IN the second long distance club championship, 41 Ledbury and District ASC swimmers entered the tough 800m race which is 32 lengths of the pool.

Some of the junior swimmers, many only eight years old, trying this event for the first time were pleasantly surprised that they found it easier than expected and all finished in under 18 minutes.

Having just missed out on a medal in the 400m IM championship, nine-year-old Lucy Stokes was determined to go out strongly and maintain a steady 100m split pace around 1.45 which was good enough to finish with the bronze medal in the 11/u category in a time of 13.57.63. This showed an improvement of almost two minutes from her race last year.

Eleven-year-olds Heather Farmer and Hannah Bloxsome tussled for the gold and silver medals, Heather worked hard to keep at least a metre ahead until the 400m mark where she stepped up her pace reducing her 100m splits by over a second giving her a comfortable three metre lead. Hannah used her faster turns to good effect, each time narrowing the lead but was unable to match the strong pace which resulted in a new club record of 12.24.71 for Heather.

The junior boys event was expected to be exciting with some strong contenders for the medals. James Middleton, Patrick Blake, Thomas Stokes and George Bennion all swimming in the same heat, knew that they were going to have to race all the way. Thomas set a blistering first 100m at 1.18 which immediately separated the field with James desperately trying to go with him whilst both George and Patrick were rather surprised to find themselves some five seconds adrift at such an early stage. Settling into a comfortable 1.27 per 100m split Thomas was determined not to be caught. James always knew his stamina for a long event was questionable and by the 600m mark lost some pace leaving Patrick and George to battle it out for the silver medal. Patrick maintained great technique throughout which gave him the advantage over George and he steadily pulled away but his disappointing start had given Thomas a superb lead of over 20 seconds resulting in a new record of 11.24.38.

All boys swam much improved times and were all faster than the existing record set only last year.

The senior championships were tough, for many of the older swimmers who are struggling to manage training and schoolwork. The pb's were not as prolific or as sensational as the younger swimmers but nevertheless there were some very determined and impressive swims.

Chloe Watson set the pace swimming the first 100m in 1.14 with Sarah Bethell keeping right with her and Lucy Bennion also staying in touch. As the race unfolded Chloe managed to keep her 100m pace to between 1.22 and 1.24 whilst the other girls were struggling to stay sub 1.27 resulting in Chloe pulling away and gaining confidence in her lead finishing with a great 1.17, winning the championship in 10.51.85. Sarah was runner up and Lucy third.

Hywel Pothecary was tipped to be the senior champion and he didn't disappoint despite having to go out alone, he kept focused, trying to achieve a 1.15 per 100m. Unfortunately he dropped a second at the 500m mark resulting in him finishing in 9.49.71, just two tenths of a second outside his own record set last year. Rhys Davey worked hard throughout, finishing second in 11.13.04 just three tenths of a second faster than Thomas James with both boys achieving new personal best times.