Reading Swimming Club
News 2006/2007

1 Aug: To finish off, Holly's 400 Free was almost exactly on her PB (but with a great final 200m), but Kristina's 50 free had her in the semi-finals and age group final, where she won the Silver medal in a time of 27.17.

I think we can summarise the 2007 nationals, where RSC swimmers won 2 Silver medals, 4 Bronze medals, numerous final swims, many PBs and a number of new first-time Nationals swimmers, as a fantastic end to the season.

31 Jul: Holly's 200 Fly was almost exactly on her PB, although the 100m split was a significant improvement on her existing time. The Youth Nationals finishes tomorrow with three swims: Holly swims 400 Free, Kristina 50 Free and York-Peter 50 Breast.

30 Jul: Garry Dixon (200 Free) and Rachael (1500) today... no updates during the day because I'll be there... News in the evening.

Eventually 1500 results published for the Women's 1500 free... Rachael swam an 19 second PB in the event (her heat had 4 swimmers, and she finished 50m ahead of the last 2 swimmers).

Tomorrow is the 200 Fly for Holly and 1500 Free for Garry.

29 Jul: An early start, but both Kristina and Rachael have set new Long Course PBs in the 200m Free. Kristina made the Finals with the 100 Fly with a new PB, and swam into Bronze position in the 14/15 year final, shaving another second off her time.

28 Jul: Holly turned in her best performance of the year in the 800 free, in a field which included Ex-Reading Olympian Becky Cooke and Cassandra Patten (who took Silver and Gold in the Open group).

Sunday's races include Kristina Paige and Rachael Mills in the 200 free, Naomi Herring swimming 200 Back, Kristina again with 100 Fly and Garry Dixon in the 800 Free.

27 Jul: The first day of the Youth Nationals. Live results are posted to the ASA Live Youth website. Today is the busy day, with 7 swimmers in action. In the first session swims of note from York-Peter, taking over half a second off his best in his debut Nationals 100 Breast, and Kristina who also shaved a similar amount from her 100 Free time and made the final. Holly Tanner PBed the 100 Fly start to her 400IM, Louise Gillet - second reserve for the 3k swim got to swim, and PBed the 1500 split time, and was by no means last.

In the Final tonight Kristina improved her time again, now sub-59 seconds (59.55) and finished fifth.  Tomorrow has just Holly in the 1500m. 

26 Jul: Last day of the Age Group Nationals, and both Adam and Callum qualified for this evening's finals at Sheffield, in the 100 Fly and 200 Breast respectively.  In the finals Adam decided on a change in metal, winning the Silver with his first sub-minute 100 Fly time (pipped from the Gold in the last few metres by just 8 hundreths of a second), whilst Callum improved on his PB yet again, and came in 7th.  A very creditable end to the Age Group Nationals for Reading Swimming Club.

25 Jul: The Boys Relay Team is in action soon; Adam has already swum the 100 Free (with a PB of 56.03) and 200 Back, and will be in the finals for both this evening.

There's some pics coming (Thanks Jeanette) for the Boys Freestyle Team (Mssrs Boyce, Kempster, Tichband and, Willcox) where every team member PB'ed - significantly, and another two Bronze placings and PBs for Adam in the 100 Freestyle (55.36) and 200 Back.

Races tomorrow are Callum (200 Breast) and Adam (100 Fly) in the concluding day of the Age Group Nationals.  Many of the Youth swimmers are travelling up for what should be a busy starting day on Friday.

24 Jul: Thanks for the pictures from Sheffield Geoff... (If you bookmark the news page, don't forget to visit the main page sometimes!) Callum started off with nearly 2 seconds off his 400IM, Adam swam 100 Back to get a slot in the evening finals. Adam swam again in the 200 Free, and then, joined by Chris Boyce(Back), Callum(Breast) and Conor(Free), where they came a respectable 17th in the field of strong teams, Adam swimming the fastest fly leg of all the teams, and Chris Boyce and Conor Sandell PBing. Well swum Team! Looks like you enjoyed yourselves...

Adam swims the Backstroke final later tonight... and comes in 6th right on his PB.

23 Jul: Results from the Age Group Nationals as they happen from the ASA Live Age Group website. Adam Barrett (seeded 2nd in the 200 Fly) and Callum Willcox swim today.  Callum stripped almost 2 seconds off his existing long course PB to record 1:15.47 in the 100 Breast, whilst Adam cruised to an easy final position. In the finals, he too  swam a PB, shaving 0.1 seconds off his Regionals time, and some 4 seconds faster than the heats, giving him a Bronze medal.

Tomorrow sees Callum in the 400IM, Adam in the 100 Back and 200 Free, and the Boys' Medley race.

22 Jul: In the last few weeks of the season, the club hosted South African International Deaf swimmer Jessica Knight, who trained with our District Squad whilst she was on vacation. We'll be watching for her achievements on the World Deaf Swimming Championships website.

20 Jul: After the fun gala yesterday, the club  ceases regular trailing until Monday 3rd September.  However, next week the National Championships start in Sheffield - firstly with the Age Group swimmers, and the relay teams, and then the Youth swimmers the following week.  You can read about how they get on here on our website - and I will try and post the links to the "as it happens" sites.

Don't forget tickover training - keep your hand in during the summer - note it doesn't start until after the Nationals -. Monday 6th August to be precise. Come along to as much or as little as you want (but try and get to some of them if you can)

16 Jul: You are all invited to the Reading Cygnets Fun Gala on July 29th - 18:30-19:30 at Central. Just turn up and support the Cygnets.

Club records are now accessible -- see left margin menu item which takes you to the Club Records web page.  Have a look and decide which record you can try and take at Club Champs?

8 Jul: Now we've had a chance to digest the results, we can reveal 11 records were broken yesterday, some dating back to 1993. Alex Cawthorne (Age squad) broke 5 records in all (one per race).  It's good to see some new names in the winners.  The coaches should feel that their efforts are appreciated by their swimmers!

7 Jul: The Club Sprints results are available for download and interrogation. After a shaky start when the PA system refused to work, 90 swimmers then swam over 25km in 363 swims. 225 of them beating their seed times.  It was very good to see so many white hat swimmers (14) swimming, as well as a good complement of development swimmers.

5 Jul: The Reading B Grade is to be held 6th October at Central. Details and Entry Forms are online.

4 Jul: The Ealing Results are now available from their website. The schedule for Summer Tickover training is also available.

A quick reminder of the state of squad changes from now...

28 Jun: Congratulations to the latest Reading Evening Post sponsored Swimmer of the Month for May is Alex Binns, from David Wittig's Development 1 squad.

The Newbury Meet Report has been published.

25 Jun: Ealing proved to be an excellent meet for us, even though it was downgraded at the last minute from a 50m Long Course meet to a 25m Short Course due to the Gurnell Centre springing a leak, and causing the gala to relocate to Northolt, a pool very similar in many ways to Central. We had a large squad drawn from Development 2 upwards, so many on their first ever swims, or first individual swims if you discount the Thames Valley League. So there were a great many PBs and triumphs, probably too many to mention.

9 Year old Nicole Ryan, having only swum in the league before, got 3 speeding tickets from the 3 events she entered, whilst Kathryn Wheeler (11) also picked a set of 4 speeding tickets.

Beth Staley, swimming in the 12 - 13 group won the C 200 Free, 50 Back, 50 Free, 100 Back and 100 Free.

