Inter-County Masters
Lancashire played host this year to the Northern heat of the ASA Inter-County Masters event with the competition staged at the Palatine Pool in Blackpool. Our own team went one better than last year finishing in third place. For full results see the Inter County Masters 2009 page.
Eight in a Row
Lancashire came from behind to take the Division 1 title at the British Gas ASA National County Team Championships for the eighth consecutive time for yet another unprecendented victory for the Red Rose County.
The 20 teams in Division 1 and 18 teams in Division 2 created a great day of competition at Ponds Forge, inspired by Olympians Ross Davenport and David Carry who were deck hosts for the day.
In Division 1 it was Cheshire that got off to a winning start in the first race as Lucy Worrall took the Girls 16/17yrs 100m Freestyle in 56.35, while Somerset set the early mark in the Boy’s event with James Disney May taking the lead from lane 1 to touch in 50.27 in the Boys 16/17yrs 100m Freestyle.
But while Somerset slipped down the points order, Yorkshire showed they were a threat, producing consistently strong swims across the board, including victory by Sophie Taylor in the Girls 12/13yrs 100m Breaststroke in 1:13.01 and Lucy Budmir in the Girls 14/15yrs 100m Breaststroke in 1:11.12.
With a third of the competition gone Yorkshire led with 148 points, five points clear of nearest rivals and reigning champions Lancashire (143 points). These two teams had already started to open up a gap between third place Middlesex (131 points) and as the afternoon progressed Yorkshire and Lancashire continued to pull away.
Lancashire took two psychological wins in the Girls 12/13yrs and Boys 14/15yrs 200m Medley Team Relays, beating their rivals in the latter race by less than two tenths of a second. The county then took three consecutive wins, culminating in a powerful 27.28 swim by Lancashire’s Emma Saunders in the Girls 14/15yrs 100m Freestyle.
The team suddenly found themselves just one point behind Yorkshire as the competition reached the two thirds mark and as the races progressed they overhauled their Northern rivals.
The Boys 14/15yrs 100m Backstroke saw the two counties go head-to-head as swimmers Sam Horrocks (Lancashire) and Max Litchfield (Yorkshire) battled it out for the honours. Horrocks led throughout and touched a tenth of a second ahead of his rival Litchfield, who had managed to lower his PB by almost a second on his way to second place.
A win in the Women’s 14/15yrs 200m Medley Team simply cemented Lancashire’s win and even a first place in the Mixed 6x50m Freestyle Relay by Yorkshire was too little, too late.
Lancashire’s winning female captain Katrina Alder said: “This is my last year and it was the same great atmosphere and great competition. I was really pleased with my [second place] swim because of the time of year and I’ve just come back from swine flu.”
While Matthew Parks, her male counterpart, added: “The win is even better because we were behind and we came back to win it. I was getting a bit worried but we managed to turn it round.”
County Swimming & Age Group Championships 2010
Next year's Championships will again be held at the Manchester Aquatics Centre over two weekends. Please keep the dates in your diary. Further details to follow in due course.
Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 March 2010
Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 March 2010
County Synchronised Swimming Competitions 2009
Results of this year's Competitions may be found by looking at the Synchronised Swimming page of the website.