Gym Success
Competing against the best in the country, WSC would like to
congratulate Clare Maurer who recently finished 5th in the Vault at
the Women's Senior British Artistic Gymnastic
Championships held at the Guildford Spectrum.
You can see Clare's Vaults (about 2:53 into the video)
by
clicking here
Don't try this at home!!!
Well done Clare from everyone at Woking Swimming Club.
Nationals
All but two Female Club Freestyle Records from U14 to Open Age Group are
now held by Hannah Burvill following her stunning performance at the
recent British Gas National Age Group Championships held at Ponds
Forge Sheffield. A fantastic 4th place finish in
the 100m Freestyle Final was the highlight, her
time of 1:01.16 meaning she is the first female
swimmer in the Clubs history to dip under the magic minute mark (when
converted to short course) for this event.
Competing in the 200m Backstroke and 200m Individual Medley she finished
12th and 14th respectively. Placing her in the top ten in the country
she made the finals for both 200m and 400m Freestyle, finishing just
outside the medals again with a 4th and 5th place respectively.
Her times in both heats and finals would once
again re-write the club record books for U14
upwards and she would break 16 club records in total over
the course of the week. With all her swims contributing, Hannah ended
her first Nationals finishing in 10th place overall in the BAGCAT
tables, an amazing achievement!
Haslemere Open Meet
As the Spring term draws to a close, twenty swimmers from Woking Swimming
Club headed off to another club favourite, the Haslemere Summer Open Meet.
Fifty three individual swims yielded a number of impressive PBs from
swimmers across the age ranges. Eldest swimmer on the day, 15 year old
Natasha Holden, took almost 5 seconds off of her previous best in the 200
IM, going on to take a bronze medal in the 100 Free later in the day.
At the younger end, 9 year old Thomas Ledsome and Maya Hartwell also
recorded PBs, with Hartwell recording 3 from 3 (200 Free, 50 Fly, 100 IM).
Full houses also came from 10 year olds, Sophie Ledsome (100 IM and 100
Back), Ewan Swith (100 Breast, 100 Free), Kirsten Young (100 Breast, 100
Free) and Alex Zalaf (100 Breast, 100 and 200 Free), Zalaf's 200 Free time
carving almost 20 seconds off his entry time. At the end of the day almost
50% of the completed swims recorded PBs. Jasmine Holden(13) took 2 from 4
going almost 4 seconds quicker than previous in both the 100 Back and 100
Breast. Kristian Payne(11) knocked 12 seconds off his 100 Breast in his 2
from 4, with Michael Sugden(13) knocking and impressive 3 seconds off his
own 200 IM benchmark.
Further medal success came from Andrew Roy(11) with bronze in both the
100 IM and 100 Breast, Zalaf picking up a bronze in the later event with
Smith going one better, collecting a silver.
For most the Haslemere meet would be the last competition before the
summer break, for 12 year old Hannah Burvill is was part of the warm-up for
the British Age Group National Championships due to take place in Sheffield
week commencing 26th July where she has qualified for seven individual
events.
Everyone at the club wishes Hannah the best of luck as she represents the
club on the National stage. Go Hannah!
National Biathlon Champion
Catherine Taylor, one of WSC's Seniors competed
at the National Biathlon Championships held last weekend in Liverpool and we
are delighted to announce that she came first in the Junior Age Groups, age
19-21!
Catherine,
" A huge CONGRATULATIONS from all at WSC!"
Cranleigh Open Meet
Woking Swimming Club recently attended another of the club’s favourite
annual fixtures, the Cranleigh Summer Open Meet. 25 individual swimmers
completed 72 individual swims with 31 PBs and 9 first time event times
recorded. Anna Maine (10) and Chris Zahn (12) came away as top girl and boy
in their respective age groups, Maine scoring personal bests in each of her
six events. Zahn’s 200m Breaststroke time of 3:09.52 was good enough to give
him both a Gold medal in his age group and also a Bronze in the Open Age
Group.
Woking came home with 14 Gold, 7 Silver and 2 Bronze medals across the
specific age groups. In the Open Age Group Ross Arnfield (18) took 3 Gold
(200 Free, 50 breaststroke, 200 IM) , a Silver (50 Fly - missing out on Gold
by just 1/100th of second) and Bronze (50 Back) with Ben Smith (22)
collecting two Silver (50 and 200 Breaststroke) and Katherine Robbings (15)
one Silver (200 Fly) and two bronze (200 Free and 200 IM).
In her age group, Robbings secured Gold in three events (200 Fly, 200
Free, 200 IM), as did Maine (50 Back, 50 Fly, 50 Free) and Andrew Roy(11)
(50 Fly, 200 Back, 50 Free). Zahn added the 200 IM Gold to his haul, with
other Gold coming from Alex Warren (12) in 200 Fly and Kristian Payne (11)
in the 50 Back. Emma Hassanein (10) took Gold in the 50 Breaststroke with
Woking narrowly missing out on a clean sweep with Maine in 3rd and Kirsten
Young in 4th.
William Hurman (11) picked up a Silver and a PB in the 200 Back finishing
behind Roy who also picked up a Silver in the 200 IM for his efforts. Robyn
Hartwell (11) collected a bronze in the Girls 50 Breaststroke.
Well done to 9 year olds Alice Arthur, Darcie Dorkins, Jonathan Paling,
Joseph Jakubait, Maya Hartwell and Harvey Gillard (10) who all recorded
their first Open Meet swims.
Top place for SYG Woking Borough Swimmers!
Gold they wanted and Gold they went home with. 21 very
enthusiastic children swam for Woking Borough at the Surrey Youth Games and
came away with the top position. The children aged 10, 11 & 12 were selected
from the swimming clubs of Woking and Wey Valley and had never swum together
as a team until the day of the competition.
What a team they made, Woking Borough achieved 1st to 3rd position in
every relay that was swum, as well as many top places in 18 individual
swims. 14 children achieved personal bests which was fantastic as most of
them had never swum in a 50m pool until the SYG. Out of a total of 31 swims
that took place over an afternoon, Woking took 1st place on 11 swims, 2nd
place on 10 swims and 3rd place on 4 swims.