Tom Green 12-13 (Dev 2): picked up 1, 2 and 3 placings in a selection of B and C races, and did Morgan Nash. Joe Statham however preferred a set of Gold medals and speeding tickets, whilst another first ever swimmer, Megan Waters(12) knocked 5seconds off her PB for 50 Free, and 10 seconds off her 50 Breast PB. Alistair Maguire (Dev 2) came second in the 50 Fly with a 16s PB.

19 Jun: Reading hosted the Reading Large Schools Swimming Gala last night at Central, a fast and furious event with many tales to tell, in the middle of a huge thunderstorm, power glitches and light-outs, the gala still ran smoothly and finished 20 minutes early. Very noisy affair with lots of enthusiastic team support, good humour and a full gallery. Wonderful to see.

This weekend sees the younger squads off to the Ealing long course graded meet. For many it will be their first 50m pool gala (and for others probably their first gala ever!)  Good luck!

17 Jun: The Newbury Open is always a good meet: Busy, but friendly, and everyone has an enjoyable day. Events are 50s/100IM for the young swimmers, and 100s/200s for the older ones. The event also incorporates finals, which is good training for when you get to repeat the swims later.  The gala ran smoothly, and Coaches Harry Wild and Jacqui Taylor urged their charges through the programme. Results are on their website.

Absolutely everyone PBed on something; Alex Cawthorne, Olivia Paige and David Mills got into the finals for every event they swam. Harry picked a few swims he especially noted: Natalia Chercieski-Holmes swam 100 Back in 1:17; Ellie Wood surprised herself with a 100 Fly swim just 0.1s outside the NQT. Ailith Morrey swam a lovely 200 IM, complete with 13 second PB, Zoe Knott medalled in 2 finals; Harry Nash and Sam Kemp PBed in everything.

All-in-all a great meet in a wonderful atmosphere. 

As the season comes to a close, we've had to juggle some changes to squad timetables to cope with the fact that the Army are using Aldershot, and we're losing a number of sessions there, and the Berkshire Schools Gala at Central which affects RSC as we help to run it. Together with some coach changes, and the final throes of training for Nationals, please keep an eye on the website - and/or better still, make sure you are subscribed to the club mailing list. If you get worried, talk to your coach...

14 Jun: It gets better! The Boy's BAGCAT team also qualified for the Freestyle relay event at Nationals.  Well done guys!

Newbury meet this weekend:  No rejections from our entries so we look forward to a great meet!

10 Jun: Last day of the regionals, with some extra medals: 100m Breaststroke Gold for Alex Cawthorne and Callum Willcox, and another for Adam Barrett in the 200 Fly. Ellie Wood also made the 200m Freestyle finals. Pictured with Coach David Wittig on poolside at K2.

9 Jun: Wow! What an exciting way of getting to Nationals!  The Boys' BAGCAT 11-14 year 4x100 Medley was won by the Reading Team of Chris Boyce, Callum Willcox, Adam Barrett and Conor Sandell in one of the best swims going. Chris Boyce led off, having arrived at K2 only minutes before due to M23 congestion, having to change in the car, he led off with backstroke, Callum's Breaststroke and Adam Barrett's blistering Fly allowed Conor to cream home with a 2 1/2 second lead over Silver medallists Thanet. A great swim for the boys with two additional National Swimmers (Chris Boyce and Conor Sandell).

Other notable swims by Alex Cawthorne who took Gold in the 10 year old 200 Breast, Callum Willcox (Gold, 13 year 200 Breast) and Adam Barrett's 14 year old 200 Butterfly.

8 Jun: For those swimmers entered for the EALING Meet on the 23rd - Your swims were accepted - we had no rejections from our entries.

4 Jun: Reading Swimming Club are pleased to announce the appointment of Tony Woodward as our Head Coach, from a strong field of candidates.

Tony succeeds Graeme Thomas, who is leaving the club after six years in the hot seat. We wish him well in his chosen career path. Graeme has worked with great professionalism and good humour, and obtained results that speak for themselves. Graeme has had a long association with Reading Swimming Club since a boy, a period spanning over 25 years.

Tony will be joining us from Windsor Swimming Club, where he has been Head Coach for 5 years. In that time he has coached numerous national, regional and county medallists and successful teams in the Speedo and Thames Valley leagues and has earned an outstanding reputation as a motivator.

Before joining Windsor, Tony cut his coaching teeth with Reading Swimming Club when his sons Craig and Ryan swam with us. He was an enormously popular age group squad coach when he left. He lives locally and will be known to many of the parents of older swimmers, and many others will know him by sight from Counties and league meets.

Tony will be taking over the reins at the start of next season. We know the club will be in great hands. Please take the time to meet him, spread the word and help him and us tackle the volunteer tasks essential to keep RSC moving forward.

We must also at this point express our sincere thanks to the whole Reading volunteer coaching team for putting their shoulders to the wheel at a time of uncertainty, and particularly to David Wittig and Rob Knott, who we are sure will make a great job of taking the squad up through their final preparations and to competing at the National Championships in Sheffield in late July.

3 Jun: Action at the Crawley where the South East Regional Age Group Championships are being being swum, gave Adam Barrett 4 Golds, Ellie Wood 2 Silvers, Callum Willcox one Silver. Alex Cawthorne, in his first Regional swims managed a 6th placing in the 200 Back.  Results are  on the South East Region website. The championships concludes next weekend.

1 Jun: Tomorrow is the start of the South East Region BAGCAT (British Age Group CATegory) championships. 4 days of swimming held over the next 2 weekends at K2 in Crawley. Most of the swimmers are from Harry's District Squad, and the younger members of National Squad, so we wish them all well.

28 May: Whilst there was only one new NQT was gained at Sheffield No-Frills, there was good results from the squad: Chris Boyce gained two great new 50m PBs ; Adam Barrett managed "60." for the first time in the 100 fly, and PBed in the 200 free; York-Peter Kloeppel broke the 1:10 barrier with 100 Breaststroke, and had a great 200 Breast race too. Kristina Paige swam an excellent 1:05:47 100m fly;

Results on the City of Sheffield website.

Next week is the start of two weeks of Age Group regionals - with swimmers mainly from District squad (before the Newbury and Ealing meets).

26 May: Great swims from Adam Barrett and Kristina Paige, who already have national times in the 100 and 200 Fly, and a new NQT for Rachael Mills in the 200 Freestyle.

25 May: The top squad swimmers head North to Sheffield, to the No-Frills, in a last-chance-before-the-nationals to augment their swims and improve on entry times.  There doesn't seem to be a live results feed set (yet, anyway) so we are reliant on reports from people at Ponds Forge to track their progress.

22 May: The weekend was quite busy: Bryan Wibberley and Adrian Dyer competed at the British International Disability Championships in Ponds Forge.

Swimming for Clive and County, they are also members of Reading Cygnets.

Bryan Wibberley took Bronze in the 50 Freestyle Grand Final, and 5th on the 100 Back making the Grand Finals in the 100 Free and 400 Free also; Adrian Dyer rose to first place in the 100 Free B Final, and also made the 100 Back and 400 Free Grand finals as well.  Well done chaps!

21 May: News from Hatfield - where a group of 4 swimmers attended the UK Challenge at the weekend. Things started well - in the first 10 minutes York-Peter Kloeppel and Callum Willcox had picked up NQTs for the 100 Breaststroke. By the end of the meet Callum has also picked up a 400IM NQT and Kristina Paige has turned in a blistering 2:06 for a 200 Freestyle race. Full results on the Hatfield website.

