Reading’s specialist long distance swimmers made the short trip to Maidenhead for the third weekend of the Berks and South Bucks County Championships to compete in probably two of the toughest events, the 1500 and 800 metres freestyle.
At the other end of the scale, eight of the club's youngest boys and girls took part in the 9-10 year old relays, the first outing of the championships for nearly all.
The Evening Post-sponsored squad brought home a crop of top-three places, with the highlights the senior 1500 trophy for 17-year-old Garry Dixon, age group and junior wins for Alex Macarthur and the junior 800 cup for swimmers still under 17 at the end of the year going to Rachael Mills, still 13.
Dixon, 1500m freestyle national youth champion in 2006 and looking good for the British championships at the end of the month, tackled the event this weekend as a warm-up. Dixon comfortably secured the gold with a PB of 16.09.07, showing his tactical awareness by pacing the first 1400 to give him a sprint finish.
Club captain Louisa Herring, another British Championship qualifier – where she will be spending around an hour swimming 5,000 metres - was just pipped to the post, and secured a silver overall in her first time under 18 minutes.
Up and coming Barnaby Kempster, 11, the youngest Reading swimmer tackling this event, swam a fantastic race winning his heat in style, topping his age group in a time of 19.31.92 and qualifying for the summer's Southeast regional championships.
The others tackled the 800, which was also swum with mixed heats. Ellie Wood,12, who has qualified for Welsh Nationals at Easter, showed her talent in distance as well as sprint events. Wood won her heat easily, slashing her entry time by just under a minute to 10.09.25, placing her second place in her age group.
In the same heat, Georgie Wilkins, who only turned 12 this week, swam a very strong and controlled race in a time of 10.59.91.
Callum Willcox and James Tichband were in form in the boys' 13 years age group, placing first and second. Willcox swam a PB of over 9 seconds in 9.44.00, followed in by Tichband in 10.11.54.
In the girls' age group, Rachael Mills and Frankie Wilkins, training partners swimming in the same heat, produced very controlled and powerful swims. A three-second PB brought Mills home fastest in the year and top junior in 9.32.88, with Wilkins close behind.
Chris Boyce swam a giant PB of 13 seconds, way out in front throughout his heat, and finishing in 9.19.49 was overall second in his age group and second in the BAGCATS points rankings - all the more impressive as he has also only just turned 14.
Alex Macarthur, 15, another of Reading's British Championship qualifiers, in the last heat of the event pulled off a blistering swim that gave him first place in his year and the junior championship trophy in a time of 9.03.88. (over)
Holly Tanner, another Welsh National qualifier, was also in Alex’s heat, and just back from a back injury won the overall bronze in 9.21.
The youngest hopefuls were competing in the 4x25m medley and freestyle relays for the 9-10 year old girls and boys. The boys' team consisted of Alex Cawthorne, James Babbington, Hamish Scott and Ruaridh Sheppard .The girls fielded Catherine Abbott, Olivia Paige, Nicola Ryan and Nadia Staley. Both teams put in solid performances, some swimming strokes that were not necessarily their best, and in front of a full gallery of noisy, supportive parents. The club looks forward to seeing them star in individual events future years.
---------------------------