Newsfile 2004

Newsfile 2004/5 (earlier seasons via archive link)

27 Mar: The Easter Open concludes. Full results via the meet calendar. Reading's final-day highlights are a second breaststroke grand final win for Leona Jones and a 200 fly grand final gold for Emma Zadrozny.

26 Mar: Day 2. Results of session 1 now added, along with full results of 3-5. RSC's highlights today are a great 200 breaststroke grand final win for Leona Jones and a silver for Alex Perrin in the men's, a first ever NQT for Kristina Paige in the 13 years 100 fly and Alex Macarthur adding the 400 free to the 1500 he already has under his belt via counties.

25 Mar: Day 1 of the Easter meet - results of session 2 via the meet calendar now, technical hitch with session 1 but we'll get them up tomorrow. Reading's highlights are an 800 free win for Louisa Herring and a first ever national time for Callum Willcox in the 200 breaststroke. And in his 11s group, getting the 200 time also gives you the 100, for which there is no separate qualification - so two for the price of one in one sense, but for some reason I suspect you still have to pay for both. Anyway, well done!

21 Mar: Please note these are now the session times for the Easter Open (i.e. times are as per the cards)

Friday Session 1 12.50 warm-up 14.00 start
Session 2 15.50 warm-up 17.00 start

Saturday Session 3 8.50 warm-up 10.00 start
Session 4 12.50 warm-up 14.00 start
Session 5 16.20 warm-up 17.30 start

19 Mar: Counties conclude on a sweltering day at Maidenhead with a first-ever national time for Adam Barrett via the 400 IM, and Adam also wins his year's BAGCAT award. More trophies via Becky Alderson (junior 50 breaststroke), Leona Jones (50 breast champion), Russel Korting (200 free junior), Matt Sandell (50 free champion) and Holly Tanner (200 fly champion and junior, 400 and 100 free junior), girls free and medley relay.

12 Mar: Two more trophies at counties - Matt Sandell senior 50 fly and Russel Korting junior 400 free - plus many age group medals including golds for Annette Hopson, Adam Barrett and Amy Kunicki.

7 Mar: Confirmed! Many congrats to Alex Macarthur for his first ever NQT in the 1500 on Saturday, and to Russel Korting for his second of the season. Full results via "counties site" link to the left. And my maths isn't too hot - in fact we fielded 13 out of 42 in the 800, 13 out of 40 girls, so a third not a quarter. Doh!

6 Mar (cont): RSC's annual stint staffing the town centre water station in the half-marathon. Cold as Neptune and hard work as always, but many thanks to 25-plus RSC swimmers, coaches, parents and club workers who helped out. Too many to list, but you know who you are. It's greatly appreciated as a fundraiser and good for the club to be taking part in one of the town's big days like this. Particular thanks to Maria Leonard for recruiting the team.

6 Mar: Full results yet to reach me, but we were very impressive at the Counties distance events last night and took home three of the four trophies - Holly Tanner as both junior and senior 800 champion and Garry Dixon junior 1500 champion. A huge number of PBs and I believe there were a couple of new NQTs, but will await the results before confirming. There are 10 competitive clubs in Berks & S. Bucks and of 42 swimmers in the 800, we accounted for a quarter.

1 Mar: Calendar updated with links to the results from the weekend's Swansea meet. RSC were in particularly good form in the "skins" sprints - a win for Garry Dixon, seconds for Chris Boyce and Amy Kunicki and a third for Alex Macarthur. Emma Zadrozny qualifies for nationals in her 400 IM and Holly Tanner adds the 200 IM to her nationals menu.

27 Feb: Results of Counties sessions 1-3 (minus a couple of events) can be viewed at the Berks & South Bucks ASA site.

25 Feb: Ealing SC are temporarily unable to update their web site, but have now sent us a set of results of the January meet. If anyone would like a copy (Word documents as attachment), please email me.

24 Feb: Quite a number of additions to the meet calendar, up to mid-June. Please note that as always, some of these are provisional and we won't necessarily attend all; and which squads or swimmers are offered which meets is the decision of the head coach.

19 Feb: Looking ahead to the first round of Counties a week today - for anyone who hasn't been before, directions via the A4 are as follows. Go straight over the first big roundabout as you come downhill into Maidenhead town centre, then turn left immediately after going straight across the second into the Magnet Pool car park. However, unless thing have changed all-day parking is much cheaper in the multi-storey across the road. Carry straight on past the pool and double back at the next roundabout. From the top level, there's a footbridge straight across to the pool entrance.

