Stratford Sharks, backed by new sponsors Sitel, embarked on a new season of competition in the West Midlands Speedo League at the weekend. For the ‘A’ team, this was truly a baptism of fire, being drawn against reigning champions Coventry, at their fifty metre Olympic Pool, and a strong City of Derby team. Buoyed by a tough training regime under the watchful eye of Head Coach Helen Slatter, the team were well prepared for the challenge and this was quickly demonstrated with a superb swim by 15-year Robert Jolly, who recorded a fine victory in the 100m-backstroke event. Jolly later combined with Joe Allen, David Townsend, Lawrie Mills and Jon Tanner to record excellent second place finishes in both relay events.

  Due to the strong competition, outright victories were hard to come by but 11-year old Emma Bysouth underlined her potential by storming to first place in the 50-metre freestyle. She then gained further freestyle success linking with Lauren Blakemore, Lily Russell-Wilks and Katie Cardwell to touch third in the 11-year relay event. Blakemore also excelled in her individual backstroke event with a fine second place finish.

  Stratford’s ‘national champion’, Emily Key picked up the team’s final victory with a powerful swim in her favourite 100-metre freestyle event, but the overall standard of the competition was perhaps best demonstrated when she was forced into second and third places in her butterfly events despite recording outstanding times. Key continued a busy evening combining with Grace Wright, Fran Cassidy-Morris and Harriet Beaumont to touch second and third in their relay events at age thirteen and with Carla Bosworth, Jenny Page, Helen Livesey, Claire Bassinder, and Emma White in the open freestyle relay. Page and Bassinder also recorded fine individual swims to finish second in the backstroke and freestyle respectively and Bosworth and White added to the points tally with third places in their individual events. Page, White, Livesey and Bosworth later combined to touch third in the open medley relay.

  Throughout the evening, Sharks fought hard to maintain overall third place behind the ‘big two’, striving for top three finishes in each event and David Townsend was the next to achieve this goal, touching second in the 15-year butterfly event. Individual third places were also provided courtesy of Joe Dancer in the 11-year backstroke, Fran Cassidy-Morris and Aaron Robinson in the 13-year breaststroke, Joe Allen in the 15-year freestyle and James Wardle in both the butterfly and freestyle in the open age group. The final third place of the evening was gained when Ben Brough, Jack Pilling, Tom Lane and David Jolly combined in the 13-year freestyle relay.

  This was a very tough first round draw and a spirited performance saw all Stratford swimmers give 100 per cent. At the finish Stratford could not match the might of Coventry and Derby, but consistent performances throughout saw the team achieve an excellent third place finish ahead of Coventry ‘B’, Redditch and Ludlow. This was a good result for a hard working Stratford team and one that provides great encouragement for the season ahead.