Honor Boulton led the way on PBs, her 50m freestyle taking just under 4
seconds off her previous best. Rhiannon Meller (Year 7) did the best swim of
her life and took a massive 6 seconds off her 50m backstroke time. Jennifer
Ingram (Year 5) also managed to take over 4 seconds off her 50m breaststroke
time which was a great achievement when it was such a long way down to the
other end of the pool.
Georgina Walton, Flynn Parker, Lucy Spruzs and Lauren Simmons went home
shattered as they competed in 5 swims each. At the end of the day, it did
not matter how many swims they each did, they all pulled together as a team,
worked hard, swam extremely well, supported, cheered and shouted whenever
someone from Woking Borough was in the water.
Their dedication to their sport and all their hard work paid off, Woking
Borough beat off the other 9 Boroughs and were announced as the winners with
a clear margin of over 36 points.
Mastering swimming
From the 18th to the 20th of June the British Gas Masters and Senior age
group championships took place with a familiar face competing. Alex Smith
competed in five events at the championships held in Glasgow’s Tollcross 50m
pool complex.
With over 500 swimmers competing with age ranges from 18 to 85, which
included several ex-Olympic swimmers, competition was fierce. Alex started
the competition in the 50m backstroke, completing the event in 30.80
seconds; this was good enough for silver, which set a precedent for the rest
of the competition. The following day Alex battled to silver in the 200IM,
setting off in a 28.7 for the first leg of the fly, which resulted in
allowing Alex to pip the bronze medallist by 0.1 seconds.
Following this Alex admirably finished 5th in the 50m butterfly in a time
of 28.54. The final day of the masters saw Alex’s best event - the 50m free;
he finished in third place in a time of 25.82, unfortunately being edged out
by the silver medallist in the final 10 metres.
Finally, to round off a highly successful weekend Alex won gold, becoming
the British Senior age group champion for 2010 in the 200m backstroke.
Overall, a great result for Alex and Woking Swimming Club.
New Head Coach Appointment
Woking Swimming Club are delighted to announce the appointment of our new
Head Coach, Mr. Vincent Ayling, with effect from 1 September 2010.
Vince has a wealth of experience, bringing 12 years' competitive coaching
experience to Woking, and holding qualifications up to and including Level 3
Coach. Vince has been highly successful in coaching swimmers at all levels,
up to and including National competitors.
We are very much looking forward to Vince joining us in September.
Woking Swimming Club Committee
Woking Relay Rother Stunning
Woking’s swimmers produced a stunning team performance on Saturday night
to take victory in the second round of the Rother League. The gala, which
takes the form of relays rather than individual races, had never been won by
the club before, and caps a remarkable year of success. Competing against
Bracknell and Haslemere, two of the best teams in the South East region,
Woking not only held their own, but by the end of the evening had
established a comfortable twenty three point winning margin over their
nearest rival.
It was nearly impossible to pick out a stand out swim of the night, as
thirty two of the fifty one swims resulted in either a victory or a second
place finish for Woking. Particular highlights though were the efforts of
the U12 girls team of Charlotte George, Hazel Ferguson, Anna Maine, Ella
Wood, Lucy Spruz and Emma Hassanein, who won all six events that they
competed in, as well as contributing to the victory in the Squadron relay at
the end of the night. Hannah Burvill and James Chambers also performed
admirably in the single individual events of the night, the U14 IM. Both
recorded PBs, with James taking three seconds off his previous best time,
and Hannah, almost inevitably given her recent form, also took the trophy
that came with 1st place in either event.
The U14 girls, comprising Hannah, Ellie Galloway, Elizabeth Jamieson and
Lucy Maurer, also gave a fine account of themselves, finishing first in four
of their six events. Not to be outdone, the U12 boys (William Hurman, Haaris
Wyne, Charlie Bridgewater, Edward Lee, Fraser Tattersdill) also managed to
come first or second in five of the six events. The end result was that
Woking were able to humble their more celebrated rivals come the end of the
gala in what was a tremendous night all round for the club. The final round
of the Rother League, which takes the form of a more traditional
individual-based gala format, comes in September, where Woking will be
aiming to claim the Rother League trophy outright.
Final results
1st Woking 248 points
2nd Haslemere 225 points
3rd Elmbridge 176 points
4th Bracknell 174 points
5th Sutton 125 points
6th Worthing 115 points
British Gas South East Regional Swimming
Championships
The final weekend of the British Gas South East Regional Age Group
Championships continued Woking Swimming Club’s fantastic run of form.
Medal success came in the second event of the weekend with Charlotte
George (10) taking silver in the 100m Freestyle, missing out on the gold by
just three one hundredths of a second.
National Qualifier Hannah Burvill (12) went one better in the same event
for her age group, regaining her title of South East Region Champion in a
time of 1:02.91.
Having only swum the event once before and never long course, Charlotte
picked up a bronze in the gruelling 400m Individual Medley to end
competition on Saturday.
Returning to K2 Crawley on Sunday, Hannah picked up where she left off,
this time recapturing her 200m Freestyle title in a finals time of 2:14.71
and again breaking the U14 Club Record, Charlotte made the final but
finished just outside the medals in 4th. In the 200m Backstroke both Hannah
and Charlotte added to their medal hauls with a further bronze apiece and
despite only just turning 10 this week, Anna Maine finished a very
creditable 6th in the same event.
Some great swims and a number of PBs also came from swimmers Edward Lee
(200 IM, 100 Back), Hazel Ferguson (100 Free, 200 Free, 200 Back), Calum
Ferguson (100 Fly), Kirsty McKnight (200 Breaststroke, 200 Free), James
Chambers (100 Back) and Dominic Holloway (100 Breaststroke).
Taking the points from the best swims from both weekends across the
disciplines of Sprint, Form, Distance and Individual Medley, Charlotte
finished the championships 3rd in the 10 years old BAGCAT tables. For her
swims across the same disciplines, Hannah was announced as the 12 years old
BAGCAT South East Regional Champion and she now looks forward to continuing
her form when she competes on the National stage at Sheffield at the end of
July.
