Lakelanders Junior Swimmers Dive Straight into the New Season
18 Sep 2019
The Irish Swimming season runs from September to July each year and the local swimming club, Enniskillen Lakelanders are back in the pool training for this year's upcoming events. So whilst the Rugby World Cup was kicking off on the other side of the world, 18 young Lakelanders swimmers headed to Omagh Leisure Centre on Saturday 21st September for their first competitive meet of the 2019/20 season.
The Strule Dolphins Time Trial (TT) Gala saw a different format with no medals just a chance to get together, swim against the clock and record their first times of the new season. The young Lakelanders showed cool nerves and were ready to join the fun, ever keen to show their talents against the three other clubs in attendance.
The first event of the evening was the Girls Individual Medley, where Beth Jones (9) posted a 1 sec PB, Hannah Lynch (10) also knocked a second of her previous time and in the older group Molly Rice (12) and Anna Cairns (12) also swam extremely well with Molly taking 1 second of her previous best and Anna 2 secs. The boys didn't disappoint either with Austin Cassidy (12) smashing his previous PB taking off 14 secs, James Monagan (12) taking 2 secs of his whilst Dara Ronan (15) also had a very successful swim being the fastest in the pool with a time of 1.07.66 and again a new PB.
Next up was the Backstroke where we saw many young Lakelanders swim their first away gala and they were keen to show of the fruits of their training. Emma Speer was the fastest 8yr old year on the night with both Aoibheann Mc Carney (8) and Muireann Cassidy (7) also gaining valuable experiences in their first event outside the Lakeland forurm. For the older girls Hannah Lynch (10) , Sarah Speer (10) and Beth Jones in 50m race showed a great start for them to the season. Anna Cairns and Molly Rice both opted for the 100m and it paid off with both girls taking 2secs of their previous times. For the boys 25m Luke Lannon (9), Ryan Mongan (9) and Josh Cassidy (9) all swam well with a PB for Josh Cassidy knocking 6 secs of his previous time. The older boys also had very impressive swims in the 50m Hayden James (12) took 2 secs of his previous time and Austin Cassidy (12) Dara Ronan swimming excellently.
The Lakelanders again proved their strength in the 25m Breaststroke event, notably from Emma Speer who was again the fastest 8 yr old with PB’s also for Lucy Rice, Emma Speer and Cara Trainor, whilst for the boys Josh Cassidy added another PB to his tally. In the 50m race there were also PBs for Sarah Speer and Kyle James (10). In the 100m event there was also great swims for Hannah Lynch (10) Anna Cairns, Molly Rice and for the boys from Hayden James, James Mongan and Dara Ronan.
In the Butterfly Beth Jones, Josh Cassidy and Luke Lannon demonstrated great improvements in this challenging event with all producing PB’s. The older Lakelanders didn’t disappoint either with Hannah Lynch, Molly Rice, Anna Cairns, Hayden James and Dara Ronan all producing fabulous swims, whilst Hayden James knocked three seconds of his previous best.
Finally, the Lakelanders squad all had super swims in the Freestyle races. The 25m races saw huge improvement from Lucy Rice (8) with a pb of 8 secs and Aoibheann McCarney of 4 secs. In the 50m there was also impressive personal bests for Molly Rice in a time of 41.44 s and a PB of 1.24.34 in the 100m freestyle. Hayden James also knocked two seconds of his previous best. Austin Cassidy and James Mongan were on form too both taking 5secs of their previous 100m time. In the final race of the night Dara Ronan proved again he was the fastest in the pool wining the 100m freestyle in a time of 1.01.01.
Aideen Speer, Team Gala Secretary for the Lakelanders hailed the success of the Fermanagh swimmers saying, 'all our young Lakelanders can be very pleased with their performances at this busy event, it was a great start to the season for all those who swam and now they look to build on this great start and know dedication at training is paying off'
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All the work so far on skills and technique resulted in a slew of Swim Ulster Awards, personal bests and many top ten finishes for the Enniskillen Lakelanders.
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