Ellie Wood shines at Welsh National Championships
After a
slight adjustment to her training programme last week, Ellie went
into these Championships with confidence and once again produced the
goods. Welsh National Champion in two events in 2008, double silver
and double bronze medals in 2009, Ellie quickly got off the mark as
in her first event on Friday, the 400 IM where her 5:14 gave her the
silver medal behind Swansea Performance Centre star Bronwen Harry,
and also her second British National Championships qualifying time of
the season. On the same day, Wood also produced a good PB in the 200
free where her 2:12 gave her 6th
place in a tight final.
On Saturday, after a good 200 fly at this year’s County Championships, Wood swam an encouraging heat swim in the same event here and her 2:27 seeded her first in the evening’s final session although her main rivals, Jenna Hussey and Vicky Jones from the highly successful City of Cardiff team - who like Swansea Performance train in facilities Reading can only dream of - still had reserves in the tank for the final. Ellie once again produced a solid swim in the 100 free with 1:02.4 to put her through for another final in the evening.
In the Saturday evening final session, Wood’s 200 fly swim produced her second Silver medal in two days as she finished in 2:26, sandwiched between the two Cardiff girls, with Hussey getting the Gold after a strong last 50m. In the 100 free, Wood improved her time slightly with 1:02.3 for 4th place. Sunday saw the 100 back and 200 IM races, with the back a little slower than her entry time. In the IM, Wood managed 2:31 in both heats and the final to finish 4th overall.
On the last day, Wood was to compete in the 50 free sprint event and followed that with her favoured 100 fly, in which she qualified for her first British National Championship race with a 1:05 (Short Course) at the County Championships last month. In the heats, Ellie went 29.16 in the 50 free and a good 1:05 in the 100 fly. In the finals, her 28.99 in the 50 free was enough for 6th place and a good warm-up for her main event. The 100 fly went exactly to plan and her confidence from self belief was rewarded with another 1:05 but was also good enough to produce the Gold medal and her return to the podium as Welsh National Champion once more.
Head coach Tony Woodward summed up the best meet yet of Ellie’s career:
“We are so pleased with Ellie at the moment, she has swum well in the past but the last few months she has found her purpose for the long hours of hard work, she knows there are no short-cuts and she deserves what she has earned. Our youngsters are looking up to her and some are following her example. New Regional times from the Easter Meet proved this and we are on the up. Some of the distractions have gone, some are going and that can only make for a better, stronger club”
“Ellie is proof that good old fashioned work is the key to any success. We can all change things in the search for glory but the bottom line is, if you work hard wherever you are, you will give yourself a great chance to get what you want. Too many people blame the environment or other things for their lack of good results. There are many excuses as to why they can’t get where they should be, in sport and normal everyday life, but I hear very few excuses when people actually earn the right to success”.
“This girl is no different from anyone else; she just wanted it more than anyone else. She has her moments, we all do but if you work hard and believe in what you do, you can go anywhere you want. You don’t change the environment; you need to change an attitude.”
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