Wyvern Swimming League 2015
Wyvern League 2015
The City of Newport Swimming club finished off this year’s Wyvern league with a bang. The final held at Newport’s International Sports Village on Saturday 9th May was attended by swimmers from Blaenafon, Chepstow, Abertillery, Ledbury, Torfaen and Newport. Newport won the final in convincing style by 84 points to conclude a very successful year in which Newport won every round they attended finishing 8 points clear at the top of the table.
Second place was very highly contested between Torfaen and Ledbury who had won the league for the previous 11 years. Ledbury finished second in the final, but not by a large enough margin to prevent Torfaen from taking second place in the league.
Newport won 38 out of 54 races to amass a point’s total of 300 points to Ledbury’s 216 and Torfaen’s 205.
Individual winners include Megan Alison, Kameron Clarke, Ewan Osmond in two events, Rhys English, Scarlet Major in three events, Lewis Waters in two events, Shea Richards, Jack Knight in three events, Alice Manship, Ellana Hortan, Max Harris in two events, Millie Mulligan, Sioned Collingbourne (Girls Captain), Sophie Harris, Adam Steven, Aiden Bryce, Ellie Ward and Katie English, as well as winning 13 out of 18 relays.
Well done to all swimmers who swam in any of the rounds, and to the coaches, team managers and officials without whom this event would not have been possible.
Final Scores
Pts.Scored League Points
1 Newport 1455 30
2 Torfaen 1115 22
3 Ledbury 1094 22
4 Abertillery 1083 21
5 Chepstow 904 14
6 Blaenafon 509 10
Swim Wales Summer Nationals
Swim Wales Summer Nationals
City of Newport swimmers celebrate an outstanding 2013-2014 season culminating in the Swim Wales summer nationals.
Swim Wales summer nationals is the main competition for many swimmers in any season, and this year City of Newport swimmers enjoyed their best performance at this meet. The meet held over seven days at the Wales National pool Swansea (WNPS) was attended by 30 Newport swimmers, each swimming multiple events.
Day 1
Event 3 saw the first Newport Finalist with Ben Holloway recording a new best time in the 100m Butterfly, event 4 finals included Scarlet Major and Megan Alison who both picked up Bronze in their respective age categories before Lewis Waters smashed the 200 Breaststroke to take Gold by a massive 4 seconds. Paige Simmons also took Gold in the 800m Freestyle. In the last event of the session Katie English and Scarlet Major swam the 50m Freestyle final, with Scarlet just 0.4 seconds off picking up a second Bronze medal of the day.
Day 2
Event 13 had three Newport swimmers in it, Mia Board and Paige Simmons in the 11 years category, both of whom recorded new best times with Paige going under the 3 minute marker for the first time to win Gold by 7 seconds. The 12 years category saw Ellana Horton take the Bronze with a massive 12 second Personal Best (PB) time also going under 3 minutes for the first time.
Day 3
In Event 28 Aiden Bryce made the final of the boys 100m Backstroke finishing in a time just 1.99 seconds shy of the medals. Emme Thomas made her first medal appearance with a silver in the 800m Freestyle. Events 33 and 34 showed Newport’s dominance in the Breaststroke again with Mia Board finishing in Bronze medal position in the 11 years age group and Ellana Horton only 0.4 of a second off doing the same in the 12 years category, before Tristan Cuer rounded off the day with a complete domination in the boys 15-16 Breaststroke finishing in a very convincing first place.
Day 4
In the second event of the day Scarlet Major smashed the 10 years 100 Freestyle to win by a convincing 2 seconds, she then followed this up 20 minutes later with an even more dramatic win finishing almost 8 seconds in front of her nearest rival in the 200m Individual Medley (IM) thanks to a very dominate Breaststroke leg. In the 20 minutes between Scarlet’s swims Katie English and Megan Alison were busy with the 100m Freestyle finals with the latter taking her second Bronze medal of the meet so far. That busy 20 minute period also saw Max Harris in the 200 IM, equalling his time from the morning’s heats.
Day 5
Day 5 saw Breaststroke medallists Paige Simmons and Ellana Horton in the 200m Backstroke both recording new PB’s with Paige adding a Bronze medal to her collection. In addition Emme Thomas and Paige Simmons both took Golds in their respective age categories and both with NEW MEET RECORDS, Paige finishing a very dominate 6 seconds ahead of second place.
