The first two weekends of Hemel Hempstead Swimming Club’s annual Sprint Club Championships have taken place, with over 150 swimmers competing, ranging from 5 to 50 years.
The champs have so far seen a number of age groups dominated by individual swimmers. One of the young stars to hit the record books is Megan Pirrie, u9, who took home gold in all six of her races so far: 25m freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly and the 50m freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke.
Lucy Hutchins swept the board in the 9 year-old girls age group, winning all six events in which she competed: the 100m freestyle, 100m IM, 100m butterfly, and 50m breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle.
Kyle Holmes was a five-time winner and, like Hutchins, is so far unbeaten in the boys’ 9 years age group.
Paige Wilding has dominated the 10 year old girls, winning all six of her events, whilst another unbeaten competitor is Frederick Woodcock in the 11 years’ boys, who came first in all of his six races.
Pam Ware dominated the over 16’s with wins in the 100m free, the 100IM, 100m butterfly, 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke.
Other categories have been more hotly contested. The u9 boys’ events saw fierce competition between Charles Adeleke, who won the 25m freestyle, Thushira Kumerage and Joseph Prior who tied joint first in the 25m butterfly, with Prior claiming the 50m freestyle and Kumerage the 50m breaststroke and backstroke titles.
The under 8 girls’ gold titles went to Shaminah Sherwani-Keeling in the 25m freestyle, Emmy Bier-Allen in the 25m butterfly and Nell Baughan in the 25m breaststroke.
For the boys it was Max Jelfs who took gold in the 25m butterfly and the 25m freestyle, with Sidney Woodcock winning the 25m breaststroke.
Peter Kennett took three victories in the 10 years’ boys (50m and 100m freestyle, 50m breaststroke) with Louis Dunham claiming two (100m IM and 50m backstroke) and Jonty Bier-Allen winning the 100m butterfly.
Devon Prior, 11, dictated the pace on the first weekend with three wins in the 100m IM the 50m breaststroke and 100m freestyle, whilst Hannah Bagley claimed two golds in the 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle and Rebecca Osborn the 50m backstroke.
In the girls 12-13 category, the spoils have been shared between Lois Moore (100m freestyle, 100m IM, 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle) and Suzanne Pitts (50m breaststroke) and Victoria Fisher (50m backstroke).
In the 12-13 boys, Thomas Sherriff took the 100m IM, 50m and 100m freestyle, with the 50m breaststroke going to Adam Daniell, the 100m butterfly to Curtis Barnett and the 50m backstroke to Conrad Bier-Allen.
Katie McLaren was victorious in all the 14-15 girls’ events, apart from the 50m breaststroke, which was claimed by Amy Howard.
For the boys, Paul Mackie came first in the 50m and 100m freestyle and 100m IM, Thomas Osborn won the 100m butterfly and 50m backstroke and Jamie Keevill took the 50m breaststroke.
In the 16-and-above category, Bill Woodhouse took the 100m freestyle and 50m breaststroke and backstroke, Paul Cox the 100m IM and Liam Barnett the 50m free and 100m butterfly.
The second round ended with a riveting finale in the form of the 50m freestyle ‘skins’ – a knockout event between the six fastest girls and boys respectively. The girls’ races saw Katie McClaren squeeze ahead of Lois Moore in the last round. For the boys, it was Bill Woodhouse who pipped Paul Cox to top spot.
The championships conclude with four more events next Sunday.