On Saturday 18^th March, City of Oxford Swimming Club brought 28 swimmers to compete against seven other clubs in round two of the Chiltern League at Bletchley Leisure Centre.  It was a tight competition to the very end, with COSC coming in third with 209 points just after Bicester Bluefins with 234 points and winners Four Shires with 260 points.

The points at the Chiltern League do not reflect the true achievement of the COSC swimmers who gained SIX first place finishes, FIVE second place finishes and ELEVEN speeding tickets!! The Chiltern League places a “no faster than” (NFT) time limit on all of its races and this proved to be the challenge for our swimmers with 11 out of the 50 races being too fast and achieving a “speeding ticket” and no points for the team.

However, this did provide the parent viewers with some excellent swimming to watch especially from our open category swimmers Elizabeth Oliver and Theo Cooke who paced their 100 backstroke races with such perfection that they both avoided a speeding ticket and came in first in their races. For the women’s 100m backstroke the NFT time was 1.19.00 and Lizzie came in at 1:19.87.  For Theo’s 100m backstroke event, the NFT was 1.11.00 and Theo came in at 1.11.15!

Round two of the Chiltern League was also a showcase for great team spirit and courage among our swimmers.  This was especially true of Moses Baker who did not give up in his 50m freestyle race after losing his goggles at the start and came in second place in his race.  We also saw several of our younger swimmers having to swim up in category such as 11-year old William Healey competing in the 14 and under boys freestyle relay.  With this team spirit, COSC ensured that we had swimmers in every race and enabled our swimmers the opportunity to experience the fun of relays.

The full results can be found here but special mention should go to our six first place winners:  Lia-Anjali Lazarus (girls 12+U 50m back – 44.20); Girls 12+U 25m medley relay team (1.20.72); Mai Thomas (girls 14+U, 50m back – 41.16); Boys 10+U 25m medley relay team (1.27.24); Elizabeth Oliver (women’s open, 100m back – 1.19.87) and Theo Cooke (Men’s open, 100m back – 1.11.15).

COSC Academy Head Coach Liz Basterfield said, “Although it was a long night for our swimmers (starting at 4pm and not finishing until after 8:00pm), our swimmers were enthusiastic and performed well.  Even swimmers new to galas such as Bella Green, Mia Thomas, Ana Galvani and Elliot Dandy coped well.  A big thank you to swimmers who stepped in and made up the team numbers in the open age group and all the officials who did a great job”.

Participation in these galas would not be possible for our swimmers without the help of our coaches, team managers and volunteer parents. Special thanks to team manager Ann Bischoff, coach Liz Basterfield and Ewan Springett & Elizabeth Oliver who came to support Liz as additional “coaches” for the evening. Thank you to our time keepers – Lily Cooke’s father, Ben Harkness’ Mother and Thomas and Emma Sherwood’s father.  We would also like to thank Jean-Baptiste Bolcato for stepping in as starter for the meet.

Speeding Tickets – 11

First Place Finishes – 6

Girls 12+U 50m Backstroke                           Lia-Anjali Lazarus       44.20

Girls 12+U 25m Medley Relay Team                                                 1.20.72

Girls 14+U 50m Backstroke                           Mai Thomas                41.16

Boys 10+U 25m Medley Relay                       Team                           1.27.24

Women’s Open 100m Backstroke                 Elizabeth Oliver           1.19.87

Men’s Open 100m Backstroke                     Theo Cooke                1.11.15

Second Place Finishes – 5

Girls 10+U 50m Breaststroke                         Lily Cooke                   55.07

Girls 14+U 50m Butterfly                                Mai Thomas                39.55

Men’s Open 50m Butterfly                              Matthew Thornton       32.45

Boys 10+U 50m Freestyle                              Moses Baker              45.40

Boys 14+U 50m Breaststroke                                    Tufayl Ahmed              42.87