Reading Swimming Club
Newsfile
2005/2006

 

Parents: Can you help? The club needs parents helping in many roles to function - club management, jobs, roles, help at meets and so on.  Some pool based, some home based.  Swimmers - and thus parents - move on on a regular basis, so if you're able and / or interested in any of these roles, please let Peter Tiley know by e-mail or on Thursday night.

15 Aug: Speedo League venues (and times) for the first 2 rounds published in the meet calendar.  Round 3 doesn't get decided until Rounds1 and 2 are swum because it depends on the results...  We're at Guildford and Cranleigh for Round 1, and Bracknell and Reading for Round 2. Please mark them in your diaries!

12 Aug: The press reports for the Nationals (Age Group and Youth) have now been put on line.

9 Aug: Analysis from Graeme: 43 swims including the 7 finals and semi-finals: 19 improved on entry times, 17 new PBs. another 22 within about 3%.  A valiant effort by Alex Macarthur, who'd broken his arm 8 weeks before Nationals so only able to for in a couple of weeks training back to fitness beforehand. 

Best improved time went to Callum Willcox who shaved 4.3 seconds off his 200 Breaststroke

6 Aug: Garry Dixon topped of the Nationals week, where several more Reading swimmers recorded PBs at Sheffields Internations Ponds Forge centre. Garry recorded 16:07.89 in the 1500m final to come in 3rd overall and top of his age-group.  I hope to get a report from the man-on-the-spot in a day or so. Louisa Herring swam in the new 3000m free race in 37:09.32 to finish 7th

2 Aug: Haven't heard from anyone "Up North" yet, but from the results I can see that most of the squad PBed, with Chris Ferguson making the 100 Free Age Group final (where he recorded exactly the same time - 54.07 - as his heat - there's consistency for you!). Zoe Hester had the fastest 200 Back heat overall, and still managed 2nd place in the Age Group final too.

31 Jul: Tomorrow it's the turn of the Youth swimmers: Live action as-it-happens from the ASA Youth event website.

29 Jul: 1500m swims by Rachael Mills (who took a 4 second PB to finish 13th) and Frankie Wilkins (a few seconds off her PB, finished 15th).  Frankie then swam 400IM in the next event, and took a 2 second PB there.  Good swimming all round.  Age Group results from the ASA Age Group website.

28 Jul: Callum Willcox made the 12 Year 200 Breaststroke final (6th fastest after knocking about 5 seconds off his existing PB). Well Done Callum. He was placed 8th overall in the Final. Adam Barrett (actually aged 13, but swimming in the 14 year age group because his birthday is in a few days time) was a few seconds off his PB.  Next year he gets to swim in both the Age Group and the Youth Nationals if he qualifies.  Lucky Adam.

25 Jul: Our Age group National Swimmers are about to depart to Sheffield: Youth are next week.  We've put together a profile of the swimmers for you to read...  Good luck everyone!  You'll be able to watch their progress on the British Swimming (ASA) website, in the swimming section.

16 Jul: What's the point in having a computer if you don't produce statistics?  Club Sprints:  76 swimmers, 318 swims, 19 kilometres swum, 71 swimmers beat their entry times in at least one race: 181 swims produced better-than entered times.  (Note that I can't call them PBs in case someone swam something faster between entering and the races...)

15 Jul: Excellent natured Club Sprints today - Results are available in searchable format (I'll get the printouts up later). Cardless meet seemed to work just fine - we got better at it after the first session!  We even did an inpromtu alteration and ran a medley Skins competition - won by Chris Ferguson and Zoe Hester.  I think we can say that we'll be running the club champs and the B grade cardless - and almost certainly the Easter meet too.  Well done to the swimmers - lots of PBs - and especially to the swimmers from the teaching program, to Ian Wilkins (Meet Manager) for all the thinking-it-through before the meet even started, and Thank You to the parents that helped with timekeeping and everything else that makes these meets happen! (Sunday: printable results now available)

13 Jul: Club Sprints this Saturday - 3:30 warm-up.  This is a CARDLESS MEET - the first one we've done here at Reading.  DON'T FORGET to sign-in - find your name against the races you're doing on the sheets, and sign next to them to show you're swimming.

Congratulations for the June Swimmer of the Month - Ellie Wood, Coached by Lauren Macarthur and Rob Knott in Development 1.

Most of you should now know which squads you are swimming in next year.  For reference the squad timetable is online. The final Club session is the fun gala which starts just after 6 (when Top National finish training) on Thursday July 20, until 8pm.. Next season's training starts on the week starting September 4th.

9 Jul: Congratulations Italy for their World Cup win: Also Rachael Mills/David Herring for their Sweepstake win; Second Place to Chris Ferguson/Maria Leonard and Third place to the Germans - Rob Knott and Peter Tiley!

9 Jul: 16 swimmers, 3 coaches and a handful of parents trundled a minibus up the the Coventry 50m pool, a former nationals site. There they enthusiastically swam their way to 30 medals.  For some it was the first time they'd seen a 50m pool, let along swim in it: For others their first competition. Nothing daunted though.  Particular mentions to the BAGCAT successes - Matt Frankum took the 13 year boy decisively; Zoe Clark was second (13 girl), David Mills 3rd (12 boy) and Sam Kemp 4th (11 boy) - in his first 50m swims. Lots of Medals, but Ellie Wood took 3 Golds and a Silver; Matt Frankum 2 Golds, 3 Silvers and a Bronze, Zoe Clark 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 2 Bronzes and David Mills 1 Gold, 2 Silvers and 2 Bronze; Well done All - you certainly got yourselves noticed by the locals with your enthusiastic support of our swimmers.  Results available online. 

7 Jul: Good luck to the team of swimmers from Reading who are off to the 50m pool at Coventry on Saturday. This is the last scheduled meet this year, excepting the Nationals.  Tickover arrangements have been circulated to Club members but have been published online too, for reference.

1 Jul: The draft programme for the Nationals has been published by the ASA: Age Group and Youth. It also confirms that Rachael Mills and Frankie Wilkins have qualified for the 1500m. Also, Louisa Herring has a 3000m swim, which is good news. This brings our total national swimmers to 14 (10 youth and 4 Age Group), sharing 48 swims (43 Youth and 5 Age Group). An improvement from last year where we have 11 swimmers in 39 events!

