Its Moonraker Summer League time again, which means the weather is getting better, the nights are longer and poolside is like a sauna! After 2 years of back to back promotions, the team were unfortunately relegated last year meaning we are in a division with Warminster, Durrington and Calne this time round.
For the benefit of those of you who are new to the team, Summer League takes the format of 4 teams competing with each other over 4 rounds with top and bottom finishers promoted/relegated. There are a number of relays as with Winter League, but there are also individual races and increased distances of 50m for younger age groups and 100m for the oldies!
After the long journey to Warminster, the team took a little while to get going with a tough first 10 races bringing one 1st for Alyx dominating the boys U16 2L freestyle, a 2nd for Olivia in the girls U14 2L breaststroke and then 7 x 3rd places and a 4th.
Races 11-20 faired a little better with the boys U16 4×1 medley (Alyx, Tomas, Max and Archie) leading throughout and despite a valiant fight back from Calne. Tracey held her nerve in the girls open 4L butterfly for another 1st place. There was a 2nd for Jake in the boys U14 2L freestyle and for Beth in the girls race. There were also 2 x 3rd and 2 x 4th places leaving the team 3rd after 20 races, 13 points behind Warminster in 2nd and 17 behind Calne in 1st.
There were no fewer than 6 x 2nd places in the next 10 races, with a 3rd and 2 x 4th places. In their respective U16 2L butterfly races, Alyx was unlucky to pipped by a stroke, whilst Grace put in a solid performance to be 2nd throughout. The boys U14 4×1 medley (Jake, Alex S, Tyler and Andrew), finished 2nd to Calne with Andrew unlucky not to catch the winner. The boys Open 4×1 medley (Jack, Tomas, Max and Paul) gained another 2nd and in the U16 butterfly categories there were strong swims by Max and Liberty for their 2nd places with Liberty beaten by just a stroke. Just over half way through the evening and the team now found themselves 14 points behind Warminster with Calne running away a full 26 points ahead of them!
After a typically strong effort from Tyler for a second in the boys U14 2L backstroke, Sasha put in a fantastic performance to run away with the girl’s race. In the boys U12 4×1 freestyle (Harvey, Rory, Ethan and Aaron) led from start to finish to win by a touch, followed by a win for the boys U16 4×1 freestylers (Archie, Max, Alyx and Tomas) who again led throughout, winning by a couple of strokes. In a very close race, the girls U16 4×1 freestyle team (Katie, Cloe, Liberty and Grace) were very unlucky to finish second by just a touch after being in contention the whole race. These results were backed up by 4 x 3rd and 1 x 4th places.
In the final 10 races there were 3 x 1st places, 3 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd and 2 x 4th. A determined performance from Aaron in the boys U12 1L backstroke in which he even had time for a look across to see where his rivals were, produced the first win. Tomas had a battle in the boys U16 2L breaststroke, neck and neck all the way with him touching the wall just a hand length ahead of 2nd place. Another closely fought race was the girls U14 4×1 freestyle relay (Sasha, Regan, Beth and Rowan) who managed to dig in and hold on to the 1st place they held the whole race. As with the 1st place races, the 3 x 2nd places were all gained in races where the swimmers were in contention throughout, but just beaten by the smallest of margins. Emily in the open 4L freestyle, Grace in the U16 2L breaststroke and the boys U14 4×1 freestyle relay (Harvey, Jake, Andrew and Tyler) were all pipped despite valiant efforts.
Remembering the gap to Warminster was 14 points after 30 races, the team managed to end the night in second place with 122 pts, with Calne the winners on the night with 155 pts, with Warminster on 116 pts and Durrington in 4th (98).
A fantastic finish to the night and well done to all the swimmers, especially many of the youngsters who were swimming in their first league competition. Let’s start off Summer League 2 as we ended round 1 and claw back that point’s gap to Calne!
As always, a massive thank you to all the coaches, officials and volunteers for your help and all the parents and family who made the long trip to Warminster to give the team their support.
Summer League 2 is at Durrington on 13th June. See you all there!
Mike Bevan
Publicity Secretary
Swindon ASC