The Lloyds TSB Distance Championships were held recently at the NSC and proved to be a very exciting evening, writes Phil Salmon.
The evening started with a well-deserved win by Emily Butler in the women's 100m individual medley event finishing just ahead of Katie Noden. The men's 100m IM was won by Alan Jones who received the newly-donated Dursley Stott Cup. Special thanks go to Dursley for his support.
The girls' 10/11 years 200m freestyle saw Ramseian's Coady Foulis just miss out on a championship record, finishing 0.4 of a second outside it. It was lovely to see such a large entry in both the boys' and girls' events in this age-group.
Matheu Marshall took the boys' 200m freestyle gold for the second year running with a very fine performance.
The girls' 400m freestyle saw probably the most competitive race of the evening with Katie Salmon, Joanna Cain and Sarah Cain neck and neck for almost 14 lengths. Katie managed to pull off the little bit extra required to take the gold medal with Joanna second and Sarah third.
Matthew Quayle broke the boys 12/13 years championship record by 1.5 seconds with a storming swim in the 400m freestyle. Meanwhile Martin Dias and Conor Doyle fought each other length for length to finish second and third respectively.
The girls 14/15 years 800m freestyle saw another championship record smashed as Elizabeth Ramsey broke her own record and claimed gold in this event for the second year running.
The boys event in this age-group was won by James Baker with silver going to Ronald Atherton and Mark Emery taking bronze.
It was good to see Lauren O'Neill back from Loughborough College to compete in the women's 800m freestyle but she was overhauled by the hard-training, fast-improving Katie Noden who finished 12 seconds ahead of Lauren. Bronze went to Sian Snellgrove.
The longest distance of the evening was the men's 1,500m freestyle event. Five swimmers entered this distance race with two of these being 14/15 year old swimmers trying out for Island Games consideration times. Adam Richards proved the strongest on the night with a win over Garry Manley with all competitors making consideration times.
Coady proved herself a good all-rounder with a win in the girls 10/11 years 100m IM with Olivia Rawlinson pushing her all the way.
The boys 10/11 years 100m IM had a pleasingly large entry with Douglas's Oliver Shimmin taking gold in a new championship record time. The record previously belonged to ex-Douglas Swimming club member Andrew Hodgson and any swimmer beating Andrew's time, at an equivalent age should be proud of themselves.
Matheu Marshall took silver and, one to watch out for in the future, Ramseian's Kaysee Craine took the bronze with a performance of great merit especially as he was in the first heat.
It would have been interesting to see all three in the same heat and, as Kaysee and Olly can both enter the same event next year, we shall all look forward to a new mark being set at next years distance championships.
The girls 12/13 years IM was another close race with Katie Salmon making it a double finishing just 0.1 of a second in front of Joanna Cain. Giselle Riley, at the younger end of the age group, took the bronze medal in a fabulous time knocking quite a chunk off her personal best.
This age-group saw Matthew Quayle also bag the double with fine performances from himself and Martin Dias who took the silver.
The 14/15 years 100m IM saw Elizabeth Ramsey add another championship record to her collection with Kimberley Manley gaining silver.
The final event of the evening saw a real fight between Nigel Halsall of Ramsey and Nigel Cottier of Southern both going under the old championship time but with Nigel Halsall breaking away and gaining the honours.
Special thanks go to Lloyds TSB Bank for their continued sponsorship and Clucas Florists for providing the bouquets for the gold medallists.
Congratulations to everyone who took part and thank you to all the officials. It was the largest entry ever and the times of all swimmers show that we have tremendous potential and a bright future.
The Lloyds TSB relay league match is on this Saturday, March 8 at the NSC. This match is hosted by Douglas Swimming Club, warm up 17:30.
Don't forget any birthday celebrations can be emailed for inclusion in this column along with any poolside news.
Full results of the Championships are available for download.
