Oldbury Swimming and Triathlon Club
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Youth swimmers excel in Corby
From left to right: Stuart (coach), Anna Willetts, Chloe Bennett, Bethany Willetts and Neil Edwards (coach)
Oldbury's dynamic duo of Bethany Willetts and Chloe Bennett represented the club at the regional youth championships over the bank holiday weekend, swimming against the very best from across the East and West Midlands. With seriously strong individuals from major cities like Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Leicester, Loughborough and Derby the level of competition was unlike any that either of the girls had experienced this calendar year. The venue for this prestigious meet was Corby international pool, the first time the long course (50m) championships had been held away from Coventry.
The first Oldbury race of the weekend came from Chloe Bennett who was entered in the 100m Breaststroke and excelled in her performance, conquering nerves to beat two girls in her 15/16 age bracket and one in the 17/over age band. She finished as the 10th fastest 15 year old which is an excellent achievement when contrasting that result to all the 15 year old girls in the Midlands.
The following two races of the session came from Bethany Willetts. In the 50m Backstroke Beth did extremely well and qualified for her age group final in second place and in the 50m Freestyle heats Beth finished in 13th place overall. In both races Beth knocked 1 second off her long course personal best times which she set at last year's regional championships. To knock this amount of time off both 50m races was a great start to the weekend for Beth.
In the second session of the Saturday Beth competed in the 200m Backstroke, an entirely new event for her at the regional championships. However, this did not deter her as she scraped into the final, meaning she had qualified for two finals from her three heats of the day.
The 50m Backstroke final was a nerve-wracking time for Neil and Stuart as they waited whilst Bethany lined up for her splash-and-dash swim. Spear-headed and placed in the lane 5, Bethany got off to a great start and at 25m gone was in the mix with 5 other girls for the silver medal. Beth's strength is her back-end of the race and as she entered the final 20m she pulled away from the blanket to finish in second place. This was a truly staggering accomplishment both for Beth and for Oldbury. For Oldbury to have a regional silver medalist is just an outstanding achievement. Beth was clearly overjoyed by her result but couldn't celebrate until she had raced her second final. With a performance that saw Beth undercut her heat time, Beth finished in 5th place in the 200m Backstroke. Another amazing result from Oldbury's top girl.
After a long day on Saturday everyone was a little tired on the Sunday but Chloe Bennett once again kicked off the day, this time in the 50m Breaststroke. Chloe had never raced 50m Breaststroke long course before and so this was entirely new experience for her and she secured her first long course PB and finished in 14th place in the 15/16 age band as the 9th fastest 15 year old. Beth then swam soon after in her 100m Backstroke heat and qualified for another final, this time in 4th position. Beth's final heat of the weekend was the 100m Freestlye and there were no expectations for this race as Freestyle is not Beth's number one stroke. This event also has more entrants than any other, bar the 50m Freestyle. However, in a turn of events with a little bit of luck Beth one again nudged into the 17/over final as the 8th fastest finalist.
After a long afternoon break the evening final session got underway. Giving everything she had, Beth put in a performance that couldn't quite sneak into the medals but came 4th, once again using her back-end speed to leave 5th to 8th well in her wake. To put this performance into perspective, this was the East and West Midland regional 17/over final and our swimmer came 4th. Onto the 100m Freestyle final and with nothing to lose, in lane 8, Beth then stepped up for her last race of the championships. After a long, hot, draining weekend coach Stuart put no expectation upon Beth and told her to have some fun....and that is exactly what she did. In one of the best Oldbury performances that Stuart had ever seen, Beth took the first 50m of her 100m race in a 30.66, turning in 6th and managed to hold onto that position throughout the remainder of the race, battling exhaustion and two other swimmers to finish in 6th place. Although Beth had medalled on the Saturday, this was the highlight of the weekend, demonstrating how much emphasis Oldbury put on perfomance and not medals. Beth's time was over 2 seconds faster than her heat time that qualified her for the final. The sheer determination and guts that she showed when she was tired and aching to then attack the final race in that way showed a true competitors spirit.
Both girls swam exceptionally well over the weekend but extra praise to Beth who excelled herself and put Oldbury's name on the finals board four times. Four finals from five races at the regional championships is the sort of results that any top class swimmer would be proud of.
Well done to both girls. BAGCAT regional championships in June are now the next major competition for the Oldbury elite.
Sandwell Aquathlon 2013 Race Report
Sandwell Aquathlon 2013
Race Report
A Big Thank you
I feel I must start with some big thank you’s. First to John Turton, Karl Fletcher and Russell Bowen who were the other members of the Event Organiser Team without who’s help this Event would have not been Possible. Kevin Stockton (club President) and Paul Withers (club Secretary) who had the confidence in me to make the decision to back me and the Event team in creating both of these new very different Events for 2013. To everyone who helped us run the Event which required a huge amount of volunteers, many of whom had only been part of the competitive swimming side of the club previously. This Event required the whole club to pull together to pull off a quality Event of this magnitude in such a difficult location. Last but not least to everyone who competed, you all did yourselves proud, this was no boring run course but something that challenged everyone, and everyone of you rose to the challenge and concurred it.
