Stafford Apex Meet at Central Baths Wolverhampton 2nd & 3rd December 06

For the past fifteen weeks the Performance Squad at Skipton Swimming Club have covered in excess of 460,000 metres, an average of between 38 - 43,000 metres per week. Was this going to be enough to give them the medals and the personal best times they wanted at the Stafford Apex Distance Meet?

Blasting back to excellent form was Alex Belk, 16. A National Champion in 2002 and 2003, has remained stubbornly in the sport for little glory over the past 3 years. Troubled by fast growth, early maturation has contributed to him only making small improvements over the years. The past 6 months have seen a slow down in his height gain, he now stands just below 6' 4". Leaving the pool on the Sunday night clutching no less than 3 gold's and 1 silver, was no less than he deserved, but the time improvements made were no less than phenomenal. Most 16 year olds are pleased just to improve their personal bests by fractions of seconds, but Alex produced some well paced and fast swims reducing his bet times by several seconds.

His first swim in the 200m backstroke (one of his lesser events) produced a 10 second best followed by another 5 second best in the 200m breaststroke just 0.44 from achieving a National time that gained him his first gold. His silver came at the end of the day in the 200 Medley, it was to be a bitter sweet swim with a 4 second best time gain, and despair again on missing a National time by 0.5. Sunday saw him compete in the gruelling event of 200m butterfly, having only ever swum one before; the tactics were to use his natural front end racing speed and try and hold on as much as possible in the last 100m. This is called a suicide mission, but he stuck to his task and produced an 8 second best time of 2.14.06, and a second gold. With more training he has a chance to secure a National time in this lesser swum event. His final gold was all that he wanted and more. Having avoided competing in the 400m Medley over the past 12 months he reluctantly agreed to have a go at it. Working on new pacing due to his successes on Saturday saw him target a fast opening pace. The butterfly leg was completed in 63.80 seconds followed by a fast 100m back in 1min 12 sec. He continued to lead from the front and was only matched stroke by stroke by Russell Smith from Stockport Metro. Turning onto his last 100 free he only had to finish on a 1.06 to achieve a National time; for an event in which he failed to qualify in 2006.With much encouragement from all his team mates he secured his first National qualifying time 4.41.40. Nearly 1.5 secs inside the standard. His comments on the weekend swims were "I knew it would come back at some point, it's been a long, long wait and I have not always been patient but the hard work has paid off and I now have the opportunity to qualify for British Championships, that was a dream 6 months ago now it is a reality".

Hannah Robertshaw who last week missed the National qualifying time for the 200m Individual Medley at the second opportunity was not going to let it happen a third time. She had to wait until late on Sunday night to compete, and after a full weekend of racing, it was hoped that she was not too fatigued to perform to her best. Drawing down on her reserves she finished in a time of 2.31.31 just 0.07 inside the National time and secured a bronze medal into the bargain. Hannah now has two qualifying times for 2007 Nationals. Throughout the weekend she produced a strong swim in the 400m Medley, having carved off a big chunk of time last weekend at the District championships, swam well to lower her personal best by a further 6 seconds and finish in a time of 5.18.46, only 1.5 from the National time for 2007. Hannah also swam to two further bronze medals in the 200m backstroke re-affirming her already reserved place in the 2007 Nationals in this event, and in the 200m breaststroke with times only slightly slower than her previous best marks.

Julia Scrivin, renowned for her smooth and almost flawless technique in backstroke, proved she can also turn her hand to other events. Her freestyle swims were impressive and quick, producing a 13 second best in the 400m free as well as swimming 25 seconds quicker than anticipated in the 800m free, showed her endurance levels were high at this meet. Julia showed a good turn of speed in the 200m free event, with a staggering best time of 2.17.38. A Bronze medal did come in the 200m backstroke along with an improved National time of 2.24.32. She rounded off a good weekend with another 1.5 second best time in the 200m Individual Medley.

Sam Westcott had one of the hardest weekend gala programmes of all, competing in the 1500m, 800m, 400m and 200m freestyle events over the two days. His swims produced huge lifetime bests with a 35 second best in the 1500m, a 15 second lifetime best in the 800m and his 400m saw him drop 5 seconds from his previous best to 5.18.60. His 200m swim, which was the last swim of the weekend was probably one swim too many and he finished in a time of 2.33.59, this only being a small improvement by 1 second.

Ellie Belk, Jenna Chatburn, Carolyn Haworth and Abi Kerr had a mixed set of results throughout the weekend. Ellie producing big best times in the 200m breaststroke and in the 200m backstroke. In her main events of 200m and 800m free she had solid strong swims and just missed personal bests by less than a second. Jenna produced her best swim and gained a silver medal in her last race of the weekend and her main event of 200m breaststroke. Jenna lead from the gun and turned at the first 100m in a fast 1,19, at 150m she was slowly being caught by Aisha Thornton from Warrington and with 25m to go she had to fight hard to maintain the fast pace with which she set out. Finally she and had to settle for a silver medal but was rewarded with a fast time of 2.45.83. Carolyn again swam to another personal best in the 400m Medley, having produced a 3 second personal best last week at district championships, she did really well to swim fast fly and breaststroke legs to achieve another 3 second best time of 5.38.97. Abi entered to swim the 400m Medley for the first time. An excellent opening 100m fly set her up well so she could use her strong breaststroke to position herself for a good finish on the frontcrawl leg. Her finish time of 5.53.48 was a lot faster than expected and it is hoped she will train more to further improve her Individual Medley from now on.

Edward Haigh competing for the first time at such a high level meet, produced some brave swims that will give him the confidence to continue his hard work in training and will hopefully produce some quicker swims later in the year. Another swimmer who gained excellent times was Philip Foster-Dennison. He secured several fast swims which gave him times for the up and coming Spring County Championship early next year. Alice Shearer has also reaped the reward of the extra training and produced two excellent best swims in the 200m breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley events.

The younger girls did not disappoint either, Rachael Scrivin, Sophie O'Hara, Niki Chatburn and Kelly Bucke all competed well above their previous bests. Rachael bravely competed in the 200m butterfly and did well to maintain stroke and pace through the swim, finishing with a creditable 3.22.56. Her other swims in the 400m free (30 second best) and 200m breaststroke ( 5 second best), 200m back (8 second best) and 200m Individual Medley (3 second best) showed that the hard training over the past few months have certainly paid off. Sophie swam to an excellent best time in her stronger event of 200m breaststroke in a time of 3.25.26 which again was a personal best of 8 seconds, her Individual Medley time of 3.21.64 showed that she still needs to develop her butterfly and backstroke to attain a better paced swim. It was nevertheless a good best time. Niki competed in the 800m free, where she produced a fast last 400m to swim a time of 12.05.15. Her pacing showed that she has a real flair for the longer distance swims. Her other swims of 200m breaststroke (4 second best) and the 200m backstroke also showed that more work on sprinting will help her to pace the beginning of her races better.

Finally there was some disappointment for Annie Riley, having broken her finger and tearing the ligament in her hand only 3 days before travelling to Wolverhampton, was determined not to miss the weekend of swimming. She bravely competed with her fingers taped and produced a very creditable swim in the 200m free in a time of 2.20.61 which was a 2 second best time.

The next cycle of work has now started. With the likes of Alex Belk, Julia Scrivin, Jenna Chatburn and Hannah Robertshaw all pushing to make British Championship times there will have to be some disciplined and hard training through the Christmas period. Skipton will be utilising West Craven Pool as well through the festive season to try and bank some solid meterage before the New Year.

Report By Coz Tantrum, Head Coach