Worksop Dolphins Dukeries Open Meet - Saturday 1st September 2012

The Worksop gala in Sheffield is one of the only 50m pool competition that Chorley Marlins enter and is definitely worth attending. What a great weekend we had, to finish 5th out of 19 swimming clubs is an excellent achievement, well done to all concerned.

Have a look at the table and pictures below.

---

The mornings session started quite slow for some, it must have been the excellent breakfast we all had at the Astons hotel weighing us all down :), but eventually we found our form and we were holding our own against some stiff competition. 

100m Breast:
James Highcock silver and coincidently his sister Alex matched that same position in her age group with Anna Doughty going one better to win the gold in her age group.

50m Fly:
Connor Stevens and Elizabeth Woodcock took silver for the 10 year olds and Jack Dandy took the gold in his age group.

100m Free:
Bradley Astles came 4th while Jack Dandy took another silver and James Highcock came a respectable 5th in their age groups.
Anna Doughty flying the flag for the girls with another gold in the 12-13 age bracket.

50m Back:
Luka Hyam took 5th for the year olds, Anna Doughty won another gold in the 13/14 age group.

200m Freestyle Relays:
The 10 year old boys team of Luka Hyam,Mason Barnsley-Fowler,Callan Sharples and Connor Stevens fought extrememly well and deserved their silver medal, it would have been gold if not for opposition posting a 31 second final leg, ouch! 10 year olds doing 31 sec 50m free. The 12 year old girls team fought hard to take the silver.

200m Medley Relays:
The 12 & 14 year old girls relay teams both won silver while the 14 year old boys team took bronze. The 10 year old boys team again raced out of their skins to take home the gold (for me the race of the day, but I'm not biased am I :) The 14 year old boys also took home the bronze.

100m Fly:
Connor Stevens and Jack Dandy both came home in 4th in their age groups, well done it's not an easy race is the 100m Fly.

50m Free:
Jack Dandy on the medal hunt again with a silver in the 13/14 age group, and Elizabeth Woodcock took 4th place for the 10 year old girls. A great effort from Kelly-Anne-Roscoe saw her take the bronze for the 11-12 year old girls, While Anna Doughty took another gold in the 13-14 year old age group.

100m Back:
No medal positions but both Bradley Astles and Alex Highcock got a very credible 7th place finish overall between the combined 10/11 year olds.

50m Breast:
Connor Stevens and Callan Sharples both shared medal positions for the 10 year old boys with Connor getting the bronze and Callan settling for 4th place. James Highcock took 5th place in the over 15 category and coincidently his sister Alex also got 5th place for the 11-12 year old girls, matching one another again lol. Louisa Brophy also finished just behind Alex Highcock in 6th place, while Anna Doughty struck gold again for the 13-14 year olds.


Also of note is the fact that Anna Doughty won best 13 year old girl swimmer based on her best FINA points out of all her races, and that brings us to the final events - the skins.

Basically for those that don't know the 10 fastest 50m freestyle boys and girls battle it out over several heats to find the fastest on the day. After each race the slowest are eliminated until the final 2 go head to head.

We had 3 Chorley Marlins swimmers who qualified for the skins finals, they were James Highcock, Jack Dandy and Anna Doughty. Well done to you three for being in the top 10 fastest swimmers on the day.

Jack Dandy the not so small 13 year old fought really hard like Rocky on the ropes, the underdog in many respects up against older competition but breezed through to the final setting PB's along the way only to find his match and having to settle for silver, but what an achievement Jack well done. I have to mention though that the sight of Mary running the full 50m length of the pool shouting "go Jack go" was hilarious, but just goes to show the atmosphere you produced, great job.

Anna Doughty the consummate professional that has vision and awareness beyond her age. Her timing/pacing and judgement was spot on just doing enough each round until unleashing herself in the final to win the gold and coveted title of the fastest girl in the pool.

A great end to a fantastic gala from a Chorley Marlins point of view, and finally well done to all that competed that aren't mentioned above keep up the training and hard work.

(Look at the smiles of the 2 swimmers below, I bet they're still smiling now)

Now where's that 'cash for gold' envelope gone :)