Morpeth ASC at the British Gas Northumberland & Durham SA BAGCAT Championships

The weekend of the 6^th and 7^th March, at Middlesbrough, was the start of the BAGCAT Championships, and Callum Garland set the ball rolling for Morpeth in the 50m Backstroke.  At the age of 9, this was Callum’s very first N&D Championships yet this did not seem to faze him and he appeared relaxed and confident on poolside and behind the block.  He put a lot of effort into the swim, although a delayed start and a couple of technique variations held him back from getting a personal best time.  The results improved in the afternoon when both Greg Parker and John Kelly made the finals in the 100m Breaststroke.  John swam an excellent heat swim with lots of power and aggression, knocking 3 seconds off his personal best time to finish in 1.24.26.  It was an outstanding swim.  Greg also did a good swim which was enough to get into the final although it was not quite a new pb. 

The finals were very exciting.  Greg attacked his swim a lot more, finishing in a very comfortable 5^th place for the 11years age group in 1.33.72.  John mirrored this for the 13 years age group.  Although he did not swim as well as he did in the heat, he still put up a good fight to also finish in 5^th place.   We left the pool on a high looking forward to what Sunday would bring.

Callum was back at the pool, this time joined by Ethan Howe for the 50m Butterfly.  Joseph Oman had also qualified for the event although had to drop out at the last minute due to other commitments.  The morning was not as successful as the previous day’s swims as nerves got the better of both swimmers causing them to lose concentration during their swims.   Although Ethan got a new pb in a time of 50.12 it was not the best swim he could have done.  This concluded the first weekend of the N&D Championships for Morpeth.  It had been a of a mixed bag of swims but nobody could take away the fantastic achievement of both Greg and John.

Weekend 2 kicked off on the 13^th March with Ethan withdrawing from the 50m Breaststroke.  This was a shame as he had the potential to do very well and get into the final.  This left the afternoon with Greg swimming the 200m Breaststroke and 100 individual Medley and Callum swimming the 200m freestyle.  Both swimmers achieved new pb times.  Callum’s 3.11.98 was 6.5 seconds faster than his previous time.  His start was again slow but he maintained a good pace throughout the swim.  He finished in 9^th place overall which unfortunately just missed a place in the final which he was very disappointed about.  Greg also achieved a new pb for the 200m Breaststroke in a time of 3.21.79.  He had a poor start and went out a bit slow but pulled this back over the second 100m, finishing 11^th overall.  A mention here for Fraser Garland who had qualified to swim in the 12 years 200m breaststroke, but was unable to compete as he was away on a school ski trip.

Sunday 14^th March was an interesting day to say the least.  There was plenty of drama to keep all the swimmers, their parents and the coach on their toes.  Ethan and Callum started the day with a 50m freestyle.  Callum just missed out on a new pb with 39.22, but put a lot of effort into the swim, powering through the strokes and breathing rarely to keep his strokes streamlined.  Ethan had a very quick turn over of strokes and although his technique could be improved, his execution was brilliant.  Ethan came second overall with a time of 37.88, which was just shy of a 2 second p.b, and earned him a secure place in the final.

Lauren Howe and Lizzie Rank were up next to swim the 50m Breaststroke.  However, a fault in the start sheet caused Lauren to miss her swim which disturbed the whole team’s focus and energy.  Luckily Lauren was able to swim her race again at a later point with the boys in the 200m Butterly.  She was very brave to do this and got a lot of support from the Morpeth team, the officials and all the spectators present at the Championships.

Lizzie’s swim went a lot smoother.  Her long precise strokes produced a new pb time in 48.08. 

Thanks to Lynda, Callum made his race just in time, having to rush out of the swim down pool to get straight behind the blocks.  As a result of this lack of preparation his 100m IM was not a strong as it could have been.  Ethan also chose to withdraw from the 50m Freestyle final due to lack of mental preparation because of the disturbance caused by Lauren’s swim.  

Lauren just had one swim left and luckily the 50m Freestlye was on her side.  Marshalling went smoothly and Lauren not only made the swim in her correct heat but also swam a new pb in 39.52 seconds.  

Overall the Championships were very mixed.  The club’s three finallists, John Kelly (13yrs 100m Breaststroke), Gregory Parker (11yrs 100m Breaststroke) and Ethan Howe (9yrs 50m Freestyle) did exceptionally well, and coupled with the great attempts of Morpeth’s Youth Swimmers it has been a year we won’t forget quickly.  Well done to all the swimmers who swam at the championships.

Results can be found http://www.swimnortheast.org.uk/results/2010/ndcsachampionships2010/bagcat/index.htm

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Morpeth ASC at the British Gas Northumberland & Durham SA Open & Youth Championships

It has been a few years since Morpeth Amateur Swimming Club has had such a high number of swimmers with Northumberland and Durham County qualifying times.

The Youth swimmers set the ball rolling on Saturday 20th February at the Sunderland Aquatic Centre.  For many this was a first time to the new pool and for all except Alasdair Inverarity it was the first swim in a long course meet.  The anticipation was high, nerves were flying; this was an ideal opportunity for the swimmers to prove their ability to themselves and others.

