British Championships 26th March 07 and City of Sheffield Premier Meet 30th March 07

Julia Scrivin, 14, travelled to Manchester no less than 3 times over a 4 day period last week to compete in the highest level domestic meet of the year, The British Championships, and even slotted in a trip to Sheffield to compete in the Premier Meet.

Wednesday saw her compete in the 100 backstroke. Her heat time of 1.07.71, which was a lifetime personal best, was a strong swim but it showed tension and nerves. She returned on Friday to compete in the 50m sprint and was determined to cope with the pressure and produce a faster and more controlled swim. She did not disappoint. Drawn into the last heat with Katy Sexton, Commonwealth Champion from 2004, she swam through the half way mark in 14.21. She was level at this point with Katy and finished 4th in the heat with a time of 31.11. This was half a second faster than her previous mark. Her heat swim was fast enough to gain her a place in the semi-final in 9th place. With only 8 places available for the final she knew she would have to return the following day and swim faster still.

Saturday morning was an early start with the warm-up starting at 6am and the start of the racing at 8am. Her semi final saw her drawn in a middle lane near to Georgia Davies who was the fastest from the heat swims with a time of 29.87. With a strong start she swam through the 25m check point in 14.50 and finished with time of 31.39 which was only 0.19 off making the final. Although disappointed at not making the final she was pleased to have finished in 10th position and to have had the experience of competing against the fastest in the country. Her heat time secures her as No 1 in the country in her age bracket. It was then a quick drive over snake pass to arrive just in time for her 100 butterfly swim at the Premier Meet. With the National time of 1.08.21 and her best time being 1.13.21 she stormed to the finish line with a time of 1.08.95 and this gave her a silver medal in the 14/15 age band. The final saw her have another go but after such a long day of racing she went slightly slower. Julia also competed in the 100 free and 50 free and again produced good best times and edged ever closer to more National times.

Hannah Robertshaw, 13, was the other swimmer that competed at both the Championships and the Premier Meet. Her busy week started on the Monday where she raced in the 200 backstroke. As one of the youngest competitor to qualify it was a nervous and pressured environment to have to try and produce a fast swim. Her time of 2.27.71 was only half a second off her best time showed that she coped well. She also swam in the 100 back on Wednesday with Julia and turned in 34.43 and touched out in 1.10.81. The Premier Meet over the weekend where she competed strongly in her own age band. Two gold medals in the 200 Medley, 100 Back and silver in 400 Medley and improved times in her breaststroke were solid results after a stressful week.

Alex Belk produced a mixed set of results at the Premier Meet. Having been hampered by a groin strain and a rotator cuff injury to his shoulder was not best way of preparing for a target meet. His 400 medley time from the Stafford Meet at the end of last year was a National time but it was achieved short course (25m pool). To secure a strong heat swim at Nationals it is vital that he achieved this time in a long course pool (50m). His finishing time of 4.52.15 (3rd) was a lifetime best and a much needed National time by 0.2 seconds. Another 2 lifetime bests followed in the 100 free (6th) and 200 breaststroke (3rd), where he just missed getting a 3rd National time by 0.75 seconds. Swimming close to his best in the 200 Medley (2nd) and 100 butterfly (6th) was frustrating for him and he was disappointed with his 100 breaststroke swim. Hopefully with a further 17 weeks to go until National this will give time to regain leg strength and get a solid period of training in.

Other notable swims at the meet were from Alex's sister, Ellie Belk who seems to be finding form in a range of events. Her freestyle swims were impressive, a 50m time of 30.66, her 100 free time of 65.95 were solid best times but it was the longer events where she really came close to getting her first National time of the year. Her 200 time of 2.18.55 was nearly a 2 second best and she only needs to clip another 2.3 seconds to capture a National time. Her final swim of the weekend was in the 400m event where a 4 second best time of 4.49.23 will give her confidence to train hard over the coming months to improve her endurance.

Kelly Bucke produced a very fast 100 freestyle time of 1.13.46 but will need to improve her kick in her underwater phase to ensure that she is quicker through the dive and turns. Finally, Annie Riley competed strongly in her freestyle events and produced her first sub 30 second swim in the 50 free in a time of 29.69, only 0.5 from a National time.

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Report By Coz Tantrum, Head Coach