18 Feb: With Top National Squad away at a camp at the University of Bath, several Top District and Age Group members showed up well at the Wycombe Classic, particularly Adam Barrett and Chris Boyce. Results are linked via our meet calendar and there will be a full report in the Post this coming Thursday.

17 Feb: February's Swimmer of the Month is Naomi Herring, coached by Harry Wild, Gordon Dart, Rob Knott and Lisa Bowman in Age Group Squad. Naomi had a particularly good meet at Ealing recently, with a string of medals.

7 Feb: Reading School update - the initial repair has been done. However, training has been rejigged and we won't be using the pool tomorrow. The next session there will be on Friday evening. Meets and camps the following week mean we won't be at the school pool next Tuesday, 15 Feb, either.

7 Feb: It will be the B final again for our Junior League team after R2, but a much stronger showing this time round on Saturday at Amersham. Report in the Post Thursday.

5 Feb: Pool closure news - afraid Reading School is closed for a repair to be done on Monday, after which it is possible a further repair will be required which might mean it won't be available for Tuesday's session. Updates when we get them - incidentally, to get first news on this sort of thing, why not join the RSC mailing list? Details above.

4 Feb: Results and report on Maxwell linked via the meet calendar, plus a brief one on the previous weekend's Ealing meet.

3 Feb: January's swimmer of the month is Lewis Ross, coached by Maria Leonard and Clive Alderson in County Squad. Congratulations!

1 Feb: News of the weekend's Maxwell meet - our first ever visit to the Aqua Vale pool yields meet records for Louisa Downs (3), Chris Boyce (2) and Leona Jones, several further golds and top-three placings.

28 Jan (cont): Amersham has been confirmed as the venue for our Junior League meet next Saturday. Directions via our meet calendar, plus a link to directions for the sprint meet at Southampton on Sunday 6 Feb.

28 Jan: You can now read a report on the Cambridge meet - good swims from Becky Alderson, Hannah Lamb and David Thomas in particular - via the calendar, with some detail not in the press report (thanks, Maria), but I'm afraid still no full results available from Ealing.

18 Jan: RSC will again be staffing a water station on the route of the Reading Half-Marathon on Sunday 6 March. This is hard work but great fun and an opportunity to put something back into our home town on its biggest day of the year. County Squad coach Maria Leonard is again kindly acting as recruiting sergeant and will start collecting volunteers a few weeks beforehand - we need around 30 people to make sure it goes off smoothly.

17 Jan: Sorry, a correction to the meet calendar (my mistake) - the Maxwell meet at Aylesbury is on 29 and 30 Jan, not 22 and 23. See www.maxwellswimclub.org for details.

13 Jan (cont): We have another Swimmer of the Month to congratulate, in Adam Barrett of Top District Squad. In fact two, as I forgot to mention Russel Korting, November's winner.

13 Jan: A memorable night for RSC at yesterday's Reading Sports Awards at the Renaissance Hotel. Our club is Club of the Year and our head coach Coach of the Year. Paralympic gold medallist Graham Edmunds is male Personality of the Year and shares the overall award with Olympic sailor Sarah Webb. Holly Tanner is one of two winners of the Junior Female award.

11 Jan: Update on Derby now the full top swimmer tables in the older age groups have been published - Reading's Leona Jones was second in the 16-and-over group, with Dani Mason and Emma Zadrozny sharing third.

10 Jan (cont): Results of the Ealing December meet are now on their web site - see meet calendar link.

10 Jan: Slightly contrasting fortunes to report from the weekend. In a magnificent showing in Sheffield, RSC placed third club overall and won the prize for best support, with numerous finalist placings, a raft of new and repeat NQTs and Holly Tanner winning top girl in the 14/15 age group. Excellent BAGCAT overall meet placings included a third for Chris Boyce, fifth for York Kloeppel, sixth for Craig Frankum and sevenths for Garry Dixon and Alex Macarthur. With a number of the top 11 and 12-year-olds at Pond's Forge, several late withdrawals further weakened the Junior League squad who placed fifth out of five at Central Pool. Link to full Derby results via our meet calendar.

