City of Derby Swimming Club :: City of Derby SC - Derbyshire's Top Competitive Swimming Club. Derby, East Midlands, UK

City of Derby Swimming Club got off to a storming start to their 2009 campaign in the National Arena Swimming League on Saturday 10th October with wins for both A and B teams.

City of Derby A hosted their gala at the Queen’s Leisure Centre and came out comfortable winners in a thrilling encounter with rivals Calverton and Bingham, who beat them twice in the league last year. City of Derby were boasting a strong line up which included GB international swimmers Ross Davenport and Grant Turner as well as Commonwealth Games swimmer Stephanie Hill. With GB international Jess Sylvester competing on the night for Calverton and Bingham, it made for a memorable and star studded gala.

It was not just the international stars who were making waves on the night however; there were strong swims in all age groups in a superb team performance. In the 15 and under age group the boys pulled off a clean sweep of victories, with Charlie Softley winning the backstroke, Thomas Matthews the butterfly, Connor Smith freestyle and Adam Peaty winning breaststroke and the four joining forces to win both freestyle and medley relay events.

In the 13 and under age group it was the girls who dominated with Catherine Williams winning the freestyle, Sarah Vasey the breaststroke and Tamara O’Sullivan butterfly. Together with Sophie Davies, the girls won their Medley and Freestyle relay events and they also went on to come second in the medley relay in the 15 and under age group and, with Georgina Tovell-Coleman replacing Sarah, win the 15 and under freestyle relay. Sarah meanwhile went on to achieve individual success in the 15 and under age group, winning the Breaststroke event.

In the 11 and under age group there was success for the boys, with Stevie O’Sullivan winning both the butterfly and freestyle events and Ryan Reader winning backstroke. Ryan and Stevie were joined by Lucca Hempsall and Jo Hurst to win both their freestyle and medley relays. There was success also for the 11 and under girls with Rhianna Sheehan winning the butterfly and freestyle and Frances Spink winning the breaststroke.

In the Open age group the men’s team lead by example, with Ross Davenport not just winning his trademark freestyle event but also taking victory in the butterfly. Grant Turner gave an impressive performance to win the IM event while Kane Haggett won the backstroke. Together with David Bower the team were also successful in winning the Medley relay. Meanwhile for the Ladies Mariesa Picknell won the breaststroke and was joined by Catherine Williams, Stephanie Hill and Rebecca Ward to win the Medley Relay.

The gala reached a thrilling climax with the Open 6 X 100m freestyle relay events. The ladies’ relay produced a close finish between a City of Derby team of Rebecca Ward, Alison Inwood, Stephanie Hill, Tamara O’Sullivan, Mariesa Picknell and Catherine Williams and a strong team from Calverton and Bingham. In a nail biting climax to this event, 13 year old Williams went head to head with Jess Sylvester, going into the final leg with a slender lead over the Olympic swimmer, she held her position to win the event by a margin of just 4 tenths of a second.

Meanwhile in the men’s event, the City of Derby team of Ross Davenport, Connor Smith, Kane Haggett, Thomas Matthews, David Bower and Grant Turner had no difficulty in securing their victory with some fine swimming which culminated in Grant taking the final 50m leg in a little over 22 seconds to bring the team home in front by a five second margin.

The City of Derby B team won a topsy-turvy contest at Tamworth, coming from 14 points down halfway through the gala to eventually beat Oakengates, of Telford, by eight points.

The B-team swimmers won 24 of the 50 races to get their Division Three North campaign off to a blistering start.

The men’s open team set the standard, completing the night undefeated. Andrew Hagues won both the butterfly and freestyle races, Matthew Smithhurst the individual medley and backstroke, while Dave Butler took the breaststroke. The trio were joined by Richard Pilcher to win the open medley relay and that four by David Shepherd and James Latham to win the final event of the night, the open freestyle relay.

The 13 and under girls were also in dominant form with Laura Hindle, Grace Vivian, Rebecca Jones and Eve Farnsworth winning both the freestyle and medley relays in their own age group and at 15 and under.

Hindle won both the 13 and 15 and under freestyle events, and Jones was first in the 13 and under backstroke. Hindle and Farnsworth joined Hannah Sullivan and Christine Hawkrigg to win the open medley relay and those four were joined by Jones and Josie Spink to win the open freestyle relay.

Hawkrigg took the honours in the open breaststroke, winning the race by six seconds, while Sullivan took the tightest of backstrokes, with the top three covered by just over a tenth of a second.

In the 10-11 age group, Declan Smith won both the breaststroke and freestyle events, with Ben Slevin taking the backstroke. Smith and Slevin were joined by James Hindle and Kyle Chatterley to win both the freestyle and medley relays.

The winners’ list was completed by Jack Sampson, who triumphed in the 13 and under butterfly.

Head coach Mel Marshall was understandably delighted with the double victory.
She said: “I was very pleased with how things went, there was some superb swimming.

“It was great for our younger swimmers to be able to swim with champions like Ross, Grant and Steph. They will learn so much from being poolside with this calibre of swimmer.”

Division 1: 1. City of Derby A (262 points); 2. Calverton and Bingham (241 points) 3. Worcester (191 points); 4. Northgate (161 points); 5. Ludlow (141points)

Division 3 (North): 1. City of Derby B (239 points); 2. Oakengates (231); 3. Lichfield (174); 4. Nuneaton & Bedworth B (172); 5. Tamworth (120); 6. Long Eaton B (101)

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