20 May: South East Region BAGCATS entry lists have now been published: You can view the acceptance lists.

15 May: Sheffield No-Frills news: The draft programme can be viewed (but not printed) from the City of Sheffield web site. We seem to have a number of rejections.  If you're going, make sure you speak to your squad administrator on Thursday's Club night about the travel and sleeping arrangements.

If you missed  managing to get the photographs from the Easter Meet, or want one of the pictures from the individual swimmers which were taken just before Easter, you can now peruse them online.  You can select the pictures by visiting the AMCAS website - for which you'll need a password.  You can either obtain the password from the e-mail sent round the ReadingSC mailing list, or if you're not subscribed (Why not? Subscribe here) you can e-mail the webmaster and I'll pass them on to club members and family.  If I recall, prices start at £5 for a 7x5 shot, and you can get other sizes up to 24x36!.

If you know of anyone from visiting clubs that wishes to view the photos, you can give them the link but please don't give out the passwords freely.  Anyone wishing to view the photos from a visiting club can email either the AMCAS or this website to gain the passwords, please remember the usual child protection guidelines in the fact the Easter Meet photos do feature swimmers in swimming costumes etc.

8 May: Wrap up from the South East Region Championships: Medals are summarised below. York-Peter achieved his first ever UK National time, swimming 31.21 in the 50 Breaststroke final, and Kristina Paige broke the 1 minute barrier for the first time swimming the 100 Free final.  Well done to you both.

 Many other super swims and PBs. Full results on the ASA SE Region website - but note that if you select Reading as the club, it doesn't display the 1500 results...

6 May: Allan Eyles statistics: 234 swimmers swam 899 races covering 80km. 655 swims were better than the entry time, and 217 swimmers went home having beat at least one entry time...

Youth Regional Championships: Garry Dixon took gold in the 800, and Kristina Paige Gold in the 200 Free. Last day tomorrow...

5 May: A long day full of swimming was enjoyed by all at the Allan Eyles: Newbury were top visiting club: Results are online now. I'll write up the highlights soon...

4 May: Good luck to all swimmers attending our Allan Eyles meet on Saturday, and the South East Region Youth Championships over the holiday weekend.

3 May: Congratulations to swimmer of the (April) Month - Alex Cawthorne from Lauren Macarthur's Age Squad.

28 Apr: Well done, Naomi Herring, for her first ever NQTs - 100 Back and 200 Back swum at the Berks & South Bucks No-Frills at Aldershot today. (Results are posted on the county website)

26 Apr: Please note changes for this Saturday's District Squad, because of the No-Frills meet at Aldershot this weekend.

Younger Swimmers: Make sure you are aware about the competitions being handed out at the moment:  Newbury, Ealing (and the Club Sprints) and get your entries back in good time please - If you're stuck, ask someone - a coach, squad administrator - as has been discovered this year, clubs aren't tolerant of late entries.

Raffle Prizes please - for our Allan Eyles meet being held next week:  Best dropped off on Club Night, or on the day, provided you're coming at the start of the first session.

18 Apr: Crawley meet yielded a new 400IM NQT for Holly Tanner, and some confirmations for a few of the other swimmers.

13 Apr: 3 weeks to go to the Allan Eyles meet: Please can we appeal for Raffle prizes for the meet?  If you can drop them off on Thursdays with the Squad Administrators that'll be fantastic.  Nearer the time we'll also ask of helpers on the day, or if you can supply a plate of sandwiches or other eats for the Officials and Coaches in the break.  It looks to be a well attended meet this year from the pile of entries.

Crawley Open this weekend...

9 Apr: Easter meet writeup: 1565 swims later, and the Reading Easter Open Meet is over for another year: Many thanks to the people who sweated to make it happen in a hot-aired environment:  Swimmers, Officials, Spectators, Coaches, Helpers - we could not have done it without you.  The meet was our first cardless Easter meet, and it went very smoothly, thanks to the backroom crew - Ian WIlkins, Rex Morrey, Julie Willcox and Claire Wilkins, and Louise Barnes on the door marshalling the visitors.

Difficult to pick out winners especially (there is a list of top boys and girls on the meet results pages, but to pick out some of the younger swimmers, but I think Olivia Paige PBed in every race she swam, including finals, Lauren's squad kept on popping up in finals and Harry's squad cheered, supported and generally egged everyone from RSC on.  National Squad swam hard, and there were some really excellent swims from all parts of the club in the three days. I'll get some coaches comments in a day or so.

The Skins are always impressive: In a flurry of foam the Freestyle skins started well, with less than a second across the entire race: However the final head-to-head and our Kristiana Paige and Holly Mills (Ealing), and Holly just got there first. Matt Sandell took the IM Skins the next day.

Callum Willcox achieved his 200 Breast NQT (Well Done!) and just missed the 400IM by 6 hundreths of a second.  York Peter Kloeppel just missed his breaststroke NQT. Commiserations guys - but you know you can do it next time now!

We do it all again (albeit on a smaller scale of just 2 sessions in 1 afternoon) on Saturday 5th May with the Allan Eyles meet: Named after a past County Chairman, and Reading member who organised our galas, who sadly died on the day of the meet a few years ago, the meet is aimed at the swimmers who weren't able to swim at Easter - so if you're in Dev 1, Dev 2 or Age, make sure you got your entries in! Speak to your Coach or Squad Administrator if necessary.

Final statistics: 269 swimmers swam 1565 races covering 280.55km. 225 swimmers beat their entry times 830 times (which includes finals)

I'm still trying to find out anything more than the results from the Welsh Nationals: I can see that Holly Tanner took the 400IM, 100 Back and 200 Back titles (missing the 400IM NQT by .19s), gaining the 400 Free and 200 Fly NQTs as well.  Ellie Wood was 7th in the 100 Fly. Details on the Welsh competition web site.

8 Apr: Day 3 of the Easter Meet: Results now available online.

7 Apr: Day 2 of the Easter Meet: Results now available online.

6 Apr: Day 1 of the Easter Meet: Results now available online.

2 Apr: We're still trying to fill the last slots for the Easter meet: Helpers for the door for sessions 1,2,3,4,6,7 as well as judges and timekeepers (particularly for Friday). Please contact Peter Tiley if you can help as an official, or contact the webmaster and he'll pass it on.

1 Apr: Final County results now available (see link on left). The mentions I missed were Holly Tanner took the 200 Fly Gold, Rachael Mills the Junior 400m championship gold, whilst Reg Herring took the county Bronze. Adam Barrett county silver for 400IM, with Age group Gold, as well as 100 Back. Barnaby Kempster came a consistent second with silver in 50 Back and 200 Free, but improved to Gold in the 100 Back. Frankie Wilkins took 200 Fly junior county gold, and Ellie Wood her age group, to which she added the 100IM. Zoe Hester took the 50 Backstroke too. There were some 42 medals won by Reading swimmers (12 Gold, 12 Silver, 18 Bronze) on the last day, so forgive me not mentioning everyone.

From the British Championships, Zoe Hester improved still further to 1:04.26, I beleive sealing a place in the European Junior Squad.

29 Mar: I'm still awaiting the final County results, but news from the British Championships in Manchester is that Louisa (Reg) Herring swam the 5000m in 1:02:48, improving her overall placing from 11th to 9th. Garry Dixon swam 18:45.84 in the 1500 free, whilst Zoe Hester was placed 4th in the 100 Backstroke heats swimming 1:05.05, and then 1:05.07 in the semis. The finals are tomorrow.

