DASC held its first club gala since February 2020, with swimmers age 9 & over from all squads invited to take part. Medals were received by the top 3 swimmers in each age group and there were club gala trophies awarded for some of the events. There were some fantastic times achieved and, with some great first swims from our novice swimmers, it was a fabulous evening! Well done to everyone who took part.
Although the gala licence was granted for awards at age on 31st December 2021, we have held club gala records for many years achieved on the actual club gala date, so we have continued with that practice. Congratulations go to the following:
Boys 11&12 years 50m Butterfly – Alexander Morton, A1 Squad – 30.74
Girls 11&12 years 200m Freestyle – Lucy Oliver, Top Squad – 2:15.40
Boys 13&14 years 200m Freestyle – Alex Boyer, Top Squad – 2:10.89
And, not forgetting Lewis Kestle who exactly equalled the Boys 13&14 years 50m Butterfly time of 30.53 to 0.01 seconds standing since 2013. Unfortunately, Lewis’s name will not appear on the records.
It was the first time that one of our internal galas has been licensed by SE (at level 4), meaning that times will appear on the SE database. This was made possible by the willingness of qualified referees from RDASC to officiate at the gala, along with DASC’s own qualified gala officials.
DASC also very much appreciates the technical support given in the poolside office and on poolside by Ian Proud, the Dolphin Centre staff for the gala set-up, DASC coaches and poolside volunteers, and especially to Carol Bottomley, the gala organiser. The gala ran smoothly and it was great to be back racing, even if we were unable to admit spectators onto poolside for it.
If your swimmer did not enter this time, we would strongly encourage them to do so next time we hold a club gala. If you would like to find out more about becoming an official or about any of the voluntary roles within the Club speak to your squad coach or ask at the Club desk to be signposted to the right person.
The Swim England North-East Region Short Course Championships, commonly known as NERs, were held at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield on 6&7 November 2021. The 50m pool was split into two halves and the Open and Age Group events ran concurrently.
DASC had 19 swimmers from Top, A1 and A2 squads, who qualified in a total of 80 events. 17 of these took part in 64 different events over the course of the weekend. Head Coach Lucy Proctor and A2 squad coach Allison Matthias were poolside for the weekend, and Carol Bottomley represented the club as a technical official.
Because of the pandemic, the NER Championships have not been held since November 2019, so this is the first opportunity to compete at this level for 2 years.
It was great to see so many PB swims achieved during the weekend, especially given that many of these swimmers have just competed in several recent local galas, setting PBs in them.
Age Group & Open Competitors
Age Group Competitors
NER Open Championships
This year the Open Championships were for Boys age 15&Over and Girls age 14&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.
6 Top Squad swimmers competed in 20 events and recorded a great total of 14 PB swims.
Open Competitors
Laura Burgess at age 15 qualified for the final of the 50m Freestyle, finishing 9th, with the fastest 15&Under time in this event at the Championships. She also did PB swims in 200m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly. Laura has qualified to swim in the Winter National Championships in December on 50m and 100m Freestyle, and we wish her well as she steps up to competing at National level.
Harvey Matthias (17) had a busy weekend with 6 events in 2 sessions, producing PBs in 4 of them, breaking the 30 second barrier for 50m Backstroke for the first time. James McLeary (16) did his best ever times in 200m and 400m Individual Medley and 100m Breaststroke. Emily Burrell (15) continued her recent run of improvements to her 50m Freestyle time.14-year-olds Niamh Kay and Ruby Diment coped well in the Open events for the first time, competing against some swimmers many years older than them. Niamh swam PBs on 50m and 100m Breaststroke, finishing as the 3rd fastest 14-year-old on the 50m. Ruby swam all the Backstroke events, finishing 2nd fastest and 3rd fastest 14-year-old on the 100m and 50m events respectively.
All the Age Group events were HDW (Heat Declared Winner), enabling swimmers to compete in multiple events over the weekend. DASC was represented by 11 youngsters in 45 events, recording 32 PB swims. They also won 4 medals and there were 11 other Top Ten placings. This was the first time that several of them had been eligible to compete at NER level, either because they have just reached the minimum age (11) to compete in it, or because they have just made the breakthrough to achieve the required qualifying times, or because the pandemic has denied them previous opportunities.
Lucy Oliver (12) had a very busy and successful weekend with 7PBs in her 8 swims. She began with a bronze in the 200m Freestyle which was a very tight race, won silver on 100m Freestyle, and saved the best to near the end of the last session with a gold medal to become the 50m Freestyle NER Champion. She narrowly missed out on a medal in the 400m Freestyle and gained 3 other Top Ten finishes on Backstroke and Butterfly events. It was a fantastic weekend’s swimming for Lucy.
Our other medallist was Alex Boyer (14)in the 1500m Freestyle event where he came 3rd; he also produced a PB swim on 200m Freestyle.
Lucy Oliver Medallist
Alex Boyer Medallist
DASC had a trio of 11-year-olds making their NER debut. Harry Whitfield was another busy and successful DASC swimmer – 7 PBs in 7 events, on all strokes except Breaststroke, with 6 Top Ten placings, including two 4th places. What a great start to competing at NER level. Ben Burrell did very well to swim 3 PBs on 3 50m sprint events and April Mansfield also produced 3 excellent PBs in her 4 events.
Our more experienced NER competitors know what to expect at this level. Hugo Douglas-Reeves (13) produced PBs in all 3 Breaststroke events powering under the 3-minute barrier on 200m and gaining a Top Ten place on 100m. Ben Matthias (13) swam a PB on 50m Backstroke, Alex Morton (13) swam PBs in both his events, and Lewis Kestle(14) swam in 6 events with 3 PBs to show for his hard work.
Our older first-time NER qualifiers gained great experience at this level. Zara Jones (13) swam PBs on 200m Freestyle and Backstroke and Chiara Valgolio (13) came close to recently set PBs on her 2 events.
“It was great to see our swimmers represent DASC so well across the two Championships. We had experienced athletes and first-timers who performed at their best in such a high level meet. Overall, results were superb and an Open final and four Age Group medals topped off a fantastic weekend.”
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
Congratulations to Josie Johnson in A3 who has been invited to attend the North East Region Para Swimming training sessions in November. Enjoy your sessions Josie and hopefully you will gain some valuable training and development knowledge.
Congratulations to Lucy oliver (Top Squad) who has been selected to attend the Swim England North East Region Swimming Training Camp.
The camp forms part of the Swim England national swimming talent pathway and will provide an opportunity for swimmers to develop their technical, tactical, physical and lifestyle skills with swimmers of a similar age and ability from across the region. The camp will also provide an opportunity for swimmers to work with different coaches and to train in a different environment. We hope that the camps will be a positive and rewarding experience, with the intention of them being a stepping-stone for you to progress to further camps in the future.
The camp will engage with athletes in the 12 year old age group where age is defined as at 31st December 2021. The one day training camp will include two pool sessions, strength and conditioning dry land training and a classroom based session.
Well done Lucy! Good luck with the camp and enjoy the experience.
As many of our Top Squad swimmers are competing at either or both of the upcoming BOSSS and Middlesbrough Gala weekends, Sunday morning training on both the 17th and 24th October has been cancelled.
