What a fantastic turnout we had from swimmers and divers, parents and other family members at the DASC Annual Presentation held at ROF59. We hope you all enjoyed it. Please click on the link below and scroll through a few images to remind you of the evening!
A huge thank you to Rob Douglas-Reeves for putting on such an excellent Quiz. Well done to the winning team the ‘Crackers’ and everyone else who participated.
It was a great occasion to recognise individuals who have made huge improvements in 2019, individuals who bring a smile to the face of their coaches, and individuals who have excelled at the 2019 Club Gala Series.
During the 2019 Club gala season a total of 37 new club gala records have been set, meaning about 27% of all the records have been re-written.
Club Gala Records broken in 2019
Age Group
Boys
Girls
Total broken
Total No. of Records
8 & under
0
0
0
8
9&10
5
3
8
32
11&12
4
2
6
32
13&14
2
7
9
32
15&over
8
6
14
32
Totals
19
18
37
136
Coaches awards for the squads
Well done to all those swimmers who were awarded ‘the most improved swimmer’ within their squads. Unfortunately, a few were not there to collect their award in person, therefore please see Allison Matthias on poolside for you certificate and reward.
Squad
Most Improved Swimmer
B3
Jack Geldard
B2
Finn Pentland-Rice
B1
Tom Brown
Squad
Most Improved Swimmer (Boy)
Most Improved Swimmer (Girl)
A3
William Robson
Lucia Valgolio
A2
Charlie Stephenson
Isabelle Skelton
A1
Sam Beukenholdt
Niamh Kay
Top
Harvey Matthias
Molly Mooney
A special monetary award was given to two junior swimmers. This monetary gift was sponsored by Andy Dunn. This cash prize was in recognition of their dedication, commitment and regular attendance at Monday morning training sessions.
Well done to Seth Farmer (A2) and Lucy Oliver (A1)
Diddy League Awards
The Durham & District Diddy League is a competition between clubs based in Co Durham. It is widely known as the ‘Diddy League’, because it is a gala for youngsters aged 9-12 years. The galas are always exciting, noisy, competitive occasions with individual races and relay events, points being awarded to each club on the position achieved in each race.
During the Diddy League 2019 Division 2, the DASC team accumulated the following trophies:
Runners up Trophy (just missed out on the top spot by 9 points to Morpeth)
Best Overall 11 year Old Team Trophy
Best Overall 12 year Old Team Trophy
Steve Janes Trophy– Over all the heats & final the DASC team accumulated the most 1stplace wins
2019 DASC Club Champions
For those who don’t know:
Points are awarded at the club galas throughout the year for the fastest 8 swimmers of any age in 100m of each stroke (not IM) and the 800m/1500m Free events.
The DASC Club Champion is the swimmer with the most points after those 5 events.
Men’s Championship
15 males scored points over the year with the top 3 being well clear of the rest.
In 3rdplacewith 23 points a swimmer who qualified to compete in the English Summer Nationals for the first time in 800m and 1500m events, Johnson Bache
In 2ndplace, with 26 points, the only male to score points in all 5 events, fresh from competing at the Scottish Nationals where he finally broke the minute barrier for 100m Butterfly,Alfie Elliott
In 1stplacewith 32 points, is a swimmer who has dominated the club galas this year to the extent that he didn’t even compete in one of the 5 scoring events, the 1500m Free and still wins this trophy; he won 13 of the 16 events for 15 & overs, he holds 10 of the club gala records for 15 and overs, remarkably in all 4 strokes plus IM, setting 7 of them this year, but was beaten by the narrowest of margins by Jack Hurworth in the final Skins race – Will Beukenholdt
Women’s Championship
20 females scored points over the year and again the top 3 were well clear of the rest of the field.
In 3rdplacewith 23 points, which might have been more if she hadn’t been injured for the final gala, is a youngster who is still only 13 and only moved into Top squad in February, a silver medallist from the NER Championships in May, Laura Burgess.
In 2ndplacewith 31 points, and the only female to score points in all 5 events, a bronze medallist from the N&D Championships earlier in the year, Molly Mooney.
In 1stplace, just one point ahead with 32 points, opting to give the 100m Breaststroke a miss in the final club gala, is the outstanding DASC swimmer of 2019. She won 2 silver medals at the British Summer Nationals in her age group and has just won a bronze medal in a new NER record time in the OPEN 50m Free at the Scottish Short Course Nationals. At the 2019 Club Galas she won 11 golds and currently holds an amazing 30 of the 68 girls records across all age groups, but was also beaten by Molly in a very close final Breaststroke race of the SKINs events – Harriet Rogers. Harriet wasn’t unable to attend the Awards night so little brother Lucas collected it on her behalf.