Meanwhile, congratulations are due to the latest Swimmer of the Month: Craig Frankum from Clive Alderson's County squad.

26 Mar: Easter Meet news: All the entries are in and counted: We've managed to not reject any swimmers, and acknowledgements are being sent out. 

First day of the British Championships at Manchester, where a small squad of swimmers is competing.  Day 1 news was that Zoe Hester swam to 7th place with the 200 Backstroke. Follow the championships results.

25 Mar: Perfect weather for a Half Marathon, and as luck would have it, Reading had one. We're told 14,000 runners past the water station where we passed out about 10,000 bottles of water in an hour. Thanks to the swimmers who turned up, and to Phil and Karen Tanner for organising it - We had a lot of fun and raised some cash for the club, and helped 14,000 raise cash for their good causes too.

24 Mar: Last day of the counties saw the Girls' Youth Freestyle Relay team (Holly Tanner, Louisa Downs, Naomi Herring and Rachael Mills) take County Gold, and the Medley Team (Holly, Louisa, Naomi and Frankie Wilkins) take Silver. I forget the other highlights at present so I'll update these in a day when I get the results.

22 Mar: Don't forget the water station for the Half Marathon: Thus Sunday (25th March), Assemble 8 a.m. or a little earlier at The Forbury, near the Crown Court. The sweeping up truck is due at 1150, so should be finished well before that.

Final Counties day this Saturday: 3 sessions, and next week is the British Championships where we have a number of swimmiers.  Good Luck everybody

On the downside, Haslemere rejected all our entries for the "B" grade this year...

20 Mar: Counties news: The distance races and 9/10 year old relays were held last weekend, and the results have just been released.  These are Open and Junior championship races only. Garry Dixon took Gold in the 1500, and Louisa Herring took Silver for the Ladies.  For the 800m race, Holly Tanner took Bronze for the Ladies, and for the Men,  Alex Macarthur Silver and Chris Boyce Bronze.

The Junior Championships are for swimmers under 17 at the end of the year - something the scoring computers have problems with seperating from age on the day.  As both 800 winners of the 16/under class turn 17 before the end of the year, this means that Rachael Mills took the Girl's Junior Champion trophy, and for the boys, Alex Macarthur took Boy's Junior Champion, and Chris Boyce was runner up. 

District Squad please note: Saturday 24th March - No Session: Any swimmer NOT at the Counties has the option of a substitute sessionMonday a.m. at Central 05:30-07:00 - speak to Graeme if this applies to you.

Sunday 25th March - No Session: Allowing as many as can to assist on the Half Marathon water station - see previous postings from Phil Tanner for details.

Tuesday 27th March Evening - No Session: Substitute session available Monday p.m. at Bradfield 18:00-20:10.

15 Mar: Louisa (Reg) Herring also qualified for the British Championships - 5000m freestyle.  The British Championships - The British Championships start in just over a week's time.

12 Mar: Latest County Championships results published: (see "County Champs 07" link on the left). A quick summary on this very busy day, led by Zoe Hester demolishing the County 200 Back record set in 1980 by over 5 seconds (subject to ratification). Other highlights of the 9 Gold medals include the 4x100 Boy's team, York-Peter's 50 Breaststroke, Garry Dixon and Adam Barrett in the 400 Free, 100 Fly for Ellie Wood and Kristina Paige, Alex Macarthur's 50 Fly and Adam Barratt's 200 Fly.  There were 15 Silver medals and 13 Bronze medals too. Above on beyond the medals, were some great races. 

4 Mar: Trivia of the month: Apparently one of the National squad members swam his millionth metre in the training squad since September.  Gives you some idea of the distances swum in the pursuit of their goals... 

2 Mar: A little more analysis from the first Counties session last weekend: As well as the two relay golds for the Ladies' team, I count 16 Golds, 11 Silvers and 9 Bronze medals won by Reading Swimming Club members.  Well done!.

1 Mar: February Swimmer of the Month is Kristina Paige, from Graeme Thomas' National squad.

24 Feb: Matt (Sandell - RSC swimmer)) and Seb of Amcas Photography - will be at the pool this Thursday, 1st March, to take some squad and individual photos. (They attended last year's Easter meet and will be doing so again this year)

Group photos are a great way to happy memories years hence of people's time with the club.

IMPORTANT: We will also be supplying the individual photos to the Evening Post as updated "mugshots" to accompany the weekly press reports, as this was last done by the Post about 18 months ago. PARENTS OR SWIMMERS ARE VERY WELCOME TO OPT OUT OF THIS, there is absolutely no requirement to have one of these done. (note however that if the Post have a photo on file, they are likely to use the out of date one so it's worth keeping them current)

A couple of ground rules - CLUB KIT ONLY for both group and individual photos. No Reading FC shirts with "Long 24" on the back! The press photos will be head and shoulders only. Shirts must be worn for these and shorts or preferably tracksuit trousers must be worn for the squad photos.

It would be a big help if anyone with a drawerful of club shirts could pop an extra one or two into their kitbag to bail out mates who might forget...

Individual photos will be taken outside the activities room and group photos with the coaches included will be taken in the activities room. 

Details of times:

All photos should be finished soon after 6.45pm.

23 Feb: First 3 County Championship sessions, and they started well with the Reading Girls taking County Gold in both the 4x100 Freestyle Relay and 4x100 Medley. Louisa (Reg) Herring swam a Club Captain's race in the final leg of the Freestyle race, beating her previous time by about 1 1/2 seconds.  Over the next few hours, despite some technical difficulties (which means that the results of some of the races haven't yet been announced), Zoe Hester took the Backstroke Golds and County Records. Kristina Paige took the 50 Free Gold, missing out on the record by a mere three-hundreths of a second.  Of the younger swimmers, Alex Cawthorne took Silver in the Age Group 100 Breaststroke, and swam an 18 second PB in the 200 Breaststroke.  More results when we get them.

22 Feb: Congratulations to our swimmers who qualified for the British Championships: They are Garry Dixon (800,1500 Free), Zoe Hester (50,100,200 Back), Alex Macarthur (50 Free), Kristina Paige (100 Fly) and Matt Sandell (50 Free)

Matt Sandell swam his qualifying time at the British Universities meet at Sheffield, taking half-a-second off his current 50 Free time to swim 23.91 for 4th place, He also swam in the 50 Fly and 100 Free events, breaking the existing Birminghan Uni records.  Well done Matt!

18 Feb: Always improving, our Thames Valley Junior League Team swam over 25 PBs last night to record a 3rd placing at Maidenhead.  Coach Harry Wild was particularly pleased that the youngest team of 9 year olds swam without suffering any disqualifications, and overall the team managed 6 first places (including one where our swimmer was "swimming up" an age group).

This coming weekend sees the first of 4 weeks of County Championships (4 Saturday galas over 5 weekends). The club has well over 300 swims at Maidenhead, and over 30 swimmers from the top 4 squads.

And finally, Swimmer of the Month - for January - Jennifer Taylor from Harry Wild's District Squad.

16 Feb: Our Masters have been doing the Postal Swim - the results have been posted on the ASA Website - Well done to the 2 Golds and 3 Silvers won by individuals, and the Two Golds and Bronze won by the teams! They also took two records at the same time.

15 Feb: Good Luck again to the Thames Valley Junior League team on Saturday - Off to Maidenhead - We hope you have a great evening.

