Swimmers from an area stretching as far afield as Norwich and Nottingham congregated in Coventry over the first 2 weekends of June for the Midland District Age Group Championships. One of the high spots in the swimming calendar, boys aged 10 to 14 and girls 10 to 13 compete in licensed competitions from October the previous year to attain the high level of qualification required to take part.

  Six swimmers from Stratford Shark swimming club reached the required standard including 2 of the club’s youngest. Ten year olds Megan Stanley and Francis Goss appeared in their first District Championships. A relative newcomer to the sport, Megan Stanley’s 20th position in the 200m breaststroke and Goss’s 18th in the 100m freestyle represented a good start at such a high level and a firm base on which to build for the future.

  Sharks’ two seasoned campaigners, Emily Key and Lawrie Mills were joined by another swimmer with a growing reputation, Emma Bysouth. Unfortunately Key was unable to compete this year to defend her freestyle titles from last year due to injury. Mills, now competing in the 14 year age group was also defending his 400m and 1500m freestyle championship titles but this year was pushed into the silver medal position by Nova Centurion’s Daniel Mills (no relation). Lawrie Mills added to his medal tally with impressive performances in the 200m backstroke, moving through the field in the final 50m to move from 6th place to finish 3rd, a position he matched in the 200m freestyle. Further top 10 places secured Mills 7th place overall in the BAGCATS placings. Also competing in this age group was John Tanner who swam close to a personal best time for 9th place in the 100m butterfly.

  Emma Bysouth, competing in the 11 year age group, seemed to be destined to finish just out of the medal positions with strong personal best swims giving her 8th place in the 400m freestyle, 6th place in the 800m freestyle and 4th in the 200m freestyle. But her hard work finally reaped its reward in the 100m freestyle with a superb swim, knocking 2 seconds off her previous best to finish in bronze medal position. She completed a thoroughly successful championships with a top 10 position in the 100m butterfly with another personal best performance. This year’s championships marked the end of an era, as the Midland District is being divided into West Midlands, East Midlands and Eastern Regions next year, with the District Championships in Coventry including only the West and East Midlands regions.