21st-25th July 2011
Today is the 29th of July and as most of you know last week was particularly difficult and eventful. I apologise for the time it took me to write the report but I could not find the required peace of mind to write anything until the final decision, regarding the 4x100 medley relay boys and girls, was made.
But let’s start this report with individual races; Harrison Kemp for his first nationals was the first PSC swimmer to qualify for a National final (100bk). Harry came 7th 1’13’’12, he also made another 5 finals: 100fs (9th 1’05’’53), 200bk (8th 2’36’’33), 200fs (10th 2’20’’67), 100fly (5th 1’13’’96) and 400im (6th 5’35’’92). Harry came 6th in the BAGCAT’s programme.
Daniel Speers swam an outstanding 200bst final and came 2nd (2’29’’29). Dan is the first PSC medallist in a long, long time… Dan also made the 100bst final and came 6th (1’10’’41) and 10th in the 100fs final (56’’78). Dan was unable to swim the 200im due to back muscles soreness.
Noah Vides had a really good week too, Noah came 8th (2’32’’88) in the 200bst final. Noah became PSC second medallist this week when he touched 2nd in the 100bst final (1’09’’10).
Madison Kemp was our only PSC girl qualified in individual events. Maddy swam the 100fly and came 13th. Her time, 1’07’’73 was a great pb and Maddy’s first time sub 1’08.
Todd Price did really well too as he improved all his NQT’s: 400fs 4’20’’21, 200fs 2’02’’92, 100fly 1’01’’64. Todd also qualified for the 400im final with a time of 4’53’’12. He finished 10th (4’54’’03)
On day 1 PSC boys qualified their 4x100fs relay for the final and came 8th (3’52’’82). The team was Daniel Speers 56’’47, Noah Vides 59’’71, Daniel Monk 59’’86 and Todd Price 56’’47.
Day 5 nightmare started for me at 8.20am when I was told that both PSC teams where disqualified. Why? Well I was told I had not given the paperwork in time (1 hour before the start of the session which was 8 am) which was not true as I handed all the forms together on day 1. I decided to appeal this decision and handed in the copies of my teams sheets. This first protest was going to be considered after the heats and would allow my teams to swim their heats under protest. This means the results would not be official until the decision regarding my protest was made.
The girls did really well and swam slightly faster than in June at the Regionals. The splits were: Emily Clarke 100bk 1’13’’89, Sophie Eaton 100bst 1’22’’13, Madison Kemp 100fly 1’09’’68 and Jade Norman 100fs 1’05’’39 with a final time of 4’51’’09. The girls finished 22nd team in the country. The boys won their heat and were ranked top team in the country with a time of 4’08’’10.
After the heats, I spoke to the referee and found out I had lost the appeal… The teams were DQ, again…At that time I had in mind that the girls did really well and improved their time and the boys were simply the fastest team in the country. No need to say I was never going to give up and went for the second and last protest allowed by the ASA law. The ASA allowed me the presence of two PSC parents during the second protest as I was more and more struggling to understand the three elderly ASA people and their northern English accent! Later on we heard PSC teams were re-instated. I was angry; I mean really angry maybe like never before: after 6 hours of argument and 2 protests, the referees eventually admitted they had lost my paperwork! About time…
My speech to the boys before the final was simple: “now you’re in guys, watch your takeovers, go and win this race, take what’s yours”… Well I actually said a few more things but that’ll remain between the boys and me!
I didn’t think the boys needed much coaching for that race. They had been under so much pressure all day, I knew they were determined to win, I could see it in their eyes. Before the race started, I knew they’re going to win, nothing could stop them. This very tough experience had fed them with the will to win; no one in the pool that day wanted more to win than our 4 boys.
The relay was a beautiful race. Alan Wong swam the 100bk in 1’02’’78 (his fastest time ever despite his back pain), Noah Vides did the 100bst in 1’09’’21, Todd Price swam his fastest 100fly ever with a time of 1’00’’83 despite two 400im and the relay heat the same day. Daniel Speers finished the relay in 4’07’’16, 2 sec ahead of the other teams with a personal time of 54’’34, his fastest time ever! PSC boys were the fastest 14/u medley team in the United Kingdom. However we swam the race under two clubs counter protests. It’s only yesterday (28th) that the referee told me the boys were officially National Champions.
I wish to thank all the swimmers, parents and coaches who came to Sheffield to support our teams. Thank you so much for your great team spirit, I hope you enjoyed the show (you surely got more than expected!!!) and that this will remain a good souvenir and experience.
The overall results of the first week were outstanding: 3 medals (1 gold and 2 silvers), 14 finals and 26 pb’s. I don’t think any PSC teams in the past 80 years have achieved anything close to what we did. The swimmers were definitely ready to swim fast which let me think the training programme (including the tricky taper cycle) throughout the season has been successful.
Well done to all swimmers
Robin
Boys 4x100m Medley Relay Final (Poole in Lane 4)