The Southampton Sprints meet report (County Squad) are published.

As final round-up to the Wycombe meet - the coaches forgot to tell me - that Alex Macarthur got a qualifying time for the 50 Free at the British Championships, and Zoe Hester and Kristina Paige added 100 Free National Qualifying Times. Callum Willcox also won Gold in all three breaststroke distances.

13 Feb: The final round of the Thames Valley Junior League is on Saturday, at Maidenhead Magnet pools - warm up is 18:30 so please be in good time ... Good luck!

The Wycombe Classic Open results are published via the Meet Calendar.

12 Feb: The results and reports for both the Thames Valley Junior League meets are now online voia the Meet Calendar.

Wycombe Classic Open meet held at the weekend saw swimmers from Age, District and National Squads in action at the Handycross 50m pool. There were some terrific race finishes as well as a lot of good solid swimming.  I haven't seen the result to count the medals, but there was a good collection: Chris Boyce just missed out on the Top Boy award.

04 Feb: Thames Valley Junior League Team visited Amersham's Chiltern Pools last night. Despite having several team members struck down by illness and injury, the team turned in a much improved score and a higher placing: Coaches remarked how well they team worked as a team, and several excellent swims by members who are still in the teaching programme. Junior captains worked hard encouraging and supporting the new swimmers.

29 Jan: The weekend's meet at Windsor produced a clutch of 3 Gold Medals (Barnaby Kempster, Rachael Mills and Ellie Wood), 9 Silver Medals and 11 Bronze Medals - particularly pleasing were the medals for Ailith Morrey and Jennifer Taylor. In addition there were County Qualifying times for Jennifer Taylor and Izzy Keenan, and Regional Qualifying Times for Barnaby and Rachael.  However, almost everyone managed PBs, some of them huge.

Next weekend is Thames Valley Junior League, held at the Amersham Chiltern Pools - 6pm warm up!

22 Jan: Message from the Cygnet's Team Manager, Gordon Dart: "On behalf of the Cygnets swimmers and all associated, can I please thank Reading SC for their support in helping with this success. I have looked over the swim times from the latest Club Champs session and there were 29 seasons best and 12 personal bests. 

This means that over the 3 sessions there were 102 seasons bests, 51 personal best, 5 Junior National times, 9 additional England B Squad consideration times and 3 additional England A Squad consideration times. 

This is fantastic.  I hope we can attract more swimmers next year from Dev 1 and 2 and keep the success rolling."

Queen Anne's School pool is open again: Damage to the roof caused by last week's gales has been repaired.

20 Jan: Crawley Long Distance Meet yielded two NQTs (Rachael Mills, 1500 Free and Holly Tanner, 800 Free) as well as a number of great PBs. Great swims too from Callum WIllcox and Georgie Wilkins.

18 Jan: Sadly, due to oversubscription, none of our swimmers for the Cranleigh "B" meet were accepted. 

Please note the EALING Graded Meet time change: The second session has been brought forward 30 minutes. Warm-up is now 16:45 instead of 17:15. 

PLEASE SUPPORT the last Cygnet's Champs this Saturday. Central pool, 1300 to 1500. Ideal for the younger squads' experience. See the events on offer - 25m, 50m, 100m and 200m.   

The report on the Thames Valley Junior League and the Welsh Dragon meet are now available.

16 Jan: Belated Congratulations to December Swimmer of the Month: Rosie Parkinson, From Jacqui Taylor's Development 2 squad.

15 Jan: In the first scan of the Swansea we missed spotting NQTs for Kristina Paige (100 Fly) and Holly Tanner (200 Back), which the website spotted: Ian's updated the time data so you can use the website to workout what you need to swim in time trials with your coaches.. 

14 Jan: Saturday saw our Thames Valley Junior League (under 12) team swing into action. Fate dictated they were up against the strongest of competition from Wycombe, Chalfont, Windsor and Maidenhead. Races won convinvingly by Luca Poli and Alex Cawthorne, numerous top 3 placings, and many excellent swims by members of the Teaching Programme. The coaches remarked how our swimmers looked strong techhnically, and very promising for the future.

The Cygnets Club Champs gained 35 seasonal bests, and 12 personal bests, so  again thank the RSC swimmers who are really pulling and pushing the Cygnets to great things. The handicapping worked really well, with several exciting finished, massive Cygnet PBs, and our own swimmers did well too: Jennifer Taylor picking up a 50 and 100 Breaststroke and 100IM County qualifying times.  Marcus Orgill qualified for 400 Free, 50 Back and 100 Fly and James Tichband for the 400 Free.  The 3 boys and 5 girls from RSC saw quite a lot of action!  Next week is the final session.

Talking of the Counties, (or, more correctly, the Berks and South Bucks County Championships), the entry forms are out and we need to get them back ASAP.  Whilst the RSC closing date is the 18th January: Melvyn could have to process up to 450 swims!  Note that swimmers attending the Windsor meet will still be able to file entries in the posting box at the Windsor meet so any qualifying swims there will count. If you've mislaid the entry for, or want the schedule of events and dates, the Counties Website has full details.

The webmaster has been working on a new part of the web site to assist you with meet entries: go to the Meet Qualifier page, click on your swimmer name, then the Counties "C"  at the bottom and you'll get a set of times for the entry form. RSC's Meet Coordinator (Ian Wilkins) says he'll update the data to include the Welsh Dragon and Bath Grand Prix times within a couple of days.  You should still keep a personal log of your swims though!

Finally, The Return of the Dragons! The National and District swimmers trundled back from the Welsh Dragon meet late last night with Louisa Downs achieving a 1500 NQT, Silver for Callum Willcox (200 Breast) and Frankie Wilkins (200 Fly), Bronze for Georgie Wilkins (200 Fly) and Zoe Hester (100 Back). Lots of PBs too, which is the way it should be.

12 Jan: National Squad are away at Swansea: You can watch their progress - Live - on the Welsh ASA Competition website.  Minor problem that they haven't updated it at all today though! (update: Works on Sunday).

6 Jan: We've found a copy of the Bath Grand Prix results ... Which are available via the updated calendar, which now features the Wycombe Long Course meet too.

Don't forget the Cygnet's Championships on the 13th: 1pm to 3pm.  With many of the swimmers from National and District away at Swansea, and the Thames Valley Junior League in the evening (just down the road at Maidenhead), please make an extra effort to support them!  Our support is especially important to them as last time (December 17th) swimming against us they achieved 3 National times, 21 PBs and 41 Seasonal Bests.

Remember that this is open to any swimmer in RSC - from Dev 2 upwards. If you can make it, please drop Harry an e-mail saying which events you're aimed at (although he tends to fit swimmers in flexibly), or at least speak to Harry or Gordon on poolside.

4 Jan: We've heard back from the forthcoming meets: The Ealing meet accepted all our entries: Windsor and the Welsh Dragon meet we had 5 rejections from each. Please check your squad folders.

3 Jan: NOTE: The National Championships (Age Group, Youth and Long Course) have been MOVED FORWARD a few days, to avoid a clash with a European competition at the same dates as the Youth/Long Course championships.  This does have corresponding impact on people with birthdays around that time (if you had a birthday during the Nationals, you might just make an easier time cut). The Meet Calendar has been updated. Full details and explanation on the ASA website.

1 Jan: Happy New Year!

29 Dec: Catching up on a few outstanding items: The report that should have been published in the Reading Evening Post on the Awards Night is now available.  

