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HH

Essex Block C (26th & 27th February 2005 - swum at Thurrock)

Another successful weekend with five new Essex County Champions. Well done to Karl Batorski (open 200IM, open 100m breast and open 200m breast), Mark St Clare (15 yrs 100m back) and Louis George (14 yrs 100m back). 

Special mention to Jodie Want who achieved her first ever Essex final (5th in the 13 yrs 100m IM with a most probably personal best time of 1.15:93 - well done Jodie your hard work has been noticed and is paying off) and Louise Kendall who collected her first ever top three placing whilst swimming with Harlow Penguins (Louise used to swim for Epping before joining us two years ago). Louise came 3rd in the 100m 14 yrs fly final. Over the last 12 months Louise has certainly made fly her speciality stroke and I believe the best girl fly swimmer in the club

Our first podium place was secured by Senner Koskocan when he achieved 3rd place in the 10 yrs 200m IM. Senner has had an excellent set of Essex County Championships results considering he will still be in this age group next year - if he keeps up his morning training and improves his general concentration Senner could walk away with a hateful of firsts this time next season! Annie Groome was our only finalist in the 100m Saturday morning events and she got a well deserved 6th place in the 100m free.

Saturday afternoon saw Cydney carry on her return to full fitness and impressive swims. She was our first 100m finalist coming 6th in the 13 yrs 100m back. In the next race Harlow Penguins had two swimmers competing with Senner coming 2nd and close friend and foe Oliver Taffs coming 5th in the 10 yrs & under 100m free. In the 13 yrs boys 100m freestyle final Tom Burley achieved another personal best and is edging ever closer to that sub 1 minute 100m freestyle race - Tom got a sixth in this final. Toms sister and Girls Captain Kate secured 5th place in the 100m IM open women's final. Karl's busy Saturday included not only his recent first but also a second in the 400m IM (Open age group)

On the Sunday Cyd, Kaz and Louise all competed in the 800m freestyle event. Cyd won third place in the 13 yrs race with Kaz and Louise achieving 6th and 7th respectively in the 14 yrs race. Tom Burley swam into 6th place in the 13 yrs 200m fly with Mark St Clare getting a second in the 200m back in his 15 yrs age group.

In the finals (which are only swam at 100m) Oliver Taffs defeated Senner in the 10 yrs under 100m freestyle race by coming 3rd and 4th respectively - such healthy competition is boosting their performances.  The other final races have already been mentioned above.

On the Sunday afternoon Louis George was our first medium distance medal winner by claiming third place in the 200m backstroke race (14yrs age group). Craig Warwick continued his fine run by achieving his umpteenth personal best time in the same race.  In the very next race Kaz Melvin added another bronze to her medal pile (200m freestyle 14 yrs) with Louise coming a very good 8th in the same event.

In the 100m finals we had another good session. Tom came 6th in the 100m fly (13 yrs), Cyd came 4th in the 100m free (13 yrs) and Mark St Clare became an Essex Champion by winning the 15yrs 100m backstroke event - well done Mark, excellent swimming!!

Over the weekend we swam a total of 44 races (excluding finals). We came in the top three 15 times and in places 4th to 6th twelve times. We have slipped to 6th best club in Essex but that's only because other teams have bigger squads than us - well done to Alan and the other coaches and most importantly all the swimmers!!

Note - where a swimmer got into the final I only record here the quickest time achieved. Red highlight indicates the swimmer received a medal (first three places). Blue highlight indicates the swimmer was either 4th, 5th or 6th and received a pennant.