Welcome to Round 1 of the Moonraker Winter League – Calne 25th November 2017.

Before I go into the detail of Calne I thought it would be good to give some background on the Winter League as a way of introduction for our newer swimmers.
This year there are 18 teams from across Wiltshire split into two divisions. The clubs in each division are then split randomly into galas and so last night there were four galas, two in Division 1 and two in Division 2. Round 1 saw swims at Trowbridge and Calne for Division 1 and Swindon Link and Corsham for Division 2.
Each gala swims the same programme of events so although the result on the night is exciting what really matters is your time against the other clubs in the league as a whole for each event. The Winter League secretary Rob Hart has the unenviable task of collating all of the times from all of the galas and producing an ‘18 team’ league table. The whole process is repeated after Round 2 in February after which winners of each Division are announced; teams are also promoted and demoted at this time as well. The final league positions allow final round galas to arranged in March and the winners of each Final Round gala are determined. Last year Swindon swam in Division 1 and won Final Round gala 2. The
Wiltshire ASA web site has details of the Winter League and you can visit Winter League to find out more and keep updated as the league progresses.

Following the success of recent years Swindon ASC currently swim in Division 1 and so we are swimming against the top clubs in Wiltshire again.

Winter is definitely here with the nights drawing in and frost on the ground which means time for the Winter League.

Round 1 meant a local trip down to Calne to swim against Calne Alpha, Durrington Otters, Warminster and Wroughton.
Swimming in Division 1 means that although the galas will not be easy but it does give our swimmers a chance to swim against the best swimmers in the County.

Races 1 – 10 were hard going. In the Mixed 9-10 4×25 backstroke Ella, Ashton, Freya and Rhys came in 2nd and in the Boys Open 4x50m backstroke Max A, Craig, Tyler and Alyx were unlucky to finish 3rd . After 10 races Swindon were in 4th place 5 points behind 3rd placed Durrington.

Races 11-20 brought us our best period in the gala with 1st place as well. The boys squadron backstroke Rhys, Max S, Charlie and Alyx came in 1st with a great race – well done boys.
There were 2nd places for mixed 9-10 4x25m Breaststroke Ella, Aidan, Freya and Ashton, Boys U15 4×25 backstroke James, Charlie, Max S, Aaron and Girls Squadron 4x25m backstroke Freya, Thea, Annabel and Olivia. After 20 races we had closed the gap and Swindon ASC were in 3rd ½ point ahead of Durrington!
Races 21-30 were hard going again. The Girls U13 4x25m backstroke Verity, Amy, Freya and Thea came in 2nd along with Boys U15 4x25m medley relay Clarie, Aaron, Max S and James which also finished 2nd after a great swim. After 30 races we were holding onto 3rd place 1½ points ahead of Durrington!

Races 31-35 were tough going after a long evening. With Swindon ASC finishing no better than 3rd place it was soon time for the mixed 8x25m cannon where we finished a respectful 4th.

The final result was Calne Alpha 148, Warminster 128½, Durrington 88, Swindon 87½, Wroughton 63. Unlucky Swindon as 3rd place was so near. However, the places on the night don’t really matter, what is important is the position in the league overall and we need to wait for Rob Hart to do his calculations before he publishes these on the Wiltshire ASA web
site / shares with the clubs taking part. Look out on the notice board at Milton Road.

Well done to our swimmers and thank you to the parents for your support and to Jackie, Ryan, Naomi, Lorna, Lauren, Kelly, Clare, Craig, Carl and Jane for helping the club on the evening.
Finally, thanks to the Officials who ran the evening and Calne Alpha for hosting and we look forward to seeing you at The Link in February when Swindon ASC host Round 2 which will see us up against Calne Alpha, Wootton Bassett, Warminster and Chippenham.

Carl Steckerl