A weekend off and then the Griffins swimmers were back in action. This time a team of twelve went to Crystal Palace to compete at the Bexley Open meet which attracted entries from forty-five clubs from all over the country. Once again the Griffins swimmers were in amongst the medals: Ryan Searles won Gold on 100m Back, Jenny Budden Silver on 100m Butterfly and 200m Individual Medley and Bronze for 200m Back and Tim Shuttleworth gained Bronze in 200m Freestyle and 200m Backstroke.
Griffins completed the first weekend of the Age Group London Championships in fine form. On Saturday morning Shane Trew swam a magnificent 100m Freestyle beating his short course personal best time, this was the first time Shane had competed at Crystal Palace. Toby Pasmore and Tim Shutttlworth also beat their short course times in this event. Tim qualified for the final improving on his time and finishing in 7th place. Daniel Bonfante was not to be left out by also improving his long course best by 2 seconds, a time that he had achieved only 2 months ago. Well Done Dan.
In the 200m Back, Shane again produced an excellent swim as did Daniel McAuliffe who qualified for the final, he finished in 8th place. Tim also qualified for the final and certainly kept us shouting until the last stroke, Tim and his closest opponent swam the 4 lengths of the pool neck and neck, it was the truly brilliant finish that snatched Tim the gold medal and a 3 second improvement on his heat time. Great finish Tim!
Toby and Tim were back in the pool later in the afternoon competing in the 200 Individual Medley, both boys swam fantastic with Tim qualifying for the final and gaining 5th place.
Back for more great swimming on Sunday morning with Shane again , he swam the 400m Freestyle beating his short course time by 2 seconds a really great achievement. Fiona Westcough, also competing for the first time in a 50m pool swam a good 100m Free and 200m Back, she was competing in the 10 year old age group, even though she was still only 9, as the age ‘cut off’ date is 10th June and her birthday was 4th June. Tim’s next swim was 100 Butterfly and although a bit nervous he qualified for the final and came 7th.
The afternoon session was the turn of the boys breaststroke, Tim beat his time again by a huge 6 seconds, Adam Hill improved his long course time by a 5 seconds which he had only achieved 2 months ago and then it was Toby’s turn , he qualified for the final and achieved 7th place, a very good swim as he was ranked 11th on the programme. A fantastic weekend of swimming, I am looking forward to next weekend for another set of personal best times to record.
Rosie Long 6/07.
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