Press Report on the Essex County Championship Block A
and the Redbridge 400m Level 1 Licensed Meet.
Runnymede Swimming Club had a great start in the first Round of the Essex County Championships. Leading the way for the Club in the Championship’s sprint weekend, was Aaron Eveleigh with two Gold medal winning swims in the 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly finals. Aaron also backed up his winning performances with a bronze in the final of the 50m Backstroke to take a secure position in the overall boy’s leader board.
Sarah Wright took her second individual Gold medal at the County Championships by repeating last year’s winning performance to take the12 year Girls 50m Backstroke title. She also added two 5th places in the finals of the 50 Butterfly and 50m Freestyle events. In the same age group, Georgina Hunt took a huge chunk off her personal best time to take the Silver medal in the 12 year 50m Breaststroke final. Georgie also achieved 4th place in the 50m Butterfly and took 6th in the 50m Freestyle.
In his first County Championships, Henry Newton made the final in the 10 year 50m Butterfly, eventually taking 5th position and gaining valuable experience for future rounds. In the Girls 10 year age group, and also making her first appearance at the Championships, Chloe Davis produced a great personal best to make the finals in the 50m Freestyle where she took the 5th place honours.
11-year-old George Smith swam well to gain two 6th places in the finals of the 50m Butterfly and the 50m Backstroke. Also in the 11-year age group, William Muggleton took another Championship award for 5th in the 50m Breaststroke final. In the top age group, 16-year-old Sarah Jarratt took 6th place in the 16 year & over 50m Backstroke event.
There were a lot of great performances from Runnymede swimmers who did not make the finals but did produce new personal bests. The club had its highest number of qualifiers for many years, and hope that they will continue their success in the next round of the Championships.
Following their successes at the Essex County Championships, a small team of the club’s swimmers competed at the Wilkinson Sword Level 1 Licensed 400m Gala in Redbridge. Georgina Hunt added to her achievements at the County Champs by taking 2nd position in the girls 12 year 400m Freestyle.
Alex Delicata achieved a Southern Counties qualifying time and massively improved his personal best when he took 3rd place in the boys 11-year 400m Freestyle. Charlotte Delicata knocked 5 seconds off her previous best time to achieve a notable 5th position in a high-class 13-year 400m Freestyle race beating some other highly ranked competitors. All of Runnymede’s swimmers produced personal best times in the competition.
The club is also looking to recruit swimmers of all ages to improve it’s existing squads. Anyone interested should contact Paul Eveleigh on 01268 759043.