Woking's older swimmers were also in action at the Youth SE regionals
which took place at the start of May. Five swimmers - Ross Arnfield, Alex
Woodman, Alex Smith, Ben Smith and Emma Maurer - competed at both K2 at
Crawley and the new Mountbatten Centre at Portsmouth over two weekends.
Highlights were Ross and Alex S making reserve finalists for 50m
breaststroke and 50m freestyle, while Ross also recorded a new PB in his 50m
freestyle race. Well done to all five.
Lights, Cameron, Action!
Based on the smash hit film and to celebrate 5 years in the West End,
Billy Elliot the Musical is coming to the New Victoria Woking for a
production staged by Songtime Theatre Arts offering schools and youth groups
the chance to perform the show themselves.
Set in the North East of England against the background of the 1984/85
miners’ strike, this is the story of the boy who secret pursuit of his
passion for dance threatened to tear not only his family but whole
communities apart.
Having attended numerous rehearsals we are delighted to report that
Woking Swimming Club’s Cameron Helsby is scheduled to perform in the
starring role of Billy Elliot on Thursday 17th June at 7.30pm and Saturday
19th June at 3pm. Cameron has aspired to play this part ever since he saw
Leon Cooke on television 3 years ago and now Leon has been helping
choreograph some of Cameron’s dances for this production.
We wish Cameron every success as he treads the boards of Woking’s theatre
and we are sure he and his family would love to see some familiar faces in
the audience, more details can be found at:
http://www.ambassadortickets.com/1581/689/Woking-Theatres/New-Victoria-Theatre/Billy-Elliot
Regional Champion and National Qualifying Times
Woking swimmers attended the 50 metre long course pool at K2 Crawley over
the late May Bank Holiday and acquitted themselves magnificently.
Leading the charge on Saturday was Hannah Burvill (12), who broke two
clubs records and achieved a National Qualifying Time in the heats of the
200 Individual Medley and went on to better this in the Final also achieving
a silver medal for second place.
Charlotte George(10) made the finals of the 200 Individual Medley and
picked up a bronze medal. Hazel Ferguson and Kirsty McKnight swam in the
same event for their age groups, with Kirsty achieving a PB. Also achieving
a PB was Edward Lee in the 100 Freestyle with Chris Zahn turning in a
massive 9 second PB in the 200 Breaststroke.
In the afternoon, both Charlotte and Hannah swam in the 400 Freestyle
with Charlotte picking up a well deserved bronze medal and Hannah a silver
along with another National Qualifying Time and 3 more Club Records.
Charlotte, Hazel and Hannah then swam in the last event of the day, the 100
Backstroke with Hazel and Charlotte achieving PB’s. Charlotte’s win gave her
the accolade of South East Region Champion for the 10 year olds.
Sunday morning also started on a positive note with Hannah achieving
another NQT in the 800 Freestyle. Edward was also in action in the 200
Freestyle and 200 Backstroke. Hannah and Kirsty finished their weekend on
100 Breaststroke, with Kirsty achieving a PB. At the end of the first
weekend of the Regional competition, Charlotte is second in the Girl’s 10
years old BAGCAT tables and Hannah is 7th in the Girl’s 12 years old tables.
On both days Calum Ferguson, Dominic Holloway, Daniel West with James
Cumins and James Chambers competed in the Boys 11-14 year old 4x100
Freestyle and Medley Relay Teams and whilst they didn’t attain a medal
position fought hard every bit of the way. James interrupted his holiday to
come back and swim...now that’s dedication for you. We’ll done James!
Octopus Meet – A Huge Success
On what was the hottest day of the year to date, seven months of planning
and hard work culminated with Woking Swimming Club staging their Inaugural
Octopus Open Meet at Woking Pool in the Park. The installation of the
Electronic Timing system at the end of last year provided the catalyst for
the club to open its doors for what is hoped will become a regular annual
event. Deliberately targeted at swimmers just below county standard with B
and C grading in each of seven age bands there were plenty of very
impressive awards to swim for. Entries closed at the end of April and had
exceeded all expectations with a number of clubs having to be turned away
because the event was oversubscribed. On the day, almost 250 swimmers split
across fifteen visiting clubs combined with ninety Woking swimmers in a
packed 12 hour day of competition comprising 18 events split across three
sessions and over 1,500 individual swims. Despite the heat, the gallery was
packed for the whole day, at times offering standing room only. With
tremendous support from the many officials, poolside helpers and volunteers
the day ran incredibly smoothly and they were duly rewarded by a fantastic
lunch generously donated by Waitrose.
When not watching the competition parents and spectators were able to
purchase equipment and costumes from the visiting Swimstop stall as well as
purchase action shots from the events captured by Albion Images and event
clothing produced on the day by Fine Designs UK.
There were numerous personal bests recorded by the Woking Swimmers and
between them they took home 161 awards, with 63 first place, 56 second place
and 42 third place finishes. Ross Arnfield clocked 32.27 on the 50m split in
the 100m breaststroke event and in so doing broke the open age group club
record that had stood for 16 years.
Top visiting club were St Pauls Barnes, with Leander second and Rushmoor
Royals third. In addition to these clubs, Woking wishes to thank Sutton and
Cheam, Haslemere, Godalming, Box Hill, Staines, Leatherhead, Maidenhead
Marlins, Cheam Marcuda, Wey Valley, Teddington, Hart and Eltham Stringrays
for supporting the event, making it such a huge success and for the volumes
of positive feedback received both during and after the event.
Full results are available at:
http://www.wokingsc.co.uk/octopus.htm
Still Maurer To Come
Birthday girl Emma Maurer and Edward Lee were the star performers in
Woking’s battling showing at the first round of the Rother League. Despite a
disappointing number of disqualifications their stand out swims ensured
Woking came a close second on the night to Worthing by only six points.
Chloe Bard got the evening off to the perfect start, recording both a win
and a PB in the very first race of the night, the girls Open 50m butterfly.
In the subsequent race, Sam Holloway also gained a new personal milestone in
the boys Open 50m butterfly, one of five PBs that occurred on the night.
With Woking consistently placing in the top three in their individual races,
they were soon fighting for the lead with Haslemere and Worthing. Victories
were taken by Matt Aubry (U11 25m butterfly), Dominic Holloway (U15 50m
breaststroke), James Chambers (U13 50m backstroke) and Ruth Tweedie-Smith
(Open 50m backstroke), with PBs coming from Matt, Amanda Jack and Zack
Fowden.
