Well here goes biggest competition so far this year and tough opposition too!!! The Worcester Winter League Final,The venue as usual for the Final was Droitwich.
The Teams Worcester B,Redditch,Halesowen,Stourbridge,Bromsgrove and Worcester A. That's the lane order too.Lane 4 for us you can all thank Alex for that he had already swam for the B team that afternoon helping them win that Final.He would now send all the swimmers to their events with the help of Ellis.
 
Just before I go into detail Alex's 2007 District shirt was picked up by someone who swam for the B team that day.Could you all please check your kit and hopefully return it to me or Alex.
 
Event 1.11s Medley Relay.Katie,Ryan,Emma,Jake,Nat and Adam. A good swim this one with each swimmer in fine form and gaining 2nd place.
Event 2.Girls 15 Free. Ist place for Sarah here,thought she was 2nd but the Halesowen swimmer was disqualified for moving on the blocks I think.   
Event 3.Boys 15 Free. "G." up against two of the best swimmers in the area Lawrence Hickin And Steve Muddiman.Great swim from "G" 3rd . 
Event 4.Girls 13 Back. Cometh the hour Cometh the Machine.Well done Becks again another great swim and our second win of the afternoon.       
Event 5 Boys 13 Back. Matt Jones subbing for Tom Asprey here and swimming well too. 4th place for Matt, although he was tired after his earlier exploits.     
Event 6 Girls Open Fly. Now with the likes of Lauren Collins,Laura Cambell and Anna Hodt to choose from I felt like Alex Ferguson. Anna got the
                                nod though as she had swam it in all the previous rounds and had done very well. A fine swim this under pressure and 2nd    
Event 7 Boys Open Fly. Nick is the man for this one back in training too.Watch out everyone here he comes,how do you move those arms so fast.Touched 3rd
                                                       
Now I bet you didn't realise we were in the lead at this point by 1 point and the next five races is where the Title slipped away for a year.Halesowen won all five
and went into to a 9 point lead.Anyway
 
Event 8 Girls 11 Free. Nat Dingley the swimmer here and a hard fought 3rd place by a whisker.                                                                     
Event 9 Boys 11 Free. Great swim from our lad here just missing out on the touch.Well done Adam a fine 2nd place.                                         
Event 10 15s Medley Relay.Becky,Rich,Lisa,Ant,Sarah, "G." Cracking race with all swimmers going for it 2nd again though,unfortunate.
Event 11 Girls 13 Fly. Just not Sophie's day here for fly a bit off the pace and finishing 5th                                                                            
Event 12 Boys 13 Fly. Sam too a little off his best too. Managed to grab 3rd place .                                                                                         
Event 13 Girls Open Back. Enter the Queen, Lauren's first event, yet still able to cruise to an easy victory.
Event 14 Boys Open Back. Matt lead a tough field for the first three lengths but was eventually beaten by Dan Ruckwood and Mike Edmonds. Still a cracking time.
Event 15 Girls 11 Back. Katie Jones just touched out into second place. Well Done
Event 16 Boys 11 Back. Halesowen running away with another victory, Adam doing his best to come third.
Event 17 Girls 15 Fly. Becky Spoor, second place again with a great time. Well Done
Event 18 Boys 15 Fly. Ant in a real tough field here, which included Lawrence Hickin, Steve Muddiman and Dan Ruckwood, finishing 4th with a fine time.
Event 19 Girls 13 Breast. One of the swims of the night for me. Great time from Ellie and a fine First place. Excellent
Event 20 Boys 13 Breast. It was the only double of the night for us, with another fine time and win from Jack Henderson
 
At the half way stage Halesowen had an 8 point lead with 100 points, Worcester A in third place a further 16 points behind us, looked like a three horse race, all the way to the finish, but really Worcester were probably out of it. 
 
