Well done to all swimmers who competed at the first gala of 2024!
Congratulations to Lewis Kestle who swam in 50m Backstroke at the Swim England National Winter Championships. Lewis had an exceptional swim against some of the fastest swimmers in the country and came away with a PB time of 28.29 seconds. Amazing achievement Lewis, as a result of all of your hard work!
Five Top Squad swimmers competed in 13 events at Scottish National Short Course Championships in Edinburgh 9-10th December.
Emily Burrell qualified in four sprint events. She swam two huge PB’s in 50m Breaststroke and 100 IM, matched her PB in 50m Butterfly and just missed out on a PB in 50m Freestyle by 0.01 seconds!! Great weekend of racing.
Lewis Kestle qualified in three sprint events. He swam a PB in 50m Butterfly whilst his 50m and 100m Backstroke were both within 0.3 seconds of PB’s that he had set only 4 weeks prior at NER Championships.
Alex Morton has continued to drop time in his 200m Butterfly, taking another 2.4 seconds off his PB! He also swam a great 100 IM (with only 10 minutes break) to be just outside of his PB set at NER Championships in Nov.
Niamh Kay swam two solid swims in 50m and 100m Breaststroke, with a season’s best in the 100m!
Harry Whitfield swam in his best event, 1500m Freestyle, in a very respectable 17 mins 25. Although not quite a personal best time, Harry was one of the youngest swimmers at the Open competition at just 13yrs! Amazing achievement to get the Open qualifying time at National level.
Well done to the 2023 club diving champions :
Boys 10 years and under champion Isaac Selby
Girls 10 years and under champion Alexa Cooper
Boys 11 to 13 years champion Evan Cooper
Girls 11 to 13 years champion Katie Foreman
Boys 14 years and over champion Toby Archbold
Girls 14 years and over champion Georgina Burns
Well done to Evan Cooper winning a silver medal representing the Northeast Region in Manchester last weekend. It was a very close competition, he narrowly missed gold by just 4 points. Alexa Cooper also represented the Northeast Region coming a respectable 7th being one of the youngest competitors in her age group.
What a fantastic weekend of racing Scarlett has had at the British Down Syndrome Championships at K2 in Crawley. Accomplishing the top podium position in the 11-16 year-old category for 200 freestyle, 50m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 50m breaststroke. In addition, her 100m backstroke time also ranked her 3rd over all age groups, gaining her the bronze medal in the open group. What an amazing achievement. Next stop is Turkey for Scarlett after she has been selected to compete at the World Down Syndrome Swimming Championships in 2024 in Turkey. Straight back to training Scarlett !
Well done Scarlett!
This short course event was held at K2 Crawley and was open to swimmers with Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21) or Mosaic Down Syndrome. The meet had 4 age categories: Juniors (16/Under), Seniors (17-24), Masters 1 (25-34) and Masters 2 (35/Over).
In each of her races Scarlett achieved a PB, knocking a massive 19.40 seconds off her 100m Backstroke and 13.08 seconds off her 200m Freestyle and a 2.68 seconds off her 50 Freestyle. The below pdf is a snapshot of the combined results for the Age Groups (16/Under) and all other Age groups (Open).
| Event | Club | Time |
| 10 Yrs/Over 200m Female Freestyle | Darlington | 03:28.19 – PB- GOLD (11-16 year-old category) |
| Female 10 Yrs/Over 50m Breaststroke | Darlington | 01:03.19 – PB – GOLD (11-16 year-old category) |
| Female 10 Yrs/Over 100m Backstroke | Darlington | 01:51.63 – PB – GOLD (11-16 year-old category) BRONZE (Over all age groups) |
| Female 10 Yrs/Over 50m Freestyle | Darlington | 43.63 – PB – GOLD (11-16 year-old category) |
Congratulations to Sebastian (A1 squad) who has been selected for the Northumberland and Durham Development Programme for the 12 year old age group as of December 31 2023. This excellent opportunity starts on 2nd December at Sunderland Aquatics Centre.
The camps are integrated into the Northumberland and Durham Development Programme, offering young swimmers a unique opportunity to enhance their skills and physical literacy. The key objectives include developing fundamental movement skills, honing core aquatic skills, and advancing technical proficiency in all four competitive strokes. Enjoy your experience Seb!
Reference: https://asaner.org.uk/northumberland-and-durham-development-programme-launches-first-face-to-face-swim-camp/
