After three long days of racing the TEAM TSC athletes headed off home from the National Aquatic Centre as a well satisfied and proud crew who delivered some superb racing and big PB’s for the Leinster Age Group & Open Summer Championships.

As many of the athletes were chasing Irish Division 1 or Division 2 QT’s & others looking to focus on racing further IN-SEASON Long Course swims the team members were focused on improving racing skills from their previous long course races and coaches were please with the overall performance for the weekend of racing.

Day 1

Big results from the 100FC saw PB’s from Conor Kenny and a strong swim from Sam Flanagan saw Kenny finish in 9th in his 11&U age group, before some great PB’s in the 12&13Yrs by Daniel Martinez-Dunn, Evan DeLacey, Sean Kenny & Ronan Tan were followed up by Jamie Flanagan & Ethan Brady finishing 11th & 12th in the age group in strong PB’s also.  Our 14&15Yr old boys also posted PB’s with Luke DeLacey, Robert Van Breda & Sean Maguire delivering some new best times and Finn O’Keeffe delivering the 2nd fastest time for him in the event. The older boys were represented by Traolach McKnight who also posted a best time in the event.

In the Girls event PB’s a plenty again as Niamh Ward, Emily Rossiter & Elsa Brady all posted PB’s to finish in the top 10 in their age group as Brady finished in 4th place overall.  Leah Martin, Arianne Courtney, Ellla McNair & Ellen Ward were all happy with their PB’s as an opening swim of the weekend. Newcomers to LC racing saw Layla Cherbatji post a good swim as did Nicole Fitzpatrick, before Megan Culbert continued her progress this year with a big PB and Alie Martin did likewise to qualify for the finals and finish in 8th place overall.  Nicole Walshe was back in great racing form as she posted a good swim before Niamh Murphy delivered a strong swim to qualify for the finals, where she stepped up a gear to win the event, posting one of her fastest swims in the last 12 months.

Boys 200m Backcrawl event saw Sam Flanagan & Conor Kenny both post PB’s with Flanagan 5th & Kenny 7th in the Age group.  The 12&13yrs was a busy event as Sean Kenny PB’d before Ronan Tan, Jamie Flanagan & Ethan Brady all did likewise and made the finals in the age group finishing in 10th, 8th & 6th place respectively.  Another busy final followed as the 15&16yrs saw Greg Sinnott & Evan Rossiter PB in the heats along with another PB from Sean Maguire but Rossiter & Sinnott delivered final swims to finish in 7th & 9th.

Elsa Brady was back on form to take the GOLD medal in the 10 & Under 200BC in a big new PB before the 11&12 girls saw PB’s from Ellen Ward, Laura Gleeson & Ella McNair in newly raced LC events and Leah Martin continue her busy schedule of events to PB in both heats and Finals to finish in 8th in the event. Nicole Walshe did likewise with another fine effort as she too improved from heats to finals to finish in a PB and a 7th place finish in the Girls 15/16yrs.

Boys 200IM opened with a slight error for Conor Kenny see him DQ’d after a super swim, before PB’s from Evan DeLacey, Daniel Martinez-Dunn and a smashing 10 second improvement for Ronan Tan, coupled by a NEW event for Jamie Flanagan, saw Flanagan progress to the finals and finish in 9th place.  Evan Rossiter took big PB seconds off his 200IM to qualify for the final and finish in 5th place while Finn O’Keeffe put a strong swim on the board before PB’s from Greg Sinnott, Robert Van Breda, Sean Maguire & Luke Delacey showed further depth in the squad.  Traolach McKnight flew the flag for the 16/17Yr Olds as he too posted a strong swim to close out the event for the men.

In the girls event Niamh Ward & Emily Rossiter were pleased to gain great experience in the LC 200IM as both girls PB’d and Ward finishing in 4th & Rossiter in 7th place in their age group.  Hannah Walshe, Arianne Courtney & Niamh Ward were delighted with their swims as an unfortunate error saw Ella McNair get DQ’d after another good swim before Leah Martin too posted a time to qualify her for the finals finishing in 10th place.  Her sister Alie Martin delivered a good swim to also qualify for the final in the 13/14Yrs while Nicole Fitzpatrick & Megan Culbert both picked up PB’s in the event, before watching Martin further improve her heat swim to finish in the Bronze Medal position and a just reward for her effort.