30 Jun: Reading Masters' swimmer Dave Stannard is just back from competing even further afield – in New York. He swam the last leg of a six-member relay team tackling the Manhattan Island Marathon, on a 28.5 mile course around the tip of the island. The sextet, put together by London's Otter Masters club, won their category in an aggregate time of 7 hours 47.14 minutes – and helped raise a substantial sum for the Stroke Foundation in the process.

Lastly, Congratulations to Russ Korting on passing a major milestone – outside the pool. Russ  qualified as a private pilot a few weeks before he becomes old enough to get behind the wheel of a car!

23 Jun: Reports now available for the Newbury Meet, and the Masters Nationals.

20 Jun: A lovely summer's day turned into a long, hot demanding meet at Newbury. Reading turned out in force, and recorded numerous medals, finalists and many first-time swims for our younger squads. The full results are available from the Newbury Web Site, so the highlights are Speeding Tickets and a record for Naomi Herring and Ellie Wood, Gold Medals for Leanne Haas, Daniel Jackson, Silvers for Jennie Taylor, Leanne Haas(2), James Bradley(2), Craig Frankum(2), Ellie Wood, David Thomas and Amy Thomas(2). Bronze for Ellie Wood. Huge PBs too for many: Alex Cawthorne managed a 19 second PB in the 50 fly (as well as 2 other 8 second ones), and there were also huge gains by Joanna Wakefield, Joseph Statham, Georgia O'Brien, Sonja Buckley, Jason Passmore, the Manners twins, Ashley and Sarah, James Tichband and Niko Ciecierski-Holmes.  I don't think I noticed a single DQ. Well dones everyone - including Coaches Harry Wild and Rob Knott.

17 Jun: Those Reading Masters have done it again.  Just because they are over 18 they think they can sneak off to major competitions without telling anybody!  If you visit the British Swimming Masters Championships website, you can see that they have gone up to the 50m pool at the Manchester Aquatics Centre. I've counted a Gold, 2 Silvers and a Bronze in the 1500m, a Silver in the Women's 200 Fly, Gold in the Womens 200 Back and the Men's 200 Back - just from the Friday swims.  Nice going guys... and ladies!

15 Jun: The club hosted a successful Reading Schools Gala last night at Central. The next one is Wednesday July 5th if you're able to help.

We wish the large contingent of 50 swimmers well at the weekend at the Newbury Open.

Age group: Note Aldershot closed next 3 Wednesdays. Training Thursday morning at Central instead 5:30-7:00. Closure also affects Top National squad.

11 Jun: Regionals rounded off this Sunday: Excellent start to the day with the 800 Free with PBs for David Mills, Barnaby Kempster, Chris Boyce, Frankie Wilkins and Rachael Mills, Rachael missing the NQT by less than a couple of seconds.  Things wrapped up with 200 Freestyle PBs for Callum Willcox and Adam Barrett - Adam missing his NQT by just one quarter of a second.  However, overall Callum was 6th overall in BAGCAT (12 years) and Adam was third (13 years). Oh, and Eleanor Wood, James Tichband, Frankie Wilkins, Chris Boyce and Adam Barrett managed to catch the gala photographer's lens.... (also at the presentation for Callum and Adam, and Adam). You can also review the club's results.

10 Jun: England 1, Paraguay 0.  More importantly though, at the regionals a good many excellent swims.  Silver for Frankie Wilkins in the 1500m, Bronze for Rachael Mills in the 1500, Callum Willcox in 100 Breast, and Adam Barrett for 200 Fly. Some super swims from some of the younger competitors too. Too many PBs to mention, but major PBs for Callum Willcox (100 Breast), Annette Hopson, Eleanor Wood, Frankie Willkins and Rachael Mills.

Mare Nostrum swims now from Barcelona: The Senior GBR swimmers appear to have moved on. Zoe made the 200 Back final where she finished 10th (2:21.40).  The series terminates tomorrow.

8 Jun: Important things first: The World Cup sweepstake draw took place last night. Good Luck Everybody!  (C'mon England!)  There are two draws - One for parents, one for swimmers - with wins for World cup winner, Runner-up, third place, Fastest Goal, biggest single defeat and best goal difference. See who got which team.

News from under the clear blue sunny skies at the open air pool at Canet: On day 1, Zoe came 19th (1:06.82) in the 100m Backstroke, and missed a swim in the final by one place, finishing just behind Katy Sexton.  However in the 200m event on Day 2, she finished 10th in the heats (as the fastest British girl at 2:20:32), but was just pipped in the final (2:22.61) by Georgia Davies.

Graeme reports that they've both been gaining valuable experience and learning a lot. Top Squad had better watch out when he returns!

Full Results are online (also a page with some explainations). The Mare Nostrum now moves to Barcelona at the weekend. Press reports for the Mare Nostrum and last week's Regionals have been posted.

4 Jun: Adam Barrett is currently lying second in the BAGCAT after day 2. Results on the South East Region Website.

3 Jun: Adam Barrett wins Gold in the first South East Regionals held at the new Crawley K2 centre. Adam recorded a 59.77, together with Silver in the 100 Backstroke, missing out on his national time by a fraction of a second. Rachael Mills took a 5 second PB in the 400 free and 200IM, whilst Callum Willcox got within a second of the 400IM NQT. Several other excellent swims.  Day 2 is tomorrow.

.2 Jun: There are a few spaces left for the Club's World Cup Sweepstake.. See Phil or Karen Tanner on Club night.  It gets drawn next Thursday at Central!

Best wishes to the swimmers off to the Age Group Regionals at Crawley over the next two weekends, one of the last chances to gain NQTs for this summer's nationals. The results should be posted on the South East Region Website.

We also wish Graeme Thomas and Zoe Hester well: They are participating in the British Swimming sponsored pre-European Junior Mare Nostrum meets in Canet(France - 7th and 8th) and Barcelona(Spain - 10th and 11th), where they will be in the almost 40 strong GB squad. More information on that in the British Swimming website. Excellent recognition for Reading Swimming Club as the top swimming club in Berkshire!

And finally, meet reports for Bournemouth and the Sheffield No-Frills are now available.

1 Jun: Congratulations to Swimmer of the Month, Eleanor Cawthorne from Harry Wild's Age squad.

29 May: Water Polo News - exciting match at Central - Reading vs Beckenham ... read the report on the game.  Additionally, Bournemouth have published the results of their weekend gala.

