South East Regional record for 15 minutes at first weekend of competition

Eleven swimmers from the City of Canterbury Swimming Club competed in the South East Region BAGCAT Championships held at Crawley all of whom swam well, with some excellent results and numerous personal best times. The competition spanned two weekends the first of which was on 31st May and 1st June. 

Congratulations must firstly go to Oliver Kilbey aged 11 who had a very impressive 400m freestyle race and held the South East Region Record for approx. 15 minutes when the record was then taken by Thomas Gregson of Portsmouth Northsea by .34 of a second.  Oliver’s time of 4.52.98 earned him 2nd place which was a fantastic achievement.  He also finished 5th in the 100m freestyle, 21st in 200m backstroke and 23rd in 100m backstroke.

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Eleanor Weymouth aged 10 and Erin Walsh aged 11 both had a successful weekend, swimming particularly well in 200m Individual Medley.  They both qualified for the finals and finished in 6th place in each of their age groups.  Erin also showed determination in the 400m IM coming 7th,  also 5th in 200m backstroke, 8th in 100m backstroke, 9th in 100m butterfly and 19th in 100m freestyle.  Eleanor was also placed 10th in 200m backstroke, 16th in 100m backstroke and 16th in 100m freestyle. In the 400m freestyle 14 age group, Dan Seagrove-Castle swam consistently well and finished 4th.   He was also 11th in 100m butterfly and 14th in 200m IM.

Ege Sever aged 13 competed well in the 100m backstroke and finished in 6th place.  He also finished 11th in 400m IM, 11th in 100m butterfly, and 18th in 200m backstroke and 22nd in 200m IM.

Excellent results were also obtained in the first weekend from: Charlie Champs (12) 8th 100m butterfly, 10th 400m freestyle, 14th 100m freestyle, 16th 200m IM; Liam Drew (13) 10th 100m butterfly, 13th 100m freestyle, 28th 200m IM, 31st 400m freestyle; Sophie Weymouth (13) 9th 200m backstroke, 14th 200m IM, 15th 400m IM, 20th 100m backstroke, 29th 100m freestyle; Caroline Robinson (13) 19th 400m freestyle, 21st 100m freestyle, 26th 100m backstroke; Nicole Prosser (13) 16th 100m backstroke, 23rd 200m backstroke; and Bethany Seaman (12) 17th 100m freestyle.

Ben gains backstroke National time at Sheffield

On a busy weekend for City of Canterbury swimmers, Ben Walsh travelled further afield to Sheffield to compete in the Derventio Excel Open . The long journey was justified as Ben swam a fine series of events. He competed in the 14 year old category in the following events:100m Backstroke, where he was 4th . 200m Freestyle, where he was 3rd in a personal best time and the 200m Backstroke, where he was 2nd in a personal best time and National Qualifying Time

Sophie secures National spot at 2nd weekend of competition

City of Canterbury swimmer Sophie Weymouth (13) produced an impressive display of long distance swimming to gain an automatic entry time into next month’s National  Championships during the final weekend of competition at this year’s  South East Region Championships held at Crawley over 14th -15th June.

Competing in the Mixed 1500m Freestyle event she registered consistent split times throughout to finish the race in a time of 18:43.90, some six seconds ahead of the national qualifying time for her age group. She will now join other team-mates in Sheffield at the end of July where she will compete against the best swimmers in the country

Sophie was part of a group of City of Canterbury swimmers aged 10-14 years competing against clubs from as far afield as Oxford and Guernsey at the weekend event, which collectively comprised the best competitive swimming clubs across the South East Region.

In the preceding event, the Boys 10-14 years 200m Freestyle, Ege Sever (13), Dan Seagrove-Castle (14), Oliver Kilby (11), Charlie Champs (12) and Liam Drew (13) all put in spirited performances, with the latter three swimmers all improving hugely upon their declared entry times.

Highlights of the second day’s competition for the Kingsmead based club were superb personal best performances from Bethany Seaman (12), who recorded a time of 2:24.50 in the Girls’ 10-13 200m Freestyle, which represented a huge 5 seconds off her long course entry time, and Dan Seagrove-Castle (14), who reduced his personal best time by a similar amount in the mixed 800m Freestyle to finish 5th overall in his age group.

Mention should also be made of brothers Sam and Jamie Woodard, who are both newcomers to the club. Sam (13) and Jamie (10) both put in very creditable performances over both days in their first competition as City of Canterbury swimmers. Jamie was also competing for the first time in a long course 50m pool, as was 10 year old Eleanor Weymouth, who produced a string of personal best times which contributed to an overall highly successful championships for the club.

The swimmers’ thanks go to all the club officials who looked after the competitors on poolside during both weekends of the championships and also to the parent spectators for their encouragement and support.