Thanet Swim Club

It was that time of year again, when Thanet’s hopefuls match themselves against the best in the rest of the country. And as in previous years, we did not come up short.
Over the course of the championships, club swimmers managed to set 4 SER records, around 30 new club records, multiple individual PBs, 14 top 10 finishes in the age-group swims including 3 in the open-water event, 11 semi-final and/or final places in the youths event and 2 individual medals for Katie.

We had 4 individual swimmers in the age-group competition;
Maisie Macartney, Oscar Macartney, Jamie O’Connor and Alex Wilmshurst.
Three relay teams;.
4 x 100m free – Jordan Honour, Jamie O’Connor, Louis Thomas, Alex Wilmshurst;
4 x 200m free – Jordan Honour, Oscar Macartney, Jamie O’Connor, Alex Wilmshurst;
4 x 100m medley – Jordan Honour, Jamie O’Connor, Louis Thomas, Alex Wilmshurst,
and 3 open-water swimmers;
Taine Carrick, Sam Crabtree and Oscar Macartney.

Maisie kicked off proceedings in the 100m free. A nerveless performance in her first appearance at the Nationals led to 2 PBs, 2 club records and a 9th place finish. In the 400m free more PBs, club records and a SER record saw her finish in 7th place. A hotly contested 200m free where not even a PB and club record was fast enough for a final position saw her finish 12th overall but she displayed her legendary fighting spirit in the 800m free with a PB, club and SER record to finish 8th overall.

Next individual swimmer was Alex in the 200m IM. A great swim in the heat set a new PB by almost 1 second, just missing out on the final in 12th place overall. Another great swim in his next event, the 400m free led to another PB in the heat and a final place, finishing 10th overall. Another strong swim in the 200m free led to an 11th place while another PB in the 400m IM brought him home in 14th position.

In the 1500m Oscar swam a PB in his first appearance at the Nationals, finishing 8th overall.

The last individual swimmer was Jamie who kicked off with the 1500m free coming home in 5th position. A PB in the heat of the 400m free saw him through to the final finishing 8th overall followed up with PBs and club records in the heats of the 100m fly leading to a 10th place in the final. In his last individual event, the 400m IM, a great swim in the heats put him into the final where he finished 8th overall.

In the relays, the 4 x 100m squad knocked almost 1.5 seconds off their qualifying time to finish 18th, but arguably the most exciting race was the 4 x 200m relay. Great swims in the first and last legs by Alex & Jamie saw the squad sneak into the final with the 8th fastest time. Time for Dave to employ all his tactical understanding, man-management insights and motivational skills. Switching the swimmers around to front-load the team made a huge difference and despite just having swum in the finals of the 400m individual free, Alex & Jamie handed over to Oscar with the team still in with medal hopes. Dave had obviously managed to instil a sense of occasion into Oscar & Jordan as between them they knocked almost 12 seconds off their morning splits to finish 5th overall, around 6 seconds faster than their entry time. In the 4 x 100m medley relay the team improved on their entry time to finish in 20th place.

Monday, and the action moved outdoors to Rotherham, where, the coldest day of the meet had Oscar, Sam Crabtree & Taine Carrick competing in this no wetsuit swim. Despite interference from the local birds at several points, Sam was the first Thanet swimmer home in a place no lower than the 5th he was officially given, with Oscar just behind in 8th. Taine was the 3rd TSC swimmer home but as all the boys swam in one heat, he had the highest finishing place of all, 6th in his age group.

Back to Ponds Forge for the youths championships.
We had 4 individual swimmers representing the club;
Alice and Katie Latham, Ben Evans and Kyri Papa Adams.
In the relay squad Ben, Kyri, Casey Harte and Ben Pond.

Alice’s first swim at the meeting saw her compete in the 200m breast where she swam a time right on that of her PB. But she excelled in the 100m breast with superb performances to set several club records and PBs in the heat and semi-final swim off in the 100m breast to finish 21st overall and 11th in her age group.

Katie recreated her recent superb form she had shown when representing the UK in Poland. In the 200m free, a PB and 2 club records in the heat saw her earn a 5th place ranking. Qualification for the final in the 100m back led to that familiar 5th place overall, 4th in her age group. Another final in the 100m free saw PBs, club records and south-east regional records being set by Katie on her way to an overall 3rd place finish. Qualifying for the final in 10th place in the 50m back, a tactical decision was taken to withdraw from the final to save herself for the 50m back the next day. The decision paid dividends as a she set a PB, club record and south-east regional record to finish with a superb second place.

Ben’s first event was the 400m free where he swam a PB and set 2 new club records to finish 20th overall, 5th in his age group. This was followed by a great series of swims in the 200m fly that saw Ben set more PBs and club records in both the heats and semi-finals to finish 15th, 7th in his age group. A PB by almost 6 seconds in the heat of the 400m IM took Ben through to the final where he finished 10th overall, 5th in his age group.

Kyri’s first swim in the 100m breast saw him finish 36th overall, 21st in his age group.
But he followed this up with 2 fantastic swims in the 200m IM setting a PB and 2 club records in both the heat and semi-final to finish 11th overall and 8th in his age group. In the 200m breast Kyri swam right on his PB to finish 23rd overall, 14 in his age group. Kyri’s final swim was in the 400m IM where he finished in 13th place overall, 6th in his age group.

In the relay, the 4 x 200m free squad touched home in a time that was more than 11 seconds faster than their entry time to finish in 18th place.