Jersey Report

After a promising B Grade gala at Central the week before, many swimmers had huge improvements on their best times so were on a ‘high’ and expecting for similar results this week. The coaching staff however, were expecting times near to the big PB’s from last week as big PB’s two weeks running was highly unlikely. After Club Champs next weekend, season best times will be used instead of old PB’s in future so anything from September will count for competition entry.

After the short flight to Jersey, we checked-in to the hotel and then assembled for the short bus trip to the pool. First session was a short evening one and the first event was the 50 Fs and we had a great start with PB’s from the B Grade from Anya Charrington, Rachel Coombes, Emily Chow, Jenny Taylor, Siân Fields, Jordan Langridge and Laura Bacon in the girls and Niko Ciecierski-Holmes in the boys. Bruno Kempster and Alex ‘Dougie’ Douglas made PB’s on their best times. Second event was the 400 IM and this proved an excellent event for the female swimmers with Ellie and Siân Fields picking up big PB’s whilst Natalia Ciecierska-Holmes coped better with the swim than the announcer did with her name and she collected a PB and the first of several medals with a bronze. Dougie Douglas had a fine swim but came in just off his best time to finish just outside the medals in 4^th.

Day two and Saturday was to be the longest day and a tough start with the 400 Fs and once again some big improvements, the biggest in the girls coming from Siân Fields with a 27 second PB. Natalia, adding a silver medal to her earlier success and Jenny Martin also made better times along with Bruno Kempster, Douglas and Tads Ciecierski-Holmes in the boy’s race. Barney Kempster collected a bronze with a slightly slower time than he entered on. Event 7 was another short sprint event in the shape of the 50 Fly and PB’s were again supplied from 9 swimmers with most others nudging their bests including Beth Staley, Imogen Brown, Amy Chadwick and Faith Thomas.

The 200 Breast was the next event and Rachel Coombes made the biggest jump in times with a 33 second PB on her entry time. Emily Chow went 17 seconds better, as did Charrington. Thomas, Martin and Chadwick also collected best times. Jenny ‘JT’ Taylor had a great race with a strong attack from the start that just drifted slightly at the end but her time should give her a great deal of encouragement after a nightmare year with injury and it also gave her our 4^th medal with 2^nd place. All 3 of the boys, Douglas and the Ciecierski-Holmes brothers, who entered this event made PB’s with young Tads going 25 seconds faster to prove he is one of the fastest improving boys at the moment. In the 50 Bk, all swimmers hit times either better or just a fraction off their best but it was now becoming apparent that the tiredness was beginning to creep in. The 100 Fly saw us back in the medals as Bruno Kempster got a bronze for his effort and Jenny Martin hit the biggest PB in this event with a 4 second improvement.

In the 50 Breast, Charrington picked up a bronze that was nearly as big as she is along with another better time. Rachel Coombes has been in outstanding form so far this season and its hardly started yet and another 6 seconds into her best here proves her work in training is paying off a great deal. Douglas and Niko provided the better times with improvements too. Natalia made it 7 Reading medals in the 100 Bk and there were good swims from Chadwick and Alex ‘Dinger’ Bell here too. Bell is recovering from some tough times and should be encouraged by her continued improvements, she is slowly picking it all back up and its very pleasing to see. Great PB’s from Charrington, Taylor and Douglas in the 200 Fs and improved times from Morgan Nash and Tads and once again some were beginning to feel to pace as times started to be a little slower in this last event of a long, long day. On the way back to the hotel, all the swimmers and staff were on a big ‘high’ after receiving news of Katie Henderson’s World Record at the Masters Short Course Nationals in Sheffield.

After a good night’s sleep and an extra hour in bed, we packed our bags, checked out of the hotel and made our way to the pool for the last day. The 200 IM was the first event and most of the swimmers again produced excellent swims with 9 bettering their times and another 3 were just fractions off and another medal came to Natalia with a bronze. Brother Tads picked up silver in the 100 Breast, Taylor just missed out with a 4^th in her age group and there were good swims from Chow and Douglas. In the 200 Fly, Siân Fields and Dougie Douglas were the only two entries for the club and as these were the only two swimmers that swam EVERY event, they were obviously very tired but still swam well. Our hats go off to these two swimmers. 200 Bk produced a new lease of life for Chadwick who swam this as a time trial and swam her best race of the weekend, Charrington, ‘Calvin’ Staley, Thomas and Tads also pulled out good times in this race.

Final race of the weekend came in the familiar ‘blue ribboned’ 100 Fs and once again these swimmers pulled some great efforts out of the bag with the most notable one going to Emily Chow with a well deserved 4 second PB.

“This weekend has been a HUGE success for Reading Swimming Club. Last week I mentioned that we have finally found where we are and this weekend has confirmed this and maybe even proved we are coming along better now. The ‘team’ spirit here for the weekend has been second to none, the whole group have gelled and worked together tremendously well. They have had some great swims under very tiring conditions, we have had some great fun to prove this is still a fun club and both fun and great swims can go hand-in-hand. A little mention to swimmer, Ellie Fields who came down with a virus and has needed some help and support both here and away. Keep your chin up Ellie.

Huge thanks for Nicky Charrington (Team Manager) and Liz Holmes (Chaperone and Medical Support) for their help and expertise in the smooth running of this trip. Without you, these kind of trips wouldn’t be possible and certainly not as successful. And of course, a special mention to fellow coach (and future acrobat!!) Harry Wild for all his support both at home and away and for everything he does at the club that is way beyond the call of duty. Biggest thank you however, must go to the swimmers themselves. They behaved remarkably well, no problems whatsoever. You are all a credit to your club, your parents and most of all, yourselves. I thank you all”