When I was told that we would have to hold the Event at Haden Hill in 2013 I came looked and went away saying its not possible to create a family Event here. This is just one big hill with no sensible access course between the baths and park. Then to meet the requirement of children never being out of site of a marshal (ideally 3) was not possible. You can imagine my horror when back one Friday in September we were initially given the weekend to create the courses in draft formatting for Approval on Monday. Against the odds we did it with only small tweaks being made later (Sprint distance was to go around the pond more interesting but also 400m longer).
The race.
Well what can I say; when I saw the first 3 competitors of the day as they completed their first lap behind the Museum House panting as if they would not finish I did wonder how everyone else would cope given these were all exceptional runners. Well like everyone else to follow they soon learnt to pace themselves. It had been a long morning by the time Jonathan Hunt (28.38) crossed the finish line to a big cheer. Not far behind was our first female to cross the finish Sophie Ward (28.49). Congratulations to both Sprint winners. With the Sprint Race over we had 38 very proud athletes keen to tell everyone just how tough their run course had been. But not one of them disliked it and so far from feedback we have had a 100% reply of we will be back next year which just shows what fantastic athletes you all are.
Next out it was the Novice distance Adults; only a 200m swim (half normal) followed by my favorite run route which was over 2.5km. This run route threw everything at the athletes with many small hills, twists and turns. I new everyone would love this course. We had many first timers to Triathlon competing at this distance for which everyone also managed to finish all knowing they had achieved something special. Best of all most had children there to see them taking on what was a new challenge, a challenge that all accomplished to a round of applause. John Outhwaite gave us the fastest run time and the fastest overall novice time of 15.49.
Parents gone and it was time for the Youths and TS-3 to follow on this same course. The joys of being young; everyone attacked the course well and with the support of the very large crowed of supporters giving each and everyone encouragement some great times were produced. OSTC member Sasha Bowen had both a respectable swim time and run, well done.
Finally it was time for the younger children and what a great turn out. Their course was mostly in the view of the majority of the spectators and so plenty of encouragement was given to all. Yes the majority had done an Aquathlon before but I'm sure none had done anything like this. Well done to OSTC members Reece, Rory and Oliver Watson who secured 3rd, 4th and 5th places in TS-2 for OSTC with less than 20 seconds between all three of them and Flynn Watson and Daniel Hickl who were placed 3 rd and 4th in TS-1. The most pleasing feedback from the younger children who had never done any form of Triathlon before is the overwhelming desire to do more which is what this Events main aim was; To encourage more participants into our sport particularly families and those that would not have considered Triathlon type Events previously. Great times from OSTC members Lauren Edwards, Eloise Woodward and Leah Byrne. We look forward to seeing you again at the Triathlon in June.
Mark Deakin
Oldbury STC Triathlon Representative
Mercian League Round 1 2013
Saturday 27th April 2013
Mercian League Round 1
Held at Tamworth Age’s 10/u, 12/u, 14/u and Open
PBs galore as Oldbury surge ahead
Turning up in the nick-of-time to a gala is never a good example to set as a coach but it was fantastic to see the whole team there ready and waiting to go. With a very hot poolside and cloudy waters, the conditions for the evening were not ideal; but the atmosphere, diving blocks at each end and the results to come more than made up for those few complaints.
The team was a little short of older girls as the evening got underway, Emily Withers had competed at Gloucester open meet earlier in the day and secured a regional qualifying time (QT) or 100m backstroke (well done Emily!) and so was unable to compete for the team in the league. Anna Willetts and Stephen Cox both started well for Oldbury, each finishing in 2nd place, Anna getting a 3.56 second PB in the process. For many of the younger swimmers this was their first senior gala, and for many more still, one in their first handful of galas for the club. The younger swimmers did struggle somewhat in the early relays but this highlighted the key areas that we as a team need to develop to help them progress and develop even further. The 12/u boys of Oliver Mitchell Hewitt, Reece Fletcher, Alex Hickl and Ethan Hackwood were on form all through the evening and their medley relay saw Ethan pip Orion to the gold medal. Oldbury then claimed a third, second and first through the boys 14/u FC relay, the open women’s medley relay and then the open men’s medley relay, respectively.
With half the relays completed the individual events could really get underway and Kendal O’Connor started by recording a whopping 10 seconds PB for 50m FC. Trinity Parkes competed in her first ever 100m Brst race in a time only 6 seconds slower than the county QT which was a great effort and something she can aim towards next season. Ethan Hackwood then not only won his 100m Brst in a display that left the rest of the field in his wake but more importantly recorded a 4 second PB. The familiar face of Irina Ionita then took to the water and claimed a full 6 points in the 14/u 100m BK followed by Harry Withers in the same event. Harry had recorded a PB in this event only the week before but that didn’t stop him as he once again knocked almost a second off with the best technical racing that I have ever seen him do.
