They headed off to the National Aquatic Centre this morning and there was excitement in the many cars that traveled.  Some of these young athletes from the Templeogue Swim Club (@teamtscswim) were looking for qualification times for the Leinster Age Group championships, while others were looking to gain invaluable racing experience at a Novice Championship event.

The team started the day in impressive fashion, which continued throughout the day for the athletes.  The first athlete on the block this morning was Stephen Murphy (11) and Oisin Murray (10) who swam to superb PB’s in the 200FC posting impressive swims as they were followed by Oscar Randles (10) & Richard McCarthy (14) who both delivered great new PB’s seeing Randles deliver a 5th place finish and McCarthy go one better with a 4th place time and a qualification time for the Leinster Age Groups to add to his smile.

The Girls 100BC saw Mia Whelan-O’Connor (10) and Aimee Tan (10) open their PB accounts as they too swam to some great new performances, before Aoife Lyons (13) did likewise with an impressive swim.  The first podium of the day came from Laura Gleeson (12) as she posted a skillfully impressive 100BC to finish in a big new PB and also a 3rd place time for her.   Sam Suttle (11) posted a great PB in the 100BS and was delighted with his swim, as Oisin Murray (10) followed suit to break his PB also before Stephen Murphy (11) smashed his PB to announce his arrival on the podium of the 100BS as he picked up a silver medal in the 11yr old age group.  Evan DeLacey (12) continued the day with an impressive PB as both he and Richard McCarthy (14) also posted PB’s to finish 5th in their respective age groups.

The girls were back in the water as the 100FC brought about some superb PB’s as Mia Randles (9) produced a big new PB, while Aimee Tan (10) added to her tally of good swims for the day also, before a stack of further PB’s were delivered as Aimee Anslow (13), Aoife Lowe (13), Laura Gleeson (12), Aoife Lyons (13) and Lauren Woulfe (13) all posted fantastic performances to beat their previous best times.   The younger lads took on the 100BF as Daniel Walsh (10) posted a big PB for a 6th place result, with Oscar Randles (10) and Oisin Murray (10) also delivered great swims before Richard McCarthy (14) posted a big improvement to swim to a 4th place performance in his age group.  McCarthy wasn’t finished as he returned a few minutes later to demolish a PB to win the GOLD medal and a top podium place in the 200IM

The podium topping results continued as Mia Whelan-O’Connor (10) delivered a superbly paced and skilfully delivered 400FC to win the GOLD medal also to close out a very successful morning for the team in the individual events.

In the TEAM events the 4 young boys of Oscar Randles (10), Stephen Murphy (10), Evan DeLacey (12) & Daniel Walsh (10) were delighted with their collective effort as they posted some great individual performances to finish in 3rd place in the 13&Under age group.

That Relay swim closed out a great morning for the TEAM and sent them off to lunch with some satisfied smiles.

The afternoon opened in the same way as the morning closed out as Mia Randles (9) and Aimee Tan (10) continued their impressive form as they put together some strong swims in their first individual 2000FCswims in an open competition.  Aimee Anslow (13), Laura Gleeson (12) and Niamh Ward (9) raced each other in a tough heat as they raced together all the way to impressive new PB’s.  Niamh Ward ‘s (9) powerful swim saw her produce a huge PB and a Podium topping swim in the 200FC in the 10 & U age group while Laura Gleeson (12) was delighted with her swim to post a 7th place finish in the 11 & 12 yr olds as Aimee Anslow (13) was also 7th in her age group.  All girls were delighted with their PB’s and performances in the event.

The boys 100BC produced some more good swims as David Corcoran (10) produced an impressive first swim of the day to post a big new PB taking almost 10 seconds of his previous best time, while Oscar Randles (10) also delivered a PB to add to his very impressive portfolio of events for the day.  As he had done in the morning Evan DeLacey (12) continued his good form to post a big PB and Silver Medal performance in the 12 & 13Yr age group.

Further PB’s and top finishes continued as Charlee Maher-Jones (10), Anna Suttle (10) & Aimee Tan (10) all posted PB’s with Maher-Jones finishing in 7th place in her age group.  Lauren Woulfe (13), Aoife Lowe (13), Aimee Anslow (13) were all pleased with their swims as Woulfe powered her way to 6th place in the age group.

A back to back girls event meant saw Laura Gleeson (12) get back in water in the 200BC and with limited rest she posted a big PB while Niamh Ward (11) posted a very impressive swim also as she took top podium spot in the age group, while Gleeson finished in 4th in the same age group in the girls 200BC.

The boys 100FC was another impressive one for the team as Tiernan Carroll (11) & Oscar Randles (10) opened the account for the team with strong results and Conor Ward (8), Daniel Walsh (10) & David Corcoran (10) put their PB’s to good use to finish in 10th, 9th & 7th place in their 11&U age group, before being followed up by a 6th place PB for Evan DeLacey (12) to close out an impressive set of swims for the boys.

The clubs last individual event was the 200IM where The Ward Sisters Niamh (9) & Ellen (11) posted very impressive swims to see Niamh finish in silver medal podium result as Ellen topped her age group and the podium in the 11& 12 Yrs age group.

The day was finished off with some fantastic Relay performances by our young girls as the younger girls of Niamh Ward (9), Anna Suttle (10), Mia Randles (9) & Laura Gleeson (12) raced in the same heat as their older team mates Aimee Anslow (13), Aoife Lowe (13), Niamh Ward (11) & Lauren Woulfe (13) which saw the older girls cap off the days club activities with a top of the PODIUM result int he MTR.

All in all it was an exciting day of racing for this young team, with a strong demonstration of great skills and some tough racing delivered by all.  Well done to all athletes who raced today.