On Saturday night Southwold travelled to Horfield to compete in Round 2 of the Mini Series hosted by Bishopsworth. The Mini-series is a local Bristol team competition league for non-regional qualifying swimmers aged 9 to 13, consisting of 5 galas throughout the year.
With a full complement of coaches supported by senior / ineligible junior swimmers a fantastic team spirit was fostered, with all swimmers fanatically cheering on our team. From the off Southwold showed their intent with some great early swimming. With so many fantastic swims throughout the night it is hard to pick out highlights so I apologise if I have missed you. Those achieving first places were Sam Fry, Finnian Lingham, Rebecca Lowther, Olivia Fry, and Esme Littlechild but Harry Bliss, Ella Gauntlet, Keeley Price, Jenny Toft, Jack Rawlins, Heather Jones, Emma Chandler and Ben Holloway are worth a mention for coming into the league for the first time yet performing brilliantly on the night.
We should also mention Cody Farrell, Sam Fry and Finnian Lingham for the sheer volume of events they competed in. Throughout the event we competed closely with our local rivals Tritons for 3rd place. Into the last relay events of the night we were positioned 3rd behind Clevedon and Soundwell but just ahead of Tritons. And what a final event in the cannon, with Southwold support almost taking the roof off. From the start Tritons took the lead with swimmers in a different order from other clubs but were eventually overhauled when they ran out of older swimmers. Behind, Southwold and Clevedon were neck and neck throughout the race until the final 2 swimmers, where Olivia Fry managed to squeeze a slight lead for Matthew Reeves to swim the anchor and record the win, the 4th relay win of the night securing the overall 3rd position behind Clevedon (1st) and Soundwell (2nd). A superb night for all and testament to club galas in respect of team identity and engagement. Thank you Marsha, Louise, Lisa and Rachel for chaperoning / officiating and Maria, Sophie and Joshua for assisting / motivating the swimmers at the end of the lanes.
After the second round Southwold are level on points with Bristol Central and Tritons but on overall points countback we are in 3rd position behind Soundwell and Clevedon. Round 3 is at Clevedon on 25 April 2015