Bath
Distance Development MeetBath
Distance Development Meet
Completing a busy few days for the club, a group of Reading SC's most promising younger members travelled to Somerset for the first stage of Bath University's Distance Development series - several having swum the 1500m freestyle at the club's own championships on Thursday and/or competed in the graded meet at Central Pool on Saturday!
James Bradley and David Mills in the 11 years group and 12 year old James Tichband were in this position and all improved their entry times in the 200m free which opened the meet. Bradley placed fourth and Mills seventh in their year. Chris Boyce collected Reading's first medal with a bronze in 2.29.24. Tichband held off Callum Willcox by just over half a second as they finished eighth and ninth in the 20-strong field.
Markus Orgill – who like Boyce and Willcox also had a 1500 under his belt three days earlier - slashed almost four seconds off his PB in the 14s age group.
Annette Hopson was seventh among 19 11-year-old girls and Frankie Wilkins and fifth and Katie Hawkins 11th one year up. Wilkins was just outside her best but coming back after illness, while Hawkins and 15th placed Eleanor Cawthorne both recorded PBs. All three have another year in the same 12/13 category.
Louise Gillat was top Reading performer in the 14/15 group with a bronze, while Naomi Herring placed sixth and Vanessa Wood seventh.
A strong finish, keeping his head down in the last five metres, pushed Mills up to second in his heat and fourth in the year in the 200 IM, with Bradley sixth.
Boyce put in an excellent PB of 2.42.84 to win his year, with Willcox in seventh in mid-field.
Hopson was outside her entry time by exactly 0.01 as she won a 200 IM bronze in 3.07.52, while Hawkins shattered the three-minute barrier in a seven-second PB and missed a medal by one place. Wilkins also PB'd in fifth. Herring took a bronze with Gillat fifth and Wood sixth, and 16-year-old Amy Thomas won Reading's second gold in 2.46.26.
Several large fields tackled the 1500 free which closed the meet - the swim has been added to the girls' programme from county level upwards this season and the heats mixed boys and girls
Wilkins headed Hawkins as the only two girls in their year, and the standard of girls' distance swimming seems to have caught the organisers out as six out of eight in the 13/14 group swam too fast for meet limits and were awarded "speeding tickets". These included Gillat and Herring, both well inside-entry, as was Wood who took the gold from seventh overall!
Thomas, third in her category, beat her entry time by almost three minutes.
Mills and Bradley swam the 30 lengths in adjacent lanes in a fascinating tussle. Mills made up ground at the turns which Bradley clawed back over each 50-metre length. Mills broke away as Bradley hit a rough patch around 1100 metres and at one point had put nine seconds between them. However, Bradley had more in the tank for a sprint finish and cut the gap to 2.5 seconds but couldn't quite catch up. The pair won gold and silver, reversing their placings at Reading's own championships three days previously.
Boyce was again top performer in the 12s age group with a silver, with Willcox sixth and Tichband ninth also recording big personal bests. Orgill's PB silver capped an excellent meet for coach David Wittig's charges.
-----------------------------------