Woking’s relay teams then showed off their considerable ability, with
five wins and a second place coming from eight races. 1st place finishes
were achieved by the U11 girls and U11 boys freestyle relay teams and the
U13 girls, U15 boys and the Open girls medley relay teams, with the Open
boys taking second. With Worthing and Woking now pulling away from the rest
of the competition, the individual races resumed and continued in much the
same fashion as had gone before, with the vast majority of swims resulting
in a top three finish for Woking. Wins were this time provided by Hazel
Ferguson (U13 50m freestyle), Hannah Burvill (U15 50m freestyle) and
Charlotte George (U13 50m butterfly), with six second place finishes also
being recorded.
As the gala entered its final stage, only a point separated Woking and
Worthing with ten races to go. Woking again performed admirably in the
second set of relays, taking four wins (provided by the U11 boys medley
relay team, U13 girls and Open girls medley teams and the mixed Squadron
relay team) and two second places, but they were also handed two further
DQ’s that would ultimately prove costly. In the final points totals, Woking
narrowly missed out on claiming top spot, but will be doubly determined to
go one better in the next round in June.
Final points totals:
1st Worthing 224 points
2nd Woking 218 points
3rd Haslemere 178.5 points
4th Fareham 174.5 points
5th Cranleigh 153 points
6th Godalming 109 points
AGM
The Woking Swimming Club AGM will be on
Wednesday 16th June 8pm - 9.30pm
in Restaurant area of the Leisure Centre (not Pool)
Woking Show Premier Quality
 Woking’s
younger swimmers gave a mouth-watering hint of things to come as they won
the Hants and South Coast Premier League. It is only the second time that
the club have taken the trophy in its history. The last time was in 2004 and
means that Woking now hold four of the available six trophies from the Hants
and South Coast League. The team, composed of swimmers aged from 9-13,
dominated from the outset, gaining the lead in the gala within the first ten
races. It was a lead that they would only go on to extend as the evening
wore on.
Anna Maine got the ball rolling as she came second in the first event of
the night, the 9 years 50m freestyle. Five of the next nine events produced
PBs for Woking’s swimmers, with the first victory of the night coming from
Hannah Burvill, who swam a stunning race in her U13 50m freestyle. Personal
best swims came from Ella Wood, Kirsty McKnight, James Cumins, Holly
Gardiner and Chris Zahn as the first round of relays began. Particularly
impressive were the U11 Mixed medley relay team, who placed first of the six
clubs, and the U13 Mixed medley relay team, who came second in their race.
The next set of individual races resulted in a positive deluge of
victories for Woking as they pulled away from the opposition. Anna took the
first in her 9 years 50m backstroke, along with a PB, and this was followed
by first place finishes from Chris (U14 50m breaststroke), Charlotte George
(U11 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke), Hannah (U13 50m backstroke and,
swimming up an age group, U14 50m freestyle), Anna again (this time in the 9
years 25m butterfly), Cameron Helsby (U11 50m backstroke) and Kirsty (U13
50m butterfly). PBs came from Thomas Ledsome, Betty Jamieson, Kirsty,
Charlotte and Cameron.
With the trophy seeming more and more like a formality, Woking
consolidated their position with more good performances in the second round
of relays. Wins duly resulted for the U11 and U12 Mixed freestyle relay
teams, with another second place coming for the U13 Mixed freestyle relay
team. As the gala entered into its final phase, further wins came from Hazel
Ferguson (U12 50m freestyle), Charlotte (U11 50m butterfly) and Chris (50m
U13 breaststroke), with one last PB from Zoe Macrae. The team then finished
with victory in the Mixed Squadron relay to cap a triumphant night for the
club.
Final results
1st Woking 224 points
2nd Rushmoor Royals 189 points
3rd Littlehampton 183.5 points
4th Haslemere 181 points
5th Hart 169 points
6th Hamble 113.5 points
Minor League, Major Trophy
Ross Arnfield and Katherine Robbings were swimmers of the night as
Woking won the Minor League in convincing fashion. They began the gala in
fine style, both recording two second PBs in the Ladies’ and Men’s 100m
breaststroke, and the victories were soon rolling in for Woking’s swimmers.
Charlotte George (U11 50m backstroke), Ben Kenworthy (U12 50m butterfly) and
Kirsty McKnight (U13 50m freestyle) all took first place finishes as Woking
sought to take the gala to the opposition from the very beginning.
In the mixed relays, the girl/boy U11, U12 and U13 teams all took wins,
and this it seemed was the cue for the floodgates to open with regards to
the team’s points total. In the second section of individual events, Woking
took five wins and one second place from the next six races, with Charlotte
(U11 50m butterfly), Kirsty (U13 50m breaststroke), Andrew Roy (U12 50m
freestyle), Matt Aubry (U11 50m butterfly), Hazel Ferguson (U12 50m
freestyle) and Chris Zahn (U13 50m breaststroke) taking the plaudits.
As the gala passed the halfway mark, Woking, by now in a comfortable
lead, solidified their position with further victories for Charlotte (U11
50m freestyle), Andrew (U12 50m breaststroke) and for James Chambers (U13
50m backstroke), Hannah Burvill (U15 50m butterfly) and Calum Ferguson (U15
50m butterfly). After excellent performances once more in the second round
of relays, with wins from the U11, U12 and Open teams, a final flurry of
victories gave Woking the trophy they so richly deserved. 1st place finishes
came from Emma Hassanein (U11 50m breaststroke), Hazel (U12 50m backstroke),
Ben (U12 50m backstroke), Hannah (U13 50m butterfly), James (U13 50m
butterfly) and the girls/boys mixed Squadron relay left club captains Ross
and Bethany Eastwood lifting the cup at the end of the night.
1st Woking 246 points
2nd Rushmoor 216 points
3rd Winchester 196 points
4th Alton 180.5 points
5th Hart 176.5 points
6th Basingstoke 86 points
Maine Strikes Three
Anna Maine led the WSC medal tables at the recent Havant & Waterlooville
Open meeting, returning with 3 Gold Medals from three swims. Flynn Parker
and Haaris Wyne also picked up a Gold Medal each in the short course
meeting. Bronze medals were won by Flynn, Holly Gardiner, Matthew Grady and
Alex Zalaf.
