Results – http://www.flixtonswimteam.com/new/gm-autumn-meet/
Congratulations to everyone who performed over the last two weekends at Wigan in the GM Autumn Meet! This year saw fewer then normal enter from our club, but everyone who did swam their socks off. It was great to see a few new faces at this Annual competition – Neave, Esme and Callum. Neave, Esme and Callum all achieved personal bests in all the events that they entered. I am very much looking forward to when they swim their next gala as the experience they have gained from swimming at Wigan will lead to continued improvements in the future.
Other notable achievements are – Mia Mason achieving a medal in every event that she entered, with 7 Golds and 2 Bronze as well as requalifying for all 9 events in next year’s County Championships. Rhys joins Mia M, Lucy C, Ben O, Alisdair S in qualifying for the 2019 Winter Regional Championships for 50m Backstroke.
A big thank you to Penny and Graham who assisted me on poolside when I couldn’t be there. I am sure they would have lots to say about great individual performances that I was not there to see.
The galas we attend at Wigan are very long competitions spread over 4 days. They are a good opportunity to practice maintaining good nutritional habits during the day. If your child came home really tired and very moody (more so than a normal teenager), or got slower throughout the day then it’s a strong sign that they have under fuelled during the day/weekend. This can only be truly refined with trial and error, by attending long days and seeing what works and doesn’t work as everyone is different. The need for this is important at higher levels of competition such as at national level. At Nationals, the competition runs for a whole week and days and includes very early warm ups, heats, semi-finals and then later evening finals (or following day Finals) and if anyone has the ambition to perform well when they qualify for nationals then they need to be able to handle a long day at the pool.
There were not as many personal bests achieved this year as we sometimes get at Wigan (about 60% pb rate, compared to the usual 80% pb rate). With some of these races I am not wholly surprised personal bests were not achieved. When athletes in any sport get faster and faster, it becomes increasingly hard to achieve personal bests as all things need to fall in to place to keep performing at a top level. The most important thing to do when a personal best is not achieved is to look at gaining experience and learning from any mistakes, this is why it is essential to go straight to the poolside coach/team manager after every race for feedback.
Order of events after a race –
| 1.Talk to coach > 2. Swim Down (if pool is available) > 3. Get dry/keep warm > 4. Rehydrate > 5. Refuel > 6. Talk to parents Please get into the habit of getting your child to do the 5 steps above before talking to them |
We will soon be entering our next cycle of training, with more of an emphasis on swimming at Race Pace, as well as speeding up starts, dives and turns. I cannot wait for the next series of gala at the end of the year as we have large groups of swimmers that are training really hard, but are still new to competition and I can not wait to see these swimmers perform and challenge the clubs current top swimmers for the top spots.
Below, is a break down of Medals and Achievements –
Overview –
Swimmers – 17
Medals – 1st – 13, 2nd – 11, 3rd – 10
County Qualifying times – 42
Personal Bests – 56
Participants
| Albert Smith (8 Events), Benjamin Overland (3 Events), Callum Derbyshire (1 Event), Eber Meyer Clayton (10 Events), Esme Hilton (4 Events), Evelyn Higgins (2 Events), Isabella Holmes (1 Event), James Fothergil (10 Events), Jessica Smith (8 Events), Lewis Gilbert (6 Events), Lily Medcalf (5 Events), Mia Mason (9 Events), Neave Lindup (6 Events), Oscar Smith (8 Events), Rhys Jenkins (9 Events), Ruby Clay (8 Events), Sophia Gilbert (4 Events) |
| County Qualifying Times – Albert Smith – 4, Ben Overland – 3, Eber Meyer Clayton – 9, James Fothergill – 2, Jessica Smith – 3, Lewis Gilbert – 3, Lily Medcalf – 4, Mia Mason – 9, Oscar Smith – 3, Rhys Jenkins – 2, Winter Regional Qualifying times – Rhys Jenkins – 1 |
| 100 | Breast | Albert Smith | 01:38.02 | 1st |
| 50 | Breast | Albert Smith | 00:44.72 | 1st |
| 100 | IM | Albert Smith | 01:27.89 | 1st |
| 200 | Breast | Albert Smith | 03:25.24 | 1st |
| 200 | Fly | Lily Medcalf | 02:45.86 | 1st |
| 400 | IM | Lily Medcalf | 05:38.55 | 1st |
| 100 | Breast | Mia Mason | 01:24.07 | 1st |
| 50 | Breast | Mia Mason | 00:37.98 | 1st |
| 50 | Fly | Mia Mason | 00:32.70 | 1st |
| 50 | Free | Mia Mason | 00:29.30 | 1st |
| 200 | IM | Mia Mason | 02:37.84 | 1st |
| 200 | Breast | Mia Mason | 02:56.82 | 1st |
| 400 | IM | Mia Mason | 05:30.88 | 1st |
| 100 | Back | Albert Smith | 01:28.06 | 2nd |
| 200 | Back | Benjamin Overland | 02:23.03 | 2nd |
| 200 | Breast | Eber Meyer Clayton | 02:54.26 | 2nd |
| 50 | Free | James Fothergil | 00:33.58 | 2nd |
| 50 | Fly | James Fothergil | 00:37.83 | 2nd |
| 100 | FC | Lewis Gilbert | 01:07.44 | 2nd |
| 50 | Breast | Lewis Gilbert | 00:40.85 | 2nd |
| 200 | Back | Lewis Gilbert | 02:46.14 | 2nd |
| 200 | IM | Lewis Gilbert | 02:45.14 | 2nd |
| 50 | Back | Rhys Jenkins | 00:31.24 | 2nd |
| 200 | Fly | Rhys Jenkins | 02:49.93 | 2nd |
| 200 | Back | Albert Smith | 03:08.49 | 3rd |
| 100 | Breast | Eber Meyer Clayton | 01:21.53 | 3rd |
| 100 | FC | James Fothergil | 01:17.06 | 3rd |
| 50 | Back | Lewis Gilbert | 00:37.49 | 3rd |
| 100 | Free | Mia Mason | 01:03.83 | 3rd |
| 50 | Back | Mia Mason | 00:33.95 | 3rd |
| 200 | Breast | Oscar Smith | 02:58.52 | 3rd |
| 100 | Back | Rhys Jenkins | 01:10.48 | 3rd |
| 200 | Back | Rhys Jenkins | 02:32.59 | 3rd |
| 50 | Fly | Rhys Jenkins | 00:31.38 | 3rd |