Day 6
Max Harris opened proceedings for the City of Newport on day 6 with a good PB in the 200m Freestyle before Scarlet Major once again dominated the competition adding to her medal count with 5 second annihilation also in the 200m Freestyle. Emme Thomas showed her strength once again as a middle distance/ distance Freestyler with an outstanding Bronze in the 200m Freestyle swimming inside the old meet record. Lewis Waters was back in action in Event 72 finishing third in the 15-16 100m Breaststroke less than 1 second off Gold medal position to back up his Gold earlier in the week in the 200m Breaststroke. In Event 76 Ben Holloway smashed his PB to finish under 0.4 of a second outside the medals in the boys 200 Fly before Megan Allison finished just 0.05 of a second outside the medals in the girls 200 Fly.
Day 7 (Final Day)
Max Harris once again opened proceedings for Newport this time in the 100m Breaststroke, showing what an all-round talent he is (having made finals in IM, Freestyle, Backstroke and now Breaststroke) with another good PB. Mia Board and Ellana Horton then completed a clean sweep of Breaststroke Finals adding the 100m to their 50m and 200m Finals from earlier in the week. Just to show even more strength in depth where Breaststroke is concerned Alice Manship added to the medal count with a Bronze in the 100 Breaststroke in the 13 years age category. Ellana Horton finished the meet off in style with a good PB in the final of the girls 50 Backstroke.
Summary
Over 95% PB rate, 35 Finals, 19 Medals of which 9 were Gold, need I say anymore other than to congratulate all Newport swimmers on an outstanding meet to cap off an outstanding season. Keep up the hard work and let’s have an even better 2014-2015 season.
South East Wales Junior Development Meet
A day and a half racing over the weekend of 17th and 18th May saw some outstanding swims from City of Newport Swimmers. The results were very impressive from the City of Newport’s youngsters with personal bests being recorded in over 95% of races.
There were too many excellent swims to mention, therefore I will only mention the medallists. The medals were decided by adding up the combined time for the 5 races. First place overall in their age categories went to Jack Knight, Shea Richards and Sophie Harris. I believe an extra special mention is due to Sophie Harris for winning all 5 of her races. There were two third place finishes for Ruby Kelly and Ben Langdon, with Megan Peacock picking up sixth, Anna Davies eighth and Finley Johnson 10th.
Well Done to all the swimmers who competed, and I look forward to seeing you race again.
International Surfing Association World Junior Surfing Championships
Emily Williams has been selected to represent Wales at the International Surfing Association World Junior Surfing Championships to be held in Ecuador from the 5th April to the 13th April 2014. 24 countries will be represented and competing for individual gold medals and a team medal. It is the first time that Wales has sent a team to a World Championships and competition will be tough.
Emily is current Welsh Womans & Under 18 National Champion and finished second in the U16 girls category at the last British Nationals. Emily will have a busy year as she will also be defending her national titles and hopefully making the the Welsh Team for the European Juniors to be held in the Azores this September.
Emily maintains her fitness by swiming in the Newport Performance squad and we wish her well in her future competitions.
The event will be broadcast live over the internet, a link will be published on the website below nearer the date.
DSE National Junior Para-Swimming Championships, Sheffield 2014
Over the weekend of 1st – 2nd March, Liam Walsh from Junior Performance competed in the National Junior Para-swimming championships in Sheffield. Liam competed in the S8 50 and 100 freestyle, 200IM, 100 FLY, 100 Backstroke and the 100 Breaststroke.
Out of those six events, Liam, who is also part of Swim Wales Home Nation Talent programme, improved on every one of his PBs, and came home with: 2 gold and 3 silver medals.
Liam’s results were:
50 free: 37.0 – Silver
100 free: 1:23.8 – Silver
200IM: 3:28.0 – Gold
100 Back: 1:37.2 – Gold
100 Fly: 1:32.0 – Silver
100 Breast: 1:51.0
This is particularly impressive when you consider there were a large number of GB international swimmers taking part at this meet including current Paralympic Champions Josef Craig and Jessica Jane Applegate as well as a number of other high profile swimmers. The stature of the event is evident with 3 World Records, 2 European Records and 2 British Records being broken over the course of the weekend.
Well done Liam!
