A small team of South Lincs swimmers headed to Corby to compete in an early long course meet at the Northampton Winter Festival.
The club’s numbers were rather low due to extensive illness, however the small group of swimmers in attendance produced some excellent swims, many of them experiencing a level one open meet for the first time.
Unfortunately there were no medals up for grabs at the meet, rather Northampton decided to give out miniature rubber ducks to first, second and third placed swimmers.
Kitty Lamb was, as ever, in fine form and collected an entire duck pond of awards as she claimed no fewer than 11 top three finishes.
There was a big new personal best time for Lamb in the 200m backstroke as she lowered her time by almost five seconds to touch the wall in 2.48.18 to claim a gold duck.
There was another personal best for Lamb as she stormed through the 50m butterfly to stop the clock in a time of 34.67 seconds and claim a further gold duck.
In the 50m breaststroke there was once again a new personal best time as Lamb dipped below the 42 second barrier for the first time touching home in 41.89 seconds for a silver duck.
Lamb’s final personal best time came in the 50m freestyle as she set a best mark of 31.29 seconds for another golden duck.
Oscar Goldsmith had a successful weekend of racing and picked up his share of ducks as well.
Goldsmith swam to a new personal best time in the ever demanding 400m Individual Medley with a time of 5.02.26 for a silver duck in the boys’ 14 years age group.
There was a big new personal best time for Goldsmith in the 100m butterfly as he sped to a new standard of 1.04.28.
Goldsmith also dropped a second off his best time in the 50m breaststroke to touch the wall in 35.25 seconds.
Showing his versatility Goldsmith lowered his personal best in the 200m freestyle to finish strongly in a new best time of 2.09.52.
In the shorter 200m Individual Medley, Goldsmith set a further personal best time of 2.25.18.
One of the highlights of the weekend was Goldsmith’s 100m breaststroke, where he smashed his personal best time by four seconds to stop the clock in a new mark of 1.15.88.
Beatrice Finch was in action in her preferred backstroke events.
Finch claimed two golden ducks in the girls’ 16 years age group of the 200m and 50m backstroke events.
Finch swam to a solid 200m event and finished just outside her personal best time in 2.31.30 and in the 50m sprint event Finch touched the wall in 33.81 seconds.
Sigourney Bolton, recovering from illness, couldn’t quite match her personal best times, but produced some strong performances.
In the girls’ 13 years age group Bolton swam to a silver duck in the 200m breaststroke in a time of 3.01.47.
Bolton followed this up with another silver duck in the 50m sprint event with a time of 39.26 seconds.
Francesco Monaco was competing in his first level one open meet and was one of the youngest swimmers at the meet and bottom of a double age group on the boys’ 10/11 years category.
Monaco managed to swim to new personal best times in the 50m freestyle as he touched the wall in 36.46 seconds. In the 200m backstroke, Monaco lowered his personal best time by a huge margin of seven seconds to finish in a new standard of 3.00.70.
Aliyah Mohamed and Oliwia Zajac were also competing in their first level one open meet and despite only having one event each, they both managed to produce their fastest times.
Mohamed swam in the girls’ 10/11 years age group of the 50m backstroke and lowered her personal best time by a second to finish in 43.42 seconds.
Zajac swam in the girls’ 12 years age group of the 50m freestyle and lowered her personal best by half a second to touch the wall in a time of 34.59 seconds.
Oliver Sorrell was competing in the boys’ 15 years age group and produced some solid swims over the course of the weekend.
His backstroke events saw him just marginally outside his personal best times.
In the 200m backstroke Sorrell took a bronze duck in his age group with a time of 2.26.59.
Sorrell was just outside his best in the 50m backstroke as he stopped the clock in a time of 32.14 seconds.
Lucy Wilson had a tremendous weekend of swimming.
In the girls’ 12 years age group, Wilson started off in the 200m butterfly as she lowered her personal best time by no less than 11 seconds to take a silver duck with a new personal best time of 2.53.60.
It was another huge drop of 11 seconds for Wilson in the 400m freestyle as she touched home in a new standard of 5.17.95.
Wilson backed this up in the 100m freestyle with yet another personal best time of 1.10.53.
In the 400m Individual Medley Wilson continued her fine form and lowered her personal best time by five seconds to touch the wall in 6.04.80 and in the shorter 200m Individual Medley it was another five second improvement for Wilson as she swam to a new standard of 2.50.95.
Will Vere was taking part in his first level one open meet and contested the 200m backstroke where he swam to a three second improvement on his time to touch home in 2.53.56.
Jess Herriott was also swimming in her first level one open meet in the 100m backstroke and swam a strong race to finish just tenths of a second outside her personal best to touch in 1.22.35.
Brothers Alex and Aaron Sadler were also in action.
Alex had a demanding schedule as he raced the 800m and 400m freestyle and the 200m butterfly, in the latter Alex took a bronze duck as he touched the wall in 2.25.11.
Younger brother Aaron raced in the 50m backstroke and touched the wall just outside of his personal best time in 39.05 seconds.
However Aaron produced an amazingly strong 50m butterfly swim as he knocked almost a whole second off his personal best time to touch the wall in a new mark of 34.39 seconds.
Head coach Keith Haynes said: “The swimmers have acquitted themselves very well in their first long course event of the season.
“The meet was an opportunity just to get familiar again with racing in a 50m pool.
“There have been some excellent new personal bests across the age groups and events.
“It has also been an opportunity to assess where we are at the moment and what we need to do in training as we look ahead to County Championships in January and February.”
