Worcester Winter League Final Report 15/04/07
Well it just could not get better what an afternoons swimming and entertainment. It was extremely loud too, it took me two days to get my voice back but it was well worth it defending the title.
WORCESTER WINTER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS AGAIN!
The competition as you would expect, was extremely tough competing against our great rivals Worcester A & B, Perry Beeches,Halesowen and of course Bromsgrove. It must be said for Worcester to be able to get both their A & B team to the final of the Worcester Winter League is a fine achievement, and something we should try to replicate.
The Team
11’s: Joe Birnie, Sam Tromans, Tom Pearson, Lauren Sanders, Beth Davies, Ellee Madigan, Emily Tiano*
13’s: Jon Lee, Ant Parkes, Jack Henderson, Sarah Pearson, Becky Cole, Grace Rollason, Becky Shaw*
15’s: Adam Cox, Graham Harrington, Sam Rowbotham, Zoe Hunter, Becky Evans, Ellis Ward Brennhan, Charlotte Rowbotham, Lisa Henderson*
Open’s: Phil Harrington, Ant Millard, Harry Lord, Matt Hooper, Nick Cruchley*, Anna Hodt, Laura Blunt, Nat Blakemore*
*Swimmers that swam in the earlier rounds but not in the final. Thanks to all the swimmers that helped us get to the final, without you we wouldn’t have got there.
Too many fine performances to mention each one, but the support on poolside was immense. You simply couldn’t hear yourself. The swimmers must have been able to hear and see their team mates cheering them on.
After 5 events we had a five point lead after a double victory from Becky Cole and Jon Lee in 100m Backstroke.
After 10 events a seven point lead was established after a fine swim from Anna, a farewell swim from our former club captain Ant and a great victory from our youngster Sam Tromans with a stunning 50 Free in a time of 30.39 leaving the rest of the field half way down the pool.
After 15 events and for us not a good section we had a single point lead over Worcester, this was getting tough.
After 20 events we were in trouble, Worcester had gone into the lead by seven points, the pressure was on with Halesowen moving into second place.
After 25 events we had managed to get back into second place. Sam Tromans producing another fantastic win in 50m Fly.
After 30 events a better period with 3 victories, 13’s Medley Relay, Anna Hodt in 100m Free and Joe Birnie 50m Breast. Worcester still maintained their lead by six points, we had a nine point advantage over our close rivals Halesowen
After 35 events only one winner in this section, Sarah Pearson in the 100m Free and two fine second places, Worcester suffered here and the gap was down to 2 points, with Halesowen now 9 points behind us.
The final run in, 3 third places and 2 victories was good enough for us to tie the nights gala on 172 points each, with Halesowen third with 157 points.
However there had to be a winner, final finishing positions would decide the afternoons winner. After counting first places we were still level, after counting second places Worcester prevailed and were the gala winners.
I must say that if all our younger swimmers had been available this would not have happened as we would have been clear winners.
We retained our title on previous performances and after all that is how the Premier League is decided isn’t it!
As always here’s my swimmer and team of the afternoon:
Swimmer of the gala: Sam Tromans for a fine double victory
It was close for Charlotte Rowbotham for her fine double Breaststroke efforts and great team spirit.
Team of the gala: 13’s for a great double relay victory.
Thanks to all my helpers, Stu Birnie in particular for making sure all the kids were in the right place at the right time, so I could shout as loud as I usually do. Also my thanks go to Bob, John and Bridgette.
See the programme for individual finishing positions
That’s it for this report, however just for fun we took some photos of the team outside, and of course Zoe (Honda Girl) jumped at the chance to get on the net. So I’ll run them past Bernard first.
Jason
A Team Manager