The complete Berks and South Bucks County Championships schedule is also available (See the "Counties Site" link on the left.) For those of you new to Counties, they are usually quite a big event for the club (with members eligible for over 400 swims, plus relay teams); Most swimmers coming from Age squad an upwards (with some from the Development squads); Time Trials will usually be held to allow the best chance possible of qualification.

Reading life member Graham Edmunds and his relay team partners Matt Walker, David Roberts and Robert Wellbourn added world championships gold to their Athens Paralympic success at the IPC world meet in Durban, South Africa.

In an unbelievable race against the best Australia has to offer, the British 4 x 100m freestyle relay quartet broke their own world record, set in Athens, stopping the clock in 3.58.28 to Australia's 3.58.64.

The Swansea-based pharmacist's next target is to help retain the Paralympic title in Beijing in 2008.

21 Dec: Well, in the case of Coach vs Trainee, the coach won. Just. A very relieved David Wittig managed to touch-out just before Callum Willcox after an exciting 200m Breaststroke race.  Following on, Helen Paige won the draw, and Team 1 won the fun gala.  Have a Good Christmas everyone!

18 Dec: A message of thanks from the Cygnets to the swimmers who came and supported them in their Club Championships on Saturday:  By swimming against our stronger field, they excelled, and recorded 41 seasons best times and 21 personal bests and 3 Junior National Qualifying Times!

They'd love to see us again in the next round on the 13th January and the final round on the 20th January. Dev 1, Dev 2 and Age squad swimmers especially welcome as many of the higher squads are away at Swansea

17 Dec: Club Awards night passed off very smoothly, organised by the outgoing captains (Bruno Bamberger and Emma Zadrozny, together with support from their families and friends), with a large list of cups and merit awards being presented by The Mayor of Reading.   Alan Porton (from the Club Sponsor, the Reading Evening Post) was also awarded Life Membership of Reading Swimming Club in recognition of over 20 years support of the Club. 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.

16 Dec: Swimming had a great time at the 2006 Reading Sports Personality of the Year (run by Reading Borough Council and the Reading Evening Post. Spread between Reading Swimming Club and The Cygnets, no sport (even football) received more awards.

Reading Swimming Club members were recognised with Junior Sports Personality of the Year (Garry Dixon), Female Sports Personality of the Year (Zoe Hester). Peter Tiley was recognised with a Helper/Loyalty award for over 15 years association with the club.

Reading Cygnets also received numerous awards, with Disabled Athlete of the Year awarded to world record holder Zoe Palethorpe.  Ron Phillips and Diane Dart both received Helper/Loyalty awards, each for their 25 years of involvement, and the Cygnets also picked up the Mayor of Reading Award.

15 Dec: Clash of the Titans?  Or Little and Large?  David and Goliath reversed? Probably not the Tortoise and the Hare. At the start of the Fun Gala this Thursday, there will be a 2 person 200 Breaststroke race.   Callum Wilcox (13, National Squad) will be head to head with David Wittig (over 21, Coach). In aid of Club funds there are 2 raffle draws taking place - One for David, one for Callum.  But only the winner's draw gets drawn... So who's it to be - The Mighty David or the Energetic Callum?  Tickets available at Awards Night or beforehand on Thursday.

14 Dec: Well, that one snuck past me (thanks for telling me Graeme!) when Garry Dixon went up to Loughborough on the 3rd, he swam 800 free in 8:39, well inside the NQT of 9:01. 

Christmas Tickover Training Schedule has been published. If you feel the need or want to stay on form. Enjoy the Holidays. 

11 Dec: Speedo Leagues on Saturday left the "A" team swimming at Maidenhead second (which should leave then 8th overall in the Southern Premier League) and equal fifth for the "B" team down at Waterlooville. Atmosphere and noise levels at both galas were tremendous, but a rash of disqualifications had an effect on the results.  Despite this the swimmers swam marvellously and with great determination.

Fun Gala is the Thursday 21st - Last Thursday before Christmas. Watch this space for training slots over the Christmas period.  Start time FOR ALL SQUADS is 6:00pm - after National and District squads finish their normal training session. 

Finally the Reading Cygnets Christmas Gala is being held on THIS SUNDAY (17th).  Swimmers from all Squads and abilities welcome - Generally most "races" at 25m - This includes you in Development 1 and Development 2!  The Cygnets really enjoy swimming with the Swimming Club members and the atmosphere is great.  Worth going just to see Coach Harry dressed up as a fairy. Fun, Fun, Fun.  Starts at 1830 until 1930.

10 Dec: Dates for the Thames Valley Junior League are now published - January 13, February 3 and 17th. Round 1 is at Maidenhead; The other venues are decided on the outcome of the previous rounds.  This league is for swimmers who are 12 or under on the 31 December 2007. The 13th is going to be quite a busy day, with the top swimmers away at Swansea, and the Cygnets Championships earlier in the day...  Sounds like a swimmer's paradise - an opportunity to get wet and stay wet!

9 Dec: Good luck teams at the Speedo League this weekend!  "B" team's coach leaves Savacentre at 16:00 for the trip to Waterlooville; The "A" team makes their own way to Maidenhead Magnet pools. Warm up is 18:30 at Maidenhead and 18:00 at Waterlooville.

3 Dec: Whilst the Bath Grand Prix meet was a rather quiet meet, with shorter-than-expected sessions (which still yielded a 50 Free NQT for Kristina Paige), Oxford was tremendously busy with long sessions.  The swimmers responded well though, having a great time, swimming well despite finish at 9pm one night and being back on poolsside at 8 the next morning. Too many great PBs (several 5 second+ ones), so we'll just commiserate with El Cawthorne for just missing out on a 100 Back Regional time, and congratulate Ellie Wood on her 100 and 200 Fly, and 200 Back Regional times.

Meet reports for Beckenham and results for Oxford are now posted on the Meet calendar..

29 Nov: Beckenham Rising Stars meet enjoyed by all who attended: many PBs and in some cases the first time in a long course pool.

This weekend the club is in action with the fastest swimmers at Bath University's 50m pool for the Grand Prix meet, a 3-day meet which starts on Friday; The others at Oxford's level 2 meet at Temple Cowley for a 2 day meet there, covering most of the strokes.

The report of the Stockport meet is now available on the website, and this year's NQT times has been started.

24 Nov: Bradfield swimmers - make sure your parents see this one: If you turn right off the road into Bradfield, the road from Bradfield back towards Pangbourne will be close from the 29th November until the evening of December 4th.  Allow an extra 5 minutes for the extra detour.

Leighton Park County swimmers: If you swim at Leighton Park on Tues 28th, note it's cancelled... Big concert on site...

23 Nov: Subscriptions for Swimming Times are available - if you'd to subscribe via the club, the cost for a year is £17.50 (payable to C Thomas) and given to Chris Thomas on Thursday night. The magazine comes out monthly, and is handed out by Chris on club night.

20 Nov: Stockport was deemed a good meet for the top swimmers by the coaches: 8 National Qualifying Times (NQTs), including Adam Barret, Garry Dixon, Louisa Downs and Zoe Hester.  Adam and Kristina Paige also made finals, with Adam picking up a Bronze for the 100 Fly. A good number of PBs too. This Saturday it's the turn of the younger swimmers who are off to Crystal Palace's National Sports Centre for the Beckenham Rising Stars meet.

16 Nov: Entries have been confirmed for Beckenham's Rising Stars Meet on November 25.  Almost everyone got all their swims - only 2 rejections.