If medals weren't on the cards for the remaining Woking swimmers,
personal bests certainly were. Out of the 90 swims that Woking swimmers
participated in, 47 were PB's. Leading the way on this were Alex Zalaf and
Matthew Grady scoring 4 out of 4 and Jasmine Holden on 5 out of 5. Ella
Wood, Holly Gardiner, Maya Hartwell, Saara Wyne and Thomas Ledsome all swam
3 out of 4.
Haslemere Open Nets PB Bag
Following on from the success of the older swimmers at Bournemouth,
eighteen of the younger Woking S.C. swimmers travelled down the A3 to the
Haslemere Open Meet on Sunday 18th April.
Of the 45 events entered, 37 resulted in a Personal Best time, with every
swimmer achieving at least one improved time. The coaches were
extraordinarily proud of this fantastic achievement with over 80% of the
swims being improvements.
Having finished 3rd in his previous 3 events, Fraser Tattersdill
completed the meet with a gold medal in the 11 years 50m Backstroke, an
event which also produced a silver medal for Alex Watson.
Alex had been in determined mood earlier in the day to win the 50m
freestyle in a time which was 3 seconds faster than his previous PB.
There were also gold medals for Alex Warren (50m Butterfly) and Ella Wood
(50m Backstroke), whilst Hazel Ferguson improved her PB set only one week
earlier by seconds to book a place in the SE Region Age Group Championships
in the 200m Freestyle.
Woking Top in Premier League
Woking Swimming Club opened its assault on the first round of the Premier
League, with a convincing win at Aldershot
Army Garrison pool.
Holding off opposition from Rushmoor, Sutton & Cheam, Alton, Eastleigh,
Farnham and Havant, the youngsters, all of whom are under 13, won the gala
with a margin of 49 points from second place Rushmoor.
Anna Maine opened the account in the first event of the evening with a PB
and 1st place in the 9 years old 50m Freestyle. After 10 events Woking were
a single point ahead of Rushmoor. Woking went on to dominate the first set
of Medley Relays with three 1st and two 2nd place finishes. After 20 events
the gap had widened to 7 points and by event 30 to 13 points. The officials
couldn’t separate Kirsty McKnight from the Rushmoor swimmer finishing joint
1st in the U13 50m Butterfly and the second set of Freestyle Relays yielded
a further three 1st and two 3rd place finishes such that by event 40 Woking
were a full 25 points ahead of Rushmoor.
Out of the 51 events, Woking came first in 26 and second in a further 13.
On the night there were 17 personal bests swum and Hannah Burvill claimed
the Club's Under 14 Freestyle record as well. PB's came from Anna Maine,
Dominic Ascough, Andrew Roy, Alex Warren, Haaris Wyne, Hannah Burvill, James
Chambers, Thomas Ledsome, Lucy Spruzs, Chris Zahn, Edward Lee, James Cumins
and Zoe McCrae.
The final points on the night were:
Woking 303.5
Rushmoor 254.5
Sutton & Cheam 210
Alton 179
Eastleigh 177
Farnham 171
Havant & Waterlooville 128
The whole team performed exceptionally well and brought home some
fantastic results. Swimmers of the night were Hannah Burvill and Andrew
Roy.
Round 2 of the Premier League is on the 15th May at Woking where, seeded
one, the team will again compete against Rushmoor, Hamble, Littlehampton,
Hart and Haslemere for the Division 1 title.
Bourne Supremacy
Woking’s swimmers were in excellent form once again at Bournemouth open
meet, coming second out of all visiting clubs. Hannah Burvill was once again
dominant, gaining seven gold and two silver medals over the course of the
weekend. She also took five club records in her 400m freestyle, 200m
backstroke and 100m IM, gained five South East Regional (SER) Qualifying
Times and one National Qualifying Time and won Top Girl Age Group Swimmer to
boot.
Charlotte George was also on the medal hunt, taking seven golds and
gaining four SER QT’s from her swims. Other medal winners were Emma Maurer,
who took five golds, one silver and one SER QT, Hazel Ferguson (2 golds, 3
silvers, 1 bronze, 3 SER QT's), Alex Smith (2 golds, 1 silver, 2 bronzes, 2
SER QT's), James Chambers (2 golds, 1 silver, 2 bronzes), Matthew Aubry (2
golds), Bethany Eastwood (1 gold, 1 silver), Elizabeth Jamieson (1 gold, 1
silver), Andrew Roy (1 gold, 1 bronze), Kirsty McKnight (5 silvers, 5
bronzes, 5 SER QT's), Dominic Holloway (2 silvers, 3 bronzes, 1 SER QT),
Edward Lee (1 silver, 3 bronzes, 2 SER QT's), Emma Hassanein (1 silver, 1
bronze), Calum Ferguson (1 silver), Katherine Robbings (3 bronzes), Ross
Arnfield (2 bronzes, 2 SER QT’s), Matt Dickenson (1 bronze), Sam Holloway (1
bronze) and Ella Wood (1 bronze). Overall, from 178 swims there were 72
PB’s.
Wey Junior Title - 5 years in
succession!
PB’s and winning were the agenda of the night for Woking swimmers at the
second round of the Wey B League held at the Elmbridge pool.
This league is aimed at the younger and less experienced swimmers with
the majority of the events swum over 50 meters, and for the fifth year
running Woking finished the gala in 1st position with a 23 point lead!
It was a fine performance from the team, particularly from those swimmers
who despite being well inside the allocated time, swam a Time Penalty –
essentially meaning that they were too quick for the event. (all events had
maximum speed limits).
The first of the speeding swimmers was Mariano Lines, who swum a 6 second
PB in the backstroke and then lowered this new PB even further later in the
evening, followed by Tom Walton (7 second PB) & Fraser Tattersdill (4 second
PB) in their 50m Breaststroke events. Other recipients of Time Penalties
were Ben Haskell in the 50m Backstroke, and Michael Lenton, recording a 7
second PB in the 50m Freestyle - and still the PB’s continued to fall thick
and fast.
