A Grand Day Out!
From our roving reporter Jayne Elliott
After months of meticulous planning the big day finally arrived and the cry of ‘We need to go NOW‘ was echoing in my head.
Rumour has it that at least one 12-year-old swimmer (Megan) left so early to make sure they secured seats on the back of the bus that the coaches hadn’t even set off from Rufford when she arrived.
They needn’t have worried though – Team Manager Simon Welsby was already on it – calling them out, ticking them off on his very official looking register and allowing them onto the bus first. Thanks Simon – we would never have heard the end of it otherwise!!
So, what were we all doing stood outside Leyland Leisure Centre at 7.45am on a dark Sunday morning – loaded with provisions – and about to embark on a very exciting journey?
Cast your mind back to 27th February 2022 and a trip to Wigan for the start of North West Micro League season. That day the team came away with a convincing win which was subsequently followed by another three wins by the end of July.
With no Grand Final in September, it was agreed that Leyland go forward to represent the North West Region at the National Junior Inter-League Final at Corby International pool on 27th November.
So that was that. The date was set, the coaches booked and before we knew it, we were off! Not since 2001 had Leyland made it to the finals – so except for a few parents and volunteers who either swam at that time or were otherwise involved none of us really knew what to expect.
As the swimmers eagerly made their way onto the larger of the two coaches a few of us smiled – that was one noisy coach full of very excited children and an even more excited Steph Johnstone – who quickly got to work with the face paint.
The parents of course formed an orderly queue and boarded the other bus where they could sit, relax, and have a rest in peace.
We made excellent progress – well who else was travelling on the M6 at 8am on a Sunday morning – stopping off at the rather nice Service Station on the M6 toll road for a break.
However, as the swimmers piled off the bus it was immediately apparent that an alarming transformation had taken place since they left Leyland. Our sons and daughters were no longer recognisable wearing an array of enormous green sunglasses, green hair wigs, Shrek ears, green scarfs, leg warmers and covered in face paint.
Fortunately, the little green monsters were all very well behaved, and we were allowed into the service station for a bit of breakfast before we rounded them up and all piled back onto the coaches and set off again.
On arriving at Corby, the swimmers – now also brandishing whistles to deafen us with – were cheered by the parents as they got off the bus and congregated outside.
They were joined at this point by Phillipa Rankin who was unable to swim having broken her foot. Phillipa went onto poolside with the team and cheered for everyone throughout the match.
Team captains this year were Megan Ellis and Finlay Warburton – two absolute superstars who swam their best throughout the season and supported the team in every match. Assisted by some of the other swimmers Megan and Finlay led the team in a dry side warm up and an impromptu sing song as they waited to be let into the leisure centre.
The excitement continued to build as the other teams arrived – all equally noisy, dressed up and carrying flags and banners and as the swimmers headed towards the changing rooms, we – the spectators – armed with our golden tickets – followed the queue of people upstairs to the spectator gallery.
Each team was allocated a separate seating area with ours being the first block of seating as you entered the gallery. With no seats to spare – and a little organisation orchestrated by Jenny Adam – we all settled down and waited for the proceedings to begin.
With warm up completed it was time for the swimmers to dry off and put on their Micro National Finals T Shirts again and to find those whistles!
Each teams competing (Leyland Barracudas, City of Leeds, Leamington Spa, Newcastle Swim Team, Lincoln Vulcans, Nuneaton & Bedworth and Kingston Royals) was announced and then paraded around the pool while we cheered them on.
Finally, accompanied to the music from Star Wars the officials – including our very own Jenny Taylor, Shirley Russo and Ruth Owens – took up their positions ahead of the National Anthem and at 2pm the referee blew his whistle and ‘we’ were off!
The final was run using the same race format that the swimmers were used to but with a few differences. This time swimmers would be diving from both ends of the pool so there was no getting into the water and clinging onto the wall until you could go.
The other more significant difference was that there was no Team Manager stood at the blocks telling you when to go, reminding you what you were swimming, how many lengths you had to do or checking that you had your hat and goggles on.
Swimming in a National final against the best teams in the country was always going to be tough but preparation was key.
They’d practiced this. They’d be trained for this. They knew what to do. They tried their best. They WERE AWESOME!!!!!!