Royal Commonwealth Pool Edinburgh (13-15th Dec 2019)
The Scottish National Championships in Edinburgh has been the main focus this short course term for the best DASC Top Squad swimmers. Six of them journeyed to the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh to compete in an event attracting several GB Internationals including Freya Anderson, Duncan Scott and Ross Murdoch.Glen Fenby, DASC coach, had prepared them well, with all bar one swimmer (Jack Hurworth who very unfortunately was ill and not able to perform to the best of his ability), recording at least one PB swim over the course of the weekend. All the events were Open, ie not swum in age groups.
Harriet Rogers made the “A” Final in the 50m Butterfly with a time of 28.13 and in the night final she produced another PB to finish 6thwith a time of 27.95. However, on her race finish Harriet managed to bend her finger and required treatment overnight for a possible fracture. In the morning with a badly swollen finger she swam 50m freestyle in a time of 25.84 and again made the “A” final on the evening where she swam 25.55 to claim the bronze medal, a superb achievement in this level of competition. This was the fastest time set by a 15-year-old at the Championships and is a NER record. Her 100m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly times were very close to her PB times and were both the 3rdfastest by 15-year olds on the day.Harriet returned home on Sunday, had a quick trip to A&E to check that her finger was not broken, and then set off the next day to the other end of the country to take part in a 4-day Swim England National Event Camp at Millfield School in Somerset.
Harriet Rogers made the “A” Final in the 50m Butterfly with a time of 28.13 and in the night final she produced another PB to finish 6thwith a time of 27.95.
Will Beukenholdt goes on and on improving across all strokes, setting another 4 PB times during the weekend on 100m Freestyle, 50m and 100m Breaststroke and 100m IM. In the 100m Breaststroke, he proved that his recent brilliant club gala record time in the event had not been a fluke by clocking 1.07.74. He laid to rest his recent NER disqualification in 100m IM to also break through the 60 second barrier in 100m IM in 59.99 sec. Oh the difference that one-hundredth of a second makes!
It was great to see hard-working Molly Mooney produce her first Breaststroke PB times in 2019 at all three distances in one weekend with the 200m time of 2.45.80 knocking over 2 seconds off her previous best.
Alfie Elliott swam two great Butterfly races to produce a PB in each, and finally achieve his long-held ambition of breaking the 60 second barrier on 100m to lower his previous PB by over a second to 59.58, which is a very significant improvement at this level.
Johnson Bache swam in his first-ever 800m Freestyle in a licensed gala on the Friday and was disappointed with his swim as it was well outside his long course time for the event. After some remedial work with Glen on his tumble turns, he returned the next day for the 1500m Freestyle, going through the 800m mark 7 seconds quicker than the day before and going on to produce a great 2 second PB of 17.12.77. He is to be congratulated on a lesson well learned and picking himself up to try again.
‘It was a fantastic weekend and to see DASC swimmers win heats, produce pbs and win medals at this level of competition just makes all the hard work worth it from swimmers to parents and to coaches. Well done all.’
Please see below for a list of accepted and rejected entries. Unfortunately rejections have been made according to the meet conditions; ‘Should entries be over-subscribed, entries will be rejected on the basis of slowest submitted times within each age group – unless the swimmer is a classified Para-Swimmer. City of Sunderland ASC reserves the right to limit entry numbers of each event to manage the session times.‘
The North East Regional Open Short Course (25m) Championships were held at Ponds Forge Centre, Sheffield, with four sessions over one long weekend. The pool is 50m long but was split into two 25m pools with the Regional Age Group Championships taking place in the other pool.
In the Open Championships all the events, except 800m and 1500m Freestyle, had finals in a late afternoon session following a long morning session of heats.
DASC was represented by 11 boys and 5 girls from Top Squad competing in events open to all ages and entered by many of the best swimmers from all over the North-East of England.