This gala is also one of the first opportunities for the 9 year olds to
represent their club. All events for this age group are relays and there is
a trophy for the 9 year old squad with the highest number of points. Despite
finishing with equal points to Elmbridge, the Woking team were second in
this age group (as they had fewer outright wins). The young swimmers all had
a very enjoyable evening and are looking forward to swimming in many more
galas.
The recipients of the Swimmer of the Night accolades were Mariano
Lines and Katie Shiel-Rankin for their very impressive swims.
National Treasure
 Hannah
Burvill continued her record breaking recent run of form at the final
weekend of the Surrey County Championships with a fourth National Qualifying
Time of the season. Her 200m freestyle time was fast enough to take the U14
Club Record and also earn her a bronze medal to go with the increasing
collection she has built up over the last month. That and two more bronzes
in the 100m butterfly and 200m IM respectively was enough to see her secure
third in the very competitive 12 year old BAGCATs.
Nine year old Anna Maine took bronze in the 200m Freestyle with a
colossal 20 second PB and then rounded off her competition with gold in the
200 IM only just missing out on a Regional qualifying time by 1 second.
These swims plus her earlier results gave her a joint 1st place finish in
the 9 year old BAGCATs. 10 year old Charlotte George took silver in the 200m
Freestyle going one better taking gold in the 200 IM to also top the BAGCAT
tables for the 10 year old girls.
Other medals came from Dominic Holloway in the 13 year olds 100m
breaststroke, gaining a silver medal and a sizeable PB in the process.
Dominic finished fifth overall in the 13 year old BAGCATS. Calum Ferguson
finished fourteenth in the 14 year old category despite being thirteen for
all but the last weekend of the championships.
Other finalists over the two days were Hazel Ferguson, Kirsty McKnight,
Ruth Tweedie-Smith and Bethany Eastwood (all 100m backstroke), Chris Zahn
and Alex Miller (100m breaststroke), Alex Smith (100m freestyle) and Kirsty
in the 100m butterfly.
Thirteen Regional Qualifying times were achieved or bettered over the
course of the weekend and 40 out of the 56 individual swims were PBs.
Woking ended the championships with 29 medals in total, 11 Golds, 9
Silvers and 6 bronzes.
WSC Minor Triumph with Landslide
On Saturday 20th March, Woking Swimming Club hosted the first round of
the Hants & South Coast Minor League gala as 2009 League 2 Champions and by
the end of the evening had emerged as runaway victors.
Out of the 53 events swum, WSC were 1st or 2nd in 45 and won 7 out of the
11 relays, including the final squadron relay.
During the course of the evening, a tremendous team and individual effort
ensured that the home team started in front and extended the lead with each
race. 13 Personal Bests were swum.
Whilst the entire team performed well, with a number of swimmers having
to swim up an age group as the team were not at full strength on the night,
swimmers of the night for Woking were Hazel Ferguson and Kirsty McKnight for
the girls and Ben Kenworthy and Calum Ferguson for the boys.
Woking won with 280 points, a clear 50 in front of second place Hart. The
other teams were Fareham, Southampton (the current Division 1 cup holders),
Isle of Wight and Winchester.
Round 2, the final round on May 8th, will prove to be a much harder and
tougher challenge. This will be hosted again by Woking at Pool in the Park,
where they will have a home advantage as well as being seeded first to pick
up the Division 1 trophy. The entire team however are not complacent and are
eager to perform again on the night.
Crystal a-mazing Palace
The third weekend of the Surrey County Championships took place at the
Long Course 50m Pool of Crystal Palace over the weekend.
This year the 50m individual events comprised both preliminaries and
finals on Saturday with the team Freestyle and Medley relays taking place on
Sunday.
In the individual events 38 personal bests came from 106 individual swims
with 17 swimmers making it through to the finals.
Alex Woodman finished just outside the medals in the final of the Boys 16
and over 50m Butterfly, but his converted short course time from the
preliminary round was sufficient to claim the Open club record for this
event.
12 year-old Hannah Burvill’s impressive run of form continued as she made
three individual finals taking a bronze medal in the Freestyle and with it
the U14 Club record. 10 year-old Charlotte George went one better making all
four of the individual finals and coming home with Gold from three of them
(Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly) taking the later two events by almost
a two second margin. 9 year-old Anna Maine took the Backstroke Gold, adding
to it later taking silver in the Butterfly. Breaststroke medals came from 14
year-old Emma Maurer taking silver with 12 year-old Christopher Zahn opening
the boys account taking bronze. Ben Kenworthy won an extremely close 11
year-old Butterfly final touching home just 14 hundreths ahead of 2nd place.
Other individual finalists were Kirsten Young, James Chambers, Emma
Hassanein, Dominic Holloway, Calum Ferguson, Alex Woodman, Edward Lee,
Andrew Roy, Hazel Ferguson, Ruth Tweedie-Smith and Bethany Eastwood.
Despite some solid performances on the Sunday the Woking relay teams were
not able to add to the clubs medal tally which now stands at 9 Golds, 6
Silvers and 2 Bronzes. With one weekend of competition left, Woking are 6th
in the medal table and hoping to increase their account in two weeks time at
the last weekend of competition.
Woking perform in Surrey County
Championships
The ladies led the way for Woking Swimming Club during the first two
weekends of the Surreys.
 On day one, Anna Maine won a gold medal in the 200m Backstroke, whilst
achieving her first qualifying time for the South East Regional
championships. Charlotte George also won a gold medal and improved on her
regional qualifying time in the same event.
Despite missing out on a medal in this event Hannah Burvill improved her
personal best by over 5 seconds. This earned her a Club Record in the U14
age group and means she is only 1.5 seconds off a National Qualifying Time,
whilst Hazel Ferguson was a tantalising 0.12 seconds off her SER time.
After a close fought battle, Charlotte won her second gold medal in the
100m IM.
Day two brought a silver medal and three more club records for Hannah
when she claimed the U14, U16 & Open record for the 400m freestyle, with
Charlotte obtaining a SER qualifying time in the event.
Not to be outdone by the girls, James Chambers swam a 7 second PB in the
200 Backstroke, leaving him needing a further 2 second improvement to
achieve his first regional time.