28 May:  News from the Sheffield No-Frills on Saturday is three new NQTs... Holly Tanner (100 Back) "Superb swim -- Graeme Thomas", Louisa Downs (800 Free) and Kristina Paige (100 Free). Well Done.  The Bournemouth Meet is today so we should have more news for the web site later.

(later) News from the No-Frills in early Sunday afternoon is that two new 400 free NQTs have been swum. Adam Barrett gained his first NQT this year, and Louisa Downs added yesterday's 800. Alex Macarthur managed a good PB in the 100 Fly, missing out on the NQT by sub-seconds, and Chris Ferguson, returning from his recent layoff, managed 54.4 in the 100 Free. A good meet with fair number of teams, said the coaches. Results (69 pages) available from the City of Sheffield club web site.

Bournemouth yielded a good number of PBs and medals, mainly from Development 1 but also some Age squad swimmers.

19 May: Last Week's Hatfield UK Challenge meet report is now online.

16 May: South East Regionals (the new name for the "Districts") have published their list of acceptances for the BAGCAT championships (to be held at Crawley) which can be found on their web site.  Reading has 12 swimmers with 62 swims - See the list of RQTs.

15 May: Hatfield have posted their results from the two day meet.

14 May: Star swim on Day 2 was Callum Willcox's 200 Breaststroke giving him his first NQT this year. Callum finished a few seconds inside the time too. Other swims included a 20 second PB for Rachael Mills on the 1500 Free (picking up a nice 800 PB split in passing), Frankie Wilkins's 200 Breaststroke, Chris Boyce 200IM, and Kristina Paige just missing out on the 100 Free NQT by 0.36 second. Louisa ("Reg") Herring took a 3 second PB in the 400 Free.  All in all a very successful weekend for David Wittig and his swimmers!

13 May: Day 1 of the Hatfield UK Challenge: A small band of swimmers from Top National and Top District at the superb University of Hertfordshire Sportsvillage pool recorded new Personal Best times, and knocking on the door for Nationals: Kristina Paige with 200 Free; Callum Willcox taking 9 seconds off, ending up less than a second from the 400IM national time . Not to be outdone Chris Boyce took 11 seconds off his 400IM PB. Rachael Mills took 6 seconds off 200 Fly and 5 off 200 Free. Some excellent racing all round. Tomorrow starts with the long distance 1500 and 800 swims...

12 May: Congratulations for Alice Tourell and Kristian Statham - Joint winners of Swimmer of the Month, from Clive Alderson's County Squad.

10 May: No time to catch breath: Hatfield meet this weekend - 2 days at the Herts Sportsvillage.  And the Masters are in action at Wycombe...

8 May: Allan Eyles Results now available for searching. A full meet, with some 24 meet records broken.  Harry Wild's comments enthused on the high quality of swims across the board. Excellent competition between the clubs, it was difficult to sort out the "Pick of the Swims" because there were so many.  Daniel Jackson and Adrian Dyer fought it out in the freestyles, and did sisters Vanessa and Eleanor Wood. Eleanor Cawthorne produced a super 50 Free and IM swim. 9 year olds Alex Cawthorne and Olivie Paige excelled.  Many visiting coaches commented how much they enjoyed the swimming and the atmosphere.  Many thanks to the helpers - a  great many of them new faces (with many other people at Beckenham) - drinks, medals, tombola, whipping, timekeeping and so on.  You contributed to make a thoroughly enjoyable (if long) meet.  Report in the Post on Thursday.

Beckenham (held at Crystal Palace) yielded may good swims: Graeme's pick included Callum Willcox's 200 Breast, Rachael Mills' 100 and 200 Free, Chris Boyce 100 Free, Alex Macarthur and Chris Boyce in the 200IM at the end of Sunday, and Kristina Paige and Zoe Hester in the 50m skins.

7 May: Report on the South East Region Youth Championships now available.

4 May: As I said on the 3 May entry:  We were expecting that Reading East MP, Rob Wilson, - but he can't now make it on the day. Oh, and I'm sure you weren't confused, but the Sheffield No-Frills isn't for a few weeks yet... sorry about that slip!  Finally, as the webmaster is at Crystal Palace all weekend, I'll try and put the results of the Allan Eyles up on Sunday night, but it might be rather late!

3 May: We're expecting that Reading East MP, Rob Wilson, will be presenting the prizes at the Allen Eyles meet on Saturday.

A few dates for your diary in the Club's Calendar: Club Sprints (July 15 at 4:30 pm) and Awards night (December 16th). 

Garry Dixon (Top National) has been awarded a "Advanced Apprenticeship in sporting excellence" - well done Garry!

Reading Cygnets Team Manager reports that 2 County Swimmers have been selected for the GB Learning Difficulties Squad to compete in Hungary in August.  Bryan Wibberley has got the 50, 100 and 200 Freestyle, 50 and 100 Back and the 50 Fly while Arian Dyer has the 200 and 400 Freestyle. Great Job!

2 May: South East District Youth Champs rewarded Kristina Paige with NQTs for 50 Free and 200 Fly. Louisa Herring took Gold for the 1500m.

Looking forward to the weekend, the Club's Allan Eyles meet on Saturday promises to be very well attended, with about 200 swimmers/session - so parents - please help if you can!  The other meet the Club is attending at the weekend is the two day Beckenham meet, as the quest for NQTs continues before the District Age Group Championships at the start of June.  (NQTs have to be obtained by end of May, or at a District Championship.)

29 Apr: At the South East District champs at Aldershot yesterday, Garry Dixon won the 800 free, Holly Tanner added a 200 Free to her other NQTs with a second placing swim. Apologies to Alex Macarthur for missing his 100 Free NQT at the Easter Meet.

23 Apr: What a weekend: Taunton Deane long course yielded may superb swims: A few highlights were Louisa Downs in two very closely fought races of 400IM and 200 Fly.  Adam Barrett's 10 second PB in the 200 Back, Frankie Wilkins' 400IM NQT... Reading came away runner up Best Visiting Club, and Zoe Hester named Top Girl.

22 Apr: Congratulations to Zoe Hester (and Graeme Thomas!) - Zoe has been selected to represent England Juniors at the European Junior championships. The LEN European Junior Championships (50m) take place in Palma De Mallorca, Spain between 6th and 9th July. Read the Amateur Swimming Association Full Story.

