2022 Champions – Southport Shrimps
On a cold, wet and windy Sunday, thirty nine intrepid Leyland Barracudas swimmers went off on a coach to Knowsley for the Southport Shrimps competition. Lane four was our selected lane, headed up by Gill and Steph with Simon and Carole at the bottom end supporting the second and fourth leg swimmers for the full on relay competition that ensued.
First up were the boys 12 years butterfly relay headed up by Finlay Warburton who made an excellent start to the afternoons racing with Jameson Hall keeping the pace for the second leg. Matthew Johnson and Matthew Bates both fought off some strong opposition to maintain second position. A fantastic start!! The 12 year old girls showed everyone what they were made of, Megan Ellis was neck and neck with Southport in the first leg, closely followed by Mia Argile who retained second position, Maiya Taylor and Elizabeth Adam gave it all they got to power through to first place, Leylands first victory of the day!
Finlay Metcalfe, Elijah Ferson, Oliver Owens and Henry Hodkinson made the boys 11 year old breaststroke look easy coming in first, closely followed by Pollyanna Hodgson, Felicity Coward, Esme Bretherton and Matilda Carey who worked hard to see off all the other teams winning with an impressive 10 metre gap in front of second place, Southport.
Max Marie and Daniel Rykoswki showed determination in the backstroke and breaststroke leg of the boys 10 years medley relay, with Max Roberts storming through to regain third position with William Taylor swimming a hard freestyle leg to finish in third place. Elsie Kay, Athena Johnstone, Grace Daniels and Jorgie-Mae Jones were the ‘dream team’ in the girls 10 years medley relay fighting hard to finish a very close second behind Chorley Marlins.
Our 9 year olds did us proud in the mixed freestyle relay with Thomas Owens, Erin Morris, George Watkinson and Elizabeth Bates all powering through to finish in first place.
Event 8 saw the 12 year old boys racing again in the freestyle relay, finishing in third place with some fantastic swimming. After event 8 the points were announced with Leyland ahead on 52 points…hot on their tails were Southport with 32 points. This really inspired all our swimmers with a cheer from the team, the coaches and helpers, Leyland were off again…
Lucie Jepson stepped up to help Megan Ellis, Elizabeth Adam and Maiya Taylor storm through to second place in the girls 12 years freestyle relay fighting hard to retain their position.
The 11 year old boys came second in the butterfly relay with an impressive swim, followed by the 11 year old girls in their butterfly relay, Rosa Dunbavin took over from Esme Bretherton with a strong finish, Casey Jack fought off Chorley Marlins with Felicity Coward storming through to finish in first position.
The 10 year old boys breaststroke team were up against some tough competition, they all swam fantastically, finishing in fifth position. Next up were the girls 10 years breaststroke team who stormed through to an impressive first place.
The mixed 9 year old medley relay put in a strong performance, Erin Morris headed up the backstroke with Anastasia Kerr, Thomas Owens and Myles Best all putting in solid swims to come in, in first place.
After event 14 came the points announcement, Leyland had an impressive 100 points followed by Southport with 86 points, with Everton retaining third place on 67 points. “COME ON LEYLAND” shouted the crowd!!
The 12 year old boys were back in action with an impressive start from Finley Warburton in the backstroke, Matthew Bates held strong in the breaststroke leg with Matthew Johnson storming through on the butterfly leg, Jameson Hall finishing the freestyle leg in an impressive third place. The 12 year old girls medley team saw Megan Ellis come in neck and neck on the backstroke leg, taking over was Neve Ascroft who worked hard to hold second position in what was a tough breaststroke leg, Maiya Taylor and Elizabeth Adam both stormed through in the butterfly and freestyle legs to finish in an impressive second place.
Finlay Metcalfe kept kicking to the end of the first leg of the boys 11 year old freestyle relay with Elijah Ferson, Oliver Owens and Henry Hodkinson putting on an awesome display to finish in second place. Philippa Rankin was like a rocket in the first leg of the girls 11 year old freestyle relay with Esme Bretherton, Rosa Dunbavin and Felicity Coward keeping the pace and seeing off Chorley Marlins to win the race.
The girls 10 year old butterfly events was phenomenal with the girls finishing in first place with a 10 metre lead!! Momentum picked up the pace with the 9 year old breaststroke team who didn’t disappoint. Myles Best, Thomas Owens, Caoimhe Ruscoe and Elizabeth Bates all putting in outstanding performances for another win under Leyland’s hats!
With only ten events remaining the points were announced again with Leyland taking the top spot with 194 points with the gap narrowing slightly with Southport on 177 points…..the race to win was on…..
The 12 year old boys and girls breaststroke teams both came up against some tough opposition, the boys fought hard to come in in third position, with the girls finishing in second position. The boys 11 year old medley relay team did it again with an impressive second place finish with the girls keeping the opposition at bay, Philippa Rankin didn’t draw breathe on the freestyle leg to see them storm through to first place.
Before the excitement of the cannon events came the boys and girls 10 year old freestyle relays. Phenomenal swims from both teams saw them come in third place and first place respectively. This was followed by the mixed 9 year old butterfly relay who left our competitors for dust, well done to Thomas Owens, Myles Best, Elizabeth Best and Caoimhe Ruscoe!
The canon events saw some amazing swimming by all swimmers involved, the boys canon (George Watkinson, Myles Best, Daniel Rykowski, William Taylor, Henry Hodkinson, Oliver Owens, Matthew Bates and Matthew Johnson) swam for their lives and held on to second place. The girls canon (Caoimhe Ruscoe, Anastasia Kerr, Athena Johnstone, Lucy Adam, Felicity Coward, Casey Jack, Elizabeth Adam and Maiya Taylor) stormed through 10 metres ahead of all the other teams to finish in first place. The mixed canon impressed from the start with Erin Morris setting the bar coming in first position, closely followed by Thomas Owens, Elsie Kay, Max Roberts, Philippa Rankin, Finlay Metcalfe, Megan Ellis and Finley Warburton, you were epic!!
Congratulations to all the swimmers involved, it was a pleasure to watch you all work hard as a team and support each other, you should all be immensely proud. Big thank you to all the coaches and helpers too.
