Hemel Swimmers put in strong performances at the Regional Championships

Hemel swimmers Aimee Abrey, Hannah Bagley, Ben Garratt, Emily Jelfs, Megan Pirrie and Paige Wilding travelled to Norwich over two weekends in early June to compete against the best junior swimmers from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk & Suffolk.

Aimee Abrey gained three top 20 finishes in the 100m and 200m Backstroke and the 200m IM and despite feeling unwell throughout the competition also competed in the 100m & 200m Freestyle. Hannah Bagley put in a sound performance which saw her qualify for the final of the 100m Breaststroke, where she finished in a very creditable 8^th place.

Emily Jelfs – qualifying for her first regional championships – put in some good performances in her four events finishing 23rd in the 200m IM.  Emily also competed in the 100m, 200m and 400m Freestyle all in the same weekend and swam a solid leg in the relay team swimming the 100M Freestyle yet again.

Megan Pirrie performed well throughout the competition and collected a bronze in the 200m Butterfly in a time of 2.27.84. She also qualified for the final of the 100m Butterfly finishing in 5^th place in an impressive time of 1.14.21. equally as good was the 400IM where she finished 5^th in 5.45.95 she also qualified for the final of the 200IM finishing 8^th, in her other events she finished 11^th in the 100M Breaststroke missing the final by 0.33, 12^th in the 200M Freestyle, 13^th in the 200M Breaststroke and 19^th in the 200M Backstroke.

Another top performer was Ben Garratt who collected a bronze in the 100M Butterfly in a very impressive time of 1.12.76, he also made the final of the 100M Freestyle finishing 8^th and was equally impressive in the 400IM where he also finished 8^th Ben also claimed 9^th in the 200M Freestyle and also competed in the 400M Freestyle as well as finishing, 17^th in the 200M Backstroke.

Finally Paige Wilding qualifying for her 1^st regional’s competed well in the 200M Backstroke and swam a PB in the Butterfly leg of the medley relay in 1.16.93.

To round off a good couple of excellent weekends of swimming the girls 14 years and under 100M medley relay team comprising of Aimee Abrey (13), Megan Pirrie (12), Paige Wilding (14) and Emily Jelfs (13) finished a respectable 10^{th place}.

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2012 Regional BAGCAT Qualifiers

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Girls Medley Relay Team – First girls team from the club to compete at Regionals