17 Apr: Taunton Deane this weekend: Long Course 2 day meet at Millfield School in Somerset, will give swimmers from the higher squads a chance to update their recent time successes from the Easter Meets in a 50m pool.  Excellent swims also by Holly Tanner: 4 golds, 2 silvers and 5 (British) NQTs at the Welsh Nationals over the weekend.

16 Apr: I normally like to highlight just a few outstanding swims, but the last 2 full days of the Easter Open had so many, where do you start? 32 clubs, 216 swimmers, almost 1500 races covering almost 250km. Add in the warmups and the total distance swam is considerable.  Graeme reeled off a huge list I couldn't keep pace with. Garry Dixon's 200 IM, York-Peter Klöppel's 200 Breast, Alex Perrin's All Time Best (after 8 years) 100 Breast, Alex Macarthur's 200 Fly, James Tichband's 400 Free, Eleanor Cawthorne in the Backstroke... I think we'll wait for the press reports, but suffice to say that after a gruelling 3 day meet (which tested the stamina of all the swimmers to the  utmost - even so PBs - large PBs - were falling right to the end of the meet), everyone went home on a high. The Finale of the Skins events and 100 Free were well contested and always a high to finish on.  Results on the Easter Open Results page: Please re-visit these pages later in the week to catch up on extra awards, reports, summaries and information that will be posted there during the week.

14 Apr: We welcome all our visiting swimmers to Central, especially the squad from Sliema in Malta.  The Reading Easter Open starts with 50 Free, 200 Breast and 800/1500 free events. Many excellent swims.  Head Coach, Graeme Thomas, pronounced himself particularly impressed with "Rachael Mills' first 1500m (District Qualifying Time), Zoe Hester's first 800m (within 2 seconds of National time), and excellent swims for Callum Wilcox and York-Peter Klöppel".  Well done!  Day 1 results published on the Easter Open Results page. 

13 Apr: We wish all our swimmers well at the Easter competitons: Holly Tanner is swimming in the Welsh ASA Youth Championships down at Swansea. Our Own Easter meet kicks off in tomorrow. Steve Parry spoke with swimmers from the Age, County and Top District / National Squads down at Central last night (and will be doing the same with Development Squads in the pool in the morning).

11 Apr: Taunton Deane have confirmed that ALL our entries have been accepter - and as it's a cardless meet all you have to do it turn up.  They are also asking if there are any officials (timekeepers, judges, referees) who can help for any sessions on the 2 days - please let Melvyn know on Thursday (or mail the webmaster and I'll pass it on). They are offering £10 a session...

Steve Parry sessions: Thursday night sessions are in the activity room at Central Pool: for County and Age squad, 1730-1830.  (Age then train afterwards). Top National/District are 1845-1945.  No "stuff" needed - just turn up.  Development Squads Train as normal. 

All Development squads get your turn Friday morning: 0900-1130 - Starting in the Activities room and ending in the pool!

2 Apr: We wish our swimmers and coaches bon voyage as they depart for Slovenia:  Easter Open Swimmers: Please note the revised session start times. 

Webmaster is off for a few days too, so there will be a few days without site updates...

1 Apr: The Reading Thames Valley Junior League team successfully swam into 3rd place at the final (held at Amersham's Chiltern Pools). They beat off Chalfont Otters and Amersham to end up on 153 points.  Final scores: Wycombe 236, Newbury 176, Reading 153, Chalfont Otters 143, Amersham 127.

31 Mar: Great news for Reading Masters! FINA have published the world top-10 ranking list. It includes Reading Masters swimmers Karl Buchholtz, Carol Eyles and Nigel Salsbury in the 2005 short course tables.

Congratulations to Vanessa Wood - Swimmer of the Month from David Wittig's Top District Squad. Apologies that I posted it in the Swimmer of the Month list, but forgot to add it to the newsfile...

With Graeme Thomas and David Wittig are away at Training Camp, Harry Wild will be taking any remaining Top National / Top District members with Age squad. There are revised training times and locations for Top National, Top District and Age squad from Monday 3rd - Sunday 9th April. Normal training results Monday 10th.

29 Mar: With the final county results posted and searchable, it's time to look back:  A back-of-an-envelope calculation shows that Reading Swimming club swam 425 races, 168 faster-than-entry, spent 20 hours racing in the pool. Including our two new members who swim this year in the Hampshire Counties, we won 176 medals, 67 of them Gold. We took 9 medals (including 1 Gold) in the Team events.  We had BAGCAT winners (see 27 Mar entries).  Top Gold medal winner was Zoe Hester with 13.  A short summary table (in alphabetic order by Christian name) follows. Well done to all the swimmers and coaches!

27 Mar: On last day of the Counties the Reading 'A' Youth Girls (Louisa Downs, Amy Kunicki, Kristina Paige and Holly Tanner) broke the County Record in a superb 4x100 Freestyle Relay where they just touched out ahead of Wycombe. There will be short summary in a few days when the results get posted, as well as the full report in the Evening Post. We also had BAGCAT winners in Adam Barrett and Frankie Wilkins.  Chris Ferguson won his BAGCAT age group in the Hampshire Counties too. Zoe Hester almost won a clean sweep across all Backstroke events in the Hampshire Open Championship, as well as taking Golds in her age group).

Saturday is Thames Valley Junior League final, at Amersham, 6pm warm up...

21 Mar: Rebecca Cooke, Commonwealth 800m Freestyle Champion and Gold Medallist, 400m IM Silver Medallist, Reading Swimming Club member had quite a successful meet down in Melbourne!

20 Mar: Final Counties session this Saturday, after which focus shifts to the Thames Valley Junior League Final at AMERSHAM - 6pm start - and Training camp for the Top Squads, and The Reading Easter Open. 

16 Mar: A few notices for the Easter Meet: Raffle Prizes please - to squad administrators, and, if you're interested in learning to operate the Meet Computer systems (for entries, seeding and race results) - please let Ian Wilkins know - you can e-mail him on MeetEnquires@readingswimclub.org.  And if you're available to do some announcing at the Easter meet, please let Peter Tiley know at chairman@readingswimclub.org as a number of our regular announcers are away on that date.

Look out for the Reading Evening Post tomorrow (Friday 17th) - They are publishing a Sport Reading supplement, which includes Reading Swimming Club. The text of the article is also available.