The morning finished off with the Distance events as Joe Kenny & Jamie Flanagan delivered well paced swims with Kenny taking the Bronze as a Leinster swimmer and Flanagan in 5th in the age group.  In the girls 800FC, Alie Martin smashed a big 24 second PB swim to finish in BRONZE Medal 3rd place while Megan Culbert also delivered a big PB improvement to swim this event for the first time LC and Nicole Fitzpatrick too gained invaluable experience as she too swam the event for the first time.  Nicole Walshe continued her strong racing this weekend with a 6th place in the 15/16yrs event.

Relays on the first day saw sprint 4 x 50M relays see our boys both finish in 4th place in the MTR before the older boys delivered a bronze medal in the FTR, while the girls delivered double silvers in the FTR and a Gold and a Bronze in the MTR’s..  Teams were

• Boys 13&U – Ronan Tan, Ethan Brady, Sean Kenny & Jamie Flanagan
• Boys 15&U – Evan Rossiter, Finn O’Keeffe, Greg Sinnott & Sean Maguire
• Girls 12&U – Elsa Brady, Leah Martin, Arianne Courtney & Hannah Walshe
• Girls 14&U – Ellen Walshe, Alie Martin, Nicole Fitzpatrick & Megan Culbert

Day 2

The Meet continued on Day 2 with another strong showing for the TEAM in the 200FC as Elsa Brady, Emily Rossiter & Ola Ogonwska all picked up strong PB’s in the 10&U age group with Brady coming home in 3rd place overall.  the 11&12yo girls also picked up PB’s as Ella McNair, Hannah Walshe & Arianne Courtney all delivered good swims while Leah Martin qualified for the final where she further improved her heat time to finish in 9th place overall.  PB’s continued for Layla Cherbatji as she picked up new experience in this event, and Nicole Fitzpatrick, Isabella Moes picking up good racing experience while Megan Culbert was delighted with her new PB and Alie Martin just missed out on a final spot, before Ellen Walshe put in a solid effort to qualify for the final and finish in overall 5th but 3rd Leinster athlete.  Nicole Walshe & Caroline Ryan both posted good swims with Walshe continuing her run of finals finishing in 9th place before Niamh Murphy posted another great final swim to improve on her earlier heat and finish in Silver medal position.

Sam Flanagan & Conor Kenny were well inside their PB’s as both boys continued their strong weekend performances finishing in 8th & 10th in their Age Group.  Jamie Flanagan led the way in the 12&13yrs as he posted a swim to finish 10th in the final after a good heat, while Ronan Tan, brothers Sean & Joe Kenny, Daniel Martinez-Dunn  & Evan De Lacey all delivered substantial PB’s in their swims with Martinez-Dunn qualifying for the Irish D1’s in the process.

PB’s for 13&14Yo boys saw Evan Rossiter & Finn O’Keeffe lead the way as Sean Maguire, Robert Van Breda & Luke Delacey made it a clean sweep of PB’s for this age group.  In the older boys Cathal Tan took a big step PB to place in 2nd in the age group but was joined in the finals by Traolach McKnight & Matthew Parnell who also both qualified for same finishing in 8th & 7th place, while Eoin Feighan also posted a solid heat time in preparation for his distance event later in the session.

As the session continued Emily Rossiter, was delighted with her Irish Division 2 improved swim in the 200BS to finish in 5th place overall and 3rd place Leinster Athlete, while Arianne Courtney swam the 200BS heats in a solid swim.  Lauren Woulfe, Nicole Fitzpatrick gained further LC experience while Isabella Moes & Megan Culbert posted solid times, before Alie Martin smashed a big new PB in her swim just missing out on the final.

Conor Kenny set up the boys breastroke event with a good heat swim PB before letting Daniel Martinez-Dunn & Sean Kenny deliver good swims also.  One of the swims of the weekend was in the 200BS as Joe Kenny, after a strong and technically experimental heat delivered an 11 second improvement in the final to pick up a 3rd place finish in the Leinster podium and a 5th place overall with a HUGE PB swim and a skilful representation of everything he’s been working towards over the last few months.  Evan Rossiter & Robert Van Breda both posted good times with Rossiter just misssing out on the final in the 14/15 yrs.  Traolach McKnight, like Kenny has been diligently working away on his stroke and was delighted ith his improved effort to pick up the Bronze medal int he 16/17 yo age group.

