(Division 1 gala held at Stratford LC)

Report by Jason Thom

Well as usual everyone I am miles behind with a report over one of the best galas of the year.

Coach booked for 5.00pm turns up at 5.20pm not a good start as Stratford was more than 40 minutes away.(Not if I was driving Obviously)  Still it was good fun waiting as the girls were lapping up the attention of the local bad boys.  I hope it was them and not me that was getting shouted at and whistled as they sped past.
I phoned ahead to let our hosts know we would be late and they were fine.  Luckily they were having trouble with a lane rope and we arrived for the warm up in the nick of time.  Had a quick briefing from the Ref only to find out there were some rather nice trophies up for grabs.  Great.

Here's the Team:
9Yrs - Eva Cook, Katie Jones, Emma Pay and Natalie Dingley
10Yrs - Lauren Sanders, Phillipa Watton and Kim Yates
11Yrs - Beth Davies, Hannah Williams, Sophie Page and Kate Fletcher
12/lyres - Sarah Pearson, Grace Rollason and Fran Pinchin and Becky Cole
14/15yrs - Zoe Hunter, Charlotte Rowbotham and Hannah Mucklow
Open -Sam Pinchin, Charlotte Simkins, Becky Hodt and Laura Blunt

Event 1 - 10's Medley Relay 1st place and the first win of the night, with Katie Jones swimming up an age group.
Event 2 - 11's Freestyle Relay 1st place again beating the opposition by over 8 seconds.
Event 3 - 9's Medley Relay Another 1st place with great swims from our youngest team members.
Event 4 - 12/13's Freestyle Relay 2nd this time with identical times but the touch judge thought different.
Event 5 - 14/15 Medley Relay 2nd again with Sarah swimming up well done, just missed out.
Event 6 - Open Freestyle Relay 3rd place for the ladies, however our hosts had a rather quick breast stroke swimmer and beck was not amused over 50m.
Event 7 - 10's 2 Length Butterfly 2nd place for Lauren excellent swim.  Well done.
Event 8 - 11's 2 Length Backstroke 1st place for Sophie great swim beating the opposition by 7 seconds.
Event 9 - 9's 1 Length Breaststroke 1st place for Nat great swimming for her first individual win.  Well Done.
Event 10 - 12/13's 3 Length Freestyle 2nd for Sarah with a superb time. Great swim Well done.
Event 11 - 14/15's 3 Length Butterfly 3rd for Hannah who does not get much a look in these days for such a great fly swimmer.  Great swim and nice to have such quality flyers in this age group.  Well done.
Event 12 - Open 3 Length Backstroke 3rd for Charlotte our club captain.  Great Effort.
Event 13 - 6x1 Breaststroke Relay The first trophy race of the night, we just got touched out in this one but there were 2 more to go.  This was a shock I thought it was in the bag.  The girls were not impressed either they fancied the trophy but again our hosts just piped us after some fine swimming.  Excellent (Next time).
Event 14 - 10's 2 Length Breaststroke 2nd place for Phillipa just beaten by under a second.  Better luck next time.
Event 15 - 11's 2 Length Freestyle 1st place for Hannah great swim, winning by the narrowest of margins.
Event 16 - 9's 1 Length Butterfly 1st place for Katie, excellent swim beating the rest by a good 4 seconds.
Event 17 - 12/13's 3 Length Backstroke 2nd place for Fran, good effort better luck next time!
Event 18 - 14/15's 3 Length Breaststroke 1st place for Charlotte.  Now this really was quite funny I had a damn good laugh with Charl just before this one.  As I already have mentioned our hosts had some really good breaststroke swimmers in their team and Charl had given her all in an earlier event just missing the touch on her leg of the medley.  Over 100m she told me it would be different I threatened to phone her mum if she didn't win and she powered past the opposition to her delight.  Great swim.
Event 19 - Open 3 Length Freestyle 2nd for Laura, just beaten by 0.1 of a second! Now this was close and I thought Laura had it after an Excellent fight back.
Event 20 - 6x1 Medley Relay 2nd for the girls, just touched out of another trophy race.  Difficult to select how to swim this one but next time I now how.

