Club Championships 2022 - REPORT
After 5 sessions of racing Winsford Swim Teams Club Championships are now complete, and what a great 5 sessions it has been. With 131 swimmers racing over 1055 events it sure was an action packed few weeks, with all swimmers giving their all to be crowned club champion for their age group.
As mentioned previously we are still in early season mode with all of us currently building up our fitness levels but this did not deter the effort and the determination shown by all swimmers. I have always admired the effort everyone gives to their racing and this showed in all races, even those races when it was clear the lactate was taking over the muscles!
Over the 5 sessions we competed over every single event in the pool programme from the very shortest 50m events to the longest being the 1500 free. It really was very competitive and that is what is so good about our club champs is that we have lots of competition in the vast majority of age groups and genders.
The final weekend was a double session on Saturday where we were racing over 18 events (9 Female and 9 Male) over 2 sessions. With us completing the distance events on previous weeks we were concentrating on events from the 50 Free up to the 400s, both Free and IM, so the day was a little bit more sprint orientated with some middle distance events sprinkled in at the start of each session. From watching the swimming it was clear that every week we have improved, not only our current fitness levels but also getting back the feel of racing. It was a great day with everyone going full out for results.
The final day also consisted of the SKINS event, the fastest 6 swimmers from the 200 IM, for the 14 under and 15 over for both genders battle it out in a knockout competition of 50’s, with the stroke being drawn out of the hat. SKINS are always very exciting as it can be unpredictable depending on which strokes are swum and this year this was no different. Each round was super exciting, even the girls 14 under where Breastroke was drawn 4 rounds on the bounce! It also shows what can be achieved by relaxing and just racing with many new PBs achieved.
Results for SKINS were:
14 Under Girls - 14 Under Boys
1st: Megan Rickels - Jack Wheeler
2nd: Molly Brennan - Edward Ma
3rd: Izzy Fletcher - Henry Ball
4th: Rebecca Line - Ciaran Turner
5th: Ruby Thomas - Max Kimber
6th: Annabelle Chan - Conor Jackson
15 Over Girls - 15 Over Boys
1st: Amy Kenworthy - Tom Kud
2nd: Sophie Grindley - Jonny Mullett
3rd: Sophie George - Adam Wright
4th: Eleanor Ma - Lewis Turner
5th: Alissa Clarke - George Young
6th: Lois Inch - Toby Latimer
Winsford Swim Team's Club Championships for 2022 were another resounding success, both from the performance point of view with all swimmers racing to an extremely high standard especially given the stage we are at with the season, being straight after the summer break. But it was also a massive success from the organisational side of things with everything running as clockwork. So thank you to everyone who organised and helped out over the 5 sessions of competition, outstanding effort from everyone.
Now that the club champs are complete we now travel to Macclesfield to race in the North Midland Championships against the best teams in Cheshire West, East and North Staffordshire. I am positive our swimmers will be ready and to swim extremely fast for Winsford Swim Team in little under a week's time. Please maximise all training, every single session counts, and every single session will help us with our results.
See you at the pool.
Dan.
