Trophy swim gala a huge success

Each summer Biggleswade Swimming Club, sponsored by Jordans-Ryvita, hold an invitation gala to give their swimmers experience of team swimming and to enjoy some fun toward the end of the competitive season. This year the home team was joined by Flitwick Dolphins and Modernian SC of Bedford but a third guest team was sadly unable to attend at the eleventh hour.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Jul 2011, 15:22 BST

The gala started with the 15/O freestyle relay and the home team of Charlotte McConnell, Elizabeth Dowsett, Nicola Horsford and Louise Jarvis finished only a couple of seconds behind Flitwick. The boys team of Adam Connell, Stephen Horner, Sam Payne and Ben Wilson finished with the same points. At this early stage it began to look as though Flitwick could retain the trophy that they had won for the previous two years!

However Cerys Bean won the girls 10/U 50m breaststroke for Biggleswade and Cooper Barnes came second. Emily Saunders (1.7s PB) was 3rd and Matthew Bentley(2sPB) 2nd in the 11/12 50m butterfly – a race which saw the first speeding ticket issued to Flitwick who swam faster than the cut-off time. Biggleswade suffered the same fate in the 13/14 IM as Emily Ashwin earned a speeding ticket and gaines a 2s PB but James Hancock scored maximum points, also with a 2s PB, as Flitwick were too fast in the boys race! Charlotte Jarvis won the 15/O 100m backstroke and Ben Wilson was 2nd. Cerys had a further success in winning the 50m freestyle and Jamie Waller was 2ndwith a 5s PB; then the 11/12 relay team, Ben Horsford, Iona Gourlay, Matthew Bentley and Sian Jones, cam 2nd in the first special relay two legs of breaststroke followed by two of butterfly.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 13/14 freestyle relay team – Emily Ashwin, Georgina Crowther, Rebecca Dickinson and Emma Roberts – beat both their rivals and the boys- Benjamin Horner (0.6s PB), James Hancock, Stephen Thom & Huw Jones - also took maximum points. Harriet Wase and Stephen Horner both took 2nd place in the 15/O 100m Breaststroke then Lauren Wilson won the 10/U 50m butterfly in a 5s PB but William Lowrie, coming home first, earned a speeding ticket and a 2.5s PB. The 11/12 100m IM saw both Dale Bean and Matthew Bentley win – Dale with a 1sPB and Matthew with 0.6s PB; then in the 13/14 100m backstroke Georgina was 2nd and Benjamin Horner scored maximum points as Flitwick fell to another speeding ticket.

Most Popular

Charlotte Jarvis and Adam Connell were 1st and 2nd in the 15/O freestyle races; then the 10/U special relay saw Charlotte Ashwin, Cooper Barnes, Lauren Wilson and William Lowrie take 2nd place – Charlotte gaining a 2s PB. The girls 13/14 freestyle relay team – Dale Bean, Iona Gourlay, Emily Saunders and Sian Jones – finished 2nd as did the boys’ team – Callum Crichton-Smith(0.5s PB), Ben Horsford, Miles Butler and Matthew Bentley. Emily Ashwin and Huw Jones both claimed 1st place in the 13/14 100m breaststroke then Elizabeth Dowsett also won in the 15/O 100m butterfly, but Stephen Horner had to settle for 2nd place although with a 5.6s PB!. Emma Shoobert scored top points and a 13s PB in the 10/U 100m IM as Flitwick earned a speeding ticket, then William also went too fast with a 2.6s PB and lost points to a speeding ticket giving Flitwick maximum points!

Iona Gourlay and Ben Horsford both won the 100m backstroke, Iona improving her PB by 1s and Ben his by 2.6s. Rebecca Dickinson won the 100m freestyle and James Hancock was 2nd; then the 15/O special rela team – Harriet, Stephen, Charlotte McConnell and Adam also came 2nd. Then the 10/U girls – Emma, Cerys, Lauren, Charlote Ashwin -won their freestyle relay – Emma with 1s PB. Dale Bean won the 100m Breaststroke; Emma Roberts won the 13/14 100m butterfly and Elizabeth Dowsett was 2nd in the 15/O 100m IM. Emma Shoobert earned a speeding ticket in the 50m backstroke in gaining a 2.5s PB and Cooper Barnes was 2nd with a 9s PB; Emily Saunders also came 2nd in the 100mfreestyle with 2.6s PB but Miles Butler won with a 2s PB. The home team won the 13/14 special relay but Flitwick stormed home I the final freestyle relay with a team of two of each age group. Final points showed Modernian 3rd with 77; Flitwick 2nd with 107 and Biggleswade – just ahead – winning with 114. The 22 PBs and significant number of speeding tickets showed how well the swimmers performed as they were all slower than the cut-off times before the gala! Biggleswade thanked the visiting teams for their challenges but were delighted to win back their trophy.