Chesterfield Christmas Meet
Queen’s Park Sports Centre, Chesterfield
Saturday 30th November, Sunday 1st December 2013

The Chesterfield Christmas meet was the perfect way for Kingston upon Hull swimming club to bring down the curtain on a record breaking 2013 with most of the clubs squads attending the 2 day meet.

15 year old Elliot Stephenson competed in eight races over the weekend and walked away with no less than six medals. In the 200m breaststroke he knocked an impressive 7 seconds off his pb swimming 2:53.00. He then went on to achieve silver medal finishes for the 200 and 400m frontcrawl, 100m breaststroke and 200m backstroke. Finishing off with a bronze medal for the 200m IM made for a successful outing.

13 year old Melissa Machin swam to gold in the 200m breaststroke gaining a 7 second pb. She then took silver in the 400m frontcrawl and 50m breaststroke, gaining Yorkshire Qualifying times for both. Capping off the weekend with bronze medal finishes in the 200m butterfly, 200m IM and 100m frontcrawl. 14 year old Abigail Malton competed in eight races and took gold in the 50m backstroke in a personal best time of 35.02. She then swam to silver in the 100m breaststroke with another solid pb.

In the boys events hitting the medal trial was 13 year old Lewis Masters, 2 medals and 8 personal best’s, Lewis competed in the 400m freestyle, 50m backstroke,200m individual medley, 100m freestyle, 200m backstroke 50m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 200m freestyle. Lewis secured his medals in 100m backstroke and 50m backstroke. The morning session for brother’s Karmand (17) and Kaso Kareen (14) got off to a positive start with both of them medalling in their respective age groups. Karmand secured a 2nd in the 50m backstroke and a personal best in the 100m breaststroke. Kaso also medalled in the 100m breaststroke, and personal best in the 400m freestyle, then the boys meet was cut short when a foot injury in the afternoon’s warm up put Kaso out of the meet so they were on their way home. So it was then left to Mitchell Davis (13) and Luke Chapman (14) to continue the high quality swimming. For Mitch is was about gaining experience at away meets, in which he took the opportunity.

7 personal bests and 2 medal’s a 3rd in the 200m breaststroke and 3rd in the 50m fc. Luke getting back to form secured a well-deserved 2nd in the 200m butterfly Not to be out shined by the boys, the girls were in impressive form too.12 year old Madeline Tait’s hard work in training was rewarded with a 2nd place in the 100m breaststroke and 7 personal bests. !5 year old Jessica Chapman, Secured two 3rd place medals in the 100m fly and the 200m breaststroke. Also taking a 3rd place medal was 14 year old Leoni Bull, Leoni’s medal came in the 400m freestyle alongside with four personal bests in the 200m backstroke, 50m freestyle, 100m backstroke and the 200m freestyle.

Emma Newmarch (13) took a staggering 21 seconds off her 400m freestyle and 2 seconds off her 200m free, 200m IM and 100m backstroke. Emily Wilkinson (13) achieved Pb’s in all her races 400 freestyle, 9 seconds in her 100m and 200m backstroke. Zeita Tootle (13) took bronze in the 50m fly and knocked 6 seconds off her 100m free. Daisy Hill (14) took 5 seconds off her 400m freestyle taking the gold medal she also took bronze in the 50m and 200m backstroke. Hollie Verity hit all her times for most of her races she took a massive 19 seconds off her 400m freestyle taking home the gold medal.

Adam Alcock (13) took a massive 40 seconds off his 400m freestyle and also took gold in the 200m fly and silver in the 200m backstroke. Liam Spence (13) Achieved a big PB in his 400m freestyle knocking 15 seconds off he also took 2 seconds off his 200m breaststroke taking the bronze medal. Jake Conlon (12) gained 4 gold medals, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze he also gained three PB's over the weekend: including a 9 second in the 400m free, a 7 second in the 200m breaststroke and a 5 second pb in the 200m freestyle.