Event 21 Open Medley Relay. To my shock, we were beaten into second place by Halesowen, it just wasn't our day. 
Event 22 Girls 11 Fly. Worcester took the honours in this one, with Nat coming second. very well done
Event 23 Boys 11 Fly. Jake Knight our swimmer here, just a little off the pace but still finishing third, a great effort. 
Event 24 Girls 15 Breast. Unfortunately for Lisa, a very tough field, and was beaten into fourth place. 
Event 25 Boys 15 Breast. Enter the oldest of the Spoor's, Rich was in fine form, and powered to an easy victory, with a fantastic time. Stunning
Event 26 13 Medley Relay. Nice to see the 13's, pulling a victory here, with a much needed six points for our team.
Event 27 Girls Open Free. The Queen's second swim and another powerful victory for Lauren.
Event 28 Boys Open Free. Harry just missed first place by 0.02 of a second, but still a very quick time and a great swim.
Event 29 Girls 11 Breast. Emma back to her best, a lovely stroke and a great effort, a good third place.
Event 30 Boys 11 Breast. Ryan, my wee-man. Again an absolutely brilliant swim, just like his older brother, only a bit smaller. Great second place, well done.
 
Nearing the end now, we had closed the gap on Halesowen here, it was down to six points, this was going to be tough if we were going to retain the title.
 
Event 31 Girls 15 Back. Becky Cole swimming up here, and a good start. Great win for Beck, gap was down to five points. Getting nervous
Event 32 Boys 15 Back. Not our normal swimmer here, G filling in and finishing in a fine second, to that lad from Redditch - Dan Ruckwood, down to four points. ARGH!!
Event 33 Girls 13 Free. Tough field again for Sophie.A good time and a great effort managed 3rd place and the gap now back too five points.
Event 34 Boys 13 Free. Enter the Henderson again another 1st place and just over the golden 60 seconds awesome effort from a great lad. Gap down to four again.
Event 35 Girls Open Breast.The times in this event were amazing Charlotte finished 5th but what a time no other swimmer from our Club could have gone any quicker.
Event 36 Boys Open Breast.Phil the Doctor of breaststroke was patient as ever swimming the last individual of the day. A great swim and second place, the gap now six.
 
We were going to need a miracle and would have to win all of the remaining races. Hoping that Worcester Redditch and Bromsgrove could push Halesowen down the finishing order. Here goes ....
 
Event 37 11 Free Relay. Not a good start Halesowen take the win and we could only manage third, the gap now eight points and probably all over.
Event 38 15 Free Relay. Again Halesowen snatch victory, we managed second and the gap increased to nine.
Event 39 13 Free Relay. We managed to win this on, the gap down to eight, but it was all over, we couldn't win, Halesowen finished second.
Event 40 Open Free Relay. A bit of a consolation this one, a great win from a great team, Halesowen took us right to the wire, but Nick was just too fast and cruised the last five metres. A fine win, the gap down to seven but no more events and the title this year goes to Halesowen.
 
Final Points
Halesowen     197
Stourbridge     190
Worcester A   160
Bromsgrove     113
Redditch         109
Worcester B     67
 
Tough one to swallow, but Halesowen deserved to win, as they won more events than anyone else. The gap was not as big as it may have looked from the stand, as our overall performance was very good, although on this occasion we didn't win enough events.
 
 
The title is harder to defend than to take so lets get on with it and get it back.!
 
Well done to everyone who swam this year in the A and B Team.Let's see if we can get both teams in the A final next year as another fine club managed to achieve this year.Worcester,a marvellous effort.
 
Finally swimmer and team of the night.
 
 
It's a four way split this one.Lauren Collins double winner.Becky Cole double winner,Jack Henderson double winner and Ellie Lord Awesome Time and winner.
 
 
Team goes to the Open free team which Included another Queen of the pool Laura Cambell.Harry,Anna,Matt,Lauren and of course our cruiser Nick.Fantastic last event.
 
That's it for this one.Thanks to everyone who helped poolside and see if we can find my lads shirt please.
 
Jason

Worcester Winter league 2008 Final

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