After 16 months without competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Lincs Competitive Swimming Club were finally back in action at the East Midlands Festival of Swimming.
Over the course of the weekend the South Lincs swimmers picked up a total of 22 top three placings, while there were a number of very strong personal best (PB) times clocked.
Day one saw the turn of both boys and girls in the 12 years, 13 years and 14 years age groups take to the blocks for their first racing opportunity since March 2020 – and the Spalding-based club produced some excellent results.
Oscar Goldsmith, (boys’ 13 years age group), had a busy schedule with four demanding events on the programme, but he rose to the occasion and shone throughout the day.
Goldsmith took first place in both the 200m butterfly with a new PB of 2.37.97mins and the 400m freestyle, with a huge PB of 4.53.27mins.
For good measure he also took a second in the 400m IM, again in a PB time of 5.28.27mins, and a fourth place finish in the 200m breaststroke (3.03.89mins) for a fourth PB of the day.
Another to impress was Frank Lamb (12 years group) as he managed a hat-trick of top three finishes.
He started the day with a second place in the 400m IM and broke the six-minute barrier for the first time in this event (5.58.94mins).
In the demanding 200m butterfly, Lamb took a third place finish in this event and broke the three-minute barrier for the first time (2.59.76mins).
In the shorter 200m IM there was a further third place finish for him with another PB (2.52.81mins), before he closed out the day with another PB for five in the 200m breaststroke (3.23.14mins).
Team-mate Matteo Monaco (12 years group) saved his finest performance for the end of the day when he took a second place finish in the 400m freestyle.
In only his second long course competition, he touched home in a PB of 5.22.59mins. He also took fifth place in both the 200m freestyle (2.33.15mins) and the 200m backstroke (2.53.27mins).
Meanwhile, new boy Alfie Bisby showed what a great recruit he is to the South Lincs team. Competing in the boys’ 14 years group, Alfie took a second place finish in the 400m IM in a massive new long course PB of 5.24.15mins.
He also had a third place in the 400m freestyle at the end of the day in a big PB of 4.46.04mins and fourth place in the 100m freestyle (1.00.68mins).
Team-mate Lucie Lund delivered a hat-trick of new PB times en-route to a trio of ninth places, with the first two coming in the 100m (1.19.27 mins) and 200m (2.51.87mins) backstroke. However, she produced her finest swim in the 100m butterfly (1.17.29mins).
There was also a strong PB swim from Erin Siggee in the 100m breaststroke (1.33.89mins), while Daniela Bringeman set a new PB in the girls’ 14 years age group 100m backstroke (1.23.70mins).
Competing at this level for the first time, Lilli Bowman also posted an encouraging PB in the 200m backstroke (2.57.73mins).
Day two saw the turn of the 15 years and over boys and girls to take to the pool for some fast racing.
The girls got the day underway in the morning session and were led by Ellisha Cookson, who claimed a first place finish in the girls’ 17 years age group 100m breaststroke with a PB of 1.16.82mins.
Cookson also added two second place finishes to her tally in both the 200m IM (2.31.14mins) and the 200m breaststroke (2.53.58mins).
Emma Croker (girls’ 16 years) also claimed a first place finish in the 100m freestyle (59.47secs).
She added a second place in the longer 200m freestyle (2.11.16mins), then closed out her morning of racing with a third in the 100m butterfly with a new long course PB (1.07.76mins).
Another to impress was Daisy Rummery with a top spot finish in the girls’ 17 years 200m backstroke (2.35.60mins). She added a third in the 400m freestyle (4.47.82mins) too.
Mollie Briggs also claimed a third place in the 400m freestyle in the girls’ 16 years age group (4.45.59mins).
Beatrice Finch and Jess O’Herlihy (both 15 years group) also set PB times over the course of the morning. Finch clocked a new long course best of 2.24.91mins in the 200m freestyle, while O’Herlihy made it a new long course best in the 100m butterfly (1.14.18mins).
The afternoon saw the boys in action as Rico Bringeman led the way. He claimed first with a stunning PB swim in the boys’ 16 years 200m butterfly (2.13.13mins) – narrowly missing a county record in the process.
He added a second place in the 400m IM with a further long course PB (4.52.06mins) and a third place in the 400m freestyle (4.26.56mins).
Meanwhile, Ed Skells produced an excellent 200m backstroke to clock a new PB of 2.24.92mins, which was enough to see him take first place in the boys’ 17 years group. He went on to back that up with a further PB in the 200m IM (2.26.34mins).
There were also new PB performances from Alfie Robinson, who swam in four boys’ 15 years events and set new standards in each of them. He set best times in the 100m breaststroke (1.20.58mins) and the 200m backstroke (2.27.77mins) to finish in fourth place.
In the shorter 100m backstroke he broke the 70-second barrier and stopped the clock in a time of 1.09.95mins.
The final event of the day was the 400m freestyle and he swam a PB of 4.44.47mins.
Elsewhere, speedy Atticus Strickland posted new PB times in the 100m freestyle (58.34secs) and also in the 200m IM (2.25.63mins).
Thomas Bruce racked up a number of PB times over the course of the afternoon, too.
He set a new best time in the 200m freestyle (2.12.73mins) and the 100m backstroke of (1.09.50mins), before clocking a PB of 1.07.12mins for fourth in the 100m butterfly.
Last but by no means least, Nitesh Anbazhagan was also in the mood to set new PB times in his preferred breaststroke events.
In the 100m event he just crept under his best time to finish in 1.19.74mins, then took two seconds off his best in the 200m (2.54.75mins).
Overall, the event was a great opportunity for the swimmers to get some racing experience after so long without competition.
The club are looking forward to the new season in September and some more regular competition dates.
