Well done to the thirteen 9-14 year olds who represented the club at the Devon sprint gala. Each swimmer had to compete in all 4 strokes over a 50m distance. They were Bethany Ward, Rebecca Hingston, Livvy Nel-Barker, Connie McGregor, Bethany Hughes, Katherine Sewell, Jacob Keogh, Jamie Bailey, Joseph Keogh, Jack Crocker, Nathan Gallagher, Oliver Holdsworth and Kieran Loveridge. All swimmers enjoyed a clutch of personal best times.
Several were also proud recipients of sprint medals. Jacob Keogh had a tremendous meet with 3 golds(Fly, Back, Free) and Bronze(Brs). Bethany Ward was also in stunning form with gold in butterfly. Rebecca swam strongly gaining silver(free) and bronze(Brs). Jamie ensured further success with silver(Free) and Livvy amused everyone with her obvious astonishment at winning silver(Brs).
Further to this there was DRSA delight in the BAGcat awards (Top 6 overall placements per age category). Jacob 1st (10yr old), Jamie 3rd (10yr old), Rebecca 3rd (11yr old), Joseph 4th (13yr old), Bethany W 6th (11yr old).
32 DRSA swimmers represented the club on Saturday at the annual county relay competition. Normally this gala provides fairly lean medal pickings for the smaller development clubs such as DRSA. Not this year however as the club returns with a haul of two silvers and two bronze medals.
The DRSA team of the meet goes to the Boys 9-10 yr olds consisting of Jacob Keogh, Jamie Bailey, Finlay Bowden and Oliver Holdsworth. They returned with two silvers. Indeed all the spectators were enthralled by the 200 freestyle relay where the lads nearly snatched gold as the lead changed four times during the race. To emphasise the quality of their endeavours they would have won gold by 2 to 4 seconds during the same 2008 and 2009 competition.
The 9-10 year old girls ( Livvy Nel-Barker, Brittany O’Reilly, Phoebe Tank and Rhiannon Davies ) also made it to the podium with a well deserved bronze. The senior girls 15-16 yrs (Charlotte O’Halloran, Rebecca Ward, Rebekah Warren and Hannah Ball) were in fine form as they gained a bronze medal and indeed would have collected a second if not for a slightly over-eager handover!
Caroline was impressed with every one of the eight squads that battled so hard during the competition. This augers well for the upcoming Cornwall and West Devon competition. Great team effort.
The Championships, taking place from 29th March-3rd April.
To Book your tickets:
http://www.swimmingresults.org/events/bstrials10/tickets/orderform.php
The new Club Captains for 2010 commencing April 1st 2010 are -
Girls Team Captain Hannah Ball.
Boys Team Captain Jordan Nicholson.
DRSA would like to take this opportunity to thank Jade Leeke and Jordan for all their work representing Devonport Royal over the past year. They have done a fantastic job and we wish Hannah and Jordan all the very best for the forthcoming year and for them to go on and guide us to another fruitful year.
Please can the following medal winners collect their medals from Barry Wilkins.
Josh Stevenson, Rachel Hall, Kaleb Cragg, Kirstie Swift, Joel Wilson, Abby McBeath, Elizabeth Vernon and Greg Stevens.
Rochelle and Bethany Hughes will be taking part in this year’s Swimathon on Saturday 24 April at 6pm.
Thousands of swimmers around the U.K will be in the pool for the world’s biggest fundraising swim for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Both will be taking part in the distance challenge with Bethany in the 1.5k and Rochelle in the 2.5k challenge.
Here you can either sponsor Rochelle Hughes or Bethany Hughes or even better both by clicking on the link.
Last year Swimathon raised 1.5 million for Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Swimathon Foundation. This year they hope to raise even more to support Marie Curie nurses provide free nursing care to cancer patients at home.
Please support Rochelle and Bethany with your sponsorship and wish them well with this challenge. Please click here and www.swimathon.org for details. Thank you
Final report for the Devon Championships……..and would you believe it: we have a second county age group champion!!
Swimmers representing DRSA included Dan Crook, Victoria Philpott, Rebecca Hingston, Rachel and Bethany Ward, Jordan Nicholson, Jess Fennell and Rhiannon Davies.
Dan Crook was in positively sensational form. In the blue ribbon event (100m Freestyle) he went into the county final ranked second in his 13 year age group. Dan however seems devoid of stage fright as he smashed his PB to beat the favourite and win the final in truly awesome style. Indeed he is now only a couple of seconds off a National age group time. As if this wasn’t enough excitement for us, he also gained a silver medal in the 100m butterfly as well as making two other finals.
Congratulations also to Rachel Ward who, competing in the county championships for the first year made her way into the demanding 200m Butterfly final. Rhiannon Davies made it to 3 further finals: 200m Butterfly, 200m Freestyle and 200m IM finishing all in 5th place and earning a county BAGCAT award. Victoria Philpott deserves a further mention insofar as she finished in the top ten in her age group for all four strokes and IM race. Jordan also reached two finals on the last weekend but unfortunately had to withdraw due to illness. Finally Rebecca Hingston in her first appearance at county level would have made it through to the 11year old 100 BRS final in fourth fastest position but for an officially perceived one handed touch on her final turn.
This concludes the most successful, individual county medal haul for the club in many years. Well done to Caroline and her team as well as the endeavours of those swimmers who so ably represented the club over the last month. The fun is not quite over yet, since we have the relays, sprints and interclub competitions to go.
A very big THANK YOU to all the officials, parents and swimmers who made the annual DRSA Schools Gala happen yesterday evening. Taking part were 192 Primary children representing 17 schools and 108 Senior students representing 14 schools from all around the city. This was DRSA’s biggest entry list to date and wihout the help of vounteers it could not have taken place. Please click here for results.