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DASC at Regional Championships

North East 25m Championships at Ponds Forge Sheffield

What a jam-packed weekend of racing at Ponds Forge for Darlington’s NER Qualifiers. A total of 13 swimmers made the journey and swam in a total of 70 events. The venue splits its 50m pool into two 25m pools to allow both competitions to run alongside each other.

Well done to all DASC swimmers who achieved qualifying times. A few of the swimmers who attended did not swim all the events they qualified in and unfortunately there were some rejections which meant some of our Age Group swimmers who did qualify could not compete in their events. Well done to those swimmers and be proud of yourselves for achieving a qualifying time.

Four swimmers from Top and A1 squads entered 29 events. All four swimmers swam extremely well and should be very proud of their achievements. Each event operated as heat declared winners and two of our Age group swimmers won Gold winning themselves the accolade of Regional Champion in their respective events, so a massive well done!

Harry Whitfield entered 10 events securing an amazing 5 podium finishes in the 13-year category;

  • North East Regional Champion – Gold in 800m Freestyle
  • Silver – 1500m Freestyle
  • Silver – 400m Freestyle
  • Silver – 200m Freestyle
  • Bronze – 100m Freestyle 

William Oliver also had an extremely busy weekend entering 11 events and securing 6 podium finishes in the 11-year category;

  • North East Regional Champion – Gold 50m breaststroke
  • Silver – 100m Breaststroke
  • Bronze – 100m Fly
  • Bronze – 100m IM
  • Bronze – 50m Freestyle
  • Bronze – 50m Back

Well done to all Age groups swimmers.

Missing from photo Ben M & Niamh K

Nine swimmers from Top Squad entered a total of 41 events. All swimmers swam against some 
tough competition and should be proud of their achievements.

  • Lewis Kestle swam an amazing 100m backstroke (1.01.84) which not only won him a position in the final in 9th but secured him his 2nd qualifying time for Scottish Nationals. Backing up his 100m backstroke was an even stronger 50m Backstroke, in a time of 28.38 seconds. This won him a place in the final in 8th place, a 3rd Scottish National qualifying time and a qualifying time for Swim England Winter Nationals which is an amazing achievement.  
  • Alex Morton swam another fabulous 200m Fly knocking more time off his very recent personal best and going under the 2.20.00 barrier. This qualified him for the final in 9th place. He also swam a fantastic 100 IM which secured his 2nd qualifying time for Scottish Nationals. 
  • Niamh Kay made two 16/under finals over the weekend, 100m Breaststroke and 50m Breaststroke. Niamh finished in 2nd place in 50m Breaststroke with a time of 34.98. 

Well done to all Open swimmers!

Swim England Summer Nationals

Summer Nationals were held at Ponds Forge during the first week of August.

Lucy Oliver swam in four events over three days, 50m and 100m Butterfly and 50m and 100m Freestyle. She swam exceptionally well against some tough competition with three swims close to pb’s and finished the meet off with a PB in 50m Butterfly.

Niamh Kay swam in her two favourite events, 50m and 100m Breaststroke. Niamh qualified for the 16 years 50m Breaststroke final in 10th place where there was only 1.05 secs between 1st and 10th !! She finished in 10th with an improved time from the heats by 0.3 secs.

British Summer Championships

Lucy Oliver swam in 200m Butterfly at British Summer Championships at Ponds Forge at the end of July. She finished in 23rd place in the 13/14 years Girls which is a fantastic achievement at her first British Championships. Well done Lucy.

Results Billingham Autumn Meet

23-24 September 2023

Amazing results for the first gala of the season. Well done to all swimmers!

Harry competes at National Open Water Championships July 2023

Harry Whitfield from Top Squad has been busy competing in Regional and National Open Water competitions in July.

Harry’s 1500m personal best time and ranking position earnt him an invitation to join an Open Water swimming camp in June. After attending and trying open water swimming for the first time, he entered Regional Championships to race the 2K.

Harry came 1st place in 12/13yrs category in a time of 30 mins 57 secs, receiving a gold medal for the N&D County and the North East Region.

This win gave Harry an automatic entry into the National Championships. He swam another 2K in Rother Valley, Sheffield, on Saturday 29th July and came an amazing 10th place with an improvement of 6 minutes from his Regional time! Well done Harry.

Report Lucy Procter

Diddy League Final 8th July 2023

What a fantastic afternoon at Tynemouth Pool for the Diddy League Final 2023. Everyone swam their hearts out and I am sure there will be a few sore throats from parents, the spectator area was extremely on form with the support today, BRILLIANT. The Darlington Team did amazingly well and finished in 2nd position.

The Final team points were:

  • Borocuda – 209
  • Darlington – 191
  • Gateshead & Whickham – 169
  • Chester-le-Street – 159
  • Durham City – 150

As well as receiving the runner up trophy the following medals were awarded to the Darlington Team:

  • Winners of the Cannon Race – congratulations to Nancy, Joseph, Sasha, Elodie, William, Amelia and Sebastian.
  • Overall 12 year old Team winners – congratulations to Amelia, Elodie, Jessica, Gracie-Mae, Sebastian, William, Oscar and Mayuh.