Blackpool North Lancs Age Groups, Youth & Championships (Jan 2012)

21/1/2012

The first gala of the year went swimmingly well for us (pardon the pun).

Spread over 4 days and 2 weekends this is a massive gala with clubs from all over North Lancashire in attendance. The entry times for this meet can be quite hard to achieve, but this year we had a record number of entrants swimming on our behalf.

27 swimmers in fact entered the gala, 16 boys and 11 girls. They were:

Swimming for the Boys:

Patrick Pender, Luka Hyam, Connor Stevens, Bradley Astles, Callan Sharples, Stephen Hancock, Jack Dandy, James Highcock, Wil Hawkes, Sam Parr, Callum Pritchard, Scott Beaumont, Mason Barnsley-Fowler, Ben Gibbs, Connah Chadwick and Mike Chadwick.

Swimming for the Girls:

Elizabeth Woodcock, Maddie Kennedy, Chloe Cottam, Eleanor Anwyl, Megan Ireland, Mariette Braithwaite, Alexandra Highcock, Kelly-Anne Roscoe, Martha Horton, Anna Doughty and Kate Doughty.

We saw some fine swims from these swimmers over the course of the gala, and I can't name everyone of note but you've all done us proud and represented your club extremely well. In fact I think it's safe to say that nearly everyone set PB's in most of the events they entered, which is great to see. WELL DONE!

Day 1 saw Chorley Marlins pick up 8 podium finishes:

Elizabeth Woodcock: 1st 50m Free (9 Years Old)
Luka Hyam: 2nd 50m Fly (9 Years Old)
James Highcock: 3rd 100m Breast (14 Years Old)
Elizabeth Woodcock: 1st 200m Free (9 Years Old)
Elizabeth Woodcock: 1st 200m Fly (9 Years Old)
James Highcock: 2nd 200m Breast (14 Years Old)
Patrick Pender: 3rd 50m Free (!6 Years Old)
James Highcock: 2nd 400m IM (14 Years Old)

Day 3 saw Chorley Marlins pick up 10 podium finishes:

Luka Hyam: 2nd 50m Free (9 Years Old)
Elizabeth Woodcock: 1st 50m Fly (9 Years Old)
James Highcock: 2nd 100m Back (14 Years Old)
Luka Hyam: 2nd 200m Free (9 Years Old)
Elizabeth Woodcock: 2nd 200m Fly (9 Years Old)
Anna Doughty: 1st 200m Breast (12 Years Old)
James Highcock: 3rd 200m IM (14 Years Old)
Anna Doughty: 1st 50m Free (12 Years Old)
James Highcock: 2nd 400m Free (14 Years Old)
Anna Doughty: 2nd 400m IM (12 Years Old)

Day 2 saw Chorley Marlins pick up 9 podium finishes:

Luka Hyam: 2nd 50m Back (9 Years Old)
James Highcock: 3rd 100m Free (14 Years Old)
Anna Doughty: 2nd 100m Fly (12 Years Old)
Anna Doughty: 2nd 100m Breast (12 Years Old)
Luka Hyam: 3rd 200m Back (9 Years Old)
Megan Ireland: 2nd 200m Breast (11 Years Old)
James Highcock: 2nd 200m Free (14 Years Old)
Anna Doughty: 3rd 800m Free (12 Years Old)
James Highcock: 1st 1500m Free(14 Years Old)

Day 4 saw Chorley Marlins pick up 3 podium finishes:

Anna Doughty: 2nd 100m Free (12 Years Old)
James Highcock: 3rd 100m Fly (14 Years Old)
Anna Doughty: 2nd 200m Free (12 Years Old)

In the afternoon session of day 4 we also entered a few teams into the relay events and although we didn't win anything we had some great team performances.

One performance in particular was the Open age 4x50m relay which saw one of our Masters swimmers, and parent of one of our younger swimmers, step in at the last minute. He didn't just make the numbers up, he did it in style, doing his 50m fresstyle leg in just a tad under 30 secs. Very commendable.

Mike Chadwick we salute you :) WELL DONE!

Summary.

Overall a very successful gala for Chorley Marlins, 30 podium finishes, immeasurable PB's, great team spirit, a great work ethic and not to mention that we now have over 20 swimmers who have attained entry times for the Lancashire County Championships in March. We couldn't ask for more could we?

Keep up the good work and long may these good times last.