South East Regional Championships 2010

This years schedule had to be split into two weekends rather than the usual long Bank Holiday weekend due to a venue problem so some events were held on Sunday May 2nd at Crawley’s K2 Pool and the remainder were held last weekend at Portsmouth’s new Mountbatten Pool.

At Crawley, Wood was in good form as she powered to the 14/15 yr old 50 Fly final after breaking the 30-second barrier for the first time in the heats with 29.91. She then went slightly faster in the final to claim the gold medal with 29.89. Ellie also swam in the 200 Fs where she finished 14^th with a slightly below par 2:14.80. Loughborough University based York-Peter Klöppel reached the final of his main event, the 50 Brst, in 32.82 and his final time of 32.25 was just short of a podium finish in 4^th place.

At Portsmouth last weekend, Wood was once again in the medals although her swims were slightly down on her PB’s after a disrupted week of training. Wood collected the bronze medal in her 100 Fly event and was 5^th in the gruelling 400IM with 5.17. Another tough event, 200 Fly, saw Wood down on her Welsh National Championship time with 7^th in the final and she also came 7^th in the 200IM final. Wood PB’d the 50 Fs in 29.40 and her last swim of the Championships gave her 1.03 in the 100 Fs.

Now, after three high level competitions in the last few weeks, Wood will now take a rest from racing and resume her full training programme. She can look forward to her first British National Championships after a short holiday in July. The club’s younger swimmers will be looking towards their South East Regional Championships at the end of May and mid-June.