Micro matches always start and end with relay races and first off were our 12-year-old swimmers. Hit hard by the COVID pandemic our current 12-year-old swimmers quite literally went from being the 9-year-old newbies to being the oldest in one big jump! Despite this they most held their own with the girls medley team securing the first of our points with a 4th place swim, followed by the boys who came 5th.
Next up were the 9-year-olds who had previously swum in mixed relays. This being the final the competition reverted to separate relay races for girls and boys giving the opportunity for additional swimmers to be brought into the team for the final. Both the girls and the boys relay teams swam well coming 5th and 6th respectively.
Everyone involved in the club should be proud of every swimmer that took part this year and actually swimming in a national final was just as much about the experience as it was about the results.
With 49 races and 104 individual swims every child swam at least one race and contributed to the final score. There were 53 personal best times – which is impressive considering that the Club Championships was only a week earlier. Every swimmer tried their best, and every swimmer made us proud.
I can’t give a blow by blow account of every race so I don’t propose to try.
That said there were some stand out performances that should not go unmentioned.
We were all on our feet when the 10-year-old girls medley relay team made up of Erin Morris – who is still only 9, Athena Johnstone, Elsie Kay and Jorgie-Mae Jones got our first win of the day in the 100 metre medley relay in a very impressive time of 1.08.99.
This was followed by four more wins with Erin Morris winning the 50-metre freestyle individual event in a great time of 34.60 and Johnny Wright putting in a very powerful performance to win the 50-metre butterfly in 31.92 seconds.
Erin Morris obliterated the opposition in the 50-metre backstroke with a time of 40.53 and Thomas Owens won the 25-metre butterfly race.
It was Thomas Owens (this time without his trademark Spiderman hat) who left us all speechless. I don’t know what Thomas had for breakfast but I think we all need some! He won the 25-metre butterfly in a blisteringly quick time of 13.62 seconds which was a new National Junior Micro League record smashing the record previously set in 2017 by over 2.5 seconds. Well done Thomas!!!!!
Finally, and really capturing the spirit of the event and how much it meant to the swimmers, were the 11-year-old girls 25 metre freestyle relay team of Felicity Coward, Rosa Dunbavin, Casey Jack and Esme Bretherton. They finished sixth in their race but every single swimmer swam a personal best time in that relay. Well done girls.
A huge congratulations to all the swimmers taking part:
Elizabeth Adam, Elizabeth Bates, Megan Billington, Esme Bretherton, Felicity Coward, Rosa Dunbavin, Yasmin Elliott, Megan Ellis, Jessie Hall, Seren Haynes, Pollyanna Hodgson, Casey Jack, Lucie Jepson, Athena Johnstone, Jorgie-Mae Jones, Elsie Kay, Anastasia Kerr, Erin Morris, Philippa Rankin, Caoimhe Ruscoe, Maiya Taylor, Myles Best, Elijah Ferson, Sebastien Hailwood, Henry Hodkinson, Matthew Johnson, Barnaby Lancaster, Max Marie, Finlay Metcalfe, Joseph Monk, Oliver Owens, Thomas Owens, Max Roberts, Daniel Rykowski, Ethan Sappaso, William Taylor, Finlay Warburton, George Watkinson, Jamie Weetman and Johnny Wright
It was a real team effort. Consistently good swimming kept them in 5th place throughout the competition and the team should be really pleased with how they performed.
Here is a summary of the final positions and points:
1st 350 City Of Leeds
2nd 271 Leamington Spa
3rd 266 Newcastle Swim Team
4th 257 Nuneaton & Bedworth
5th 212 Leyland Barracudas
6th 181 Kingston Royals
7th 161 Lincoln Vulcans
Finally, no report can end without mentioning two very special people.
Gillian Rankin has coached many of the swimmers competing for the team since they were very young. She has always been a passionate supporter of the North West Micro League and after COVID pulled out all the stops to make sure that the event took place in 2022. Gillian was instrumental in getting the team to the Micro National Finals because of commitment and years of hard work and dedication. Gillian was at the final as a representative of the Micro League and although I didn’t see it myself, I am told she was dancing with joy at how well they all did.
Simon Welsby stepped up to the challenge of taking on the role of Team Manager in difficult circumstances and pulled everything together. His organisation and commitment to making this something that the swimmers will remember forever was exceptional. Thankyou Simon.