Today at the National Aquatic Centre, some 36 Club athletes delivered another superb performance in the pool as a strong mix of novice athletes combined with more experienced team members to notch up an impressive list of PB’s and some great experience racing multiple stroke events and medley swims.

The morning kicked off with Shona Kelly (10) delivering an impressive first swim of the day with a huge PB in the Girls 50FC in her first ever regional competitions.  She was followed on the blocks by Aimee Tan (10) and Anna Suttle (10) who also produced their first of many PB’s for the day as both girls smashed big PB’s in their event, while Aine Goulding (10) and Mia Whelan-O’Connor (10) rounded off a great first event for the TEAM with further PB’s.  In the boy 50FC event Marcus Whelan-O’Connor (10) put together a fine swim before a busy heat of Daniel Walshe (10), Ben Smyth (10) and Jude Moes (9) also posted strong swims with Walshe smashing the 40 second barrier in his recent return to the racing pool.  Sam Flanagan (10) finished the morning with a great result after a strong swim to finish top of the podium, picking up the teams first medal of the day.

In the longer girls 100FC event Elizabeth Dorr (12) put together a fine PB swim in her first outing this season for the team, while Mia Whelan-O’Connor (10) and Aimee Tan (10) continued their impressive early form with substantial PB’s in their 100M event. Laura Gleeson (12) and Aisling Cronin (13) followed the trend of strong PB’s as they put together good swims in their event while Layla Cherbatji (13) delivered a hugely impressive result in her swim to demolish a PB also, as Elsa Brady (10) and Ella McNair (11) posted good swims en route to building an impressive selection of racing events for the day.

The boys 100FC continued to show the depth in the squad as Evan DeLacey (11) smashed a PB, while Sam Flanagan (10) put together another great swim, before seeing Richard McCarthy (13) smash an important time standard (1:10) before being joined by Ronan Tan (12) in the same vein, as Daniel Martinez-Dunn (12) also posted a great new PB.  In the final faster heats Ethan Brady (12) put together an technically skilful swim, while Jamie Flanagan (12) & Luke DeLacey (14) battled head to head to deliver fantastic new PB’s for them and substantial improvement.

As the morning progressed so did the PB’s as Aimee Anslow (12) and Aine Goulding (10) opened the longer 200IM event with two strong NEW PB events, while Ella McNair (11) did likewise before watching Isabella Moes (12) set a medal winning new PB to finish the event in 2nd place in her age group and a strong new PB also.  The boys too continued the assault on existing PB’s as Ronan Tan (12), Daniel Martinez-Dunn (12) & Richard McCarthy (13) raced in their heat in a tough battle to finish with a trio of PB’s from all boys before the final heat of the event also posted a 100% PB performance for the team as Matthew Parnell (15) and Jamie Flanagan (12) both posted big PB’s also.

Mia Whelan-O’Connor (10) produced another great PB in the 50BF, whilst Jude Moes (9) did likewise as he too tackled this tough event.  In the longer BF event Elizabeth Dorr (12), Layla Cherbatji (13) & Isabella Moes (12) all produced some great PB’s in their swims before Ethan Brady (12), Jamie Flanagan (12) and Richard McCarthy (13) were pleased with their efforts as they too set some good new PB’s in the BF event.

The final individual event of the morning saw the older boys & girls race the sprint 50FC as Elizabeth Dorr (12), Laura Gleeson (12), Aimee Anslow (13) & Aisling Cronin (13) posted great swims in the sprint event before Richard McCarthy (13) finished his mornings work with another great PB in the similar sprint event for the boys.

The Relays were an exciting finish to the morning as the Team were represented by 3 boys teams & 2 girls teams all Under 14Yrs.

• Girls – Layla Cherbatji, Elsa Brady, Isabella Moes & Ella McNair
• Girls – Aimee Anslow, Aisling Cronin, Mia Whelan-O’Connor & Laura Gleeson
• Boys – Daniel Martinez-Dunn, Evan DeLacey, Sam Flanagan & Richard McCarthy
• Boys – Ben Smyth, Marcus Whelan-O’Connor, Jude Moes & Daniel Walshe
• Boys – Ethan Brady, Ronan Tan, Luke DeLacey & Jamie Flanagan 

In the afternoon’s session the PB’s continued to show through as the event opened with the 200FC and Aisling Cronin (13) & Rachel Roe (12) posting strong swims, with Roe producing an impressive well paced swim.  Hannah Walshe (12) took on a brave swim as she posted a huge PB for the 200BF and Ella McNair (12) & Nicole Fitzpatrick (14) also posted strong results, before Nicole Walshe (15) & Caoilfhinn Tan (15) both posted PB’s with Walshe picking up a silver medal for her efforts.

In the boys event Alex Kiernan (10) posted his first 200FC time with a strong swim, whilst Daniel Martinez-Dunn (12) & Sam Flanagan (10) delivered further strong PB’s before Jamie Flanagan (12) & Matthew Parnell (15) did likewise as Parnell produced a Bronze medal swim to earn himself a podium finish.

Anna Suttle (10) & Charlee Maher-Jones (10) continued their impressive day of PB’s as both girls produced new best times in the 50BS, while Dean Kiernan (8), Ben Smyth (10) & Alex Kiernan (10) were delighted with their continued PB’s as they made big strides forward in the event.  Rachel Roe (12), Nicole Fitzpatrick (14) & Caoilfhinn Tan (15) swam strong swims in the longer 100BS event with the girls hitting PB’s from Roe & =PB for Tan & Fitzpatrick, with Tan picking up a silver medal for her effort.

Alex Kiernan (10) was back on the block again as he progressed a further PB in the longer Breastroke event, and was joined by Ronan Tan (12) & Daniel Martinez-Dunn (12) happy with their =PB swims and a 5th place finish for Daniel while Matthew Parnell (15) producing a similar 5th place finish in a new PB time.

Some of the final events of the day were the Backcrawl events as Charlee Maher-Jones (10) finished an impressive day for her with another fine PB in the 50BC, while Ben Smyth (10), Alex Kiernan (10) & Sam Flanagan (10) also produced new PB’s with Flanagan picking up another podium GOLD medal in his event.

The final individual girls event of the day was the 100BC and Aisling Cronin (13) rounded out a strong day for her with an impressive new PB, while Ella McNair (11) & Rachel Roe (12) did likewise before Nicole Fitzpatrick (14) equalled her best time in her event, before watching Caoilfhinn Tan (15) post a Gold Medal swim which was also =PB.  The boys finished the day with another fine swim and PB from Alex Kiernan (10), whilst Daniel Martinez-Dunn (12) put a good time on the board, before Ronan Tan (12) & Sam Flanagan (10) finished their PB’s for the day, before Matthew Parnell (15) and Jamie Flanagan (12) finished the individual action for the TEAM with a further Podium Bronze medal for Flanagan.

This was another busy day for the team with a substantial number of PB’s – 67 in total, from a broad reach of athletes in the club program.

The team build steadily in the coming weeks for competitions that focus on International, National & Regional championships as qualification standards need to be met at these events in order to ensure the athletes qualify for a respective level championship for individual athletes.

Next up for the team is the Dave McCullagh Memorial Competition in Bangor with a strong small team competing at the first national qualification meet of the season.

Well done today to ALL who raced and good luck for the continued performance and improvements as training and racing continues.