In a week when the Evening Post-sponsored Reading Swimming Club took great pride in the achievements of Paralympian relay gold medallist and world record holder Graham Edmunds, several promising Reading swimmers made an early start to their own 2004-05 season as the University of Bath put on the first stage of an innovative three-meet series.

The pool is a training venue for some of the country’s top full-time swimmers and home to meets up to grand prix level, and several members of the Reading team can look forward to regular competitions there in years to come.

The autumn series offers only swims at 200 metres and above, while most meets in its graded format consist largely of 50s and a few offer 100-metre swims. Sunday’s round saw the 200m breaststroke and freestyle and the 400 individual medley.

Callum Willcox, in the 11 years age group, was one of several Reading swimmers with previous experience in a long-course (50-metre) pool, and it showed. Willcox, a Southern Counties breaststroke finalist at Crystal Palace earlier in the year, medalled in all his swims with three good personal bests (PBs).

Willcox placed third in a field of 16 200m breaststrokers, third again among 12 in the 200 free and second out of six in the very demanding 400 IM - in 6:56.58 off a 7.13 entry time. This squeezed teammate James Tichband out of the medals. Tichband’s 7:11 fourth spot was itself a 20-second PB and came via a big heat win from the front.

Three further strong 400 IM performances came from Rheannon Sandell, 13 – another taking a grip of her heat in the early stages - Frankie Wilkins, 11, and 12-year-old Adam Barrett. Sandell cut a 6:32 entry time to 6:06.73 in placing eighth, Wilkins’s 6:51 was over five seconds inside her previous best, and Barrett placed fourth in his year with a 10-second improvement in 6:11.32.

Sandell and Barrett both brought home bronze medals, in the 200 breaststroke and free respectively – Sandell in a field of 20. Rachael Mills, 11, was another with a third place, her 200 free time of 2:52.25 a three-second best. Twelve-year-old Ashley James was another recording a couple of solid PBs, swimming the 200 breaststroke in 3:16.32 and the free in 2:39.26.

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