trophy was Louie Ashton

Club Championship medalists Girls Age 10 — Club Championship medallist’s Girls Age 10

The winner of the Girls Age 10 trophy was Zofia Conway

Club Championship medalist's Boys Age 10 — Club Championship medallist’s Boys Age 10

The winner of the Boys Age 10 trophy was Tristan Dennis

Club Championship medallist's Girls Age 11 — Club Championship medallist’s Girls Age 11

The winner of the Girls Age 11 trophy was Zara Porter

Club Championship medalist's Boys Age 11 — Club Championship medallist’s Boys Age 11

The winner of the Boys Age 11 trophy was Matthew Critchley

Club Championship medallist's Girls Age 12 — Club Championship medallist’s Girls Age 12

The winner of the Girls Age 12 trophy was Juliet Anthony

Club Championship medallist's Boys Age 12 — Club Championship medallist’s Boys Age 12

The winner of the Boys Age 12 trophy was Lachlan Middleton

Club Championship medallist's Girls Age 13 — Club Championship medallist’s Girls Age 13

The winner of the Girls Age 13 trophy was Willa Merttens

Club Championship medallist's Boys Age 13 — Club Championship medallist’s Boys Age 13

The winner of the Boys Age 13 trophy was Andrew Taylor

Club Championship medallist's Girls Age 14 — Club Championship medallist’s Girls Age 14

The winner of the Girls Age 14 trophy was Madeline Powell

Club Championship medallist's Boys Age 14 — Club Championship medallist’s Boys Age 14

The winner of the Boys Age 14 trophy was Charles Pauling

Club Championship medallist's Girls Age 15 — Club Championship medallist’s Girls Age 15

The winner of the Girls Age 15 trophy was Safiya Sillah

Club Championship medallist's Boys Age 15 — Club Championship medallist’s Boys Age 15

The winner of the Boys Age 15 trophy was Logan Bryan

Younger Swimmers (Age 8) receiving medals to recognise their achievements so far.

New medals, recognising those swimmers that have swam at National & International levels.

Announcer (Inter)National Swimmers

Recognising our Home Nations Summer Nationals Swimmers who took part in Swim England Nationals

Recognising our Home Nations Summer Nationals Swimmers who took part in Swim Wales & Scottish Swimming Nationals

Recognising our British Swimming Summer National Girl Swimmers

Recognising our British Swimming Summer National Boy Swimmers

Recognising our swimmers that have been swimming at an International Level

Top Junior Boy & Girl Swimmer

The junior girl swimmer of the year.

This swimmer joined us last year and has been very keen and committed in training. She travels from quite a distance to attend training at COSC but still commits to seven sessions per week – more than many swimmers who live in Oxford.

Even though she goes to school 12 miles from Oxford she gets up early in the morning to attend morning training 2 times per week. She has to be very organised in the morning & despite having a long journey to school manages to stay in the pool until 7:20am, getting changed quickly so that she doesn’t miss too much training & eats her breakfast in the car on the way to school. Her attendance at training is always high and very consistent.

She is very honest and self-motivated during training and always pushes herself to her limit in both land and swimming training. She is helpful, polite and not afraid to ask appropriate questions whenever she does not understand.

With all of these aspects, it is a pleasure to coach her because she is always cheerful and has a positive mindset; she always wants to improve herself.

The award for Junior Girl Swimmer of the Year went to Maddie Powell

Top junior boy swimmer of the year.

This year’s Junior Boy Swimmer of the Year award goes to a young swimmer who has not only performed well in competitions individually, but has also been a fantastic member of the team. Whether representing Oxford in last year’s Arena League South Final, or attending training, he always arrives with a smile. The smile may disappear once he has seen the hard sets written on the white board, but it always returns.

For the short time Fabian has been coaching him, he has turned up to training with a positive attitude, shown great determination in quality sessions, and been polite and respectful to the coaching staff. Lastly, he is always asking questions on how to improve his overall swimming performance. Fabian is very excited to see what he has in store for the rest of this season.

he award for Junior Boy Swimmer of the Year went to Oliver Conway

Anthony Bryan Award for Endeavour

Pauline Bryan presented this award, which was created in memory of her late husband Anthony.

Anthony Bryan always supported and encouraged his children and grandchildren, recognising that it wasn’t so important that they won in their chosen sports but that they tried, were totally committed and enjoyed themselves.
So, it is to swimmers who always give their swimming 100%, putting their club first regardless of any prize or medals that this cup is now presented each year.

Anthony Bryan Award for Endeavour

After challenging times in the first part of the season, this swimmer managed to overcome and improve every aspect of their training leading into the summer, when they performed above their expectations.
Specifically, after regionals last year, they increased their focus in both land and swim training and started to ask questions about how to improve their performance. Their increased attention to detail and improved training meant that this swimmer achieved many personal bests in the later part of the season.
This swimmer has been very honest and very keen in the training sessions and always turns up to the session 10-15 minutes early to be on the poolside on time.
All of these improvements have made this swimmer increasingly coachable and it has been my (and the team’s) pleasure to coach her, as she is always wanting to improve herself.