Winsford Swimming Club

Over the weekend of the 28th and 29th Winsford Swim Team took 20 swimmers to the final 2 days of competition at the 2016 NW Regional Age Group Championships.  We had already had a fantastic day in Liverpool and our team, our swimmers were looking to add more medals and finals to our collection.  I often talk very positive about our club and our swimmers but this meet has surpassed every meet we have ever done.  This has been another record breaking year at the regional championships, with many more qualifiers and many more medals, all this accumulating into a record points total and club placing. Each and every swimmer who represented our club did absolutely fantastic, swimming with great, great courage and gaining so many big new PBs and that is what really sets us apart - the attitude we have to racing.  There may be many bigger clubs in the NW but we stand out because of the heart we show for the battle.  We stood toe to toe and gave our all in every single race and that is what pleased me most.

There were so many highlights over the 2 days at Manchester, Jay Cushen, Abbie Chrisopherson, Lottie Howman & Alissa Blackshaw picking up multiple medals.  Ethan Jones and Ryan Wheeler performing superbly well in the 200 Bk and 200 Free events and gaining a Silver and Bronze Medal.  There were many more highlights with some superb racing, it really was a joy to watch.  I would also like to mention all the swimmers who may have not won a medal but raced superbly well and went into every race and often coming out on top in their heat.  It was pleasing to hear so many positive reports about our club and our swimmers from people from other clubs.  This is why we get out of bed at 4am every morning, it is to prepare and make sure we are in the best shape possible for moments like this weekend - the results were incredible!. 

Above I mentioned this year being record breaking, and it was.  This year we gained 26 medals in the Age Group Championships with multiple medal winners: Jay Cushen picking up 2 Gold, 4 Silver, 2 Bronze, Abbie Christopherson 2 Gold, 3 Bronze, Lottie Howman 1 Gold, 2 Bronze, Alissa Blackshaw 4 Bronze.  These 4 swimmers were not the only medal winners from our club, Ethan Jones, Alex Clarke, Henry Oliver, Ryan Wheeler, Finn Armitt & Rory Armitt also picked up medals.  Last year we gained 25 medals in total over both the Youth and Age Group Championships, so if we add the Youth medals we gained a month ago to the Age Medals, Winsford Swim Team gained a huge total of 33 Medals in 2016, a new record for our club, 8 more than in 2015.  Not only did we win more medals but we had many, many more finalist, listed below are all the swimmers who gained a final spot.  Due to the number of medals and number of finalist Winsford Swim Team achieved our highest ever points score, last year we gained 10th Top club, this year in 2016 we achieved a overall Top 5 placing, this is an incredible achievement for our club and our swimmers.  This shows what can be accomplished from a small town of just over 30,000 people, where hard work, togetherness and mental toughness is in our culture.