National Squad are off to Stockport this weekend: We wish them well in their first major meet this season.

Congratulations to Swimmer of the Month: Rosemary Millbank from Lauren Macarthur's Age Squad.

Report for the Speedo League are available - for the A Team Gala and the B Team Gala.  Some photographs from the Speedo League galas were taken by one of the photographers - they are available on the Ruth's Swim Pics web site if you want to peruse (and possibly purchase) them.  Don't bother looking through the Round 2 photos as her lens never strayed from the Guildford swimmers. However Round 1 has many shots of Reading team members. Thanks to Ruth Peters for sending us this one of Holly Tanner in action at Bracknell to add to the website...

15 Nov: Speedo League results for the B team meet available via the meet calendar. 

14 Nov: Speedo League results for the A team meet available via the meet calendar.  Next round draws have been published:

The "A" team are at Maidenhead Magnet pool, warm up 18:30 for 18:50 start; We are in lane 4, against Crawley, Herne Bay, Kingston Royals (A), Rushmoor Royals (A) and Windsor.

The "B" team are at Waterlooville Leisure Centre, 18:00 warm up for a 18:30 start. We are in lane 4 again, against Bognor Regis, Chichester Cormorants, Farnham, West Wight and Wey Valley.

Congratulations to one of our Masters Swimmers: Louise and Jonathan Sandell have a new arrival: Matilda was born last week: Everyone well, and Louise is missing her swimming...

11 Nov: Speedo League round 2 resulted in fourth placings for both Reading A (at Bracknell) and B (at Central) teams.  Well done to both teams.  I was at Bracknell and the tension and noise grew and grew right up to the last relay, which Reading won by over 2 body lengths, sealing their 4th place from Haslemere, who were snapping at their heels.   I gather the "B" team's last squadron race was even more spectacular and an even more resounding win - by about a length.  Cool.  More detailed news when I have it...

10 Nov: Report from the Club Champs weekend sessions is online.

09 Nov: Speedo league action this weekend where the "B" Team are at home at Central Pool, and the "A" Team travel to nearby Bracknell. Both teams will be hoping to repeat the performance of round one where there was a superb atmosphere and performance from both team and Guildford and Cranleigh to packed houses.

08 Nov: Please keep the morning of Sunday 25th March free - we have again been asked to staff a drinks station for the Reading half-marathon. Great fun, a good fund-raiser for the club and a chance to raise our public profile.

We should also get some complimentary entries. Phil Tanner should have full details shortly, but if you are planning to enter then hold fire and let him know if you would like a form. Catch him at the club on Thursday is probably the best way.

The Reading Cygnets Swimming Club wish to compete for their Club Championships this year in a completely different way to past years. They wish to swim these club championships over 3 different Saturdays and as an inter-club competition with Reading Swimming Club in attempt to produce faster swim times.

Please insert your entry times into the entry form in the events you wish to compete in and return to HARRY WILD by the 9th November (although Harry's currently away in the USA so there is probably a little slack on that date). You may enter as many or few events as you wish and there is NO CHARGE for this gala. Assuming that there are too many entries we may restrict entries and you will be informed of this via your lead coach. The competition will be held on the 16th December, 13th and 20th January 2007 from 1pm-3pm. Yes, December 16 is our Awards Night, but finishing by 3pm still gives you time to get dressed up for the evening.

These events with the Cygnets are great fun, and we'd encourage swimmers from Development 2 upwards to get involved and have a swim or two. Do make the effort to support them.

07 Nov: South East Region Qualifying Times are now published.

Annual General Meeting last night: We'll probably do a pull-together of the main points in the report, but it was good to hear the advances during the last 12 months.  Decisions taken by the meeting included the principle of sourcing 4 new Club Championships trophies: two each for the Girls' 1500m and the Boys' 800m events (Junior and Open).

The club thanked both Joe and Gill Korting for their contributions over the years, as they stepped down from involvement as Vie Chairman and Assistant Treasurer.  Phil Tanner steps up to Vice Chairman, and Julie Torrible moves to Assistant Treasurer, with Debbie Keenan fills in with Assistant Secretary. Hazel Syrad takes the lead for the Learn-to-Swim team.  New appointments to the Management committee are Claire Wilkins and Jonathan Mills.

02 Nov: Club Champs distance events report is online.

30 Oct: Club Champs: 157km, 79 swimmers, 588 swims, 353PBs for 71 swimmers, and 7 records.  Awards night is December 16. 

29 Oct: Club Captains' vote confirms Craig Frankum as Men's Captain, to join Louisa Herring. Congratulations to you both.  Also time to thank the outgoing captains, Bruno Bamberger and Emma Zadrozny for their efforts last year.

Club Champs ended today, culminating in the 100 Free. Results already available via the "Club Champs 2006" link.  Thanks you all of you who swam, helped, supplied food/drink, timed, officiatged, organized, spectated.

28 Oct: Today's Club Champs included a record by Garry Dixon  (400 free) and Adam Barrett (200 fly). Commiserations to Holly Tanner who just missed out (by 2 hundreths of a second) on the 200 fly record.  Results are posted (See the Club Champs 2006 link on the left). See you at 9:30 tomorrow.  Don't forget the clocks go back tonight...

26 Oct: 800m Club Champs passed off smoothly last night. Results available for both the 800 and last week's 1500m - look on the menu sidebar at the left for "Club Champs 2006".

The Club Champs sessions this weekend: Saturday, Arrival at Central for 14:15. I've put the event order on-line. Warm up times should be accurate. Session start times approximate.

Incidentally, Saturday Training cancelled for Development 2 (Jacqui Taylor), District and National Squads for the 28th. Haven't been told about any other squads. District on Sunday cancelled too, because you'll be at Central.

23 Oct: Intercounties at the weekend: With 4 of our swimmers in the Berks and South Bucks County team, the final placing for the county was 11th/20 in League 1. The Reading swimmers were Zoe Hester, Holly Tanner, Chris Ferguson and Callum Willcox.  Sheffield's 50m pool was divided into two 25m pools, with League 1 and League 2 were swimming in the two halves. As a result Ponds Forge was packed with almost non-stop action. Zoe was placed 3rd in the 100 Back; Both Callum and Holly PBed in the Medley races and Chris was sixth, recording 54.21 in the 100 Free.

21 Oct: Plea from Chris Thomas for food to feed the officials at tea-time on Saturday 28th - if you can put together a small plateful for them she'll be grateful if you can drop it off with the swimmers and spectators at the start of the Saturday sessions.

Plea from Peter Tiley for Club Champs Officials - timekeepers (no prior experience needed) and judges for the remaining club champs sessions - we were rather short last week.  As you can see, you'll get fed and watered... 

20 Oct: Firstly, Congratulations to our new Ladies Captain for the 2006/2007 season. If you wondering when you forgot to vote for her, you didn't - Louisa "Reg" Herring was appointed captain after the only other candidate decided to withdraw. Men's captain candidates, Bruno Bamberger and Craig Frankum will be voted on over the next Club Champs sessions - that's Thursday 26th AND Saturday 28/Sunday 29th.  So when you swim at the Champs, cast your vote!

Four heats of 1500m Club Championships were completed in the nick of time by the 25 swimmers, before the Masters occupied the pool at Central last night.  Results will be posted as soon as we get them, but shortage of helpers meant the computer operators weren't able to work on the results during the meet as they were timekeeping.

