(B Team gala held at Droitwich LC)

Report by Rebecca Simkins & Mark Lapka

On Saturday 22^nd January 2006, the B team made their way to Droitwich for the first round of the Worcester Winter League.  The other teams competing were; Broadway, Droitwich, Orion, Worcester B and Perry Beeches A. 

Although stiff competition was expected from Perry Beeches A, it was Worcester B and Droitwich who proved to be the ones to beat on the night.  The first close race of the night was the boys 13 and under 100m backstroke, with Stourbridge’s Jon Lapka being touched into 2^nd place by the Worcester B swimmer, both swimmers a clear six seconds ahead of the rest of the field. 

First Stourbridge win of the night came in event seven, with Ant Millard winning the Open Mens 100m Fly, two seconds ahead of the second place swimmer.  After the first ten events Stourbridge B were lying in third place with 36 points, five points behind Droitwich who were in second, and Worcester B were in first place with 46 points. 

The second Stourbridge 6-pointer of the evening was Nick Crutchley in the Open Mens 100m backstroke.  Nick cruised to a fine victory, a clear half a length ahead of the other swimmers.  The next event was a close one, the girls 11 and under 50m backstroke. Becky Cole was the Stourbridge swimmer, who was pipped to the post by the Droitwich swimmer, with the first four girls in this race all finishing within one and a half seconds of each other.  This was a PB for Becky, so well done!

At the half way stage, the points were as follows; 6^th place – Orion with 49 points, 5^th place – Perry Beeches A with 59 points, 4^th place – Broadway with 65 points, 3^rd place – Droitwich with 75 points, 2^nd place – Stourbridge B with 77 points, 1^st place – Worcester B with 91 points.  Word was passed around the swimmers that we were only two points ahead of Droitwich, so the pressure was really on going into the second half of the gala. 

A great swim came from Anthony Parkes in the 13 and under 100m fly. Anthony came third, swimming a PB time, despite being only 12 years old this year, and having swum at the Brierley Hill Open that day.  The next win of the evening was once again in the Open Mens category, with Ant Millard taking his second first place of the night in the 100m free, one and a half seconds ahead of the other swimmers, and this was after swimming into the lane rope!  This was followed by a superb swim from Matt Jones in the boys 11 and under breaststroke who was locked in a battle with that all important Droitwich swimmer! Matt was just touched out into second place, but it was a fine effort. 

Moving into the last quarter of the gala another win came from Jon Lapka in the boys 13 and under 100 free.  This was closely followed by a super swim from Sam Pinchin in the Ladies Open 100 breaststroke who gained a second place despite having been at the Brierley Hill Open all day. 

Special mention must now go to Rob Hanson, who dived in for his Open Mens 100m breaststroke and almost took the top of the block with him!  Unfortunately for Rob, the block had been gradually breaking all night and his dive was the final straw for it!  This led to a disruption in the gala, as there were no spare blocks, so all blocks had to be removed, and all swimmers had to dive off the side.  This took us nicely into the 6 x 1-mixed freestyle relays for all age groups. 

There were some fantastic nail biting finishes, in particular the 13 and under mixed free relay, where three tenths of a second was all that split the top three teams! Stourbridge B came second in that race, one tenth of a second behind Worcester B.  Having just seen this race, and not knowing where Stourbridge had come, hopes were riding on the Open swimmers for their freestyle relay.  It was neck-a-neck between Stourbridge B, Droitwich, Perry Beeches A and Worcester B going into the last leg, with Ant Millard diving in for us.  A storming split was achieved by Ant of 12.78 seconds to win the last event for Stourbridge, with Ant finishing two tenths ahead of the Droitwich swimmer. 

Unfortunately our super win in the last event was not enough on the night, and the final results were as follows; 

1st    Worcester B                               177 points

2nd   Droitwich                                  167 points

3rd    Stourbridge B                             150 points

4th    Broadway                                  125 points

5th    Perry Beeches A                         123 points

6th    Orion                                          94 points  

Second places were achieved by Rebecca Shaw, girls 13 and under 100m fly, Charlotte Simkins, ladies open 100m backstroke, Neil Stevenson, boys 15 and under 100m fly, Open 6 x 1 medley relay (Charlotte Simkins, Rob Hanson, Sam Pinchin, Ant Millard, Natalie Blakemore, Nick Crutchley), 13 and under 6 x 1 medley relay (Lara Tipper, James Hendy, Rebecca Shaw, Anthony Parkes, Harriet Warner, Jon Lapka), Hannah Mocklow, girls 15 and under 100m backstroke, and 13 and under 6 x 1 free relay (as medley relay). 

The other team members on the night were;

BOYS: Jake Knight, Elliott Barnbrook, James Hendy, Adam Baldwin, David Janes.

GIRLS: Kate Fletcher, Hannah Williams, Katie Houghton and Beth Aston. 

Can all swimmers who achieved PBs at the gala please let us know, and also make sure you email them to Stewart so he can add them to the PB database?  Many thanks to all swimmers for their efforts on the night, and in particular to all the parents who helped out, either as officials or with the kids on the poolside.  Bring on the second round on the 18^th February!