Week 3 of the Warwickshire County Swimming Championships held in the 50m International Pool at Coventry Sports Centre and it was business as usual for Stratford Sharks, Personal Bests, Club Records, National Qualifying Times and County Championships. The first session of the day started with the Boys 100m Freestyle in two age groups, 12/14 & 15/18. 10 Sharks competed in this event, Alex Heliwell, Joshua Walker, Joshua Newman, Andrew Morley, Mathew Newman, Aleksander Forysiak & Edward Caswell in the youngest and Joe Evans, George Brear & Michael Ankrett in the older age. Evans Brear & Ankrett were three of the quartet who won the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Championship in week 1 and they all qualified for the Open Championship Final with Evans (15) going through as second fastest, taking age group Silver, breaking his own Age Group Club Record and also gaining the National Youth Qualifying Time in the process. Unfortunately the 4th member of the relay team, Club Captain Lawrie Mills was unable to compete but had he done so it would undoubtedly have strengthened the Sharks presence in the final.

  The Girls 100m Backstroke followed with the youngest age group the 10yr olds competing in a time trial only. This was unfortunate for Stratford swimmer Molly Wright who took a wonderful first place by 6 seconds but did not get a medal to show for her efforts. 5 swimmers contested the 11/13 age group with Lucy Castle the best placed in 7th with Lucy Tame, Kara Malins, Ellen Price & Megan Pashley the others competing. Rebecca Sherren and Sarah Peacop competed in the 14/over with Rebecca taking 10th. In the Boy’s 200m Individual Medley Joshua Martindale was the only Sharks entry in the 10yrs age group taking an excellent 10th place, with Andrew Morley and Mathew Newman competing in the 11/12 age group. The two Joshua’s, Newman & Walker had a close battle in the 13/14 age group along with Alex Helliwell. Joe Evans & Michael Ankrett were in the 15/18 yr olds and both qualified for the Youth Final to be held in the afternoon second session but focussing on other events both decided not to compete.

  The next event the Girls 50m Fly saw two of the younger swimmers competing in the 9/10yr age group Molly Wright and Kathryn Lythgo. Excellent efforts from both girls saw Kathryn (9) add to her growing tally of Age Group Club Records. Lucy Castle, Ellen Price & Eleri Williams contested the 11/12 age group and Kara Malins added another top 10 finish by coming 6th in the 13yr olds, Grace Wright, Sarah Peacop and Caroline Ankrett qualifying in the 14/over age group. Another Age Group Club Record went to George Brear (17) in the 50m Backstroke qualifying him for the Championship Final. In the younger age groups Andrew Morley finished 8th in the 11/12yr olds which also saw James Wimbury & Aleksander Forysiak competing and Alex Helliwell & Joshua Walker finished 8th & 9th followed by Joshua Newman in the 13/14yr olds.

  The club was into a good run of records with two set in the next event, the Girls 400m Freestyle. Just two age groups were contested 10/13 & 14/over with Ellen Price the sole Stratford competitor in the younger age group. In the 14/over’s, Stratford had 3 swimmers in the top 10 setting two club records, Rebecca Sherren finishing 7th ahead of Rebecca Tame in 8th who set a new 15yr Age Club Record with Emily Key finishing in a fine 1st place taking age group and County Championship Gold’s and a new Age Group Club Record. This victory was Club Captain Emily’s third County Championship to add to the 100 & 200m Freestyle events with just the 50m sprint to go to confirm her dominance in Freestyle. The morning session finished with two Championship Finals the Men’s 100m Freestyle & 50m Backstroke. In the first, Joe Evans took silver beating his own Age Group Club Record which he had set in the morning heats with George Brear 5th and Michael Ankrett 8th. Brear then competed in the Backstroke just a few minutes later taking 8th.