The club is staffing the Reading Half-Marathon water station (in the middle of the course) on the morning of April 9. Here's a chance to be involved, right in the thick of it, and never run a step! Parents, Swimmers, Siblings, Friends. We're looking for 20 people - and top district/national are away at training camp - so please come along! Atmosphere guaranteed! Development Squads are particularly encouraged!

12 Mar: Day 3 of the Berks and South Bucks County Championships yielded a 400 Freestyle NQT for Alex Macarthur, and records for Alex Macarthur (50 fly) and Frankie Wilkins (200 Breast).  News from the Hampshire Counties is that Zoe Hester (Top National) recorded a 2:08.19 for 200m freestyle, and 2:13.89 for 200m backstroke.

9 Mar: Reports for the Reading Masters at the Welsh National Masters, and County Championship Distance Day 2 now available.

8 Mar: Reading Masters staggered back from the Welsh National Masters under the weight of 19 Gold, 14 Silver and 11 Bronze medals.  Success came across the events and through out the age groups.

Just to confirm, there is no advance closure notice for the M4 J8/9 this weekend, so trips to Day 3 of the Counties won't be affected by that.

6 Mar: Counties results are posted: Quick results on this website, or full blown print-out, and BAGCAT standings from the Counties website. 

5 Mar: Counties long distance swims last night yielded an NQT for Alex Macarthur in the 800 Free, and a new junior record for Garry Dixon in the 1500m.

3 Mar: Thames Valley Junior League: Note change of venue on April 1 to Amersham Chiltern Pools, and warmup time of 6pm.

1 Mar: County results posted on the BSBASA website, or you can use my Counties Results search page to select just your, or Reading's results. One NQT (Holly Tanner's 400IM), 6 Age Group Golds, (Kristina Paige: 50 Free, Adam Barrett: 200 Back and 100 Fly, Frankie Wilkins: 400IM (just missing an NQT and shaving 5 seconds of Holly Tanner's 4 year old record), and 200 Free, Louisa Downs: 200 Free). In all, another 13 Silvers (not including the 3 team events below) and 12 Bronze (including a couple for Barnaby Kempster in the 10/Under age group). 9 Reading Swimmers in the overall finals, Louisa Downs picking up Bronze medal for the 50 Fly.

26 Feb: Counties kicked off with the Reading Age Group Girls bringing home the Silver medal in the 4x100m Medley. The Open Girls team also brought home Silver medals in their 4x100 Free and 4x100 Medley races too.  The individual races also featured tremendous advancements in PBs - the details of which I haven't got until the results get published on the Counties website.

19 Feb: Congratulations to the Reading Masters squad on a National record, 2 Golds, 3 Silvers and a Bronze. Actually, no-one from Reading came lower than 4th place.  This was the ASA half-hour postal swim. The National Record fell to the Mixed 120-159 Team of Carolyn Fox, Lucy Roper, Iain Gerrard and David Stannard who added 145m to the record. Full results on the ASA website.

17 Feb: County Championships are upon us: The 2006 Counties start on the 25th Feb and run on Saturdays through to the 25th March.  For some of you it's your first County Championships:  The results will get published on the County website (see link on the bottom left).  If you want to refresh yourself on the ways for maximise your performance at the events (other than training hard with your coach) look in the Club Information section...

16 Feb: Congratulations to the latest Swimmer of the Month: Louisa Downs from Graeme Thomas' Top National Squad.

14 Feb: We ought to be offering congratulations of a different type - Graeme Thomas has recently completed the "ASA Coach" qualification.  This puts him very firmly near the top of the ASA pyramid, and quite a pull for Reading Swimming Club!  Well done G!

09 Feb: This weekend club has two swimmers off to Hungary for a week on the ASA World Class training camp - Zoe Hester and Chris Ferguson from Graeme's Top National squad.

07 Feb: Thames Valley Junior League round 2 was held at Newbury on Saturday.  All the young swimmers displayed tremendous enthusiasm - and the volume level has to be heard to be believed! The Reading team turned in an improved result over the last round, including 14 faster times.  Well done. Round 3 promises to be quite an event with a dual final round being held at Maidenhead on April 1st.

Web site news: A few changes to the calendar - we're adding in the Water Polo and Masters events in order to make the web site more inclusive for the whole club, and you should find that clicking on "Meets and Results" takes you straight to the current month, which should save you having to scroll to the right place each time. More details has been added - Meet Level and  Pool length.  I'm contemplating more information, so please let me know if you think the changes are good or bad ...

03 Feb: Bit of an update: Reports for the Windsor and Ealing meets published, as well as the link to the Cambridge meet results.

02 Feb: Ealing results now available.

31 Jan: This weekend, note NEWBURY are hosting the Thames Valley Junior League round 2 (not Maidenhead)

30 Jan: News from the weekend meets: Windsor saw a haul of 20 medals - 9 Gold, 10 Silver and 11 Bronze - and a big collection of impressive PBs and an good collection of new county entries. Several swimmers PBed in everything, even the time trials from a few weeks ago! Rachael Mills took 5 of the Golds; others went to Amy Thomas, Leanne Haas and James Bradley. The coaches were particularly impressed with the younger swimmers excellent strokework. The results are on the Windsor website.

Ealing saw fewer PBs but a good collection of medals: Naomi Herring took a 2 second PB to win the 100 Back in 1:13. Leona Jones took the 100/200 breaststroke double whilst York-Peter Klöppel won the 200m breaststroke.  Louisa Herring and Kristina Paige won their age groups in the 100m fly. Highlight has got to be Garry Dixon winning the male skins, and Kristina Paige the female skins at the end of the weekend, with times only a shave off their PBs.

Well done to all the swimmers at both meets. 

27 Jan: A fairly busy weekend for the club on the run-up to the Counties. The Long course races this weekend are at Ealing, and the Short Course swimmers are heading to the Windsor meet at Maidenhead.  Good luck to you all.

A late message from the Organisers at Maidenhead is that on Saturday there will be 100 reduced rate car park tickets for the Hines Meadow Car park - £1 instead of £3.50. It's first-come-first-served: look for the club member handing them out in the car park.  Sunday parking is free.  And if you get any new county times, you'll have to enter them then and there at Maidenhead: there will be a posting box for entries.

26 Jan: I thought it was quiet last week: I'd missed noticing that County Squad had slipped off to the Cambridge Meet. Full report of the meet is available.

