Winsford Swimming Club

It is with great delight to write a report for weekend 1 of Winsford Swim Teams level 4 licensed summer meet. It has been a long, long time (over 15 months), since we last raced at a licensed event, so needless to say everyone was very excited to squeeze into those racing suits and go racing under licensed conditions. 

Of course things were different, very, very different. All swimmers were marched in, raced and then marched out again back to their cars so that we could follow Covid restrictions. There were no spectators, so the atmosphere was, how should I say this, a little bit dead! Also there were no sweets, fruit and drinks doing the rounds for the coaches! But we were back racing, yes back racing, at our very own licensed meet, which in itself is a huge achievement under current restrictions. So a big thank you and congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to enable our superb swimmers to race again.

Over the first two days it was clear our swimmers were not going to let the different operations we were working through hinder their performance. In fact I was very impressed with how everyone conducted themselves and got on with the job at hand. As mentioned this was our first taste of racing for 15 months, so it was a great chance for our swimmers to firstly get the juices flowing again for the racing environment, practice our pacing and technical skills and ultimately to swim fast, so we can register times again for the rankings database which will help us to enter future meets. Not only this but for all our swimmers who are 13 or over as of 31st December 2021, it was a chance to register fast times in the hope for being accepted into the North West Festival of Swimming, which takes place over the weekend of the 24th & 25th, and Saturday 31st July 2021. On the topic of the North West Festival of swimming, please can all swimmers who are 13 over please keep these dates free, I would like all swimmers to enter this meet once all our L4 races are complete next weekend.

So then back to the racing, what was the outcome for the first 2 sessions? The outcome was outstanding with so many new life time best swims, and some incredibly exciting racing. Over the first 2 sessions we had race after race of tremendous swimming, with all swimmers racing with true guts and determination. Of course it is still very early days in terms of getting back the art form of pacing, tactics and control in the swims, but the results were incredible considering we have had such a bundle of madness over the past year.

Over the first weekend, we were racing over a range of different events from the 50m sprints, right the way up to 400 Free and IM. Many swimmers racing, time and time again, with no opportunity for swim downs to reduce the heart rate and release some of the lactate. So it was tough, but tough is good, being tough is really good and that is what our swimmers were, tough. All swimmers raced hard, not feeling sorry for themselves and cracked on. Our swimmers kept coming, heat after heat, shipped in, raced, then shipped out of the building awaiting their car seat, then doing it again and again. It was wonderful to watch all our swimmers race again and getting stuck in, but also we learned a lot for future meets. We can do race simulation sets in training but nothing can replace the feel for proper racing. There is no doubt we all learned so much this weekend on how we paced our races, which is very exciting for the future, because 100% there is so much more to come from all our swimmers.

So was the first weekend of Winsford Swim Teams level 4 meet a huge success? Undoubtedly it was, one million percent. It was a success because we had so many people organising, helping and volunteering so our club could put on such a fantastic event. It would be impossible to thank everyone, but thank you so much Winsford Swim Team for pulling together to put on a magnificent event for our swimmers. As mentioned earlier, this last year has been bonkers, absolutely bonkers, but we came through the other side and it will only make us stronger and more determined to make up for lost time. WELL DONE to the whole of Winsford Swim Team!

This is of course the report for weekend 1, and we now look forward to weekend 2 of Winsford Swim Teams Level 4 Licensed Summer meet. I know all our swimmers will be looking to have a good week of training, optimising as many sessions as possible and going into the final weekend of racing with lots of confidence and belief. If the racing from this weekend of competition is anything to go by, I am sure we will have another stupendous time at Winsford swimming pool. Racing together and having lots of fun.

Well done again to all swimmers.

See you at the pool.

Dan.