SPEEDO SUCCESS FOR BRIDGEND SWIMMERS

Saturday saw the first round of the Speedo Western League, Premier Division swimming gala, held at the new swimming pool in Newport. There were teams representing the City of Cardiff, Swindon Dolphins, Ferndown Otters, Thornbury, Carmarthen and of course Bridgend County Swim Squad.
Bridgend have previously swum against all the above at some stage over the last couple of seasons but this was the first time they had competed against Thornbury, who are based just over the water on the outskirts of Bristol.
The format of this competition is age groups of 11/u, 13/u, 15/u and Open with all four strokes being swum along with Freestyle and Medley relays. The 11/u swim 50m and the other groups swim 100m individual but 50m relays. There are also an Open Age Group 200m Individual Medley Ladies and Men’s events.
The format, briefly, is where the nation is divided into various regions and in each region there are two galas where each team scores points and the top eight compete in an “A” Final and the remaining teams compete in “B” and “C” Finals subject to the points scored. Last year Bridgend competed in the “A” Final, having been promoted the previous season.
This gala got under way, as usual, with the Ladies 200m Individual Medley followed by the Men’s event. Representing Bridgend Ladies was Helen Smale who has recently started university and Adam Rees who still attends Maesteg Comprehensive School. Cardiff ran out winners in both of these events with Helen finishing fourth and Adam sixth.
The next events were relays and Bridgend recorded two first places; Boys 11/u Freestyle Relay team of Matt Sullivan, Alastair Richards, Dan Owen and Cameron Jones and then the Girls 13/u Medley Relay team of Bethan Davis, Sara Lougher, Hayley Roberts and Victoria Howell.
The first individual winner was Matt Sullivan in the Boys 11/u 50m Backstroke (he also won the 50m Freestyle event). There were other first places for Bridgend swimmers; Sara Lougher Girls 13/u 100m Breaststroke and Bethan Davis Girls 13/u and 15/u 100m Backstroke; as well as a smattering of second and thirds places.
After the completion of all the individual events it was back for a second helping of relays and the Bridgend Boys 11/u again won their event, this time the Medley Relay. The 13/u Girls Freestyle relay team came in second to Swindon by not much than a fingertip. However, there were a good deal of fourth places as well and that was how Bridgend finished the gala; fourth. This was an excellent achievement when it was apparent from the outset that some of the swimmers were going to have to swim several events as the club is not overly blessed with a great deal of strength in depth.
There was assistance from members of the Senior Club who were not available last year due to other commitments and no doubt without their assistance we may well have seen some of the 11/u’s helping out in the Open age group!
It must also be emphasised that although there were some swimmers who swam several events there were also some who only swam one leg of a relay but it was very much a team effort and all swimmers can take pride in the result.
The other members of the team are as follows: Stevie Meldrum, Kirsten Watts, Megan Dennis, Lucy Davis, Luke Parkes, Kieran MacKenzie, Mark Ennis, Josh Thomas, Emma Moran, Ceri Cheeseman, Matt England, Hywel Jones, Rob Sullivan, Craig Thomas, Samantha Eagle, Helen Tucker, Ritchie Watkins, Gareth Pritchard, Craig Robinson, James O’Leary, Chloe Laforges, Nick Thomas, Rebekah Jones, Rhian Thomas and Cerys Ruddall.
The final positions were:
City of Cardiff
Swindon Dolphins
Ferndown Otters
Bridgend
Thornbury
Carmarthen.