Also, Congratulations to the January Swimmer of the Month, Alex Cawthorne from Peter Hood's Development 3 Squad.  And Belated Congratulations to Ailith Morray, who was December's winner from Development 2, coached by Emma Tarrant.

19 Jan: The Thames Valley Junior league writeup was published in the Reading Evening Post this week, along with an large awards night writeup.  The list of awards is now available on the website.

Diary dates - Reading Half-Marathon: The weekend before Easter.  As usualy, the club wants to man a water-station to support the event.  However the two Top squads are away on training camp at that time so can all squad members (and parents please) look at their diaries and  mark out some time on the April 9th.  There is also the Green Park challenge - a 4 km (2 1/2 mile) run around Madjeski stadium for less committed or experienced runners - if you want to try it, drop a line to Phil Tanner first in case he has any entry tickets. Anyone want to put together a team of Reading Swimmers?

Incidentally, a while ago I updated the Information for Parents and Swimmers pages, adding a number of items on Competitions, Staying happy, Importance of Hydration, and Nutrition, which may be particularly of interest for the younger squad members (and their parents).  So if you're a swimmer in the Development squads, make sure Mum or Dad gets to have a look at the information...

15 Jan: Club Awards night was a polished, colourful event organised by the outgoing captains (David Thomas and Lauren Macarthur, together with support from their families and friends), with a large list of cups and merit awards being presented by Alan Porton (from the Club Sponsor, the Reading Evening Post). Look for the report and photos in this Thursday's edition. Many thanks to the excellent support from club members and parents, and  huge number of raffle prizes.

Also expected in this week's edition is the excellent news that Louise Barnes and Jakie Cantle received Loyalty Awards as part of the Reading Borough Council/Reading Evening Post Sports Personality awards. For those of you who don't know them, Jakie ran the teaching programme for years, and Louise has, until this year, been heavily involved on the club management committee and finances.  Both moved mountains to achieve the recent Swim21 accreditation the club has been awarded.

The focus now moves to the County Championships (held at Maidenhead 25 Feb - 25 Mar - ENTRIES IN TO THE CLUB THIS THURSDAY 19th PLEASE!). Incidentally, if you've entered the Windsor meet on the 29th, I'm told there will be a posting box for the entries from swimmers who achieve the qualifying times at that meet. The Thames Valley Junior League is also crying out for your support - the last 2 events being at Maidenhead as well.

The club is also looking forward to hosting the Reading Easter Open (held, strangely enough, over the Easter Weekend), which is THE high level meet we do.  Swimmers who aren't able to swim at the Easter Open, aren't left out as there is then the Allan Eyles Invitation Meet about 4 weeks later. 

12 Jan: Awards night - This Saturday at the Woodley Centre!  Tickets available on the door (£5). 19:30 start...

The Acceptances and Rejections for the upcoming Windsor meet are available - this is a No-Card meet so please make sure you know what swims you have!

The Report for the City of Derby Meet at Sheffield is now available.

And last but not least - the Thursday night Swim shop is running a series of special offers!  Visit the Shop pages for details.. 

08 Jan: As the senior swimmers trek back from Sheffield, they do so with the news that 3 NQTs were swum (Garry Dixon 200 and 400 Free, and Louise Downs 200 Free. Garry missed the 100 Free by a whisker), Leona Jones came second in the 100 Breaststroke final (and was third girl overall of the meet), and Kristina Paige managed a cracking 1:05 in the 100 Fly final - the last swim of the meet.  The coaches picked other swims of note as Louisa Herrings 400 free (6 second PB), York-Peter Kloeppel's 1:12 100 Breaststroke (which gets him to within 3% of the Nationals time), Frankie Wilkins' 3 second PB in the 200 IM of 2:41, Chris Boyce's 12 second PB in the 400 Free and Callum Willcox's 200 fly - where he took 12 seconds of his short course PB. Well done to you all! 

Peter Hood, Coach for the Thames Valley Junior League squad saw the payback for the team training sessions held around Christmas as new Team of our younger swimmers pulled in a fair number of first and second places at Central on Saturday.  Overall, Reading finished a good 4th out of 5. Results

03 Jan:  Just in case I confused anyone - the new Top-District/National changes are from 11th Jan  .. not tomorrow (like I thought...)

02 Jan: This weekend the club swings into competitive action for the first time in 2006. Over 20 of our swimmers (from Age to Top National squads) are heading up to Ponds Forge on Friday night for the 2-day City of Derby Open meet, whilst at the other end of the club, our youngest swimmers, from the teaching programme up to Development 3, are meeting at Central Pool for the first round of the Thames Valley Junior League.

For parents wanting to see the Sheffield results, you will them, live, on the City of Derby Meet website.  You can also print off the meet programmes and other useful items on this well organised meet.

For the Thames Valley League swimmers, we wish you all "Good Luck" in what will be for many, your first competition.  Enjoy it, swim well and have fun.

01 Jan: Happy New Year!

31 Dec: There has been some re-organisation of some of Top-District and Top-National squads' venues, affecting Wednesday and Friday afternoon sessions.  The training timetable has been updated top reflect the changes.  The easiest was to show it is a table: This is effective from 11th January 2006!

28 Dec: I managed to resist the urge to publish the Easter Meet details on Christmas Day (Anyone seen Easter Eggs in the shops yet?), however did so today.  Note, however, that Reading Swimmers should NOT enter this yet - You'll be getting the forms in the squad folders a little later.

23 Dec: If you're 11-or-under, there is a second Thames Valley Junior League training session at Central Pool session on Thursday 29th December. Please try and be there...!

The Club would like to wish all the swimmers and parents involved with Reading Swimming Club a Happy Christmas. Have a relaxing time, and prepared for the 2006 year ahead.

17 Dec: Our Water Polo teams have been playing hard in the National League.  There is a report on their activities.

Site has been updated with the results and reports of the Speedo League Round 3. We've received the Bath Christmas Gala results so we hope to have those soon too.

Reminder that this Thursday is the Final "normal " session with the Fun Gala (6:10 - 8:00pm), after which the Christmas Training schedule kicks in for those who want / can attend. And get those Awards nights tickets from Admins. (and don't forget, when you're unwrapping the umpteenth box of chocolates, that they make very nice raffle prizes as well!)  

