Friday 4th December 2009 at Corby East Midlands International Pool was the opening day of competition for the 1st Level 1 Open meet to be held in the County. The meet was hosted and organised by Northampton Swimming Club at the brand new pool in Corby.
The meet had taken 6 months of planning with the momentum building from the closing date of the competition which was the 31st October to the first race on Friday evening. The meet covered the full Olympic programme of events and had over 500 swimmers from all over the Country travelling to the meet to the fantastic facility at Corby.
Northampton Swimming Club did not have the largest number of swimmers competing however they were the Top Club at the competition winning the most points.
Top Clubs points were:
Northampton Swimming Club 674
Hatfield Swimming Club 643
Millfield Swimming 616
Derventio 548
In the Top Girl competition Northampton Swimmers shone through Anya Wooliscroft was the star of the event she was 1st Tiana Gordon was 4th and Rosie Foden was 9th. Top Boy was won by Robert Edwards De Santos from Camden Swiss Cottage, Northampton’s George Dyson was 4th and Sam Thompson was 9th
NSC athletes did a great job in the distance freestyle events where they won 5 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze. Gold medallists were Tiana Gordon, Emma Herd in the 1500m and Merryn Odell, Zoe Gidden and Kim Bell in the 800m Free. Silver Medallists were Sam Thompson, Jack Howarth and Ben Green in the 1500m and Keefe Downes and Anya Wooliscroft in the 800m. Georgie Wilks swam a great PB to win Bronze in the 800m.
In the Individual Medley events where swimmers compete in all four strokes in 1 event NSC were in great form winning 4 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 bronze. Tiana Gordon won Gold in the 200m IM and 400m IM, Charlotte Bell won the 400m IM and Sam Thompson won the 200m IM and was 2nd in the 400m IM. Jack Howarth won silver in the 200m IM and bronze in the 400m IM and Georgie Wilks won the same medals but with the events swapped around. Keefe Downes should his depth of talent by winning a bronze in the 400m IM.
6 medals were won in the Freestyle events with Jack Howarth winning gold in the 400m freestyle and Keefe Downes, Ben Green and Charlotte Bell won silver medals in the same event. Tiana Gordon won the silver in the 100m Free and Sam Thompson won silver in the 200m Free.
In the form events which are Butterfly, Backstroke and Breaststroke NSC swimmers were in grand form. Charlotte Bell not only won the gold medal in the 200m butterfly she also broke the county record that she set at the national championships in the summer. Georgie Wilks won the 200m backstroke and got bronze in the 100m backstroke. William Adhemar won bronze in the 200m butterfly. Tiana Gordon won bronze in the 200m and 100m breaststroke with Keefe Downes showing his versatility by winning bronze in the 200m breaststroke.
Jacquie Marshall Director of Swimming at NSC said the meet was a great success with the swimmers performing magnificently. Jacquie would like to thank all the coaches for the hard work they put into organising and running the meet as well as Fiona Gidden for all the work she put in to recruiting the officials for the meet. The Officials and volunteers also need a special mention for the work they did over the weekend and without all this help and assistance the meet would not have been the great success it was. We hope the meet stays on the calendar in Northamptonshire as it is good for swimming and sport within the town and county. Liz Hudson manager of the pool in Corby and the staff did a great job and in supporting the event and we look forward to holding our next event at Corby in the near future.
If people are interested in swimming lessons or joining Northampton Swimming Club or possibly becoming a sponsor of the club or a prestigious swimming event in the future please contact us on 01604 622264 or email coach.marshall@btinternet.com. NSC website is www.N-S-C.ORG.UK.
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