Hannah Walshe was delighted with her 4th place Leinster finish in the 100BF and a big new PB which qualified her for Irish Division 1’s, while sister Ellen Walshe delivered a powerful display to win the 13/14yo age group, where Alie Martin had also posted a strong heat swim.  Ethan Brady & Jamie Flanagan both posted good swims in the boys 100BF, with Flanagan taking a big PB to finish just outside the finals but the 8th fastest Leinster athlete.  Finn O’Keeffe was the lone ranger in the 13/14 yrs with a solid heat swim.

In the 800FC for boys a fantastic and really well delivered effort saw Ronan Tan take the Leinster GOLD medal in a huge new PB with Joe Kenny close behind to take the Bronze medal.  Eoin Feighan too was pleased with his silver medal effort in the boys 16/17yo event which was also well paced.

Leah Martin posted a Bronze medal winning swim in the 400IM with a big PB, while Hannah Walshe continued her demolition of her PB’s in this event also.  Alie Martin did likewise with another strong performance, while Ellen Walshe delivered a powerful display of skills to win the event in a new PB for her. Jamie Flanagan picked up a big PB in another new event for him, while Evan Rossiter was delighted with his strong show of skills and improved racing in the 400IM where he too delivered a big PB and a well earned Leinster Bronze medal for his effort.  Matthew Parnell also posted a QT for the Irish D2’s en route to winning the Leinster title in his age group in the event.

In the day 2 relays the 400MTR the club had some good results as the Girls took Gold (U12) and Silver (U14) while the boys were 4th (U15) & 5th (U13) in their event

Relay Teams were

• Girls U12 – Elsa Brady, Leah Martin, Hannah Walshe & Arianne Courtney
• Girls U14 – Alie Martin, Megan Culbert, Ellen Walshe & Isabella Moes
• Boys U13 – Ethan Brady, Joe Kenny, Jamie Flanagan & Ronan Tan
• Boys U15 – Sean Maguire, Evan Rossiter, Finn O’Keeffe & Sean Maguire

Day 3

The final day of racing gave us a chance to have even more athletes pm the blocks as some additional young swimmers capitalised on the opportunity to gain invaluable experience in the Long Course pool.

Harvey Walshe & Stephen Murphy gained great experience racing long course in the 100BS as Walshe finished in 8th place with a Irish Division 2 QT, while Murphy was pleased with his new PB and the opportunity to race his first LC competition.  In the 12/13Yrs age group Evan DeLacey posted a new PB as Ethan Brady & Daniel Martinez-Dunn battled it out also for new PB swims, before Ronan Tan and Sean Kenny also posted strong new PB’s in their respective event.  Joe Kenny, with his new stroke powered to a PB in the heats and a further PB in the finals finishing as the 4th fastest Leinster swimmer in his age.

Evan Rossiter picked up another marginal PB in the heats of the 100BS, only to be followed in the same vein by Traolach McKnight who too stroked his way in to the final before producing a fine new PB swim by alomost a second to finish in 6th place.

The middle part of the day saw the middle distance 400FC event and the Templeogue Athletes were strongly represented throughout the age groups.  Conor Kenny opened the scoring for the team with a big 8 second PB in the event while Jamie Flanagan posted a strong swim before Joe Kenny posted a 9 second improvement to be quickly overturned as Ronan Tan took 20 seconds of his PB to finish in 5th lace in the age group.  Luke DeLacey & Robert Van Breda did a great job with their swims to PB, while Greg Sinnott took almost 5 seconds off his best, Sean Maguire took almost 7 and qualified for the Irish Division 1 Age Groups in the process before Finn O’Keeffe and Evan Rossiter both PB’d also int heir events as O’Keeffe took off a 6 second drop from his previous best.  Cathal Tan took GOLD in a super performance in the older age group as he took almost 4 seconds of his best time, while Eoin Feighan posted a strong swim, as did Traolach McKnight as he raced hard against Matthew Parnell in the same heat that saw Parnell take a 6 second improvement in his own time.

The girls were also in fine form as Hannah Walshe joined Arianne Courtney with a New PB before Leah Martin took some 30+ seconds of her previous best in a well paced swim to finish as the 2nd fastest Leinster athlete. Nicole Fitzpatrick continued the trend with a 13 second improvement, while Megan Culbert posted another strong swim at the end of a busy weekend, before Alie Martin delivered a new LC Event and PB as Ellen Walshe also posted a good swim to finish in the Leinster Bronze Medal position in the event.  The last of the girls to race saw Caroline Ryan post a good swim as Nicole Walshe also posted a well delivered swim to finish her weekend with another top 10 finish in her age.

