Age 1 and 2 swimmers attended Harrogate junior open meet on 23rd and 24th of October, this was the 4th weekend of racing for most swimmers

Age 1 Squad

Age 1 swimmers were aiming to swim to improve on their recent times, which was going to be a big ask.

Getting the day off to a great start was 11year old Hannah Willingham in the 50m breast who swam a PB in the time of 44.12. Next up were the 10year old in the 400 free, Darcey Hambly Got a fantastic 20 second PB despite losing her goggles at the start and Yasmin Brown took the 6th place with an amazing 50 second PB in a time of 5.43.26. 11 year old Shannon Mcgahey's PB in the 200 fly got her the gold medal, swimming it in a time of 2.45.91.While 11 year old Hannah Falkinder took the bronze in the 200m free with a personal best time of 2.26.77.13 year old Katie Young got a PB in her category and great swims were had by Hannah Willingham, Emily Bailey and Charlotte Oliver.

The afternoon saw Shannon and Hannah Falkinder battle it out for top position in the 400 im with Hannah producing a 15 second PB to claim the gold in a time of 5.44.45 and Shannon took the silver in a time of 5.45.83. 12-year-old Emily got a second personal best in her age group swimming it in a time of 5.57.45. 10-year-old Leoni Bull was up next swimming a PB in the 50m backstroke. Darcy and Yasmin both pulled out good swims in the 200m im with Yasmin taking the 7th place. They went straight on to the last race of the day the 100m free where Yasmin's PB got her the bronze medal in time of 1.13.55 Leoni managed a 3 second PB with Darcey putting in a great swim. Hannah Willingham managed to pull out another PB while Shannon and Hannah Falkinder battled it out again for medal positions with them taking 3rd and 4th place medals respectively.

Sunday opened with 11/13 years 400 free where 12 year old Charlotte Oliver swum a 15 second PB. Hannah Falkinder took the 5th place with a 15 second PB and Shannon having a fantastic swim took the gold medal in a new time of 4.57.69. 50m free was up next with Hannah Willingham having a great swim to knock 3 seconds off her time. Leoni and Darcey both got new PB; s knocking 2 and 1 second off respectively while Yasmin took the 4th place medal in a time 32.53 in her age group. 200m back was next and Kingston continued to scoop medals with Hannah Falkinder 7 second PB getting her the gold medal in a time of 2.39.03 while Shannon took the 5th place medal this time. Hannah Willingham continued to show improvement by swimming another personal best. Emily took the 4th place medal in her age group with a 3 second PB and Charlotte Oliver continued to put in great swims.

The last session of the weekend started with the 200 I.M Charlotte got a 4 second PB while Emily, Hannah Willingham and Abigail Malton all put in great swims. Hannah Falkinder took her last medal of the day collecting a gold medal in a time of 2.44.52. Darcey managed a personal best in the 200 free swimming it in a time of 2.48.45. In the 50m back charlotte pulled out another PB with Shannon’s lifetime best swim getting her the 5th place. Yasmin finished the day of in style getting the 7th place in the 400mI.M with an amazing 1minute 5-second lifetime best swim in a time of 6.27.47. The last race of the day for the age 1 squad was the 200m breast with Hannah Willingham and Abigail both putting in impressive swims.

For the boys, Bailey Hairsine was one of the stars of the weekend picking up a first place in the 200m Fly in a time of 2:56.25 and a first in the 400m IM, in a time of 5:56.66. Jack Riley achieved PB’s in both the 400m free in a time of 5:13.65 and the 200m Breaststroke in 3:21.76.

Nathan Greenwood got third place in the 200m Breaststroke in a time of 3:16.23 and got a PB in the 200m Freestyle in a time of 2:34.47. William Maddrell showed stamina in the 400m IM, in a time of 5:41.67 and the 400m Freestyle in a time of 5:02.14.

William Thomson definitely had his Weetabix and got PB’s in both the 400M Freestyle in 5:07.94 and the 200 IM in a time of 2:45.48. Last but not least, was Aram Sharpe who had great swims in the 200m IM in 2:50.22 and the 200M Backstroke in a time of 2:45.43.

Age 2 Squad

Representing age group 2 at the meet was Aleah Ross, Hollie Verity for the Girls and Lewis Collins, Samuel Dixon and Matthew Longhorn for the boys.

In the 400m Free Aleah Ross achieve a podium place with a bronze medal while Hollie Verity in her first ever gala away from Hull achieved a 4th place with a PB time of 6:58.64 beating her previous best by 20sec’s. Aleah then went in the 50m Butterfly and 200m Breaststroke achieving a top ten place in a time of 47:61 in the Fly and in the Breaststroke Aleah also achieved a top ten place with a time of 3:53.18 a PB by 7:71sec’s The first race for the boys was the 200m Breast taking part were Matthew Longhorn and Lewis Collins, Lewis achieved top ten Place with a time of 4:07.11 a 3.6sec PB

The girls 50m Backstroke was next up with both Hollie Verity and Aleah Ross achieving top ten places and Hollie achieve a PB of 45:21 an improvement of over 2sec’s and gained her first 9-year-old Yorkshire time This was followed by the boys 50m Backstroke where Samuel Bailey was taking part in his first ever gala away from Hull and Lewis Collins went for the 9 year olds while Matthew Longhorn represented the 10 year olds. Samuel and Lewis both achieved top 10 places with Samuel achieving a PB time of 45:75 an improvement of 2sec’s and gained his first 9 year old Yorkshire time The Girls 200m IM finished the first day sessions off and Aleah Ross was representing the 9 year olds putting in a determined performance to produce a time of 3:42.71 just outside of a 9 year olds Yorkshire time.

The Girls got day two off to a good start with Aleah Ross achieving a top ten place in the 50m Free in a time of 38:18

In the Boys 50m Free Samuel Bailey and Lewis Collins went for the 9 year olds and Matthew Longhorn for the 10 year olds. Samuel followed his 50m back success with a 5 Place and PB by 5sec’s plus his 2nd 9-year-old Yorkshire time of the meet, while Lewis Collins achieved a top ten place. In the girls 200m free Aleah Ross was competing in her 7th event of the meet and achieved a top ten place once again in a time if 3:16.24 The 200m Free was last event for the 9 year old boys where Lewis Collins and Matthew Longhorn both achieved top ten places with Lewis Collins achieving a PB time of 3:20.54 beating his previous best by 5sec’s whilst placing 5th

The Girls 50m Breast the final race of the meet and Aleah Ross was once again the representative for the 9-year-old s and produced a top ten finish in a time of 51:99 sec’s.