A magnificent team effort saw City of Oxford Swimming Club win an impressive haul of 50 medals and speeding tickets at the Cardiff Closed Invitational Meet held over the weekend of 20th and 21st February. City also retained the coveted “Dave Heller Cup” for the relays and overall finished second of eleven visiting clubs.
A large squad of City’s younger swimmers, aged eight to 13, made the trip to Cardiff, with some gaining their first experience of a 50m long course pool. Virtually all swimmers PB’d as City won 16 golds, seven silvers and nine bronze medals as well as 18 sought-after speeding tickets (awarded to swimmers who swam faster than the upper qualifying time for the meet). Oxford narrowly missed out on the position of top visiting club, having been in the lead going into the last event of the long weekend.
Head Academy Coach, Liz Basterfield, said: “All swimmers put in a huge effort, showing great racing skills, speed and a fantastic attitude. It was great to see some of our youngest Academy swimmers putting their hard work from training into practice, taking part in a range of events and the relays. Our more experienced swimmers also set a fantastic example during a busy time in the competition schedule. It’s a great opportunity to say well done!”
[Eight year old gold medallists Eleni Ioannou and Zara Porter]
There were many notable performers and medal winners: For the eight year old girls, Zara Porter and Eleni Ioannou (pictured above) were in outstanding form – Zara winning three golds for 50m butterfly, 50m and 100m breaststroke, and Eleni gold for 100m backstroke, two bronzes for 50m butterfly and 100m breaststroke and a speeding ticket for 50m backstroke. Not to be outdone in the 10 year old group, Ellen Bagley took two speeding tickets for 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle, a silver for 100m butterfly and bronze for 50m butterfly, while Megan Peake impressed with three speeding tickets for 50m and 100m freestyle and 50m backstroke. Abigail Hobbins, 10, took gold for 50m breaststroke, bronze for 100m backstroke and a speeding ticket for 50m freestyle and Freya Little gained a speeding ticket for 50m backstroke.
There were speeding tickets galore for Rosie Hilton-Dew, 11, for 50m and 100m breaststroke and 50m freestyle. Also in the 11 year old age group, Ellen Grainger was awarded a speeding ticket for 50m freestyle, silver for 100m backstroke and bronze for 50m butterfly, Ellen Tranter took a gold for 50m butterfly and silver for 50m breaststroke and Maddie Watkins won silver in 50m backstroke. Mai Thomas, 12, was awarded speeding tickets for 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly and a bronze for 50m backstroke. Freya Jones, also age 12, took a speeding ticket for 100m backstroke and a bronze for 50m freestyle.
For the boys, 10 year old Joe Watkiss was on fine form, bagging two golds for 100m breaststroke and 200 individual medley and silver for 50m breaststroke. On fire for the 11 year old boys, were Charles Pauling – taking four golds for 50m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, 100m breaststroke and 200 individual medley – and Ben Holmes (pictured) winning a further three golds for 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke. Jack Rudd and Michael Cadle, both age 11, won silver and bronze in the 50m backstroke respectively. More medal winning form was displayed by 12 year old Diego Bravo (also pictured) who stormed to gold for 50m freestyle, bronze for 50m breaststroke, and a speeding ticket for 50m butterfly. Jacob Taylor, 13, took silver in 50m butterfly and a speeding ticket for 50m freestyle, while 13 year old Sascha Clark-Jones gained a speeding ticket for 50m freestyle.
Full results are available from the City of Cardiff Swimming Club website.
Thursday, 25 February 2016