Bradford and District Gala 1 Report Sat 17th February

The Skipton swimmers made a flying start to the 2007 Bradford and District galas as the first of the series got underway on Saturday at Shipley. The girls 13 and 14 years medley relay team of Carolyn Haworth, Abigail Kerr, Ellie Belk and Alice Shearer retained the Windsor Baths Trophy for a second year. Carolyn started well and opened up a significant lead on the backstroke leg, Abigail Kerr further extended their lead on the breaststroke leg, it became clear that when Ellie Belk took over on the butterfly leg that the other teams would not mount any serious challenge to the Skipton team and with last years event record looking set to stay for some years, the girls clearly relaxed to enjoy the event, cheering Alice Shearer home on the final freestyle leg ahead of Bingley in second and Bradford in third.
There were also some good individual performances during the night, Ellie Belk taking a gold medal in the girls 14 yrs 100m butterfly and Abigail Kerr also winning gold in the girls 13 yrs 100m breaststroke. Both swimmers were displaying the advantages of putting in some 45,000 metres of training, which the Skipton performance squad regularly complete on a weekly basis. In almost copybook style they both shadowed their rival competitors up to the last turn at 75metres, and then effortlessly increased the pace in the final 20metres to move clear of their opponents. Megan Horbury claimed a silver medal in the 9 & 10 yrs 25m Butterfly in a race which saw no less than three Skipton swimmers in the final. Cruising through her heat and qualifying fourth fastest into the final Megan put in a one and a half second improvement to take a place on the podium. Joining her in the final were, Lucia Gardner; finishing fourth and Bethany Hanson, who making her debut in the Bradford and District galas showed there is much potential in the ranks of this young Skipton team. Alice Shearer also finished with a bronze medal in the girls 13 yrs 100 breaststroke with Samantha Gow and Laura Greenwood making good personal bests in the heats. Max Barker was keeping the boys on the medal table with a bronze in the 11 yrs 50m breaststroke whilst Kieran Belk and Philip Foster-Dennison finished just outside the medals with 4th in the 50m freestyle and 4th in the boys 100m IM respectively. There were some good personal best times for Sam Mitchell and James Smith in the boys 12 yrs 100m IM, Alice Riley in the girls 10 years 25m butterfly and William Maddrell made a big improvement on his performance at Harrogate three weeks ago in the boys 10 yrs 50m freestyle.
Unfortunately there was disappointment for the winning swimmers, at the end of the evening they had to come home from the gala without their hard earned trophies. The Bradford and District Association has been unable to find a volunteer who is willing to take up the post of Trophy controller this year, anyone interested in taking up this post is asked to contact Ian Scrivin on 01756 797334.
Last week the masters section of Skipton swimming club, lead by the ever enthusiastic John Pickles were in action at Ponds Forge in the Rotherham Metro masters meet. John bagged himself a gold medal in his age group category at 200m freestyle; John also competed in the 200 IM and 100 freestyle, where he finished 6th and 5th respectively. There were some powerful sprints from Andrew Walker and Paul Malin in the 50m freestyle. Andrew edged into the top three in his age group, coming away with a bronze medal, whilst Paul narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in his age group.
Masters swimming is growing in popularity and with its five star rating for strength, suppleness and stamina it is a highly recommended exercise by the health professionals. The Skipton masters meet regularly at Craven Pool for a workout, in the adult lane swims, anyone wishing to join them will be made welcome. They take part in specific master's galas, but should they wish to recapitulate a once youthful speed, and display the desire for real competition, they are welcome to challenge the younger swimmers in the open events at the Bradford and District and Airedale and Wharfedale galas. For more information on masters swimming please contact John Pickles on 01535 636019
Congratulations to John Pickles; who has received, The Amateur Swimming Associations North Eastern Region's Aquaforce Club Award. This is for his "invaluable and continued contribution to Skipton Swimming Club". It came as a big surprise to John as he didn't know that the club had nominated him! John puts a lot of time and effort into the running of the club and the members all wanted to show him that he is very much appreciated. Well done John!