Hannah achieved her final SER qualifying time of the weekend in the 200m
Breaststroke.
Overall, Woking swimmers achieved 24 PB’s.
The second weekend of the championships, held at Aldershot Garrison Pool
resulted in six more club records and two NQT’s for Hannah Burvill. These
were achieved in the 1500 metres and the 800 metres Freestyle in which she
won a silver and gold respectively. Hannah has now achieved entry into three
events at the National Championships in Sheffield which are held in July.
Katherine Robbings also swam in both events and achieved two silver medals.
With two more weekends of the Surrey County Championships all the
swimmers are determined to continue their good performances and with the
Bournemouth Open coming up after Easter to improve on these.
Speeding Tickets at the
Pavilions
Woking Swimming Club attended Cranleigh B Grade Open Meet which was held
at Pavilions in the Park at Horsham and came away with a medal haul of 15
Gold, 9 Silver and 9 Bronze, along with a handful of Speeding Tickets.
The Speeding Tickets were awarded to those swimmers who were too fast for
the upper time limit. James Chambers must have really had the foot down as
he came away with a personal tally of 4! Kristian Payne, Mariano Lines, Tara
de Klerk, Lucy Maurer, Alex Zalaf and Thomas Webb also picked up one each.
Out of the 100 swims, 59 were new personal bests and the following picked
up medals:
Gold: Amy Harrington(4), Maya Hartwell (3), Michael Sugden (2), Lucy
Spruzs (2), Alex Warren (1), Alex Watson (1), Lucy Maurer (1) and Natasha
Holden (1).
Silver: Natasha Holden, Lucy Maurer, Lucy Spruzs, Jasmin Monteiro,
Kristian Payne, Alex Zalaf, Thomas Webb, Robyn Hartwell and Emily Cheshire
all picked up a silver each.
Bronze: Amy Kearney (2), with Alex Warren, Alex Zalaf, Rhiannon Mellor,
Jasmine Holden, Natasha Holden, Sophie Ledsome and Emily Faulkner picking up
a bronze each.
Of the visiting clubs, WSC came 3rd.
At the double for the Gemini Trophy
The fine recent form of Woking’s swimmers continued on
Saturday night as they retained their Gemini trophy title for the fourth
year in succession. With the gala clashing with a national schools event in
Coventry and facing stiff opposition from Hamble and Hart, a true team
performance was needed in a gala that uniquely requires two lanes to be
filled by all competing clubs, with the points from both lanes being
combined to decide which club would be the overall winner. Regardless of
which lane they were asked to race in, the swimmers rallied to the task and
after a close, hard fought battle with Hart, they emerged as the victors.
The recent deluge of PBs continued in the first eight events, with ten
from a total of sixteen races. Throughout the night, there would be a grand
total of thirty six new personal milestones in all, with twenty coming from
the first thirty two races – a good omen with the Surrey County
Championships just round the corner. Despite the best efforts of Emma Maurer
(50m breaststroke), Calum Ferguson (50m backstroke), Dominic Holloway (50m
breaststroke), Alex Miller (50m breaststroke), Charlie Bridgwater (50m
breaststroke), Charlotte George (50m backstroke) and Hannah Burvill (50m
backstroke), who all won their respective races, Hart raced into an early
lead, with Woking determinedly hanging on in second place. The relays proved
fruitful, however, and with the help of victories from the Mixed U/12 4x25m
freestyle relay and Mixed U/14 4x25m medley relay teams Woking were soon
hunting down the leaders.
The gap continued to close as the individual events recommenced. Haaris
Wyne took the next victory for Woking in his 50m butterfly, and this was
followed by further triumphs from Charlotte (50m freestyle and 25m
butterfly), Hannah (50m freestyle and 50m butterfly), Daniel West (50m
freestyle), Hazel Ferguson (50m backstroke and 50m freestyle), Calum (50m
butterfly), Alex (50m freestyle) and Chloe Bard (50m freestyle). With ten
races to go, Woking edged into the lead for the first time in the gala as
Hart looked to be unable to sustain their early pace. It was a lead they
would go on to extend through the final set of relays, as first place
finishes from the Mixed U/12 4x25m medley relay, the Mixed U/14 4x25m
freestyle relay and the Squadron relay teams ensured that the Gemini trophy
would be staying at Pool in the Park for another year.
Swimmers of the night were Alex Miller and James Cumins for the boys
and Chloe Bard and Hazel Ferguson for the girls.
Points were:
Woking 404
Hart 377
Hamble 281
Swimmers Under Development
Woking's swimmers can begin their Surrey County Championship preparations
in earnest after another set of superb performances brought the curtain down
on the second half of the Surrey Development meet. With a string of PBs and
Surrey Qualifying Times achieved, they can now look ahead to what promises
to be an exciting few months of racing action.
With eight PB's from the first eight swims, the Woking contingent looked
to be in fine fettle. Ella Woods notched an SQT in the Girls 200m IM in
addition to her new personal milestone, and further PBs followed from Ellie
Galloway (Girls 200m IM), Matthew Aubry, Davis Taylor, Kristian Payne,
Michael Sugden and Cameron Helsby (Boys 100m IM). The girls then claimed a
second SQT of the day, this one going to Phoebe
Lenton in the Girls 100m freestyle.
Elizabeth Jamieson bagged SQT number three in the Girls 100m backstroke,
as well as a new PB, and Ellie added a second PB to her days total in the
same race. Not to be outdone, the Woking boys responded, with Alex Miller
taking an SQT in his 100m breaststroke. New PB's promptly followed in the
200m IM from Haaris Wyne, Elliott Taylor, James Cumins and Alex again.
Ella then showed her qualities as a sprinter as well as a distance
swimmer, gaining an SQT in the Girls 100m IM to go with her 200m time from
earlier in the day. Lucy Spruzs also gained a PB time in the 100 IM event.
Three PB's and two SQTs were achieved as the day came to a close, with James
Chambers (Boys 100m freestyle) and James Cumins (Boys 100m backstroke) the
swimmers beating the required entry times.
The final PB of the weekend came from Flynn Parker in his Boys 100m
freestyle event.
