Worksop Dolphins Open Meet Aug 2011.

Marlins Making Waves in Sheffield.

On Sunday 28th August 36 swimmers, 16 girls and 20 boys from our club crossed the Pennines to compete in the 27th Dukeries Open Swimming Meet at Sheffield’s National Sports Centre, Ponds Forge.

This annual meet saw teams from 39 clubs take part in 16 individual events and 12 relay events.  Each swimmer is grouped by age and sex and competes against other swimmers within that group.  Awards are given for the top 6 placed finishers for each race.


The Girls were:                                     
Elizabeth Woodcock, Rhyanna Wilson, Maddie Kennedy, Eleanor Anwyl, Mariette Braithwaite, Chloe Cottam, Alexandra Highcock, Caitlin Wilson, Caitlin Thompson, Megan Ireland, Anna Doughty, Anna Nikolakis, Rhiannon Crist, Nicole Coombes, Martha Horton and Fionnula Hart
The Boys were:
Henry Wilson, Conner Stevens, Mason Fowler, Callan Sharples, Luka Hyam, Dominic Lewis, Jack Wilson, Lorcan Hart, Stephen Hancock, Tom Mainon, Callum Pritchard, Ben Gibbs, Jack Dandy, Scott Beaumont, Harry England, Sam Parr, Alex Walmsley, Oliver Horton, James Highcock and Philip Carr

The first event was the 100m Breaststroke and straight away saw Marlins win 3 medals Stephen Hancock got the ball rolling with a Bronze, James Highcock a well deserved 6th place and Anna Doughty was crowned Girls 12/13yr old Champion.This seemed to set the tone for the day and saw Marlins take 7 medals from the next event the 50m Butterfly. Luka Hyam and Callan Sharples getting a Bronze and a 4th in the 9yr old boys race then Lorcan Hart produced a great swim to grab 6th in the 10yr old race.  Jack Dandy was next to win a medal when he took Gold in the 11/12yr old category then James Highcock was narrowly piped into 2nd in the 14yr old race.  Two further medals were won by the girls, Elizabeth Woodcock swimming in her 1st competitive long course race took a great 5th place in the 9yr old race and then Anna picked up her 2nd medal with 5th place in the 11/12yr olds race.

Shortly after Jack added a 5th in the 100m freestyle and a 4th in the 50 backstroke taking his tally to three.  Not to be outdone Anna and James both picked up their 3rd medal of the morning with Anna taking 5th in the 100m Freestyle and James another closely fought 2nd in the 50m Backstroke.  Soon after another one of our first timers Conner Stevens took 4th place in the 9yr old boys 50m Backstroke.  Marlins swimmers were now in the zone and were soon back in the medals with Stephen Hancock picking up 4th in the 100m boys Butterfly.

Then came the blue ribbon event the 50m Freestyle, with more than 165 girls and 140 boys taking part, this is the event that everyone wants to win.  To be crowned the fastest swimmer for your age group is a great achievement.  What an achievement it was Marlins picked up 7 medals from this event with Jack Dandy and Anna Doughty winning Gold and making it a clean sweep in the 11/12yr old category.  Other medals came from James Highcock, 2nd, Elizabeth and Conner each a 4th with Maddie Kennedy and Callan Sharples each getting a 6th.  Anna’s time saw her finish 6th overall and qualified her for the 50m Freestyle swim of final ‘The Skins’ at the end of the day.

Further medals followed with Callum Pritchard a 5th in the 100m Backstroke, Anna picked up her 5th medal with an excellent swim to take 3rd in the Girls 100m Backstroke.  Scott Beaumont was next to grab a medal with a 5th in the Boys 50m Breaststroke closely followed by Stephen who finished 6th to pick up his 3rd medal of the day.  It didn’t stop there James finally got the recognition he deserved for a days hard work and was crowned 13/14yr old Boys 50m Breaststroke Champion.  Maddie Kennedy then picked up her 2nd medal with a 6th place in the girls 9yr 50m Breaststroke.

Next came the turn of Alex Highcock, having seen her big brother take Gold she produced her best swim of the day and took a superb Silver in the 50m 10yr old Girls Breastroke narrowly missing out on gold by less than 4 tenths of a second.  Finishing of the individual races was Anna who picked up her 6th medal of the day a Silver in the 11/12yr old 50m breaststroke.

32 Medals from individual swims, what an achievement.

Now for the relay teams.  Swam over 200m in 3 different age categories, 10 and under, 12 and under and 14 and under in both freestyle and Medley disciplines Medals were awarded for top 3 places.  Marlins teams collected a huge 10 medals.  These medals came as follows.

BOYS:
10 yr & U ‘A’ Team.
Silver in the Freestyle
Silver in the Medley
10 yr & U ‘B’ Team.                                                                     
Bronze in the Freestyle
12 yr & U.
Gold in the Freestyle
Gold in the Medley
14 yr & U.
Bronze in the Freestyle
Bronze in the Medley

GIRLS:
10 yr & U
Bronze in the Freestyle
Silver in the Medley
12 yr & U
Silver in the Medley

Particular mention should go to the boys 12 yr & U team of Stephen Hancock, Ben Gibbs, Scott Beaumont and Jack Dandy.  After not being permitted to swim in the race 200m medley race due to an error by a race official they had to swim in a lane during the 14yr olds 200m freestyle event.  Without competitive swimmers to pace themselves against they had to go it alone and swam against the clock in a hope to beat the times from the previous race.  They all swam superbly and achieved a winning time with over 3 seconds to spare, well done guys.

The final event of the day was the 50m Skins Final.  For those who weren’t there a skins race is a knockout competition whereby after each swim the slowest competitor is eliminated until the final 2 remain and go head to head to be crowned Sprint Champion.  As I mentioned early Ann had qualified as the 6th fastest for the race which bearing in mind she was the youngest competitor to be in the race is a fantastic achievement in itself.  Anna was swimming against the cream of the swimmers at the event.  She did amazingly well and battled through 5 hard fought rounds before being eliminated in the 6th round.

This truly is a tremendous achievement, one which we should all be proud of.  At only 12 years old to finish as 4th fastest Girl in the entire competition deserves a huge pat on the back and just goes to show what dedication to your training can achieve.  Well done Anna I can’t wait to see you swim again next year.

If you have managed to keep reading this far it doesn’t stop there.  Three of our swimmers were also named in the swimmer of the competition awards.

Jack was rightfully awarded Best Boy for the 11/12yr old category for his efforts throughout the day. James came 2nd overall in the 14yr old boys category and Anna was piped by only 1pt finishing 2nd in the 11/12yr old girls category.

Finally, after winning an unbelievable 42 medals Chorley Marlins Swimming Club (one of the smallest clubs at the event) took Bronze in the overall club points standings.  This is a superb result for our club, to finish 3rd from 39 clubs against teams from Rotherham, Potters Bar and Wakefield is further evidence that just goes to show how good this club is, from the quality of the training and teaching staff to the dedicated parental supporters, backroom staff and hard working committee.  We should all be very proud of what we have achieved. On that note I should say a big Thankyou to all of the parents who sat in the sweltering heat to support the children you all deserve a medal.

Well done everyone, I look forward to the Microleague swim of Final and the final round of the North Lancs competition.

Keep up the good work.

BIG Stu.

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