Our young ladies continued to show their strength as they posted good swims where Niamh Ward, Ola Ogonowska, Elsa Brady & Emily Rossiter all got great racing PB experience in the 100BS, with Rossiter finishing as the 3rd fastest Leinster Athlete, Brady the 5th & Ogonowska & Ward in 7th & 8th in the region. Ellen Ward & Arianne Courtney were happy with their swims as Leah Martin continued her successsful weekend to pick up the Bronze medal in the age group.

Megan Culbert, Nicole Fitzpatrick & Lauren Woulfe all posted strong swims with Culbert delighted as she picked up a QT which qualifies her for the Irish Age Group Division 1 Championships.  Caroline Ryan produced another great swim to qualify for the finals in her age group, finishing in 7th place overall on the night, while Niamh Murphy finished her weekend of racing with a silver medal also.

The 200BF is a tough event and Ethan Brady tackled it for the first time at the meet long course, happy with the knowledge that next time, this experience will set him up to continue to deliver this tough event.  In the girls event Hannah Walshe posted another super qualifying time in the heats for the Irish Division 1’s before further improving that time in the final to finish as the Leinster 4th place athlete.  Both Alie Martin & Ellen Walshe raced in the final of the 13/14 yrs with Martin concluding a tough weekend of racing with another strong swim and an 8th place result, while Ellen Walshe was superb in a tough final swim producing a big 3 second PB to win GOLD in a time, which is inside the QT for further international opportunities for her, showing just how strong she is in this event.

The final individual events in the program were the 100BC, with Sam Flanagan & Conor Kenny finishing their weekend of racing with further good swims, before Evan DeLacey, Sean Kenny, Joe Kenny, Ronan Tan & Jamie Flanagan finishing off their weekend individual swims.  Tan continued his impressive form this weekend with another big PB, while Sean Kenny & Evan DeLacey did likewise with impressive PB’s.

Finn O’Keeffe took over 6 seconds of his PB in the same event while Sean Maguire took over 8 seconds off and Robert Van Breda & Luke DeLacey, gained another new racing event, before Evan Rossiter posted a great new PB to qualify for the finals finishing 9th overall in the event.  Cathal Tan was the lone ranger for the older boys and finished with another new PB in heats and finals to post the 3rd fastest time and another Leinster medal.

Elsa Brady finished off her impressive weekend in style with another Leinster Silver medal result, while Niamh Ward was the 5th fastest Leinster Swimmer and Emily Rossiter 7th in the same event.  Ola Ogonowska got great experience in this event also as a technical infringement means she missed out on another good PB result.  The 11/12yo girls all got great experience as Laura Gleeson raced this event for the first time and Ellen Ward also posted a strong PB as did Ella McNair, completing a great series of races after recently returning from injury.  Leah Martin converted another heat to final swim in her event finishing a strong weekend of racing with the same skills she started and showing her adaptability across the multiple strokes in her age group.  Ellen Walshe was the only 13/14 yo girl in the Backcrawl and delivered a PB in both Heat and finals to cap a strong weekend finishing as the 4th place Leinster athlete.  Caroline Ryan narrowly missed out on the final in the older age group but a big PB in her heats as Nicole Walshe also capped a great weekend of racing as she too finished with another final swim in the 100BC.

The final set of relays that capped off the weekend saw the 13&U boys pick up a Bronze, the 15&U boys narrowly miss out on the podium and the 12&U Girls also pick up Bronze with the older girls also narrowly missing out.

• Boys 13&U – Ronan Tan, Ethan Brady, Sean Kenny & Jamie Flanagan
• Boys 15&U – Evan Rossiter, Finn O’Keeffe, Greg Sinnott & Sean Maguire
• Girls 12&U – Elsa Brady, Leah Martin, Arianne Courtney & Hannah Walshe
• Girls 14&U – Ellen Walshe, Alie Martin, Nicole Fitzpatrick & Megan Culbert

All together the weekend was a very successful one for the clubs athletes. For some it’s just a racing weekend, for others it’s about Division 1 or Division 2 QT’s, for some of the others it’s all about experience racing long course and for ALL athletes it’s about learning and enjoying time racing as a TEAM.

Well done all.