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HH

Essex League Round 3 (19th Feb 2005) - Harlow host at Thurrock pool!!
(a long report for prosperity!!)

Harlow Penguins loyal supporters, coaches and swimmers were at breaking point when an incredible record 51 of them travelled by coach and further 12 travelled by car to watch our swimmers compete against fellow league three teams Killerwhales, Borough of Waltham Forest and Harwich.

Harlows own pool was knocked out late Wednesday night when I was advised that lack of lifeguard cover meant that swimming was not possible this Saturday evening. Essex ASA were quick of the mark and hurriedly booked Thurrock pool so that the league match could be completed - so far so good!

An absolutely packed coach left Harlow at 4.45pm reaching Thurrock at 5.15pm when all the fun began. We were refused entry until 5.45pm even though we were hosting the event. When we finally got in we were greeted by lifeguards who had never put in "state of the art" lane ropes (thanks Alan, Ken and others for sorting that out), a microphone with no batteries (thanks to DJ Paul Cooper for persevering and hooking some announcing system for all to hear), NO BLOCKS!! ( I' ll repeat that NO BLOCKS!!), no time sheets for the referees (thanks to Jodie for her book, Gill and Mark Stevens for knocking up suitable paperwork), the boom apparently was not raised completely and there were no Chief Timekeepers (thanks Ken for coming in at the last moment!). Did anyone notice there was no lifeguard cover??!!  For those that were there I will save the flags episode for a little later!

Before we had got off the coach our swimmers were told that they were expected to achieve at least 2nd place, gain more than 230 points and no disqualifications. On the way home, to a very upbeat team, they were told they had got second place, unfortunately there were 6 dqs (more about that later), they had not achieved more than 230 points BUT they did close the gap to the winners from 17 points in round 2 to only 8 in this round - a marvellous achievement!!

Our first outright win did not take long in coming when in only the second race 10 year old birthday boy, Ryan Wolfe, brought home the boys u11 4x 25m freestyle team made up of Ryan, Chris , Luke and Senner. Ever smiling Annie (man cough) Groome secured the next win when in the fifth race she won the 50m u13 backstroke race. This was soon followed by wins by Phil Noone (100m u15 breast) and Luke Marioni who out touched his nearest competitor to win the u11 50m freestyle race. Our noisy supporters had hardly got the breath back when Jenna won the U13 50m breast and Cyd won the u15 100m freestyle.

Between races 19 and 26 our relay teams won the men 4x 25 medley race (Mark, Matt, Louis and Karl), the boys u15 4 x50 medley race (Louis, Tom, Craig and Ryan) and the boys u11 4x 25m medley race (Ryan, Senner, Chris and Luke). At the halfway stage Harlow were 14 points behind the leaders but only 2 and 4 points ahead of those in places 3rd and 4th. We had suffered 4 dqs which can be attributed to nerves (birthday boy moving at start of his race - he won his race convincingly as well!!), the flags being put into the wrong holes by the pool staff (swimmers crashing into the turns rather than smooth turnovers) and a junior swimmer swimming her heart out but not breaking the water with her fly stroke in the last 5 metres.

Not long into the next lot of individual races and Boys Captain Karl Batorski won the 100m breast in the men's open. Two races later Alex Francey fought a hard battle to win the u13 50m freestyle race. We were soon all on our feet cheering again when in quick succession Essex County Champion Chris Stevens won the u11 50m backstroke race, Girls Captain Kate Burley won the woman's 100m free and National Swimmer (and boys vice captain) Mark St Clare won the men's 100m free.

At this point a special mention to Kilvara Cruickshank who showed typical Harlow Penguin persistence by agreeing to swim the u13 50m fly all over again (she swam same race in the medley relay). Kilvara was well aware that this was going to be extremely tough but with her best effort she swam extremely well being disqualified in the last 5 metres for incorrect stroke - I hope she noticed how ALL the Harlow Penguin swimmers and spectators roared her on - well done Kilvara!!!

Alex Francey soon secured his second individual win of the evening by coming first in the 50m u13 fly. The last individual win was achieved by Senner who came first (despite turning second at the halfway stage) in the u11 50m breaststroke.

In the freestyle relay races (43 to 48) we gained another two outright wins. Firstly our u15 girls made up of Jodie, Antonia, Ruby and Cyd won their 4x 50 m freestyle race followed three races later by the men 4x 50m freestyle team of Mark, Matt, Tom and Karl.

Not every swimmer was a winner tonight but all swam extremely well. Ria, Danielle, Robyn and Natalie are extremely talented u11 year old swimmers and will be challenging for places in the forthcoming Junior Speedo matches. Emily Sutton will sleep easy knowing that she has performed extremely well for Harlow Penguins - if she keeps her performance and effort up she will be a regular future choice. Harry and Jo Cooper swam excellent in the boys u13 4x 50m freestyle race almost clinching second place. Oliver Taffs swam out of "position" - an excellent team player this Essex County Champion will most probably get his favoured freestyle race back in the next league match. Holly and Louise outperformed in the women's 4x 50m freestyle races just being out touched into second place by the strong team from Killerwhales.

At the end of the gala our team won 18 races outright, coming second in 14, third in 6, fourth in five and dq'ed six times. Killerwhales won the gala with 225 points, Mighty Harlow Penguins second 217 points, Waltham Forest third 200 points and Harwich fourth 197 points.

A big special thanks to the 12 Harlow Penguins helpers for making this gala at all possible; Gill St Clare & Mark Stevens (recording scores), DJ Paul Cooper (announcer), Eric (starter), Hayley (excellent timekeeper as usual), Dean (taking down the splits which unfortunately can not be used on the PB database), Alan (coach), Carol (team manager both boys and girls), Ken (Chief Timekeeper), Jan and Rhona (entrance money - unfortunately have to give it to Essex ASA) and Mary (raffle, we keep this money!)

All splits, times and positions can be found here (Lesley will update our PB database - split times will not be allowed)