Yorkshire 50m Sprint & Team Championships
Ponds Forge, Sheffield
Saturdary 17th March & Sunday 18th March 2012
Ponds Forge in Sheffield once again played host for the Yorkshire 50 meter long course sprint and team Championships with Kingston upon Hull Swimming Club yet again in the medals. Not only did the club take many individual medals and finalist awards but also showed the strength in depth the club has by making finals in the team events.
The 9/10 years girls Kingston upon hull swimming team made up of 10 year olds Aleah Ross, Hollie Verity, Jolie Bull and 9 year old Ruby Willingham Had a fantastic Yorkshire team gala. The girls were competing with 27 other teams from across Yorkshire. Aleah, Hollie and Ruby had been competing in the Yorkshires over the last month and were looking to add more success to their Yorkshire championships and it was a return to swimming after a 3 month absence for Jolie. The girls first event was the I.M with ruby swimming the back stroke hitting her new personal best time then Aleah was up putting in a fantastic 50m breast to catch the leading teams up, Hollie managed to hit her new 50m fly pb and Jolie brought them home with a new pb in 50 m free.
The girls then had a nerve racking wait through two more heats to see if they made the final .There were cheers from coaches’ parents and swimmers when they made the top 10. The girls were again in the first heat in the freestyle event with Aleah swimming a fantastic first leg to bring the team into first place hitting her PB from the day before. Hollie was next maintaining the lead they had with Ruby keeping the lead on her leg and Jolie finishing the race off with the team still in first place. The girls again made the top ten securing a final place.
The girls all looked good in the medley final with ruby managing to knock 1 second of her backstroke time and all the other girls managed to maintain their new pb times to place them 9th overall in a time of 2.59.39. The girls had time for a quick pat on the back from the coaches then it was time to line up for the freestyle final. The fatigue was starting to set in but all the girls put in huge efforts to maintain their times and hold their own against the top teams in Yorkshire. The girls swam in the same order and all had great swims with the team looking good throughout the race finishing in a respectable 7th place in a time of 2.27.48.
Individually Ruby Willingham aged 9, competed in the 200m backstroke and swam impressively to qualify for the finals where she gained a finalists pennant and finished 7th overall in a time of 3:31.51. 10 year old Aleah Ross set the scene for an impressive weekend; qualifying and competing in three sprint events. An outstanding performance in the 50m freestyle saw her reach the final and achieve a time of 31:82, a 13 year old Yorkshire time. She then went on to perform well in the 50m breaststroke and the 50m backstroke, gaining Yorkshire qualifying time’s equivalent to an 11 year old. 13 years odl National performance swimmer Emily Bailey swam well, Emily qualified in 1st place in the 50 backstroke taking sliver in the final, she also posted new lifetime bests in the 50m fly and 50m freestyle events.
The boys 11/12 team of Bailey Hairsine, Jack Woodcock, Lewis Collins and Luke Taylor also competed in both races and swam to 13th in the 4 x 50m freestyle and 14th in the 200m medley.
Not to be outdone the boys travelled to Sheffield and didn’t disappoint. Sam Bailey swam in 4 events making the final in 3 of them, Bailey finished 6th in the 50m fly and collected bronze medals in the 50m backstroke and freestlye events. 15 year old Oche Igoche was the golden boy of the club, he took gold in the boys 15/16 50 meter freestyle in an impressive time of 24.89 sec, James Rodmell made his second final of the Championships when he came 7th in the open boys 50m butterfly in a time of 28.62 a new lifetime best swim. 11 year old Jack Woodcock swam the 50m freestyle in a time of 32.67 to gain a 12 year old Yorkshire time and narrowly missed out on a place in the final by 1/10th second. In the 50m backstroke he again swam well and gained a 1.5 second pb. 11 year old Lewis Collins competed in the 50m backstroke and gained an outstanding 5 second pb to gain a 12 year old Yorkshire time.