16 Dec: Well, the little bit of information I had on the "A" team turned out to be wrong.  In reality, most of the team were suffering from, or just recovering from winter maladies, but even so they fought well and had some good team fun.  York Peter didn't actually get an NQT (which  wouldn't have counted anyway because the Speedo leagues can't produce them) but it was a brilliant swim,  Next time York!  Garry Dixon swam with 2 broken fingers.  Louisa Downs produced 3 strong swims.   

Well done to the latest Swimmer of the Month - Alice Hopkins coached by Rob Knott and Lauren Macarthur in Development 1.

13 Dec: I'm still waiting for news on how the "A" Team got on at Haslemere on Saturday (other than York-Peter Kloeppel earned himself a 100m Breaststroke NQT - well done!).  The "B" team turned in a sterling performance, with 39 (out of 50) improved times from the last gala!  Mission accomplished in that they are the top of the "B"s - All the other teams they were swimming against were "A" teams.  

The Allan Eyles Invitiation Meet will be held on 6th of May 2006 - A date for your diary especially if you're in the development squads.

10 Dec: Last round of the Speedo League tonight - The "A" away at Haslemere and the "B"s at home at Central.  Come and support them!

Reports for last week's Bath Christmas Gala and Havant and Waterlooville's meet are published via the Diary, with results on the host club's website.

04 Dec: Congratulations to Harry Wild - Runner up the BBC South Sporting Unsung Hero award.  Harry received his award at a Gala Dinner at the BBC South Sports Personality of the Year event, held tonight.  You can listen to the moment he got his Award from Dame Ellen MacArthur, and the next morning's News report on Radio Berks under the headline "Berkshire Bags Some Big Prizes".

(We hope to get reports on the clubs' weekend swimming activities soon - Hopefully an update on Wednesday)

02 Dec: BBC Radio Berkshire have just trailed that they will be broadcasting the Regional Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday night, Live from 9pm.  That's 104.1 or 104.4, 95.4 and 94.6 according to my info.  Apparently this is the 3rd year they have included the Unsung Heroes award, and the first two years were won by Reading people (who were both footballing awards).  It seems John Madjeski and Reading Football Club are likely to be there... of course.

01 Dec: Report on the Aldershot Regional Championships now available via the Meet Calendar.

30 Nov: The Club is in action again this weekend: Havant and Waterlooville for our youngest swimmers, Oxford mainly for County squad, and the top squads are off to the Bath meet, although somewhat depleted in numbers due to rejections.  Good Luck to you all.

Harry's "Unsung Sporting Hero" clip was screened on BBC South Today last night... looked good.  Good luck at YOUR gala (dinner) on Sunday H!

28 Nov: The Inaugural South East Region Winter Championships were at Aldershot this last weekend.  Good showing by our top swimmers:  Firsts for Leona Jones (Breaststroke) and Garry Dixon (1500). NQTs for Garry Dixon (2), Louisa Downs, Leona Jones (2), Russ Korting and Kristina Paige. Kristina just missed out on a second one too.  Quite a testing meet: Lack of a second pool meant that some swimmers had to wait about 3 hours after warm-up, before they swam.  However, Aldershot was "nice and warm", and Amy Kunicki, one of the last swimmers, turned in a blistering 50 Fly, according to coach Graeme Thomas.  Full results linked via the Meet Calendar.

County Times are posted on the Berks and South Bucks website.

24 Nov: Speedo League Round 3: December 10th - The "A" Team are at Haslemere, and "B" at home at Reading! Our Teams need your support!  Come and Egg them on!  The "B" team is currently the highest placed B team in their league, amongst other club's "A" teams - so they are doing very well, but NEED YOUR SUPPORT!  Oh, and the "B" team results are available.

Last week the BBC were doing some filming at Central Pool. They were filming Harry Wild (Age squad coach) whom, we nominated for a BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award.  Harry has made the shortlist for the BBC South region, and so was being filmed in action. Not sure exactly when it's going out, but the Beeb said it's one of a series of 5 short films to be transmitted as part of the South Today programme on BBC1 at 6:30pm. It'll be next week, (starting Monday 28th) probably Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.  Might be an idea to set the video to record Monday and Friday as well though.  Harry's also off to a Gala dinner down in Southampton as part of this, so we hope that he and Val have a super time, and we wish him luck!

21 Nov: Results for the second Bath Distance Development meet are now available (Thanks to Ian Wilkins)

Last call for subscriptions to The Swimming Times = £17.50 (cheques payable to R Thomas) to Chris Thomas on Thursday night please...  Also.. First call for raffle prizes for the Awards Night in mid-Jan. These should be given to the outgoing captains, but Thursday night squad administrators is probably easiest! We'll repeat the call after Christmas, so don't eat ALL those boxes of chocolates at once! Tickets will be on sale in December for THE RSC Glad Rag Event of the Year!

Finally, a bit of promotion for the Articles on the Club Section  of the web site... especially for our younger swimmers, I've collected a few articles from various national swimming sites which might be worth perusing.  As some are about food and drink too, it's worth getting Mums and Dads to read them too!

17 Nov: Just to confirm .. This weekend's Bath Long Course Development meet takes place on Sunday (20th). There were no rejected entries, so warm-up is at 2pm.

12 Nov: Just back from the Speedo League at Oxford, where the "A" team fought hard and ended up in 5th place, tieing with Rushmoor Royals.  The scores, however, don't do justice to some really excellent swims and close, exciting finishes, many of which were too close to call from the spectator gallery. It seems it was a similar story at Waterlooville, where the "B" team were. Good fighting swims, excellent performance - the majority of times were much improved on the last round, but 6th place. But the gap was seriously closed. We'll have the results available in a day or so...

10 Nov: If you're wanting to take out a year's subscription to The Swimming Times, published monthly, a cheque for £17.50 to "R Thomas" should be dropped off with Chris (Thomas) by next Thursday (17th)...

Interested in the new Palmer Park pool, which is to replace Arthur Hill? See the

.

Well done to Swimmer of the Month for October: Annette Hopson from Harry Wild's Age Squad.

Report on the Reading Masters at Ponds Forge now online.

03 Nov: AGM on Tuesday night passed off smoothly.  Club rules got amended so that next year's Club Captains will be elected by ALL swimming members of the club (not just aged 13 or older).  A proposal for the appointment of Junior Captains at the meets where the club captains can't attend was also passed.

