North West Champions in Blackpool
On a warm Saturday afternoon in early September our Micro A team set off to Blackpool to compete in the North West Micro League final. This event is competed by the 4 teams who finished in the top 4 places of Division A which Leyland won in June.
When the swimmers got on to poolside they even got their parents to join in singing from the spectator area so everyone knew Mighty Mighty Leyland were here.
Each team (Preston, Leyland, Blackpool & Southport) were announced and then the Green Army of swimmers paraded around the pool while everyone cheered them on.
The final was run using the same race format that the swimmers were used to during the league season. Micro galas always start and end with relay races and first off were our 12-year-old swimmers. The girls and boys medley teams secured the first of our points with 3rd placed finishes each.
Next up were the 9-year-olds in the freestyle relay and the girls came 3rd and the boys were victorious. This started a purple patch as our 10 year old girls and boys were both 1st in their medley races and the 11 year old girls won their freestyle relay race and the boys came an impressive 2nd.
Following the initial 8 relay races, there were 32 individual races (each stroke in each age group for both boys and girls). Everyone did so well and special mention to Noah Douglas, Caoimhe Ruscoe, Erin Morris (twice), Austin Richardson, Philippa Rankin, Thomas Owens (twice), Eloise Tranah who were victorious in their races.
We then moved back to 8 relay races with some more fantastic team swims before the final race of the event, the cannon. The cannon really captures the spirit of the event and involves 1 girl and boy from each age group all swimming 1 length freestyle. All the swimmers were standing around the edge of the pool screaming and cheering their fellow swimmers on and in the end we just pipped Preston to win the race.
Then there was the agonising wait to see who had won and when the announcer said there was only 3 points between 1st and 2nd, everyone waited anxiously before the announcer stated Leyland had won and the cheering started.
Felicity Coward and Oliver Owens went up to collect the trophies for winning the A Division and the North West final and also a special mention to Thomas Owens who collected the award for top boy in Division A for 2023.
This was a real team effort with no disqualifications and their reward is a trip to the National Micro League Final at the end of November in Corby for the second year running.
With 49 races and 104 individual swims every child swam at least one race and contributed to the final score. There were 40 personal best times – which is impressive considering that we only had returned from the summer break 3 weeks earlier. Every swimmer tried their best, and every swimmer made us proud.
A huge congratulations to all the swimmers taking part:
Felicity Coward, Esme Bretherton, Pollyanna Hodgson, Lucie Jepson, Philippa Rankin, Casey Jack, Seren Haynes, Athena Johnstone, Jorgie-Mae Jones, Elsie Kay, Elizabeth Bates, Erin Morris, Caoimhe Ruscoe, Jessie Hall, Neve Connolly, Rose Allcock, Esther Newton, Eloise Tranah, Emily Helm, Effie Scorah, Henry Hodkinson, Thomas Owens, Ethan Sappaso, Isaac Higgins, William Taylor, Austin Richardson, Daniel Rykowski, Joseph Monk, Myles Best, Oliver Owens, George Watkinson, Matthew Williams, Noah Douglas, Oliver Rankin Edward, Eli Grimbaldeston & Jack Smith
Also a huge thank you to everyone who helped make this happen:
Simon Welsby (Team Manager), Ste Davison (Head Coach), Steph Johnstone, Shelley Hall, Carole Jepson, Steven Allcock and our officials Ruth Owens and Catherine Bates.
Here is a summary of the final positions and points:
1st 141 Leyland Barracudas
2nd 138 Preston
3rd 125 Blackpool
4th 77 Southport