With only a few weeks left to go, Woking's swimmers will now be focussing
on their final preparations for the main championships themselves, beginning
with a gala in a weeks time.
Cranleigh OM
All entries for Cranleigh Open Meet on 7/2/10 have been accepted and
cards are being sent out.
Please note that this meet is being held at Horsham's
The Pavilions In The Park, Hurst Road, Horsham Park, Horsham RH12 2DF, West
Sussex as Cranleigh Leisure Centre has not yet re-opened.
Hannah is a National QT!
 When Hannah Burvill turned 12 at the beginning of last September the date
she really had in mind was the first of the following month. If she were to
make the National Age Group Championship finals she would need to record the
necessary qualifying time sometime after the 1st October 2009 and ahead of
the actual championships at the end of July 2010.
The task is not an easy
one, NQTs are only obtained by roughly 1% of the competitive swimming
population.
Having come so close during the course of last year, the focus event for
this year was the 100m Free. The required times? Either 1:03.84 (Long Course
– i.e. swum in a 50m pool) or 1:02.48 (Short Course – i.e. swum in a 25m
pool).
The marker was set at the end of November with a short course time at the
Woking Club Championships of 1:05.02 this was followed a week later with a
1:04.03 at the Level 2 Haslemere Elite meet. In December Hannah travelled to
Millfield school in Somerset for the Plymouth Leander Level 1 Long Course
meet. Competing against some of the very best in the country she recorded
1:04.97, agonisingly just over a second off the required time.
Battling through the snow in January and without the normal training
preparation Hannah clocked a short course 1:03.18 at the Level 2 Brighton
Meet, this time just under a second off the required time.
Last weekend with the weather now allowing a full training programme
Hannah travelled to Portsmouth for their Level 1 Long Course Junior meet.
This was held at the new Mountbatten Centre where a £20 million investment
has created a state of the art 50m pool that will serve as a pre-games
training camp for the 2012 Olympics. Swimming in the eight lane pool with
reaction time measurement off the blocks, Hannah touched home in 1:03.54 and
so gained that much coveted NQT, a fantastic achievement. Adding to this
success she returned from the meet with four individual Golds and a bronze.
Having qualified, Hannah will now be looking to better her entry time and
potentially add further NQTs from the events of the forthcoming Surrey
County Championships. The National Age Group Championships take place at
Ponds Forge, Sheffield from 28th July 2010 and the club and coaches wish
Hannah every success as she represents the club on the National stage.
Swimmers on the Wey up
Woking’s junior swimmers provided some very encouraging
signs of things to come in the Wey B Junior League round one. The
competition, in which the races are time limited in order to provide the
opportunity for B team swimmers to represent the club, produced nineteen PBs
over the course of the night, with Woking finishing the gala in a narrow
second to Isle of Wight. It was a fine performance from the team,
particularly from those swimmers representing the club for the first time.
The result of the time limiting rule was that a number of swimmers swam a
Time Penalty – essentially meaning that they were too quick for the event.
Speed demons of the night were Maya Hartwell (25m butterfly and 50m
freestyle), Kristian Payne (50m breaststroke), Dominic Ascough (50m
breaststroke and 50m freestyle) and Alex Zalaf (25m butterfly). Dominic also
picked up the Swimmer of the Night accolade for the boys, with Megan Fidge
nominated for the girls.
PBs came from Charlotte Weller (50m backstroke), Max Longhurst (50m
backstroke), Megan (50m breaststroke), Alex Zalaf (50m breaststroke and 50m
backstroke), Davis Taylor (50m butterfly), Ana Richardson (50m
breaststroke), Dominic (50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle), Tara de Klerk
(50m freestyle), Elliott Taylor (50m freestyle), William Hurman (50m
backstroke), Ben Haskell (50m breaststroke and 50m butterfly), Maya Hartwell
(50m freestyle), Robyn Hartwell (50m backstroke), Jack Pearce (50m
backstroke), Kristian Payne (50m breaststroke) and Alex Warren (50m
butterfly).
Isle of Wight – 156 points
Woking – 151 points
Teddington – 146 points
Dorking – 136 points
St Pauls Barnes – 132 points
Chichester – 117 points
Swimmers Developing Fast
Woking’s swimmers enjoyed a successful start to 2010, despite having
their training hampered by the extreme weather conditions. At the Surrey
Development Meet, designed to give competitors a last chance to gain vital
Surrey Championship qualifying times, a series of fine swims led to thirty
PB’s from seventy two races and, most importantly, sixteen new qualifying
times came from thirteen first place finishes, ten second places and four
thirds.
Perhaps most pleasingly for the coaches, five of these came from swimmers
who previously had not achieved QT’s for the 2010 Championships.
Alex Miller profited most from the weekend’s exertions, gaining two
Surrey QT’s from three swims (50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle). Other
QT’s came from Cameron Helsby, Kristian Payne, Sophie Ledsome and Flynn
Parker (50m backstroke), Tara de Klerk, Holly Gardiner, Ella Wood and Daniel
West (50m breaststroke), Ewan Smith, Charlie Bridgwater, Ailish Straver and
Lucy Spruzs (50m freestyle), Haaris Wyne (50m butterfly) and James Chambers
(200m freestyle).
There were still several other PB’s that, while not quite fast enough to
be Surrey QT’s, nevertheless still represented an impressive improvement so
early in the term. New milestones were achieved by Matthew Aubry (50m
breaststroke), James Chambers (50m butterfly), Max Dorrell (50m freestyle),
Hazel Ferguson (50m breaststroke), Ella Fowden (50m breaststroke), Matthew
Grady (50m backstroke), Amanda Jack (50m breaststroke), Elizabeth Jamieson
(50m butterfly), Edward Lee (50m breaststroke), Flynn Parker (50m
freestyle), Michael Sugden (50m breaststroke), Davis Taylor (50m freestyle),
Alexandra Warren (50m freestyle), Thomas Webb (50m backstroke and
breaststroke) and Saara Wyne (50m backstroke).
The second Development Meet takes place on Saturday 30th January at the
Spectrum where once again a number of Woking swimmers will be hunting those
prized Surrey QT’s. The Surreys themselves kick off on Saturday February
20th.
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