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HH

London Speedo League Division 1 Round 3 (12th December 2004)

On the short journey to Potters Bar the Harlow Penguin swimmers were left in no doubt what was expected of them ahead of tonight's Speedo gala. They were given strict instructions NOT to be disqualified, they were to FIGHT for every point, they were to try and achieve one better position in each of the races than that achieved in round 2 and  that they were expected to come at least third!

In a exciting gala swam at the impressive Potters Bar pool our loyal band of supporters saw the mighty Harlow Penguins meet all of the objectives above. For the third consecutive round we had no disqualifications! All our swimmers fought for every single point - no swimmer did not try their hardest. We bettered Round 2s race positions in 24 races, same position in 17 races and only worse off in 9 races and finally we hit that magic 3rd place!!! Impressively we had swam against Wandsworth in the last round and beat them by only 6 points - today we swam against them again and smashed them by 37.5 points!!! 

On a night of excellent swimming by all 6 clubs first places were extremely difficult to come by. Nevertheless Karl Batorski (Open 200IM and Open 100m breast), Kaz Melvin (u13 I00m breast) and Tom Burley (u13 100m free) were our only outright winners. We did secure 15 second places, 10 third places, 10 fourth places, 8 fifths and only three sixth places!

I did not get to see all the swims tonight due to the carnage of human bodies in the way but nevertheless special mentions go to the winners above, Harry for his excellent grit in getting 5th place in the u11 50m fly, Micheal Haagensen for his freestyle in the freestyle relay which looked really strong, Oliver Taffs for swimming twice in the u11 50m free (getting second and third) and Holly Want for her excellent teamwork (she was dead nervous in the medley relay but still swam extremely strongly in the backstroke leg).

As usual all our thanks go to Eric (Harlows official), Alan (Coach), Carol (Coach at start), Hayley (excitable timekeeper) and Dean (splits).

I predict out of 48 teams swimming in and around London (all the way upto Ipswich) - Harlow Penguins came a very creditable 9th. We are the 9th best team in the whole of London - well done the Mighty Penguins!!!