The 2022/23 swimming season kicked off for Sedgefield 75 swimming club with a trip to Billingham swimming club for their annual autumn gala.
The swimmers had resumed training in the second half of August so were ready to test their progress since their last local competition in early July. The eight swimmers amassed 29 personal bests from 39 swims collectively and everyone had something to shout about.
Aviana Wilson set three PB’s out of three and placed very highly in 50m and 100m freestyle and 50m backstroke. Ellis Dickinson took nearly six seconds off his 100m freestyle best and hit another new best in 50m backstroke.
Charlotte Lee was on top form and scored four PB’s including an excellent five second improvement on 200m breaststroke where she placed fourth. Charlie McEwan swam four races close to his best times and earned a bronze medal in 50m freestyle with a time of 27.06 seconds.
Emma Price returned home unbeaten with six gold medals out of six with PB’s in them all which included very good backstroke times over all three distances, also picking up three more club records in 50m breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke.
Ruby Hancock also went 100% on PB’s, swimming all freestyle with a mighty ten seconds improvement over 200 metres and close to four seconds off her 100 metres best time. Evie Weston took on eight events and hit seven PB’s with top ten finishes in all her races.
Jessica Bell also had a busy weekend with six scheduled events, beating PB in four of them and winning bronze in 100m butterfly and 100m breaststroke. She also finished fifth in 200m individual medley, gaining her a place in the skins competition for 12 years and under, despite being 11. Skins competitions are quickfire knockout events of 50m races with the stroke being drawn at random. Jessica progressed through the first backstroke round and picked up a cash prize for her efforts.
Chief Coach John Moore was delighted with the quality of swimming from everyone and also the team spirit on show as every swimmer was totally invested in everyone else’s swims as well as their own.