  In the first event of the final session four swimmers contested the Boys 400m Freestyle, Alex Helliwell, Joshua Walker, Edward Caswell in the 10/14 age group and Joe Evans in the 15/over. Seeded into the final and fastest heat Evans (15) finished 5th but in a close race was only just over a second behind second place but with the consolation of securing his second National Youth Qualifying Time of the day. The Girls 50m Freestyle saw 240 entries in 4 age groups with 17 from Stratford. Kathryn Lythgo, Molly Wright, Olga Hall & Ysabelle Caswell were in the 9/10 years. Lucy Castle added to her medal tally taking Bronze in the 11/12 yrs still qualifying for this age group next year, others qualifying were Laura Bryan, Megan Pashley, Rachel Jones & Eleri Williams with Lucy Tame & Kara Malins in the 13yr olds. Stratford had 6 swimmers in the oldest 14/over age group, Rebecca Sherren, Rebecca Tame, Sarah Peacop, Grace Wright & Caroline Ankrett with Emily Key qualifying joint fastest into the Championship final.

  Only one Stratford swimmer took on the Boy’s 200m Breaststroke, Joshua Martindale finishing in a fine 8th place in the 9/10yrs. More top three places were collected in the Girls 100m Breaststroke. Once again Molly Wright was the unlucky one, in the youngest 10yr Girls age group the 100m events are time trials only and after winning the Backstroke earlier in the day she took second in the Breaststroke, again without the reward of a medal. In the 11/13yr olds Kara Malins was the top Sharks performer taking a Bronze Medal ahead of Laura Bryan, Lucy Tame, Megan Pashley, Chloe Bird, Carla Neiss & Eleri Williams. The 14/over age group saw 4 swimmers, Rebecca Tame, Eve Morley, Caroline Ankrett & Sarah Peacop with Rebecca qualifying for the Championship Final in 6th, Eve despite being just 5/100th of a second behind Rebecca missing out.

  A further two Age Group Club Records fell in the Boys 50m Fly, the first to Josh Martindale in the 9/10 age group in which Gregor Kelling also competed. Aleksander Forysiak & Mathew Newman competed in the 11/12’s and Alex Helliwell, Joshua Walker & Joshua Newman in the 13/14. The 15/over saw Joe Evans & Michael Ankrett go head to head in adjacent lanes and the feeling was the Age Group Club Record would go. It duly did with both going inside the old record with Joe coming out on top this time by a mere 6/100th of a second with both qualifying for the Championship Final. In one of the toughest events of the programme Grace Wright was the sole representative in the Girls 200m Fly finishing in a fine 6th place.

  The last five events were three finals and two Relays. With Emily Key contesting the Girls 50m Freestyle confidence was high that she would add her fourth Championship title in the Freestyle events. Leading from the gun the result was never in doubt and she duly delivered in a National Youth Qualifying Time and new Club Record. Joe Evans & Michael Ankrett finished in 7th & 8th in the Boys 50m Fly but as the two youngest in the final this was a respectable result for both lads. In a vey close Girls 100m Breaststroke final Rebecca Tame finished 8th. The last two event of the Championships were the Boys & Girls 11/16yrs 4x50m Freestyle Relays. First up the Boys of Alex Helliwell, Josh Walker, Michael Ankrett & Joe Evans finished 6th which was matched by the Girls of Lucy Tame, Rebecca Tame, Caroline Ankrett & Sarah Peacop. However, with the ages ranging from 13 to 15 all of the swimmers will still qualify to swim next year when they will undoubtedly finish higher up their respective fields.

  At the end of a successful three Galas, the club had over 30 swimmers competing on each day with over 20 club records beaten and winning 8 County Championship Titles. Importantly for the club was the number of young swimmers achieving qualifying times in multiple events. For Girls up to 13yrs & Boys 14yrs points are awarded under the British Age Group Category Awards (BAGCATS) to find the best overall performers for each age group. Top performers for Stratford Sharks were Kathryn Lythgo who took 1st place in the Girls 9yrs, Girls 11yrs Lucy Castle 2nd and Ellen Price 9th, Boys 13yrs Joshua Walker 2rd , Girls 10 yrs Molly Wright 6th , Girls 13yrs Lucy Tame 6th , Boys 10yrs Joshua Martindale 7th and Boys 14yrs Alex Helliwell 9th.