Open Water National Championships 2023 - REPORT
On Saturday 29th July, Winsford Swim Team had 6 swimmers (William Line, Ross Hanley, Tom Rickels, Alice Gooding, Harry Jones, Jess Goldsmith) travel to Rother Valley in Sheffield to take part in the annual Open Water National Championships.
The Swim England Open Water National Age Group Championships is the premiere competition for young open water swimmers in England. The Championships contain races over three distances: 2km, 3km and 5km. Age groups 12 and 13 yrs compete in 2km, 14 and 15 yrs compete in 3km, while 16 yrs and over compete in the 5km race.
The finest young open water swimmers in the country and future Olympians were honing their skills, and battling hard for honours.
Danielle Huskisson and Toby Robinson are just two swimmers who have used National Age Group medals as a platform for international success, going on to compete for Great Britain at World Championships.
Winsford Swim Team had Will Line (16) and Ross Hanley (17) racing in the longest distance, the 5k, and Tom Rickels (12), Alice Gooding (12), Harry Jones (13) & Jess Goldsmith (13) all racing in the 2k, and for all 4 of our swimmers racing in the 2k this was their national open water debut.
The weather was good, with the sun being out for most of the day but with a strong wind at times. The water was 19 degrees if I remember rightly, making the race a none wet suit competition. The water was beautiful with excellent quality, it literally could have been the South of France as one of our parents commented. So great conditions for some exciting open water racing.
Winsford as always gave our absolute best and performed to an exceptionally high standard. It was great to see both Ross and Will returning to Sheffield as they are seasoned campaigners in the open water format, both boys enjoyed their racing and smashed the times they achieved at the Regional Championships. Ross dipping under the magical 1 hour mark for 5k (that Monster drink made the difference) and Will going very close. William when he got out of the race said he couldn’t wait for next year's open water event, just shows he now has the bug of swimming in the great outdoors.
For our swimmers racing in the 2k it was very encouraging to see all our youngsters go at it as though they have been doing the open water for years. All swimmers again racing considerably faster than Sale and getting stuck into the racing. All enjoyed their 2 laps of the 1k course and racing against the best swimmers in the country. A special mention of course goes to Tom Rickels who gained the SILVER medal in the boys 12 years 2k event, and a place on the podium, fantastic achievement, well done.
A great day for Winsford Swim Team and all our swimmers, 100% we want 10 qualifiers next year!
Results
5K
William Line (16) 14th - 01:00:28
Ross Hanley (17) 5th - 00:59:23
2K
Tom Rickels (12) SILVER - 00:25:38
Alice Gooding (12) 15th - 00:29:05
Harry Jones (13) 15th - 00:25:32
Jess Goldsmith (13) 22nd - 00:26:54
Good luck to all the Masters swimmers tomorrow (Molly James and Andy Jones), and to all our English competitors who begin their campaign on Wednesday.
See you at the pool.
Dan.
