northern counties youth champs

[marrinermum]

gonna be a long weekend !

good luck to every one going, [especially Gallica squad swimmers;)]

[marrinermum]

well, day 1 over, some great swims, some good swims & some prety awful swims too!

mine had a terrible 200IM but made up for it by reaching the semis of the 100m free & got his NQT too, did'nt make the finals but as he's not 15 yet we were pleased with the semis.

Same story with the relays, the squad did'nt do too well in the 4 x 100 free but did extremely well to come 2nd in the 4 x 200 free, mine even knocked a second off his pb, i know it does'nt count [or does it?] but he now knows he can go faster.

will just check the results, anything outstanding i'll post

[ruthcp]

It counts if he goes first in the relay I believe! :king:

[marrinermum]

thanks ruthcp, not second then?!

never mind.

wonder what today will bring?

[ruthcp]

thanks ruthcp, not second then?!

never mind.

wonder what today will bring?

The reason is that if you go first you get a normal start, but any subsequent team member has what's called a rolling start! :read:

Hope today brings you more good things!! :)

[marrinermum]

results for first 3 sessions here - http://www.dlgs.fsnet.co.uk/swim05.htm

today did bring good things indeed! no1 got his 400free nqt by 2 secs & then went & knocked another 3 secs off in the final! also pb'd in 100 back - just waiting for the semi results, see if he carries on.

'rolling start' eh?? you learn something every day!

[Top10ranking]

results for first 3 sessions here - http://www.dlgs.fsnet.co.uk/swim05.htm

toady did bring good things indeed! no1 got his 400free nqt by 2 secs & then went & knocked another 3 secs off in the final! also pb'd in 100 back - just waiting for the semi results, see if he carries on.

'rolling start' eh?? you learn something every day!


not bad getting to swim at manchester, we have crystal palace!

[marrinermum]

never been top10, it can't be that bad, can it??

we're relatively lucky up here, having wigan & manchester close by & leeds & sheffield not that far away either, & then theres a new 50m pool in the offing at liverpool.

[Top10ranking]

never been top10, it can't be that bad, can it??

we're relatively lucky up here, having wigan & manchester close by & leeds & sheffield not that far away either, & then theres a new 50m pool in the offing at liverpool.

pigeons ( correct spelling?? ) sitting with us on poolside, half of the chairs broken and very dirty.

[marrinermum]

pigeons ( correct spelling?? ) sitting with us on poolside, half of the chairs broken and very dirty.


sounds grim :rolleyes: chairs at manchester are uncomfortable [unless you get the vip ones] but at least they're clean & whole!
pigeons!? sounds like life of grime meets valiant!

do the conditions make you swim faster in order to get out of the place quicker?!

last day today anyway, good luck whatever the condition of the pool!

[GettingFaster]

You forgot to mention the unmistakable perfume of the place - fried onions and burgers at the shallow end, and the antiquated water heating system that means you swim through walls of hot and cold water, or perhaps just the whole pool being at 30 degrees or 22 degrees, depending on what random button got pressed. Very 'quaint' place, Manchester knocks it into space, as do all the other pools you mentioned. Tracking to a different thread, perhaps the larger number of accessible 50m pools might have something to do with the larger number of swimmers from 'up north' that got into the European Youths? Anyway back to the original and well done to swimmers who got their NQTs - 5 secs is a pretty impressive improvement but be careful, coach might accuse your number 1 of having been slacking up to now!

[marrinermum]

we'd best start appreciating what we've got then.

don't think the 50m pools have anything to do with the european youths as most of us don't have a 50m pool to train in regularly, perhaps only manchester aquatics, stockport & wigan have permanent access but i stand to be corrected. As far as our squad is concerned we have sessions in 4 25m pools & 1 20m pool!


did well again today, did'nt get his 50m nqt but got nearer & finished a very creditable 4th in the 200free, with another pb, which exceeded any expectations given he's still 14 [ well thats our excuse!]

as for the 5sec 400m pb, well, it probably because he has't swum it above 4 times in the past 3 yrs!! we'll see what coach says at training tonight ;)

hope every one else did themselves proud & swam well,

[ringer]

Never seen anything of Crystal Palace until viewing Gina's posted photo from the Southern Counties thread. Looks very spartan with all that concrete/breezeblock. Its hardly an inspiring arena from all that has been said on these forums.
We are very lucky in the North to have Manchester Stockport and Sheffield so accessible, so modern and all providing positive and inspirational racing experience for competitors.
It looks like the inaugural Manchester Open meet later this month has been heavily oversubscribed and there's every reason to expect that it will become a "must" meet in future years. In persuading Katy Sexton to compete in the first year, the organisers are obviously intent on creating an impact and an impressive event. Hope it goes well.

[JustSwim]

I would love to know how Katy Sexton qualifies for a level 2 meet!

[ringer]

I would love to know how Katy Sexton qualifies for a level 2 meet!

The event has singular, ie not upper and lower, consideration times. The simple answer is that she is fast enough to qualify and not too fast to be disqualified.

It will be fantastic experience for the younger swimmers to watch and learn from Katy's backstroke underwater techniques and probably just to compete in same event as her...some 10 & 11 year olds are in the event.

I remember in Nov 2003 an 11year old from our club competed in the same heat as James Hickman in a 50 fly LC at Manchester and he still talks of the inspiration of that experience. Hickman was brilliant with the lad on the day making just the right amount of fuss of him.

These experiences are not oft repeated so our swimmers who will be there will be encouraged to engage and take it all in.

[ringer]

The 1st Manchester Open this weekend at the Aquatics Centre was a big hit. Well organised and attended by teams from far afield: plenty from Wales and Scotland and one with seemingly dozens of members from a club/squad from Pisa in Italy (of course).

Katy Sexton did swim. She produced among others, two backstroke swims that were tremendous to watch but also suffered the indignity of a "moving at the start" DQ in the 400 free.

This was a really enjoyable meet and for a first very few noticeable gremlins.