Southwold Swimming Club

Round One of the Arena League saw us at Horfield taking on teams from across the South West. We were up against our regular opponents of Bristol Henleaze, Bristol Central but also Tornadoes from Dorset, Salisbury from Wiltshire and  Truro City from Cornwall. We knew we could compete well against the Bristol Clubs but we were comfortably beaten by Salisbury in the final round last year. Tornadoes and Truro were a bit more of an unknown.

We got off to a good start through the IMs and relays finishing after event 10 on 45 points,  7 points ahead of Salisbury with Bristol central just behind them on 36 points. We maintained our lead with some strong swims through to event 26. But by event 34 Salisbury had closed to 2 points. The other teams had dropped away slightly with the chasing pack close on points headed by Bristol Henleaze. Salisbury were vey strong over the next section and by the last set of relays had edged to a 3 point lead on 168. As before we had a good set of relays and clawed that deficit back to draw level on points with Salisbury. However our superior number if 1st places in events saw us win the gala.

The final points were:

It was a great win and the team swam well throughout. we were particularly strong in the younger age group (11U and 13U) relays picking up 6 wins out of the 8 relays. Our first individual place finishers were:

Jacob Graham (17) - 100 IM, 100 Back
Jessica Shaw (13) - 50 Breast, 50 Back
Peter Rogers (15) - 100 Back
Jon Lowther - 50 Back
Emily Locke - 50 Fly
Georgina Lloyd - 50 Free 

The next round draw is out and we are at Plymouth on the 10th November with a 5pm warm up time. Swim Club Manager (SCM) Team selection invites will be out shortly, please respond with availability ASAP. Team coach transport will be arranged and swimmers should travel by coach. Please indicate using the SCM if you require space on the coach.

Keith