Bristol Henleaze Swimming Club

This year in division 1 of the Arena National League there were two finals, the top 10 teams swam in the 10 lane 50m pool in Cardiff and the bottom 8 teams swam in the 8 lane 50m pool at Millfield School, so it was Millfield for us. After the first two rounds we were in 12^th position in the league behind Seagulls who were seeded in lane 4 and we were next to them in lane 5. For many of our younger swimmers it was the first time they had competed in a longer pool so it was good experience for them and Millfield is a great venue. Jane Garry and Oliver Eyre got us off to a splendid start in the 200m IM swims both doing PB’s and both gaining 2^nd place. As the gala progressed it was clear that Seagulls were the team to beat and we were always close to them but never quite caught them so we finished 2^nd on the day. This means that we have (provisionally) finished in 12^th place exactly where we finished in the previous two years! All swimmers performed exceptionally well setting a high number of PB’s (27 out of 34 individual swims) and breaking numerous club records. The star swimmer of the evening was Abi Bowring who swam in both the 13 yrs and 15 yrs age groups and recorded four wins. Oliver Eyre was in top form and had two impressive wins in his age group. In the youngest age group there were individual wins for Sam Marshall and Charlie Waters. The climax of the league galas is always the last two events – the 6x50m open freestyle relays. In two very thrilling races both our ladies (Katie McLernon, Megan McLernon, Jane Garry, Jess Hicks, Abi Bowring and Rebecca Allen) and men (Steve Longland, Oliver Eyre, Luke Porter, Guy Pearce, Ashley St Leger, and James St Leger) stormed home in front. Sadly it was not enough to overhaul Seagulls. I would like to say a huge thank you to all team members who have supported the club in all three galas and the helpers who so ably supported you.