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Junior Speedo Round 1 (5th February 2006)
Harlow Penguins gave 10 debut swims to Jasmine Hinds, Elise McCusker, Tori Koskocan, Redgi Keeble-Bradford, Mason Arnold, Joe Tucker, Charlie Stevens, Thomas Stevens, Jack Alexander and Emma Houghton. All swam extremely well in front of a packed gallery full of cheering parents from the six clubs competing in the first round of the Junior Speedo league held at Harlows pool (excellent noise from the Harlow contingent).
The Penguins team were unfortunately weakened by the late withdrawal of two strong swimmers who were poorly on the day - this gave our youngest swimmers the opportunity for multiple competitive races with some of them being noticeably shattered by the end of the event (well done Redgi and Mason!!).
Our future stars came a very credible 5th which is an excellent result considering they were in last place at the halfway stage. Club Coach, Alan Mitchell, was pleased with all the swims but these galas identify areas of weaknesses. Out of the 49 races we were disqualified in 6, came last in only 5, 5th in 11, 4th in 4, 3rd in 5. 2nd in 8 and 1st in 8 races. There were also 2 races that we did not compete in as I did not have any eligible swimmers. By concentrating on the DQs, 6th and 5th places we will be able to send out a stronger team in round 2 and perform even better than we did this round.
Special mention to the individual first place swimmers who included Chris Stevens 12\u 50m back, Hannah Gladish 10yrs 50m back, Redgi Keeble-Bradford 9yrs 25m free, Senner Koskocan 11/u 50m breast, Thomas Stevens 9yrs 25m back and Luke Marioni 11\u 50m free. Our 11 yr and 12yr relay teams both won the 4x 25m free relay (11yr - Luke, Ryan Wolfe, John Reynolds & Senner) and (12yr - Chris, Adam Dunkley, Luke and Senner).
Those who were at the gala will know that we had no diving blocks. Despite an agreement between myself and pool management where 5 of the 6 blocks could be used they decided to lock all the blocks away from Friday 3rd February giving me no time to organise temporary replacements. The blocks have been deemed unsafe and the Penguins are not allowed to repair them. It will cost upto £3000 to replace them and will be discussed at next committee meeting. I hope to have some temporary replacements in time for Club championships - please bear with me.
Finally a great big thank you to the following for helping out on the day as we hosted the gala - Carmen (announcer and very good too), Anne and Ian (recorders), Debbie (raffle), Moira and Christine (front desk collecting entrance money), Eric (starter), Alan Canham (gang pressed official), Alan Mitchell (Head Coach), Dean (splits), Karen (official timekeeper), Wendy and Mark Stevens (drinks), Emily (girls Team manager) and Girls Vice captain Jodie who gave up her afternoon to ensure proper takeovers were taking place at the far end of the pool!
Swimmers times and places can be found here. Lesley will update PB database shortly. If we are lucky we may also get a report in the local papers (may be too late this week though).