Time Trial Gala
On Sunday 2nd March 2014 almost 100 swimmers from our junior squads competed in a time trial gala at Newport International Sports Village. Swimmers from Dolphins, Sharks, Junior Development and Junior Performance all competed in 50m of all strokes, as well as 100m Individual Medley, regardless of age or how long they have been swimming with the club. One swimmer having only joined the club that week competed in all five events swimming superbly well.
What was almost as pleasing as how well all the swimmers swam was how much they seemed to enjoy themselves, and got into the spirit of racing.
I would like to thank all the swimmers for coming down to swim and commend them on their efforts and excellent behaviour, as well as all their parents who brought them down and stayed to support. The next step from here is to enter our Club Championships which like this gala, is only for other Newport swimmers. From there, you should then start entering other competitions where you can test your speed against swimmers from other clubs. If you are interested in entering more competitions, please ask your coach for further information on which galas you should enter.
Lastly, but certainly not least, I would like to thank all the volunteers who came to support and help run this gala. Without their help not only could we not run galas like this, but the club as a whole could not carry on running the way it does.
If you would like to get more involved in the running of your club please come along to our AGM at 7:45pm on Tuesday 11th of March at Newport Stadium, found adjacent to Newport International Sports Village, swimming and tennis centre.
James
Presentation Evening/Club Champs – Alan Roberts
I would first like to say a big thank you to all the volunteers and helpers who helped run such a smooth operation as the club champs
I was very pleased on how well the lower squads were represented at the club champs, it was a very good turn out and everyone who entered should be very pleased with their performance.
Two swimmers stood out for me at the club champs, not for their speed and winning of medals, but for their grit and determination.
First there was Sophia Evans age 9, never done a swimming gala before, at the beginning of the day she was so nervous i had to sit her down talk to her and tell her what to expect and what was going to happen. Normally swimmers on their first gala will do a couple of swims that they are comfortable with. Not Sophia she only meant to do 50m swims but she had also entered 100m swims.
The difference in 1 swimmer from the beginning of the day, to the end of the day was amazing she oozed confidence it was really good to see.
The second swimmer was Toby Preece age 6, because of his age he was only to do 25m swims which he did, as its only his first gala he too could have just done some swims that he was comfortable with but like Sophia, Toby pushed himself, and at the age of 6 doing a 25m butterfly swim, full on confidence, was also very pleasing as a coach.
It goes without saying that there were some fantastic swims through the weekend and it made me as their swimming coach very proud to be represented by such a young group of swimmers, who behaved very well on pool side, swam their hearts out and put 100% effort in
A BIG WELL DONE!!! To all that swam
Alan Roberts
Greater Gwent Fastwater Meet – 2013
Greater Gwent
On the weekend of the 19th and 20th October a number of swimmers from the City of Newport swimming club took part in the Greater Gwent Fastwater open meet. It was a very interesting meet with swimmers from all squads from the club competing.
The City of Newport won countless medals across all the squads and there were an amazing amount of personal best times recorded, especially due to the time of the season. There were many stand out swims, far too many to mention in fact, but a special mention must go to Jack Knight who won top boy. See Jack pictured below receiving his trophy from Sam Hynd Olympic Gold medallist, world record holder and fellow City of Newport swimmer.
Junior Development Meet 2013
South East Wales Junior Development Meet
The South East Wales Junior Development Meet held at Newport International Sports Village over the weekend of 18-19th May provided many swimmers with their first taste of competitive swimming on a regional scale. The weekend was a great success with numerous swimmers experiencing racing over distances and events which they had previously not swam. Many of the slightly more experienced swimmers recorded personal best (PB) times in a variety of events, and some ranked very highly in their individual events. The overall success of the swimmers was judged in a pentathlon format, this format requires all swimmers to race in the four competitive strokes plus the individual medley (IM). Their times are then added up for the five races and medals are awarded for the fastest overall swimmers, this ensures swimmers are training on all strokes and keeping their options open for the future. A special mention must go to Ben Holloway for winning the first place trophy in his age group and to Scarlet Major for her fifth place finish having convincingly won in a number of events. There were a number of other swimmers who finished in the top ten in the pentathlon format, and many more who finished in the top ten in individual races.
As well as the individual competition Newport entered a number of relays, both for the Medley and freestyle events. The boys 8-10 age group won one gold and one bronze and the girls also in the 8-9 years age group won a bronze medal.
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
