Sam Hynd selected for British team
Congratulations to the City of Newport ‘Regional squad’ swimmer Sam Hynd on his selection for the British Team to compete in the World Disability Swimming Championships 2013 in Montreal, Canada. Sam gained qualification in the 200 IM at the recent British International Disability Championships in Sheffield which served as the trial event for selection to the British team. Well done Sam, and good luck at the Worlds!!
British International Disability Champioships
Jonathan Eke and Sam Hynd represented the club at the recent British International Disability Championships in Ponds Forge, Sheffield. The event served as the selection trials for the British Team for the up and coming DSE World Swimming Championships in Montreal, Canada. Jonathan swam well in the pressurised environment, just missing dipping under the minute mark in the 100 free for the first time with an excellent time 0f 1.00.5 seconds. Both Sam and Jonathan progressed to the finals of the 400m free, although neither could manage to record pb’s on that event. The highlight came on the Saturday when Sam managed to achieve the ‘A’ qualifying standard for the World Championships with a fantastic 200 IM swim in 2.29 seconds. Well done boys!!
Wyvern League 2012_13
Wyvern League – Final 2013
Congratulations to all Newport swimmers who helped to win the final of the Wyvern League on Saturday 20th April 2013, and also to those who swam in previous rounds to guarantee a solid 2nd place overall in the league was attained.
Newport grew into this competition this year with a solid second place finish in gala 1, followed by another second place finish in gala two however this could not be verified until some hours after the finish of the gala as the score was so close it was hard to pick a winner. Newport were eventually found to have come second, but were only one place off winning. In gala 3 with the absence of Ledbury and District, Newport were run away winners, scoring so heavily that going into the final even though Ledbury had beaten us twice we were only two gala points behind them.
In the final it was not exactly all to play for as we knew that we would need help from Torfaen Dolphins or another club if we were to win the league. Just winning would not be enough, we would need to win and for Ledbury to come no higher than 3rd. Newport Played their part winning the gala comfortably with 21 points to spare however Ledbury held off the best of the rest leaving them top of the league with Newport trailing by a mere 1 league point, but leading on gala points by a margin of 18 points. Unfortunately gala points will only be taken into to consideration if there is a tie for league points so Ledbury picked up the winners medals leaving Newport to settle for second this year, but looking forward to next year.
There were many outstanding performances of which I can mention only a few and I hope nobody will be offended if they are not mentioned here. The statistics that stand out in my mind are not one single disqualification out of a total of 53 races, many of which were relays, and 24 outright wins.
Some swimmers were really busy, swimming up to 9 races in multiple age groups such as Scarlet Major, Jack Knight, Paige Simmons and Erin Bryce all of which also won multiple races including races out of age. Other swimmers were not as busy because they could only swim in one age group but were none the less highly effective. Two swims from the 15&U boys come to mind with Tristan Cuer winning the 100m Breaststroke in 1:09.79, a time that would be more than good enough to grace many a National Final and Alex Griffiths winning the 100m Freestyle in 00:55.45.
I would like to thank all the team managers and coaches who without their help this would not have been possible, these are Sian, Clare, Dee, Sarah and Rhian, as well as all the officials without whom we would not be able to hold any meet.
I hope all the swimmers, parents and guardians enjoyed themselves and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support, not only for this league, but for your continued support throughout the rest of the year.
Many Thanks
James
Welsh Age Group and Youth Championships
Over the Easter bank holiday weekend, the club competed in the Welsh Age Group and Youth Championships in Swansea. What threatened to be a difficult meet, due to considerable illness across the team, turned out to be an extremely pleasing and highly rewarding competition. The club won a total of 24 medals, a really great effort! The highlights of the meet included Erin Bryce taking double gold in the 100m and 200m backstroke, both in National Qualifying times, and our male and female youth squads dominating the relays taking 3 golds and 1 silver. Well done to all the swimmers who took part.