11 year old Alex Everson was on a winning streak with his new personal best swims gaining him silver medals in 200m individual medley and 100m freestyle, in the 400m freestyle his 10 second personal best gained him a 3rd silver medal and his Yorkshire qualifying time. Alex swam his way to gold medal place in the 200m backstroke. His top finish came in the 100m backstroke where his gold medal finish also scooped him a NER qualifying time. 11 year old Joshua Wormald swam his way to 6 personal bests and 3 bronze medals, his new personal best times gained him the bronze medals in 200m breaststroke and 200m backstroke, with a 19.55 second personal best in 400m freestyle claiming him his 3rd bronze of the weekend.

12 year old Callum Wright swam his way to a new personal best time, swimming his way to bronze in 200m individual medley and gaining the silver medal in 100m butterfly. Callum scooped the top spot in 100m backstroke claiming a gold medal. Callums top swim came in the 400m freestyle where his 15 second personal best swim saw him take the silver medal and a Yorkshire qualifying time. 12 year old Ethan Kingdom continued on top form for the boys. Ethan gained new personal best times in the majority of his races .Ethan took 15 seconds off his 400m freestyle time to take the bronze medal. Ethan gained silver medal places in the 200m backstroke, 50m freestyle and 200m freestyle. Ethans top swim came in the 100m butterfly where his time of 1.30.59 claimed him the gold medal place.

10 year old Helen Bealses swam new personal best times in 200m freestyle and took 8 seconds off in 100m breaststroke. Helens new time in 200m backstroke saw her take the bronze medal. In the 400m freestyle Helens 10 second personal best time saw her take the bronze medal. 11 year old Ruby Willingham had good swims in all her races to gain new personal best times in every event.

12 year old Kennedy Akrill gained a new personal best in 200m individual medley. Kennedy swam her way to a massive 54 second personal best time in 400m freestyle. 13 year old Emily Tate after suffering from recent illness put in some good swims and finally gained herself a new personal best time in 200m backstroke which has been her personal goal this season.

Ben Shipley (11) clearly shows the level of progress made with an amazing 8 pb’s and a Silver medal taken from the 50m Backstroke. Ryan Porter (10) put in another sterling swim and could pay for Christmas in the amount of gold he took home! He came first in the 400m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and the 200m IM, also gaining PBs in 8/9 of his races. Ben Massam (11) also slashed some of his times and took home the Bronze (and a smile) from the 100m Breaststroke.

Libby Akrill, Hollie McMullen and Lilly Tate gained new times in ALL of their races and showed the other teams that KUHSC are a force to be reckoned with. Libby took an amazing 4 gold medals, one of which was from a first time event of the 200m IM. She led the way, finishing in style in an amazing 3:44.98. She also gained a Silver from the 200m Freestyle event. Hollie took PBs in the 200m Backstroke and the 200IM, but receives a special mention for her ginormous time improvement of 31 seconds in the 400m freestyle! This result in no way overshadows the sizeable improvement shown by Lilly. In both the 2OOm Breaststroke and Freestyle she showed improvement, shaving 9 & 11 seconds off her times respectively.

It goes without saying that Shona Thurston gave 100% for the team and this effort was obvious in her times. Her 400m Freestyle swim improvement mirrored Hollie’s, also showing an outstanding 31 second reduction. 12 seconds were slashed off her 100m Backstroke and in both the 200m Freestyle and 100m Freestyle she set herself a new standard by racing 4 seconds faster. Libby Hannard also had a fantastic gala and only added to the club’s PB achievements with a substantial 8 personal bests! The most notable of which was a whopping 29 second off her 400 freestyle time and a 7 second drop for the 200IM.

Caitlin Playle Age 10 swam a pb in every race including a 36 second personal best in her 200m breaststroke. Ben Sawdon not only gained pb’s in all his 3 races but also won gold medal for his 400m Freestyle. George Waite won a silver in his 200m breaststroke as well as a 34 second improvement. He also won the bronze medal on 50m breaststroke and another pb of 3.48 seconds, he missed a Yorkshire time in this race by 0:00:12 of a second. Katie Fee gained 3 pb's including a 15sec improvement in her 200 freestyle.