North East Region Championships – DASC Open Swimmers
Harriet Rogers was our star performer finishing with a complete set of medals. She won the 50m Freestyle event by a massive 0.9 seconds producing a PB of 25.72 in the heats and matching it exactly in the final. To put this swim into perspective, this time is the 3rd fastest swim ever recorded by a SE female aged 15 (on 31 December) and the fastest time this year by a SE female of her age (on 31 December). In the 100m Freestyle. Harriet claimed a bronze in a PB of 57.02, faster than all but two of the DASC males swimming in this event, and a silver in 50m Butterfly with another PB of 27.96. She completed a clean sweep of PBs with further swims on 50m Backstroke and 100m Butterfly. This was a fantastic weekend for Harriet, which was noted by coaches, swimmers and spectators from all over the NE and beyond.
Will Beukenholdt produced several fine swims to qualify for the finals of 100m Freestyle with a PB of 53.43 and of 50m Breaststroke, but withdrew from both of these to focus his efforts on the 100m IM where he hoped to win a medal. Unfortunately, he was disqualified in the heats of the event and was unable to contend in the final for a medal. Alfie Elliott clocked up another PB on 200m Butterfly, qualifying for the final.
Harrison Butler had an almost perfect weekend with a super set of 5 PBs, with a disqualification in 100m Butterfly only slightly taking the edge off it. Harvey Matthias was also on very good form with 4 PB swims and placing higher in some of his events than several of his older Top Squad peers.Jack Hurworth swam excellent PBs in three sprint events and went under 2 minutes for 200m Free for the second time. Johnson Bache was the busiest DASC swimmer competing in 8 events over the weekend including 3 PBs despite being under the weather. James McLeary, adapting to the swimming season of the Northern Hemisphere, and the considerable step up from age group to open swimming, can be pleased with his 4 PB swims in Breaststroke and IM events. Oliver Carr also put in some excellent sprint Freestyle performances, Dan Boyer improved on his best times on 50m and 200m Backstroke, Jacob Willson swam his best ever 50m Butterfly and Evan Reeves continued to chip away at his 200m Butterfly time.
Laura Burgess competed in both the Age Group and Open Championships over the weekend producing consistently good times in both on the sprint Freestyle events. Niamh Sweeney, returning to competing after a break, should be encouraged by her 2 PBs. Tiegan Flynn gained valuable experience at this level with 2 good sprint events. Alice Day competed in the Distance Freestyle events.
‘It was very encouraging to see so many Top Squad Swimmers qualify for the NER Short Course Championships and even more pleasing to see them achieve further PBs in heats and finals throughout the weekend especially at this stage of the season. We are right on track to having one of our best seasons ever and our focus now turns to The Scottish Nationals in December.’
DASC North East Region Championship Age Group Swimmers
The North East Regional Short Course (25m) Championships were held at Ponds Forge Centre, Sheffield, with four sessions over one long weekend. The pool is 50m long but was split into two 25m pools with the Regional Open Championships taking place in the other pool.
In the Age Group Championships, all the events were Heat Declared Winner events ie no finals, so swimmers with multiple qualifying times could swim in several events over the course of the weekend.
Nine youngsters from DASC aged 11-13 represented the club and did their coach, Lucy Proctor, proud, producing an overall 74% PB rate, and finishing in the Top Ten in 17 of their events, competing against the best swimmers in the North-East of England.
Ruby Diment and Hugo Douglas-Reeves both competed in 8 different events. Ruby achieved Personal Bests in all but one of her events and won gold in the 12 years 200m Backstroke and bronze in the 100m Backstroke. Hugo, competing in the 11 years age group, was thrilled to claim silver in the 50m Breaststroke with 5 best times in his events.
North East Region Medal Winners (DASC Age group)
In the 11 years age group Alexander Morton and Ben Matthias rose to the challenge of this high level competition producing their best ever times in several events with Ben finishing 6th on 50m Backstroke.
In the 12 years age group experienced swimmer Alex Boyer swam in all the Freestyle events from50m to 1500m as well as Butterfly and IM events, finishing in the Top Ten in 3 of them. Lewis Kestle also had a great weekend in the pool with 4 PBs in his 5 events. One of our newer but fast-improving swimmers, Niamh Kay, stepped up to this level for the first time, producing an excellent swim in the 100m Breaststroke, lowering her PB in this event for the 4th time in 6 weeks.
Laura Burgess competed in both the Age Group and Open Championships over the weekend setting tremendous new best times in 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle events in the 13 years age group, finishing 4th, 8th and 7th respectively.
Coach, Lucy Proctor was delighted with the performances of all her swimmers. They demonstrate the big improvements in performance and commitment being made by many in A1 squad.
