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Harlow Penguins secure 2nd place Essex league - (2nd April 2005)
In the final round of Essex league matches an under strength Harlow Penguin squad demolished swimming foes Borough Of Waltham Forest and Harwich but only just lost first place to Killerwhales. The performance this evening was the best of the year with Harlow Penguins in first place overall all the way upto and including race 29 (out of 49 races). However in the last 20 races Killerwhales deservedly overtook us and were promoted into Division 2 as worthy champions.
Prior to this evenings events swimmers pulled out due to unforeseen circumstances and illness. Our depleted squad was already dwindled by Penguins touring all over the World on Easter holidays. Nevertheless we took to the poolside with 27 enthusiastic and able swimmers (instead of the normal 32).
We won the very first two races with Holly, Natalie, Ria and Robyn romping home in the u11 4x 25m freestyle relay races. Not to be outdone the boys freestyle team of Ryan, Chris, John and Senner also won their relay race just as easily.
Phil "what kind of haircut is that" Noone won the u15 100m breaststroke with Holly Sims just out touching the Waltham Forest competitor by no more than 0.16 seconds to win the u11 50m freestyle race.
Louis George, only 14, won the men's 100m back stroke race and swam a total of 7 races both in his age group (u15) and mens. Louis exploits were repeated by Senner and Luke who both swam in their age group (u11) plus two under 13 races each and one under 15 race each! Well done boys. Jenna Batorski swam in her age group u13 plus in the relay races for the girls u15 - thanks Jenna.
Jenna was our very next winner when she won the u13 50m breaststroke race by a clear 2 seconds. Two races later and rising star Jodie Want powered back in the last 25m to win the u15 100m freestyle race.
Karl, Louis, Matt and Phil won the Mens 4x 25m medley race despite fielding two swimmer under 15!
In the third quarter of races we won 5 of the 13. The boys medley relay team of Ryan, Senner, Chris and John secured the u11 race with Kaz and Karl winning the Womens and Mens 100m breaststroke races respectively. Young Chris Stevens continued his unbeaten season by winning the u11 50m back stroke and Karl easily won his second individual race of the evening by coming first in the Mens 100m freestyle. With prior clarification from the referee Karl swam every first stroke of every 25m length fly - then the rest in normal freestyle. On questioning Karl he told me that this was Alan Mitchell's current tip (I think Alan must have been drunk that day!!). Nevertheless Karl swam the 100m free in 54.58 seconds!!
In the final quarter we could only manage another 2 outright wins. These were achieved by Louis in the u15 100m back and that bundle of energy Senner in the boys u11 50m breast.
Whilst the winners have been named above the whole team must be congratulated. Well done also to the following swimmers who represented Harlow Penguins and made us all proud of them -
Emily Sutton, Kilvara Cruickshank, Harry Newman, Ben Want, Antonia Foot, Nicole Davidson, Craig Warwick, Holly Want, Louise Kendall and Kate Burley.
Swim of the whole gala is easily this time with Luke Marioni taking this honour. I had called Luke during the morning to ask him if he would like to swim with the u15 boys in the 4x 50m medley race. Undaunted Luke responded with a positive yes. On the night Louis, Craig and Phil created a healthy lead for young Luke (10) to dive in a clear 10m ahead of the Killerwhales 6 ft giant who came chasing after him. At the turn Luke still held the lead but no more than 2 metres. Luke kept that lead right upto the last 10 metres when the giants size powered him through but only beating Luke by a mere half a second. An excellent race which had our noisy band of supporters on their feet cheering loudly!!
The full results, splits and positions can be found here >>>>
Of the 49 races we won 15 outright, came second in 18, third in 8 and fourth in 7. We were also disqualified in one race for taking over to quickly. Final points were Killerwhales 248, Mighty Harlow Penguins 233, Waltham Forest 197 and Harwich 188. Overall I believe we have came second in this league after all four rounds. I will advise later on this morning when i am told formally.
Special thanks to the following for helping out on the evening:- Eric (Starter), Hayley (enthusiastic timekeeper), Ken (Coach), Emily (Girls team manager) and Dean (splits).
(Lesley will kindly update the PB database - unfortunately splits will NOT count)