Medals Galore for Lakelanders at Ards Christmas Gala
04 Dec 2018
Christmas Medals at ‘Ards Gala
The ‘Ards swimming club like the Enniskillen Lakelanders run a very competitive meet. Ten Lakelanders made the two hour trip up, keen to show their talents against some of the top clubs in Ulster but also to win the prized ,especially festive medals ,up for the taking. The Lakelanders made their presence known and did not fail in their pursuit of success, coming away with 18 medals in total, personal bests achieved by all and even a top overall in age group ,won by 12yr old Cora Cassidy.
Not having competed in the 50m fly before, took Cora out of her comfort zone but a strong swim saw Cora finish 6 th overall With no time to rest she achieved the bronze medal in the 50m free in a time of 35seconds. Cora had a great start in the 50m breastroke and won her second bronze medal and a fantastic PB.Final swim of the morning was Cora’s favourite 50m backstroke, she took it in her stride, claiming a gold medal. In the afternoon Cora continued her good form with strong swims in the 100m freestyle 100m backcrawl getting closer to her goal time early in the season.
Hayden James (11) swam really well which was reflected with PBs in 50m freestyle and 50m Breaststroke. Hayden also had 2 first time swims and showed steady progress in the 200m freestyle and demonstrated practised turns in his 100m backcrawl.
Birthday boy Austin Cassidy raced in 4 events ,great swims saw him achieve personal bests in all his events most notably the 200m free taking an enormous 40seconds off his time.
9yr old Ellie Dunlop took part in 5 events and was placed in all, winning bronze in the 100m individual medley. Silver in both the 50m backcrawl and freestyle and finally gold in the 50m butterfly and breastroke
Abigail Boyd attended the afternoon session of the ‘Ards Christmas Gala and competed in the 100m Breast Stroke, Back Stroke and Freestyle events achieving a massive PB of 4.79s in the back stroke and shaving 0.73s off her freestyle time resulting in her achieving a qualifying time in this event.
The Buchanan brothers made the long trip to Ards, and first to take to the pool was 10 year old Tom. He swam his favourite 50m Fly achieving a silver medal and a pb.
Tom went on to swim 100m IM, 100 m Free and 100m Fly with massive pbs ranging between 10 and 18 seconds and achieving his second medal of the day, bronze in the 100fly. 12 year Frank smashed 17 seconds off his PB in the 100m IM, taking a gold medal. He went on to swim the 200m freestyle, he was pleased with his first attempt at this distance achieving a silver medal. Frank then swam 100m backstroke and 100m free claiming two more medals- gold and silver respectively.
10yr old Jamie Lannon entered 4events and came away with three top scores and the much sought after festive medals. Jamie had a fast steady swim in the 200 free, personal bests in the 100m breast in a time of 1.45.42 winning the silver medal. Swimming a powerful 100m fly in 1.29.90 just 20th of a second off the division 2 standard he achieved the gold medal. He ended the competition winning his second silver Santa medal of the day.
Molly Johnston (13yrs) competed in 4 events ,first up was 100 m breaststroke where she swam well coming in 8th overall in her age group. Next was the 100 m backstroke where she smashed her PB by over 9 seconds finishing first in her heat. In the 100m free Molly swam another PB shaving off 2 seconds. Final event of the day for Molly was 200 IM a tough race but a good finish to a long day.
13 year old Ciosa McConnell entered 4 events. She started her afternoon of racing with a strong 200 freestyle, knocking 10 seconds off her pb; and ended the day knocking 6 seconds of her 200 IM. Ciosa was happy to achieve 2nd place in the 100 breaststroke and she also had a top 10 finish in the 100m freestyle.
All the Lakelanders were delighted with their performances early in the season, not to mention the fun and friendships experienced on the day.
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This gala series is for swimmers aged 10-14 and provides competitive racing opportunities at junior level.
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The Aquasprint league, sponsored by Forest Feast, is a starting point for the younger swimmers to compete in all strokes in individual and relays over 25m. Aquasprints are a great opportunity for children to build on what they have been learning in the pool with coaches Ben and Claire, adding speed to this and a competitive edge. - 15 Mar 2025Ellie and Hannah swim for Ulster
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