North East 25m Championships at Ponds Forge Sheffield
What a jam-packed weekend of racing at Ponds Forge for Darlington’s NER Qualifiers. A total of 13 swimmers made the journey and swam in a total of 70 events. The venue splits its 50m pool into two 25m pools to allow both competitions to run alongside each other.
Well done to all DASC swimmers who achieved qualifying times. A few of the swimmers who attended did not swim all the events they qualified in and unfortunately there were some rejections which meant some of our Age Group swimmers who did qualify could not compete in their events. Well done to those swimmers and be proud of yourselves for achieving a qualifying time.
Age Group Competition
Four swimmers from Top and A1 squads entered 29 events. All four swimmers swam extremely well and should be very proud of their achievements. Each event operated as heat declared winners and two of our Age group swimmers won Gold winning themselves the accolade of Regional Champion in their respective events, so a massive well done!
Harry Whitfield entered 10 events securing an amazing 5 podium finishes in the 13-year category;
North East Regional Champion – Gold in 800m Freestyle
Silver – 1500m Freestyle
Silver – 400m Freestyle
Silver – 200m Freestyle
Bronze – 100m Freestyle
William Oliver also had an extremely busy weekend entering 11 events and securing 6 podium finishes in the 11-year category;
North East Regional Champion – Gold 50m breaststroke
Nine swimmers from Top Squad entered a total of 41 events. All swimmers swam against some tough competition and should be proud of their achievements.
Lewis Kestle swam an amazing 100m backstroke (1.01.84) which not only won him a position in the final in 9th but secured him his 2nd qualifying time for Scottish Nationals. Backing up his 100m backstroke was an even stronger 50m Backstroke, in a time of 28.38 seconds. This won him a place in the final in 8th place, a 3rd Scottish National qualifying time and a qualifying time for Swim England Winter Nationals which is an amazing achievement.
Alex Morton swam another fabulous 200m Fly knocking more time off his very recent personal best and going under the 2.20.00 barrier. This qualified him for the final in 9th place. He also swam a fantastic 100 IM which secured his 2nd qualifying time for Scottish Nationals.
Niamh Kay made two 16/under finals over the weekend, 100m Breaststroke and 50m Breaststroke. Niamh finished in 2nd place in 50m Breaststroke with a time of 34.98.
The Swim England North-East Region Short Course (25m) Championships, commonly known as NERs, were held at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield on 5&6 November 2022. The 50m pool was split into two halves and the Open and Age Group events ran concurrently.
DASC had 14 swimmers from Top, A1 and A2 squads, taking part in 56 different events over the course of the weekend. Coaches Allison Matthias and Johnson Bache were poolside for the weekend. Lucy Armstrong attended on behalf of DASC as a Technical Official.
It was great to see so many PB swims achieved during the course of a very long weekend
NER Age Group Championships
All the Age Group events were HDW (Heat Declared Winner), enabling swimmers to compete in multiple events over the weekend. Boys aged 11-14 and Girls aged 11-13 competed in single year age bands. The Championships were greatly oversubscribed, and unfortunately several DASC (and other) entries were rejected in order for SENE to deliver the event.
DASC was represented by 9 youngsters in 42 events, and finished the Championships with fantastic statistics of 10 medals, another 11 Top 10 finishes and 25 PB swims, some of them by large margins.
Seth Farmer, Sebastien Mason and Tristan Wheeler competed at NER level for the first time, with Sebastien in his first year of being eligible by age. They are to be congratulated for breaking through to step up to race against the best swimmers from the North-East Region.
Harry Whitfield (12)had a superb weekend. He swam in 10 events, on all strokes except Backstroke, and produced a PB in every one of them. He won Gold in 100m IM, showing his versatility across all strokes, 2 Silvers in 200m and 400m Freestyle and 3 Bronzes in 50m and 100m Freestyle and 200m IM, with 4th and 5th places in 100m and 200m Butterfly.