Speedo League reports are published on line - both the A Team and the B Team.  

Several of Reading's top performers are off to Sheffield to swim for Berks and South Bucks in the top division in Sunday's national inter-county championships. Chris Ferguson will be out to repeat his superb Speedo League form and is joined by Callum Willcox in the boys' team. Zoe Hester and Holly Tanner are in the girls' selection. Holly Tanner is joined in a strong open age group quartet by Wycombe pair Anna Jemielity and Sophie Cordice and Katie Ambridge, late of Wycombe but now with Hatfield in Hertfordshire.

17 Oct: Speedo timesheets published for the "A" team and the "B" team.

Appeal for officials: Thursday night club champs (and the weekend) - if you can wield a stopwatch or judge, we'll be very glad of your assistance please!

16 Oct: Details of the Reading Easter Open have been posted on the website. (Reading SC members - Look at the times, but don't enter yet: You'll get entry forms via your coaches/squads in February/March)

Club Captains Elections:  Standing for Ladies' Captain are Louise (Reg) Herring and Amy Thomas.  For the Mens' it is Bruno Bamberger and Craig Frankum.  Election Ballot will probably be held Thursday 26th (800m night), but might be held over the Club Champs weekend.  All Squad Swimmers can vote this year - age limit on voting has been abolished.

15 Oct: Similar news from the "B" team - Harry Wild reported that they came second too, after similarly exciting evening at Cranleigh.  Again shortage of swimmers meant many swimming up (one swimmer doing 9 races!).  Harry extremely proud of the Reading swimmers - the team weren't plagued by disqualifications and did us credit.  Well Done All!

I hope to post the times in a few days when I get them, but in summary, the results were:

14 Oct: Phew!  Just come back from the "A" team Speedo meet at Guildford - If you weren''t there you missed a very exciting evening, where places were decided right down to the last race.  In the event Guildford were clear and far away winners, but the battle for the next places was spread over a few points.  Given that we were down many key swimmers with illness or the fact that Reading FC were at home to Chelsea (and went down 0-1), the result that the Reading team came SECOND was due to the brilliant efforts of all the team. Recording PBs at this stage of the season is not the norm, according to coach David Wittig.  I can't single out individuals - they all shone.

News on the "B" team tomorrow...

13 Oct: The new National Qualifying Times for 2007 (Age Group and Youth championships) have been published on the ASA web site.. as have the Long Course championship times.

Good luck at the Speedo leagues tomorrow night everyone!

12 Oct: Congratulations to Swimmer of the Month Jo Wakefield from Emma Tarrant and James Golding's Development 1 Squad.

06 Oct: Thank you, Geoff, for pointing out I'd written the wrong M4 junction below. Now corrected it is Junction12..

05 Oct: Lots of stuff which needs your attention please: 

First things first: IMPORTANT: Swimmers and parents of Reading "B" going to the CRANLEIGH SPEEDO LEAGUE next Saturday 14th.  There is a CHANGE OF DEPARTURE POINT for the coach - Not Central pool any more, because of the football match at the Mad House (Reading vs Chelsea 17:15 KO), but now departing the SAVACENTRE car park at 4:00pm. This is on the A4 just on the way into Reading from the M4 Junction 12 at Theale.  Look for the Woodley Travel 49-seater coach.  If you're early look for Reading Swimming Coach Harry Wild and the other Reading Swimmers in their red/black attire.  They will be in the Savacentre carpark, near the petrol station and entry roundabout. There's a few parents going on the coach too - if you're interested it's first come first served - talk to Chris Thomas at Central on Thursday.  If you're swimming you're expected to travel on the coach as part of the team - if this is a problem please discuss with Graeme...

Club Captains (Ladies' and Mens') - Nominations need to be in by THIS COMING THURSDAY, 12th. See the official notice, and Nomination forms available, need to be countersigned by the person being nominated (Please - we only need one nomination so don't sign lots of them!), and given to Julie Perrin at Club Night. This year remember ALL SWIMMERS can vote for their choice of captain!

AGM: Now is the time for nominating the club officials who represent and run the club for you.  Don't be shy! You can see a copy of the Official notice,  and Nomination forms for the officials need to be countersigned by the members proposing, seconding and being nominated, and need to be given to Julie Perrin (Secretary) by Thursday 19th (at Central)

Non-Swimming membership renewals is also due during October - make sure you renew before the AGM.  £8 for the year covers you for Officials, Committee and voting rights at the AGM. (You need to be a member - swimming or non-swimming - to propose, second, be nominated or vote at the AGM)

Cups and Trophies need to be returned - cleaned please - to the Trophies Officer, Alistair Macarthur by Thursday 26th October (so we can turn them around after the Club Champs in time for Awards night on December 16th at Winnersh - Date for your diary). Maria is threatening to hold cleaning parties instead of swimming on Thursday night, so get 'em back clean quickly please.  If you've forgotten who won the trophies, last year's winners are online of course!

Finally, welcome to the new crop of Squad Administrators: Rex Morrey(District), Sue Wakefield(Age), Shelley Curran(Development 1). Thanks to Gill Thomas for taking over as County Squad's administrator.  We are looking for just one administrator - For Emma's Developement 1 squad...

30 Sep: The date for the Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday November 6th at the Reading Civic Centre.

Please mark your diaries and come and support us!  

Many of the meets for the forthcoming year have been published in the Meet Diary - More will be added... Note some are provisional dates - we won't be going to all of those!

29 Sep: The Wycombe Graded meet report has been published via the Meet Diary.

24 Sep: We regret to inform you that the Reading B Grade meet on October has been cancelled, mainly due to the lack of entries from other clubs.

Yesterday's Wycombe B/C meet passed off with Reading winning some 11 Gold, 2 Silvers and 4 Bronze medals. Leading collectors of medals were Marcus Orgill, David Mills and Ellie Wood. The Reading coaches, David Wittig and Harry Wild, reported a wonderful atmosphere to the team, with many PBs being recorded at this first outing of the seaon, and, for many, their first meet in a 50m pool.  Results available from the Meet Diary.

17 Sep: It appears that some squads didn't get the entry forms for the Reading B Grade meet on Oct 7.  A copy is available to download. Of course, consult your coach before entering.

15 Sep: Dates for the Club Champs have been published: Apart from the weekend main sessions on October 28 and 29th, The two Thursday sessions for 800m and 1500m are the 19th and 26th of October.

11 Sep: Chris Ferguson was a member of the UK School Games meet in Glasgow's Tolcross pool.  The South Eastern team (of which he was a member) did very well, winning the event. Chris was part of the Gold Medal winning freestyle relay team, as well as competing in the 200 free and 100 free events.

7 Sep: The Berks and South Bucks Inter-county team has been named, and includes Louisa Downs, Kristina Paige, Holly Tanner and Callum Willcox. Well done to you all.

Swimmers of the Month for the Summer period have been awarded to Callum Willcox and Garry Dixon for their Nationals performances.  Callum took 5 seconds off his PB, and Garry became a National Champion.  Fitting awards to you both.

Welcome back: Hope you are all rested and ready to go!   

We return to RSC having a National Champion, Garry Dixon in  the 1500 Age Group. Well done Garry.

We reset the news section, so please make sure you know that Speedo League venues (and times) for the first 2 rounds published in the meet calendar.  Round 3 doesn't get decided until Rounds 1 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!

Last years' website can be accessed through the archived pages: including the news and calendar, wich contains links to meet results and reports.

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