01 May 2025

It has been a massively busy period for Sharks since counties, we have had 3 team galas, The John Hughes open, Storm Trident level 1, the west Midlands Champs (and Masters), the Coventry and districts and 23 new members starting since Feb.

Coventry John Hughes Meet 

The City of Coventry John Hughes meet was the first Open meet of 2025 and we took 75 swimmers to compete in almost 300 events. Sharks can back with a massive haul of medals and medalist were: Arabella P, Teddy L, George C, Henry SF, Eve E, Evangeline H, Harry C, Jacob S, Oli S, Anabelle S, Arturo H, Cora W.
We also had a few number of new faces at this gala with Luke S, Serena B, Nick D, Bea C and Lottie W all swimming Open meets for the first time.

Midland Masters 2025

Sharks took 5 team members to compete at the Midlands Masters Championships, Neil, Rob, Becca, Katie and Sally. A number of club records were set or broken, Neil (100 free 50/100 back), Rob (200 breast, 400 free), Sally (50 fly, 50/100 back) and Katie (50 breast/100 fly).

Channel Swim

In March Will H, Jasmine W, Beth R raised over £2000 between them for three great charities by swimming the equivalent of the English Channel (21 miles or 33km). The money raised was for Young Minds Matter, Pulmonary Fibrosis and Breast Cancer UK. Trees were also being planted at 20km, 40km and 60km. “huge thanks to all of sharks team for encouragement and support”.

Academy Time trials

March saw the clubs 8th academy time trials, with medals going to :-

Bronze Squad Lindy-May, Charlotte A, Isabelle W, Theo T, William R, Sammy W

Silver Squad Emilia G, Hollie E, Harriet T, Josh L, Dylan W, Harry H.

Gold Squad Hanna K, Lottie W, Bobbi P, Roman L, Max B, George C.

There was a massive turn out to the event and it is a great way to start the kids off before entering galas. The next time trial takes place July 11th at Stratford Leisure centre and is open to all swimmers in Academy.

Junior league round 1 and 2

In the season opener at Worcester we were up against Braunstone, Halesowen, Wombourne, Northampton A and Droitwich. The Junior league takes place over 3 rounds and Sharks have been in the premier league for the last 4 seasons. It is highly competitive with some of the best younger swimmers taking part. Sharks placed 2nd, our highest ever finish with some very impressive swimming through all age groups, the boys 12 team of Jacob, Thomas and Ellison (helped by Will and Teddy) were incredible, picking up a total of 33 points out of a total of 36 with a 100m freestyle relay time of 59 seconds, which really is rapid. 

The second was held at Pingles Leisure centre this was a tougher draw and Sharks finished 4th, picking up another 3 league points. This has put us on course for our highest ever finishing position with 8 points on the league table, a fantastic effort by all the team, coaches and volunteers who have helped run it.

We had 2 wins from Eve (50 back) and Jacob (50 breast), and some 2nds from Adam (50 back), Max (25 breast). There were also some massive pbs swam (Josh, 4 seconds 50 free), Adam (3 seconds 50 back), Emilia (4 seconds 50 breast). The boys 12 team of Jacob, Thomas, Ellison and Soliman broke the 1 minute barrier for boys 100 freestyle relay for the second time. The next round is at Halesowen and the team pick/invites will go out very soon.

Storm Trident

Sharks took a small group of the swimmers to Sandwell Aquatics Centre to take part in their level 1 meet. Hannah, Amelia, Pearl, Harry, Jacob, Mya, Eve, Anabelle, Arabella and Will took part. Harry (50 breast) and Jacob (200 breast), broke another couple of club records and there were some good swims from other team members swimming long course PBs.

Mercian League

April saw the start of the Mercian league where Sharks were in action at the infamous Walsall gala baths. The Mercian is a league for swimmers without regional times and clubs use it to give swimmers a go at swimming in team galas. We had a lot of new faces at this one and the team spirit was great, we finished in joint second. There were some great swims from everyone with wins for Katy (100IM), Ellison (100 Breast), Thomas (100 Back), Toby (100 breast), Freestyle Relay ( Cassie, Katy, Hannah, Emilia), everyone contributed and it was a lot of fun poolside.

West Midlands Regionals

Stratford Sharks had a fintastic time at Sandwell Aquatics Centre for the long course Regional Swimming Championships.

Over two weekends Jacob, Isla, Harry, Arabella, Evangeline, Eve and Annabel from Stratford Sharks took on the best swimmers in the West Midlands. Between them they accumulated 13 top 8 places as West Midland Regional Champions! With Isla, Jacob, Harry and Evangeline making it to the finals.

Harry glided to victory with a triple win in the 50, 100 & 200m breaststroke races. This cemented his no1 slot as the fastest 13yr old in Britain at 50 & 100m breaststroke!

C&Ds May Gala

Sharks took a pretty big team of swimmers (and volunteers!) to Alan Higgs for this years May Coventry and districts meet. This was a great entry level meet and there were loads make their first outing for the team.

There was an enormous amount of silverware collected with medals going to the top 8 in each age group.
Full results are on C and Ds results link, some fantastic swims all round with some big improvements, a few notable ones are Libby (10 secs PB 50 back), Lottie C (15 seconds 100 PB free), Meera (7 PB secs 50 fly), Ellen W (16 secs PB 100 free), Isla M (8 secs PB 100 free).

National Qualification

Congratulations go to Jacob and Harry who after lots of hard work in training and some frankly stunning performances since the qualifying window have both qualified for the National Championships. This is held at Ponds Forge Sheffield over the summer, both boys in 100/200 breast stroke and Jacob in 200IM. They have spent the last 6 months smashing up the various club records for their age groups. Jacob is also the new club record holder for "longest time wearing a sharks puffer jacket poolside" (9 hours, Coventry May 2025).

Officials

Sharks have a number of new volunteers who have been going through the officials training, Bev and Charlotte completed the Judge 1 course and Louise, Daniel and Kristi (timekeepers) who have all officiated this year and been signed off. Anyone else who would like to join the officials team please let me know.

Competition News

The competition calendar is complete for 2025, there are a few changes to the normal schedule, the C&Ds Autumn meet is now going to be licensed as a level 2 event, so that is one you have to qualify on times to take part. We are dropping the sharks 100 event this year and replacing it with a new Sharks Winter qualifier in November, which will be 50's, and limited heats of 100s and 200s. The Mike Wardle's has been filled and we have a massive 107 entries to the clubs main event. Entries to the Coventry Sprints have been sent out, so we are all done on entries for this swimming season (for anyone who doesn't realise the swimming yearly calendar runs Sept-July). If you want to get your entry in for the Coventry Sprints you have until June 1st.

 

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