Lucy Oliver (13) also had a very busy and successful weekend racing on all but one stroke. She competed in 10 events and, apart from one very near miss, recorded PBs in all. Arguably her best performance came in winning Gold in the 200m Butterfly, with a time less than 0.3 seconds outside the qualifying standard for the SE National Winter Championships. She also won 2 Silvers in 50m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly and a Bronze in 100m IM, narrowly missed out on a medal on 100m and 200m Freestyle, and placed in the Top 10 in 50m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly and 200m IM.
Hugo Douglas-Reeves (14) produced excellent PBs in all 3 Breaststroke events finishing 5th in 50m and 7th in 100m. Alex Morton (14) was busy in 5 events, clocking up PBs in all of them and finishing 7th in 100m Butterfly. Sebastien Mason (11) came 10th in 100m Butterfly with a PB in it and also in 50m Butterfly. Seth Farmer (14) was on good form with PBs in 200m Freestyle and Backstroke and Ben Matthias (14) swam best times on 50m and 200m Backstroke. Tristan Wheeler (12) consolidated the recent rapid progress he has been making on 100m Freestyle and Butterfly. April Mansfield (12) swam PBs on all 3 of her events and continues to make great progress.
This year the Open Championships were for ages 16&under and 17&over. It is a big step up from the age group to the open competition just to make the qualifying times. Heats of events were swum in the morning sessions and finals in the afternoon sessions, except for 800m and 1500m Freestyle which were Heat Declared Winner events.
6 Top Squad swimmers competed in 14 events and recorded a great total of 7 PB swims.
Niamh Kay (15) went under 35 seconds for the first time on 50m Breaststroke to qualify for the final where she came 6th. Emily Burrell (16) sprinted her way to 3 PBs in 4 events and was close to making the 50m Breaststroke final. Emma Carter (14) continued to make inroads into her 50m Freestyle PB. Sam Beukenholdt (16) broke the 25 second barrier on 50m Freestyle for the first time. Lewis Kestle (15) produced a PB on 50m Backstroke inching closer to breaking 30 seconds. Max Butler (18), swimming for the first time at NER level, was very close to his PBs on 50m Butterfly and 100m Individual Medley.
Please click on the link below to read the Northern Echo’s tribute to Eric Wilkinson who was a very long serving member of DASC back in the 50s,60s and 70s, carrying out multiple roles within the club and in the wider swimming circles, becoming ASA President in 1991, all on a voluntary basis.
Having read the article if anyone is interested in reading more on the history of DASC click here, this provides a 100 year history of DASC 1882-1982 which will include plenty of mentions of Eric Wilkinson.
Congratulations to our new Licensed Gala Officials
Recently three DASC members have qualified as British Swimming Technical Officials at Judge Level 1. They are:
Lucy Armstrong (mother of David Carter in A3 and Emma Carter in A1)
Diane Jones (mother of Scarlet in A3 and Zara in Top)
Ruth Troy (mother of two ex-DASC swimmers)
We congratulate them on finishing the training and achieving this qualification, enabling them to understand the roles of Timekeeper, Chief Timekeeper, Inspector of Turns and Chief Inspector of Turns. We will reward them with an official’s polo shirt complete with the DASC logo.
In addition to this, Amanda Ashdown has recently completed her Judge Level 2 qualification, which covers the role and duties in relation to all aspects of judging and the theoretical role and duties of Starter.
We also thank all of them in advance for the important role they will play in the future on behalf of DASC in officiating in galas. Without such willing trained volunteers, licensed galas just cannot happen.
There are plenty of perks to being a gala official, which may include a great view of the gala action on poolside for free, plus a good lunch as well for an all-day gala!
If you are interested in becoming a gala official, why don’t you:
Talk to our new officials
Talk to our other officials – Carol Bottomley, Allison Matthias, Dan Oliver, Helen and Steve Burgess, Lesley Butler
Well done to all swimmers who competed in this exciting final club gala of 2024 and to all competitors involved in the skins event – wow there were some amazing swims! Roll on season 2025!