Half-way point

Stourbridge   106
Stratford 'A'    96
Camp Hill       70
Redditch        59
Kingsbury       51
Stratford 'B'   30

Event 21 - 11's 2 Length Butterfly 1st for Beth.Now for this little lass a stunning first place with an excellent technique.
Event 22 - 10's 2 Length Backstroke Another 1st for Lauren, her second 1st place of the evening.  Stands alone in her age group superb effort.
Event 23 - 12/13's 3 Length Breaststroke 4th for Becky, tough competition in this age group, well done.
Event 24 - 9's 1 Length Freestyle 1st place for Emma, great swim, well done.
Event 25 - 14/15's 3 Length Backstroke 2nd for Zoe, good effort, well done.
Event 26 - Open 3 Length Breaststroke 4th for Becky, well done.  Better luck next time.
Event 27 - 6x1 Butterfly Relay 1st place and our 1st trophy of the night.  About time too girls.  Nice Trophy won by a mile.  Brill.
Event 28 - 11's 2 Length Breaststroke 1st for Kate, wonderful swimming forcing her way back into the A team.
Event 29 - 10's 2 Length Freestyle 2nd for Kim, good effort from one of our younger team members.
Event 30 - 9's 1 Length Backstroke 1st for Eva, another 6 points added to the collection, well done.
Event 31 - 12/13's 3 Length Butterfly 4th for Grace, well done, better luck next time.
Event 32 - 14/15's 3 Length Freestyle 3rd for Zoe, splendid time, well done.
Event 33 - Open 3 Length Butterfly 5th for Sam on her least preferred stroke, good try. It looked good though Sam.
Event 34 - 10's Freestyle Relay 1st for the girls, brilliant effort.
Event 35 - 11's Medley Relay Another 1st, beating the rest of the field by over 10 seconds, very well done.
Event 36 - 9's Freestyle Relay Another 1st, great swims from everyone. This little group are simply marvellous togher .Can you remain nine forever please?
Event 37 - 12/13's Medley Relay 1st again, excellent swimming.
Event 38 - 14/15's Freestyle Relay 2nd this time, but not to worry, we still maintained the lead.Sarah looking good for a sub 30s anytime great.
Event 39 - Open Medley Relay 3rd, the top 3 separated by 1 second only.
Event 40 - 12x1 Freestyle Relay Final yet most important race of the evening, we won this by a considerable margin of over 20 seconds.  Extremely well done to every single swimmer in this one over a length clear.

Final Points:
Stourbridge   206
Stratford 'A'   186
Camp Hill      141
Redditch       136
Kingsbury        97
Stratford 'B'    62

Well what a night of fun that was our hosts were simply wonderful.  A great Gala and some beautiful trophies.  Not to mention Elaine The Pied Piper.  Let me explain to those who do not know why.  After each race there was a small gift for each winner.  Even lolly pops for the relay winners a very nice touch I think and look forward to defending the trophy next time.

Thanks to all my helpers as usual: Mark, Sue, Steve, Suzanne and Alex.

Oh, I nearly forgot the Photoshoot.

This was hilarious, you had to be there to know what I am talking about.  The trophies had been donated by local companies including the local Honda Dealership.  On my way out of the pool I was approached by one of them to ask if the girls would pose for photos by one of their cars with the trophies we had won.  Girls being girls, what happened next was really funny, especially some of the comments and poses that were being made.  It was a perfect end to the evening and I would like everyone to refer to Zoe as Honda Babe from now on.  It was very funny indeed.  Well done to everyone and thanks to our hosts too who have promised to send me some pictures so we can show everyone on the web I hope.

That's your lot, Jason.

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