It was then time for the most anticipated race of the evening, fellow coach Neil Edwards stepped onto the block for the 100m fly and in an effortless display came in in second place with a time that currently puts him fastest in the club. Young Ellen Clarke then swam only her second ever 50m FC and finished with a 2 second PB. Daniel Hickl, not to be outdone then broke his old PB by 5 seconds! One third of the gala had now passed and Oldbury were 3 points behind second place Redditch and 9 behind leaders Tamworth.
Katie Robshaw swam her first ever 100m BK as did Oliver Mitchell Hewitt, Oliver finished in first place but all the skiing that he’d done before hand had clearly taken its toll on his legs. Morgen Watson then won her 100m Fly race by over 11 seconds with a three seconds PB. Irina again swam 100m backstroke, this time in the open age group but took silver with a great finish to out-touch Northgate by 0.09. Open men’s backstroker Raj Singh immediately left the opposition behind as he recorded the second best time of his life. Erin Whaley had a brilliant race, her first ever 50m Brst race and took third place in a time 1.93 seconds slower than the county QT. Charlie Rogers wasn’t being left out of the fun as he then recorded a huge 7 seconds PB. Eva Harris snipped a little of her 100m FC PB but Rajan Vagree took 7 seconds off his to finish in 1.10.78. Morgen Watson, not satisfied just to win on Saturday but to win by body-lengths continued her form winning the 100m Brst in a PB and ahead of the field by 5.5 seconds. Jake Burling picked up 6 points in the open Brst and Connor Beaman knocked half a second off him 25m Fly time. Both Nicole Demitry and Alex Hickl then swam their first ever 100m FC races and both finished a solid third. A crowning swim of the night came from Louise Tromans as she blitzed her heat by 10.5 seconds in the 14/u 100m Brst, not a PB but still a good race and within 0.34 seconds of the county QT. Reece Fletcher swam up an age band in the 14/u 100m Brst but still took third place and a PB, now putting himself within 0.24 seconds of the county QT.
The final two individuals saw Natasha Rushton hang onto gold with a great 100m FC swim, followed by Michael Robins who’s late surge wasn’t quite enough to pip the Warley Squad's FC swimmer to silver. With only the relays to go Oldbury were in second place, only 1 point behind Tamworth. The 10/u relays got underway and I saw some small improvements in the diving from a few swimmers which was great to see that they had listened. The girls 14/u medley relay finished in first place, Louise improving her takeover this time then pulling through the field on her Brst leg. The boys 14/u medley relay was brought home by Nicholas Bennett in second place with Orion breathing down his neck. The final three relays claimed valuable points for Oldbury as the boys 12/u FC, the women’s open FC and the men’s open FC relays all took maximum points. Unfortunately the men’s team did not beat the 100m FC world record as they had planned but it was still a good attempt and a full body-length clear of the field.
A huge well done to the whole team, everyone swam really well and as you can see there were more PBs than fingers and toes, 30 in fact. A 60% PB score is a brilliant achievement and was one that was contributed to by juniors and seniors alike. The best technical race of the evening is awarded to Harry Withers for his 100m BK because he completed both focus points exactly how I’d asked and recorded a PB in the process. The award for biggest race win was close between Louise and Morgen but whilst Louise looked to have the biggest distance over her opposition, Morgen won her race by 11 seconds giving her that title. Best junior swim goes to Kendal O’Connor for her 10 seconds PB (biggest PB of the night) but I must mention how well Ethan Hackwood also swam. Best senior swim of the night goes to Anna Willetts for the 100m IM swim but again, I must mention Neil for how well he swam his Fly.
Final thank yous to Terry and Kevin for dressing up in their whites yet again. Thank you to Jennie and Lynne for securing a poolside spot and organising the team and a huge thank you to leadership team members Emily Withers and Bethany Willetts for all their help with the focus points on poolside.
Well done team!
Stuart
Results
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Oldbury STC
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207 points
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Redditch
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201 points
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Tamworth
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201 points
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Northgate
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156 points
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Warley Wasps
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139 points
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Orion
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133 points
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County Selection
Congratulations to Molly Miley and Oliver Watson who have been chosen to represent Worcester County, competing at Stafford on Sunday 23rd June.
Swim Camp Countdown
">Only 87 days to go! Be sure to let Stuart know if you are participating!
PGL Ross League
After three rounds of the PGL Ross League, Oldbury are in sixth place. With one more round to go the club needs to enter a strong team in order to see off close opposition who will be pushing to get into the final.
Climbing the rungs
After a hugely successful county championships, with the most swimmers competing for Oldbury since before the year 2000, Oldbury are also having their most successful regional year in well over a decade. A total of five Oldbury swimmers have qualified for the regional championships meaning that they will soon be racing against the best swimmers in the East and West Midlands.
In the year 2011 no Oldbury swimmers qualified for the regional summer championships, in 2012 the club had three regional standard swimmers and this year we have a total of five. This shows the direction in which the club is moving and how hard training and dedication can pay-off.
Well done to Bethany Willetts, Chloe Bennett, Molly Miley, Oliver Watson and Maisie Miley.
