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Head Coach:
Steve Heaps
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07899994337
Email:
Work: steve.heaps@
baesystems.com
Home: heapsy4@
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Swimming Success at the Nationals

(Photo l-r: Joanne Cutler, Jack Smith, Oliver Walker, Katie Mawdsley, Abbie Kitcher, Georgia Barton, Dave Fairhurst, Cameron Austin)

Preston Swimming Club took an unprecedented 7 swimmers to the national championships and came away with an amazing medal haul of 1 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze. Cameron Austin took a gold, silver and a bronze, Katie Mawdsley two silver and a bronze and Oliver Walker took a bronze.

The National Age Group (girls 11-13 years and boys 11-14 years) and Youth (girls 14-17 years and boys 15-18 years) Championships take place at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield - the home of UK swimming, and see the elite swimmers from across the UK compete to become the best in the country. It is from these athletes it is hoped that future Olympic gold medallists like Olympic heroine Rebecca Addlington will arise.

In addition to the individual success, Preston demonstrated that it had come of age as a club and could compete alongside the country’s best – of the 137 clubs represented at the Age Group Championships, Preston finished in joint seventh place, with only Stockport Metro from the North West finishing higher.

Preston’s Head Coach, Dave Fairhurst, was understandably very proud with the swimmers success. Fairhurst said “I was tremendously pleased with the fact that we were able to take seven swimmers to the National Championships as this is more than we have ever had qualify in the past. On top of this, the performance they put in was unbelievable; I knew that they were well prepared but to come away with seven medals, including a gold, is amazing. Of the 27 swims the swimmers achieved a personal best times in 19 races, a rate of 70%, which demonstrates how well prepared they were for the competition.

I cannot praise enough the swimmers who have shown magnificent commitment to training and competition through the season – it has to be remembered that they are training around 16 hours a week including sessions in the early mornings before they go to school. It also has to be recognised that this would not have been possible without the commitment of all the coaching staff at Preston, there are people putting in long hours at all levels in the club to ensure we bring swimmers through from the teaching programme to compete at this level. We are also grateful for the support and help we get from Preston City Council and the staff at the two Leisure Centres, without the willingness to get behind the club we cannot bring in results like this.”

12 year old Cameron Austin timed his race to perfection, turning second with only 50m to go, he finished the race with power to take gold in the 200m butterfly in a time of 2.17.22, beating arch rivals from the North West, Elliot Hynes of City of Salford and James Guy of Swim Trafford. In the 100m fly, Austin took silver in a time of 1.03.41with Salford’s Hynes taking revenge with gold.

Austin completed his medal tally with bronze in the 400m individual medley in a time of 5.07.74 as well as coming 7th in the 400 freestyle, 5th 200m IM, and 8th 100m breaststroke and in the overall points classification, the British Age Group Category (BAGCAT) points system, Austin came third overall demonstrating his all round swimming ability.

Freestyle specialist, Katie Mawdsley had a fantastic competition as she powered through the water to take three medals in the 11 year old events. In the 400m freestyle, Mawdsley consistently maintained second position through the race to come out with a silver medal with a time of 4.46.37. Mawdsley also took silver in the 800m freestyle with a time of 9.56.71, beaten to the gold by the Guernsey swimmer Kristina Neves. The weeks success was completed with a bronze in the 200m freestyle in a time of 2.18.92 and making the final of the 100m freestyle, coming home in 8th position.

13 year old, Oliver Walker narrowly missed out on a medal in the first day of the competition as he was squeezed into fourth in the 100m breaststroke by only 0.76 seconds. Walker had to wait until the last day of competition to take revenge when he put in a strong swim in the 200m breaststroke to take a bronze medal in a time of 2.37.45.

12 year old Georgia Barton swam with style to make the finals in five events and, in the face of stiff competition, was unlucky not to come away with medals. In the closest of finishes Barton was pipped to a medal position in the 200m freestyle by only 0.76 seconds coming fourth in a time of 2.11.54. Barton came even closer to a medal in the 400m freestyle this time getting squeezed into fourth by 0.48 seconds with a time of 4.38.19.

Barton demonstrated her all round ability by also coming 6th in the 100m freestyle, 14th in the 800m free, 9th in the 100m fly, 5th in the 200m fly and 14th 200 IM which resulted in an overall 6th position in the BAGCAT points classification.

11 year old Abbie Kitcher qualified in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events. Kitcher narrowly missed the finals but took an admirable personal best in the 100m free with a time of 1.06.41.

12 year old Jack Smith competed in the 800m freestyle coming 19th overall in a time of 9.54.67.

In the Youth’s Event, 14 year old Joanne Cutler competed well in the 50m and 200m freestyle even though she was at the younger end of the joint 14 / 15 year old age group category.

A reflective Fairhurst summarised, “It’s been an amazing season and we have set the bar high if we are to maintain our success next season. However, with the standard of coaches we now have, the support we are getting from the Council and, most importantly, the commitment of the swimmers, we can raise the bar and achieve even better things next year.”

Who knows, we may have seen a future Olympic star compete for Preston.

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