A massive well done to Scarlett Jones who attended the National Down’s syndrome swimming championships, 16-17 November in Crawley. Competing in 5 events.
200 FR (3:17.80) – 1st Age group (10-16); 5th overall (Open category inc. master swimmers)
100 IM (1:48.78) – 1st Age group(10-16); 6th overall (Open category inc. master swimmers)
100 BK (1:47.75) – 1st Age group(10-16); 5th overall (Open category inc. master swimmers)
50 FR (42.31) – 1st Age group(10-16); 6th overall (Open category inc. master swimmers)
400 FR (6:52.82) – 1st Age group(10-16); 4th overall (Open category inc. master swimmers)
Well done to all ‘Open’ swimmers who competed in the recent North East Regional Championships in Sheffield.
14 swimmers competed in a total of 62 events and our swimmers represented DASC exceptionally well with an overall PB rate of 58%!!
Four swimmers in the 16/under age group qualified for 14 finals between them.
Alex Morton made 8 finals in all four of the strokes – 50m, 100m and 200m Butterfly, 50m and 100m Breaststroke, 50m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 100m IM. Alex’s 100m IM time has qualified him for English Winter Short Course Nationals in December.
Ben Matthias was a finalist in 50m and 100m Breaststroke finishing 4th place in the 50m and also achieving an English Winter Short Course Nationals qualifying time.
Lucy Oliver made three finals in 50m Freestyle, 200m Butterfly and 100m IM.
Emma Carter was a finalist in 50m Breaststroke after achieving the Scottish National Open qualifying time in her heat swim.
From top left; Lewis, Seth, Alex, Niamh W & Niamh K. Missing from the photo Ben, Henry, Lucy, Emily, Emma, Millie
A massive well done to all Age Group Swimmers who competed at the recent North East Regional Championships at Sheffield. You all swam amazing and should be very proud of your achievements.
8 swimmers competed in a total of 39 events. All events in the Age Group pool were swam as Heat Declared winner and our swimmers represented DASC exceptionally well with a PB rate of 80%!!
Harry Whitfield swam every distance of Freestyle event, 50m up to 1500m. Harry won three Regional Bronze medals in the 14 years age group, in his favoured distance events 400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle. Fantastic achievement Harry.
William Oliver swam 10 events over the weekend in all four strokes. Will finished in the Top 10 for 8 of his swims and received a Regional Silver medal in the 12 years age group for 50m Breaststroke.
April Mansfield and Seb Mason had fantastic Butterfly swims over the weekend and April achieved the Scottish National Open qualifying time for 200m Butterfly.
Our youngest swimmers in the 11 years age group, Emmy, Sasha, Zachary and Charlotte, swam exceptionally well at their first Short Course Regional Championships achieving many PB times on times only recently set in galas in September and October.
From Top left April, Zachary, Harry. Bottom left Sasha, Emmy, Charlotte. Missing from the photo William & SebastianWill with his Regional Silver medal for 50m Breaststroke
A massive well done to all swimmers who competed in the Club gala on Tuesday 8th October. This event included some tough events and all swimmers rose to the challenge and produced some amazing results! Well done to all who competed. Club Gala 4 will take place on November 26th and will include the skins event (see below for list of qualifiers).
For those younger swimmers who competed remember to check to see if you have qualified for a sprint award badge.
Club Championship Points. In both the male and the female championships there is all to swim for in the 100m Breast at the final club gala, with Lewis and Alex battling it out in the Men’s, and Emily, Lucy and April in the Women’s. Role on Club gala 4!
Josie recently competed at the Regional Para-Swimming Championships at Harrogate Wellness and Leisure Centre on Sunday 29th September. Josie competed in 4 races and gained PBs in two races, including a GOLD medal for the 400m Freestyle and SILVER for the 50m Backstroke. Well done Josie!
