Cheshire Champs 2020 - Weekend 1 ROUND UP - 31 Medals, 75 Finals
On Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th January Winsford Swim Team travelled to Macclesfield to race in the Cheshire County Championships 2020. This year the championships take place over three weekends, yes three weekends, and 12 sessions of competition (goodbye weekends!)! So in other words more opportunity to have more fun on pool deck watching our swimmers race in heats and finals and to see if we can place in the top 8, gain a foot on the podium and ultimately achieve the title of County Champion.
As always Macclesfield was hot, very hot, in fact baking, but to my surprise the parking attendants decided to have a day off on the Saturday and let us park on the car park, outstanding result for all car owners! Unfortunately the parking attendants reappeared on the Sunday! As per usual it was great to witness the scraps for pool spots on pool deck first thing in the morning, with no coach or team manager giving a millimeter to the opposition! Oh I nearly forgot to say we had 64 swimmers qualifying and competing for Winsford Swim Team, only Stockport Metro had more swimmers, well done to all qualifiers. Oh one final thing Henry Oliver split his racing shorts just before his 100 BK final, which amused all who were stood behind his lane and the cameraman, but he still won, so all is good!
Over the first weekend there was a nice spread of events ranging from the 50m sprints, right the way up to the ladies 1500 Free, an event new to the Cheshire Counties for the ladies. A full report of all results will be produced in two weeks time once all the sessions are complete but it is great to announce that Winsford Swim Team have had an excellent start in the first 4 sessions of competition. We achieved 7 GOLD, 7 SILVER, 15 BRONZE and 75 Finals/Top 8 placings, not only this but many new life time bests (Someone please count them for me, cough, cough Nigel Woodbridge!) and numerous new North West Regional QTs and a number of swimmers who gained their very first NW Regional QT, well done to all those swimmers.
What was very pleasing to see was the attitude of all swimmers which was outstanding, truly outstanding with everyone being positive, professional and focused for all the racing. What again stood out was how much fun everyone was having, also the group huddle before the racing clearly making a massive difference to the weekends events!
Results after Session 4
GOLD: 7
SILVER: 7
BRONZE: 17
FINALS/TOP 8: 75
TOTAL MEDALS: 31
16 Different medal winners.
38 Swimmers making finals.
Swimmers Achieving Medals and Finals/Top 8 placings
Joe Mather (11) GOLD 50 BK, SILVER 50 Fly, SILVER 100 BK, Bronze 200 Brst
Tom Kud (15) GOLD 100 BK, BRONZE 200 Brst, 6th 50 BK, 6th 50 Fly,
Ethan Jones (17+) GOLD 50 BK, BRONZE 50 Fly,
Ethan Wright (17+) GOLD 800 Free, 4th 400 Free, 5th 200 Brst,
Henry Oliver (17+) GOLD 100 BK, 4th 50 BK, 7th 50 Fly,
Amelia Fitzgerald (11) GOLD 400 Free, 8th 100 IM,
Lewis Turner (14) SILVER 400 Free, SILVER 800 Free, BRONZE 50 BK, BRONZE 50 Fly, BRONZE 100 BK, 7th 200 Brst,
Jack Wheeler (12) SILVER 50 Fly, BRONZE 50 BK, BRONZE 100 BK,
Will Line (13) SILVER 100 BK, BRONZE 800 Free, 6th 50 BK, 8th 400 Free, 8th 50 Fly,
Alex Moss (17+) SILVER 800 Free, 6th 400 Free,
Lois Inch (13) BRONZE 50 Brst, BRONZE 1500 Free, 5th 100 IM,
Finn Armitt (17+) BRONZE 400 Free, BRONZE 50 Fly,
Adam Wright (14) BRONZE 800 Free, 4th 400 Free,
Jay Cushen (17+) BRONZE 50 BK, 5th 50 Fly,
Eleanor Ma (14) BRONZE 1500 Free,
Sophie Grindley (15) BRONZE 1500 Free,
Alissa Blackshaw (17+) 4th 100 BK, 4th 400 Free,
Sophie George (14) 4th 50 Fly, 6th 50 Brst,
Freya Johnston (14) 4th 100 IM, 6th 50 Fly,
Sophie Harrison (14) 4th 1500 Free, 7th 100 IM, 8th 400 Free,
Chris Lowndes (13) 4th 800 Free, 8th 200 Brst
Carys Roberts (14) 4th 400 Free, 8th 100 BK,
Fin Parkinson (12) 4th 50 Fly,
Charlotte Mullett (14) 4th 50 Brst,
George Young (15) 5th 400 Free, 5th 800 Free,
Cillian Wilkes (11) 5th 100 BK, 6th 50 BK,
Erin Hardy (13) 5th 1500 Free, 8th 400 Free,
Izzy Whittle (15) 5th 1500 Free,
Ellie Davies (16) 5th 400 Free,
Rory Armitt (16) 5th 400 Free,
Adam Brown (12) 6th 50 BK, 6th 100 BK, 8th 200 Brst
Eden Mankee (13) 6th 100 IM, 6th 50 Fly,
Jess Bradley (15) 6th 1500 Free,
Will Deeming (17+) 6th 50 BK,
Will Murray (17+) 6th 200 Brst,
Ciaran Turner (11) 7th 50 Fly, 7th 100 BK,
Ross Hanley (14) 7th 800 Free,
Harvey Zwijnen (16) 8th 100 BK,
Oscar Jolliffe (16) 8th 200 Brst,
Abbey Brown (17+) 8th 50 Fly,
Cheshire Overall Champion
Ethan Jones: Senior 50 BK,
Many thanks to all Swimmers who competed over the first weekend, all Team Managers (Claire Brown, Richard Line, Alison Oliver, Julie Grindley, Karen Johnston, Sue Wright, Claire Turner, Lisa Ball) who as always were first class in their organisation and support to our swimmers and many thanks to all our teachers and coaches who contribute massively towards the success of our club and to Nigel Woodbridge who was poolside all weekend. Also thanks to all members from Winsford who helped out in anyway in the running of the Cheshire's and the judges who helped out poolside.
We now look forward to the second weekend of the Cheshire County Championships, no doubt there is more excitement and fun to be had. I am sure all swimmers will be trying to attend as many as sessions as possible this week, it is very important to keep training levels very high as it is possible to lose fitness through a heavy competition phase.
Thanks and WELL DONE again to all our swimmers who raced in Macclesfield, see you all at the pool.
Dan.