01 Nov: AGM update tomorrow, but did anyone notice the absence of the Masters at the Club Champs?  Well here's why... They were off at Ponds Forge at the ASA Masters 25m Championships, and I gave up trawling the results web site for medals -- after counting 2 golds (Carol Eyles, Catrin Basham), 2 Silvers to Nigel Salsbury (in the young 65/69 yr group), 4 Bronzes ... Impressive.  Even more impressive when you look at the times they did.  Well done Chaps and Chapesses!

29 Oct: Club Champs finished off today in a flurry of speed in the 100 freestyle. Some very close finishes. The times are all posted on the Champs Web site, which will be updated with summary information and reports in the next few days.  

Many thanks to all of you who swam, coached, officiated, fed, spectated and generally supported the Club and athletes, both the novices swimming their first races, and the veterans. You really make a difference to the event. I've been asked by so many groups to pass on thanks through the web-site.

So now, you've done the training, swum the races, won the medals... Awards night will be Saturday 14th January, at the Oakwood Centre in Woodley.  An opportunity to dig out the glad-rags in the new year.  I'm sure the (old) Club Captains will be selling tickets nearer the time.

29 Oct: Results for Saturday's Club Champs session are posted on the Club Champs link on the left. 8 events, including Leona Jones topplings the club's 22 year old 100 breaststroke record.  Come tomorrow and watch the action, building up to the 100 freestyle at the end of the day -- 9:30 warm up (and the clocks go back tonight...)

27 Oct: Report for the 400IM now on the web site. Congratulations to Holly Tanner as the first swimmer to earn an Nationals Qualifying Time (NQT) for this year - the 1500m.  

If you're interested in subscribing to Swimming Times, The British swimming magazine, published monthly, you can do so through the Club.  Chris Thomas does a bulk-buy, so if you're happy to commit to a year of issues, speak with her within 2 weeks...

See you all at Club Champs this Saturday/Sunday!

25 Oct: URGENT! It's just come to our notice that the times for Club Championships Sunday morning session previously circulated are wrong. The incorrect time is printed as 8:15am, but should be 9:30am.  Remember it's also that morning that the clocks have gone back ...

So just to confirm .. Session 6, Warm up is 9:30am Sun 30th October GMT. Card boxes close 9:35am, Races start 10:00am

23 Oct: CONGRATULATIONS to the club's two new captains: Emma Zadrozny was elected Ladies Captain and Bruno Bamberger for Men's Captain.  Our thanks and best wishes to the outgoing captains for their efforts over the previous year: Lauren Macarthur and  David Thomas.

20 Oct: Tonight's 400IM results are available from the Championships site. The Champs now round off in 10 days time on the 29th/30th. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE we need officials of all types and grades to help run the event - Please come along!

Swimmer of the Month - Adrian Dyer from County -Well done Adrian!

17 Oct: Results from the Bath Distance Development meet yesterday are posted via the Diary, Thanks for Ian Wilkins for scanning them in. Intercounties (or, by its full name, The National County Team Championships 2005) was, by all accounts, a fun event up at Ponds Forge. Berks and South Bucks finished 12th out of 20, in their first year in Division 1, which is excellent. The results are linked off the ASA website.

15 Oct: Results from the B Grade meet are available via the B Grade site link on the left.

13 Oct: Boy's 1500m tonight, 4 heats some very tightly contested. Results on the Championships site. Also the Dates of the Easter meet are confirmed (at Easter)

12 Oct: Exciting Speedo Leagues at the weekend, with the A team drawn in lane 1 at Central, coming in a good third to Leatherhead and Wycombe. A-Team Results now available. The B team were competing for the first time in their newly promoted division, and came in sixth. Their results are available too.  Reports via the Meet diary. 

The Reading Speedo League teams were sponsored by Swimright, a new venture headed by James Golding (Joint Lead Coach for Development 2). Swimright are close to Reading and provide stroke and technique analysis. Look up the Swimright website for more information and their introductory offers.

Lastly, a bit of a web-site re-org: 2006 NQTs are now available via the LINKS section

06 Oct:  The first night of the Club Championships and the results are posted on the Championships Results Page.

01 Oct:  Club Champs kick-off this Thursday (6th) with the Girls' 800m. This means normal squad training isn't happening on Thursday (or the next 2). 

The teams have been published now for the Speedo League on the 8th. PLEASE DO TURN UP. No-shows are really distressing for have an empty lane.  It's the "B" team's first year after last year's promotion.  Parents: If you thought swimming galas were boring, you clearly haven't been to the Speedo league meets.  Come and support our teams, either at Reading or Waterlooville!   

23 Sep: The Berks and South Bucks Intercounties, which are held at Ponds Forge next month, includes 7 Reading Swimmers. Congratulations to them - and Good Luck on 16th October.

We're hosting THREE meets in the next few weeks - starting with the Speedo League on the 8th, where the "A" team is at home (with the "B" in Waterlooville). Then the Club Champs is on, with the Reading B Grade in the middle.  Parents - we are going to need raffle or tombola prizes please!  Bottles of wine, box of chocolates, or other gift type prizes are very acceptable.

Final Word - You should have received your new ASA membership cards by now. EVERYONE PLEASE NOTE that you need this new number for your entries. It a 4 or 5 digit number, and is unique. Please use it on the entry forms - No ASA Number - No Entry!  Old Hands Please Note: The number has changed, and can no longer be worked out from your name and date of birth.

18 Sep: The first Swimmer of the month for August was Kristina Paige. Kristina had a very successful first Nationals, coming ninth in the 100m fly final.  Well Done Kristina!  A belated congratulations for Amy Thomas, who was July's Swimmer of the Month, but didn't make the Reading Evening Post until last week due to their production difficulties.

15 Sep: If you're interested in Water Polo, there is a course for Juniors being run by the water polo section of the Club.  See their pages.

07 Sep: You should all have / be getting entry forms for the Club Champs, and membership forms to confirm addresses etc.  Please get them back to your administrators.  Incidentally, there is a list of administrators.

There is a World Swim for Malaria charity event being staged across the country - the club had been sent some forms, but the easiest this is probaly to click on www.WorldSwimForMalaria.com

01 Sep: Welcome back. For new parents and swimmers, Welcome!  Check out the website, including the calendar, Guide for parents, and shop and "Meet the Folk".

Just a few bits of news....

Last years' website can be accessed through the archived pages: including the news and calendar.

Over the Summer Reading Swimming Club was awarded a Sport England Clubmark.  Just another thing to shows that your club has been audited and shown to be a good, well run club!

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