Club News August 2023

The club returns back to training after our two-week holiday today. Hopefully everyone has enjoyed the break and is now looking forward to getting back in the pool.

In the news, a massive congratulation to all those that qualified and took part in any of the National galas at the end of July and beginning of August. We had some great results which can be found here with special mentions to Ellie Lewis who finished 8^th in England in 800m Free with a club record time of 9.44.82 and 9^th in the 1500m and Daisy Draper who made the English 50m Freestyle finals and finished 9^th with a club record time of 28.29 which makes the top 3 all-time fastest times for a female in the club.

Round 2 of the Kent Junior League saw us battle to take 14^th place overall in the league, with a special mention to Lucas Bond who took overall 1^st place out of 20 clubs in the 12 year-old boys 100m Breaststroke event with a personal best time of 1:29.63. The final round will be at Crook Log on 23^rd September where we will compete against clubs who are placed 8-14 (Bexley, Black Lion, Erith, Herne Bay, Folkestone and Dartford). Please reserve the date and look out for team selection soon. Also watch out for the National Arena league which starts on 14th October.

In July, 52 of our swimmers attended the Bexley Summer Sizzler at Crook Log and saw us bring home a whopping 63 medals for the top 3 places with a fantastic 48% of all swims achieving a personal best. This is an amazing achievement to close the season and thank you to all those that attended and to the parents that volunteered without which the gala would not have been licenced. All results are now loaded on the system and personal records have been updated. 

The Erith and Dartford Fireworks gala on 4^th and 5^th November will be imminently closing for entry on 1^st September. The gala seems a long way off but the club has to submit an early entry to secure our place. If you are in Youth Development or above then this is a gala you should be attending unless you qualify for Winter Regionals which is the same weekend and is now also open for sign up on the system. Please liaise with your coach as to which events you should be swimming.

Please remember we are straight back into our Club Championships on 10^th September with 200 IM (which should see all squad members from Silver upwards participate) which is followed by the 100m Freestyle (Bronze swimmers and above) and 200m Fly on the 18^th September. The signup deadline for all of these is also now very close on 3^rd September.

Please look out for some news this week regarding training, galas and special club events that are in the process of being finalised and also for the 2023/24 new Captains announcement.

Finally,  good luck for the season ahead from the coaching team and all of us at the club!