It took the swimmers some getting used to the 50m pool, with many tiring for the last 15 metres of their swims rather than using this phase to increase pace as other, more experienced long course swimmers did.  Although good times were achieved, this was definitely the case for Robert Carr in his 200m Breaststroke, finishing in 3.04.34 and Michael Botha’s 100m Backstroke, finishing in 1.13.85.

Saturday morning saw some excellent swims from Thomas Oman in the 50m Butterfly where he achieved an NER time in 29.85.  The swim had a negative split, starting too slow, but he picked this up toward the end of the swim, keeping his head down and powering through the water.  Robert Carr and Alasdair Inverarity also swam excellent events in the 50m Breaststroke.  Being next to each other in the lanes spurred both swimmers on.  Rob finished in 36.72 and Alasdair finished in 35.35 which was his second NER time of the morning to go with his 200m Breaststroke time.  

Hannah McMahon was the only female with the Morpeth team this weekend as well as the youngest swimmer at only twelve years old.  She had shown a lot of potential in training to do incredibly well in the 50m Backstroke and completing the swim in 38.89 she did just that.  Despite it being a very good time, the swim itself was not great, with a slow start and finish, as well as the stroke being very left side dominant on the rotation.  Hannah was overwhelmed by the spectacle of the N&D long course meet and consequently missed a great opportunity to beat her personal best time by a considerable amount as she has indicated she is capable of.      

The boys were back at the pool on Sunday 21st February.  Immediately there was a huge difference in attitudes and all four swimmers were more confident and focused as they knew what to expect from the day that lay ahead. 

The day started with the 100m Freestyle event for the Morpeth swimmers.  Michael and Rob both looked more comfortable with their pacing, finish with personal best times in 1.02.71 and 1.02.13.  Although Thom still went out too slowly he pulled it back at the end finishing in 1.01.95.

Rob and Alasdair continued to swim well through the 100m Breaststroke where Alasdair achieved another NER time completing the swim in 1.16.69.  Michael matched this high quality in the 50m Backstroke and swam a very impressive 33.06, demonstrating a lot of power and flow to his strokes. 

It is not very often that Morpeth gets to perform as a team in a relay event, but our four senior boys were definitely up for the challenge.  Although swimming against some big clubs they each put up a fantastic fight in the 4 x 100m Medley relay.  Michael Botha set the ball rolling, swimming the backstroke leg, smashing the time he had previously swum in the individual event, handing over with a time of 1.12.84.  Alasdair continued the drive, swimming the Breaststroke leg, Thom swam the Butterfly leg and Rob took the team home swimming the Front Crawl leg.  The team really came together finishing in 4.41.04 completely rewriting their entry time.

The enthusiasm continued in the 4 x 100m relay where, Thom, Alasdair, Michael and Rob respectively put everything they had left into the swim gaining an impressive time of 4.11.88. 

All five swimmers were faced with a difficult challenge, swimming at a high competitive level in an unfamiliar long course pool.  Not only did they make their coach incredibly proud, but they have proven to themselves that they are fantastic swimmers and can go onto the next stage, the NER’s, which Alasdair, Thom and Rob will definitely be doing after this weekend’s events.  Well done swimmers and good luck to the age group swimmers swimming at Middlesbrough on 6th-7th and 13th-14th March.   

Jenny Glossop

Head Coach

 

Results can be found here

 

 

 

Durham AA Grade Meet

7th February 2010

 

Nine Morpeth swimmers attended this gala, which was aimed at giving a last chance to achieve qualifying times for the N&D Age Group Championships in March.

 

Everybody swam at least one PB in the total of 27 swims.  These gave us a haul of 17 medals, including gold for John Kelly in the 100m breaststroke, silver for Gregory Parker in the 100m backstroke and Ethan Howe in the 50m breaststoke and bronze for both John and Gregory in the 100m IM, Hannah McMahon in the 100m backstroke and Jane Booth in the 100m breaststroke.

 

Callum Garland (200m freestyle), Lauren Howe (50m freestyle) and Ethan Howe (50m breaststroke) achieved N&D qualifying times so we now have eight swimmers with a total of seventeen qualifying times.

 

Full results can be found here.

 

 

Newburn ASC New Year Meet 2010

 

Newburn’s New Year graded competition kick started the year in 2010.  This competition offers one of the last chances for age group swimmers to achieve N&D qualifying times for 2010.  The competition was hugely oversubscribed and unfortunately many of the MASC swimmers were refused swims.  Despite this those that were accepted had a good weekend.

Some of the swimmers achieved personal best times, some achieved N&D qualifiers and some learnt valuable lessons that they will take forward into the busy schedule of competitions that lie in the year ahead.    

Overall it was a positive weekend.  It was great to see so many talented Morpeth Swimmers competing, gaining medals and achieving the times they deserved.  Well done everyone. 

 

N&D Qualifiers:

Callum Garland - 9 years 50m fly - 51.98

Lauren Howe – 9 yrs 50m BrS – 54.72

Lizzie Rank – 10 yrs 50m BrS – 49.98

 

Jenny Glossop

Head Coach

 

Full results listings can be found here.