PRESS REPORT
SKIPTON SWIMMING CLUB

YORKSHIRE CHAMPIONSHIPS SPRINTS & TEAMS

Hannah Robertshaw again led the Skipton team to another gold medal. This brings her tally to three, in the final weekend of County Championships at Ponds Forge last weekend. Her time of 31.61 in the 50 backstroke gave her the clean sweep of all the backstroke events at County's this year. She had to settle to share the gold as Alicia Holdsworth from Borough of Kirklees recorded the exact same time. She was placed 4th in the 50m butterfly with a fast time of 32.38.

Carolyn Haworth also competed in the same final as Hannah and swam to a lifetime best to improve her rank from 8th to 6th in the final. Her butterfly swim saw her carve 1.5 seconds from her previous best time and a small improvement in her freestyle time gave her confidence a much needed boost.

Rachael Scrivin made her 3rd final of the County's, but this time had to settle for a fast time and a 5th place in the 50m breaststroke. With only 2 months left to qualify she will need to really produce some solid training over the Easter period to improve her endurance and speed to make the times.

William Maddrell, 9, who has only been with the club for a few months after a transfer from the Isle of Man went to County's for the first time and earned a place in the 50m butterfly final with a big best time by 5.5 seconds (41.57). He finished in 8th place in a time of 41.79 after a slight hesitation on the dive saw his rivals move away from him on the start. His strong finish and better technique will stand him in good stead for the rest of the year as he will stay in the 9 year old age band until the end of the year as he has a late December birthday.

Another first time qualifier was Lucy Rowland also 9. Having made the move to her new club she has settle in well and for such a young swimmer coped with the atmosphere and pressure really well. Her best swim was the breaststroke, producing a personal best time of 51.56.

Ellie Belk, National qualifier from last year in the distance freestyle events also proved that she can turn her hand to the shorter distances as well. Recording a 34.77 in the backstroke (10th), 33.75 in the butterfly and finally just missing a final in the freestyle with a time of 30.12 (9th) will give her the opening pace for her races over the next few months.

Brother, Kieran left his best swim to last! His 50m freestyle time of 35.99 saw him improve his previous time by over a second and placed him in 9th place. Other swimmers producing good freestyle times were Max Barker, Philip Foster Dennison, Kelly Bucke and Megan Horbury who with greater attention to dives and turns over the coming months should be making finals in County's by next year.

Philip's best swim and worthy of a mention was his 50 breaststroke. His hard work and dedication to improve the fault in his leg kick paid off when his time of 43.10 gave him an overall placing of 12th in an event that would normally have seen him disqualified for the uneven kick.

Abi Kerr still struggling to shake off the virus, that meant she did not swim last weekend, did well to produce some fast personal best in her backstroke, butterfly and freestyle sprints. Her favoured stroke of breaststroke saw her with her best placed finish, 10th, in a time of 40.05.

David Fong who last week produced a fast 100m had to be satisfied with a 28.27 in his 50 freestyle event. With a slow start and turn his rival recorded 27's to make finals. With closer attention to detail in training this naturally talented swimmer will surely be improving his ranking within the year.

Report By Coz Tantrum, Head Coach