Medals, Medals everywhere
With the Club’s Senior Sprint Gala being held at home and some of the club’s masters’ swimmers taking part in the Staffordshire Masters Open event at Stafford Leisure Centre, there was a lot to keep track of for our Chief Coach this last week-end.
Messrs Horne (50-54), Burrows (40-44), Houghton (25-29) and Thompson (25-29) travelled to Stafford and came away with 8 medals as they competed against swimmers from 49 clubs from across the Midlands and North West England. Grant Thompson (25-29) led the field in all three of his events bringing home three Gold medals in the 50m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly and 50m Breaststroke. Team mate Matt Houghton (25-29) took the Silver in the 50m Freestyle and was well ahead of the field in the 100m Backstroke to take Gold. Matt Burrows was narrowly beaten into 4th place in the 50m Freestyle, just .45 of a second denying him of 3rd. He made sure of a medal though in the 50m Breaststroke where he took Bronze. Chris Horne (50-54) took Silver in the 25m Backstroke and Gold in the 50m Backstroke.
Club mate Pamela Lane (55-59) was also competing at the event for the British Transplant Team and took three Gold (25m Backstroke, 50m Backstroke, 25m Breaststroke) and two Silver medals (50m Freestyle & 25m Freestyle) in a very pleasing days’ swimming.
Meanwhile, back in Leyland three other masters’ team mates were mixing it with the age groupers at the club’s Senior Sprint Gala. Giving away a good few years they still managed to get in the medals with Carole Jepson (35-39) taking Gold in the 50m Breaststroke, Silver in the 100m Breaststroke and Lee Williams (45-49) taking Bronze in the 50m Breaststroke. Carole, Lee and team mate Steven Allcock also set some good season times in their other events putting up a good show for the older members.
The stars of the show though were our younger age group swimmers. With a total of 748 entries and swimmers ranging from 9-19 yrs there was a total of 158 medals up for grabs and the chance to set some good times ready for the competitive season. There was some great swimming with numerous personal best times set – some, like Grace Adams taking quite a bit off their previous best times proving that hard work does pay off. Whether it was topping the medal table, making it to the podium for the first time, or improving previous best performances everyone had something to celebrate with the overall medal tables looking as follows:
| BOYS | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| Joshua Keogh | 9 | 9 | ||
| Jack Hepplestone | 9 | 9 | ||
| Ben Porter | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| Robert Littler | 6 | 3 | 9 | |
| Leo Taylor | 3 | 6 | 9 | |
| James Handford | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Kyle McKenna | 5 | 5 | ||
| Tom Arkwright | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| Rhys Powall | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| Richard Baldwin | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| Harry Wright | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Thomas Jepson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Oscar Arkwright | 1 | 1 | ||
| Seth Gregson | 1 | 1 | ||
| Owen Rasburn | 1 | 1 | ||
| Lee Williams | 1 | 1 |
| GIRLS | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| Emily Wade | 5 | 4 | 9 | |
| Olivia Ballard | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| Caitlin Wolstoneholme | 2 | 7 | 9 | |
| Rosie Linley | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Amelie Elliott | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Ella Blundell | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Poppy Elliott | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Rachel Baldwin | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Hannah Morris | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Lucy Handfod | 3 | 3 | ||
| Morgan Gaskell-French | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Carole Jepson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Rebecca Ward | 2 | 2 | ||
| Heidi Hailwood | 2 | 2 | ||
| Georgia Brockbank | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Abbie Myers | 2 | 2 | ||
| Assunta Russo | 1 | 1 | ||
| Olivia Robinson | 1 | 1 | ||
| Daniella Brady | 1 | 1 | ||
| Eve Pedley | 1 | 1 |
A very successful week-end and a great effort from all the volunteers who made the event run so professionally. Gill was delighted with the performances from all the club swimmers, young and not so young alike.