On Saturday 28th April Stratford Sharks swimmers were in action at Nuneaton for a friendly gala against six other Midlands clubs. The format of this event was similar to the Mercian League events normally run at this time of year. This gave an opportunity for some of the clubs more recent members to experience competition for the first time. Opening the Sharks swimming were Hattie Beaumont then Ben Brough with the Individual Medley where the strong competition was immediately apparent. Though they finished 4th and 5th place respectively both set new personal best times.

  The next few events consisted of Freestyle and Medley relays. Sharks youngest age group with Matt Newman, Sam Inns, Alex Garstang and Ed Caswell demonstrated how competitive they could be with a win in the Freestyle relay. Zac Brough put in a spirited performance when he opened a Medley relay whilst swimming up an age group. Working well together were Michael Ankrett, Aaron Brough, Alex Helliwell and Josh Newman when they fought hard for a 3rd place in the Freestyle relay.

  In the individual events Sharks swimmers were up against some tough competition, despite this they showed great determination and nearly all swimmers set personal best times. Again the strongest performances were from the younger boys with Ed Caswell and Matt Newman achieving 1st places in Breaststroke and Butterfly events respectively. The girl’s strongest individual performances were in the 100m Backstroke with Caroline Ankrett taking 2nd place and Caroline Cardwell 3rd in their own age groups. In the Freestyle relay for the Open age group Natalie Smith, Louisa Heyworth, Caroline Cardwell and Hattie Beaumont teamed up to take a well deserved 2nd place.

  An exciting finale was in the form of a “cannon” race with one boy and one girl from each age group, a total of 8 swimmers. With tension rising all the way it was only in the final lengths that the finishing order began to emerge with Sharks swimmers eventually settling for 5th place. It was also 5th place for Stratford Sharks team on the night though a great night for individual swimmers setting no less than 27 personal bests from 34 individual events.