8 Jan: Welcome back for the new year. Twenty-plus RSC swimmers plus staff set off yesterday evening for the City of Derby meet at Sheffield, and our Thames Valley Junior League season starts this evening with a first home gala in the league for several years - looks like a tough one with four or five certainties for the team off to Ponds Forge.

11 Dec: A brilliant performance by Reading B wins promotion from the Speedo League Div 2 South (West), as they take the promotion gala at Bracknell by 16 points. A depleted Reading A are joint fourth in the Premier Division mid-table gala at Haslemere, one point behind third place.

10 Dec: Apologies to Adam Barrett for his 100 fly gold at Bath not being mentioned in this week's press report, which was written from only one day's results and a few text messages to the press secretary's daughter! Now rectified in the web site version, along with a couple of other things. The meet calendar now links to sites with results for the Oxford meet and the recent one at Stockport, but I'm afraid Ealing's site is yet to update with theirs. You can also find road directions for Haslemere's pool for the Speedo, and a link to the AA route planner.

3-5 Dec: A busy weekend, with Reading swimmers in action on three fronts. Afraid I have only a few times from Oxford, but clearly a number of excellent PBs including Lewis Ross and David Thomas very near the 100m free one-minute mark and by Kristina Paige in the 100 fly. Several medallists at Bath and the landmark of a first ever NQT for "Leo" Jones (100 breast), two NQTs for Garry Dixon (400 and 1500 free, the latter an age group gold) and first of the season for Russel Korting (400 free), and Louisa Downs adds the 200 and 800 free to her two fly NQTs at Stockport. Meanwhile in Swansea, Holly Tanner makes three NQTs, 800 and 400 free and 400 IM, the last one taking the junior gold.

27 Nov: RSC's awards night at the excellently appointed Winnersh Community Hall. Swimmers of the Year are Garry Dixon and Holly Tanner, coach Clive Alderson and trophies officer Carol Flett win the Enstone and Burt trophies, Vanessa Wood the Reading Cygnets Friendship Cup and Rob Knott the Joseph Korting Memorial Cup. Should be some great photos in the Post this Thursday. (Added 30 Nov: And I completely forgot to mention that Graham Edmunds was presented with a certificate marking the rare award of honorary life membership.)

22 Nov: The 2005 Berks & S. Bucks county championships schedule and consideration times have now been published - see the counties site here.

20 Nov: After some delay, the draw for Speedo R3 has emerged. Reading A will be in the Premier Division mid-table gala at Haslemere, against the home club, Canterbury, Herne Bay, Bexley and Brighton. Reading B will be at Bracknell against Rushmoor B (hosts), Hamble, Bognor, West Wight and Cranleigh.

13 Nov: Two more excellent Speedo meets - Reading A are a very strong third at Guildford and Reading B even better, best of six on the night at Fareham and pipped by two points in a seven-team meet by Guernsey, who submitted time trials. The scores will place the As firmly in the South Premier middle gala in R3 - possibly just one place outside the top-six gala - and the Bs in the Div 2 South/West promotion gala. Full times via the meet calendar.

(Montage by Geoff Willcox shows the A team against the backdrop of the pool at Guildford. We'll aim to get one of the B team up after Round 3.)

12Nov: RSC's latest Evening Post Swimmer of the Month is Eleanor Cawthorne, coached by Emma Tarrant. Well done!

9 Nov: If you happen to be anywhere near the Calcot Savacentre site tomorrow morning, Graham Edmunds (who works for Boots as a pharmacist) will be opening their new store. Link here to Evening Post story.

6 Nov: Coventry graded meet - Reading highlights include three wins for new ladies' captain Lauren Macarthur and two for Claire Ryman. Full report in the Post Thursday, results linked now via meet calendar.

5 Nov: Thanks everyone for cooperating really well with the Evening Post photographer last night. Please bear in mind that not all will necessarily get used - they are to illustrate future press reports, and the editors decide which to choose - but I hope the majority will at some point. If any swimmer has had a photo taken and parents would prefer it not be used - it's absolutely not obligatory - please email the press sec. via the address above Thanks.

2 Nov: Quick message from the club shop - if you have ordered fins, please collect them this week or they will go on general sale and are likely to be snapped up. Thanks.

31 Oct: Further records fall to all Saturday's record-breakers below plus Garry Dixon as club champs conclude, including several set by future world-class performers in Ian Edmond and Becky Cooke and two others which stood for more than 20 years. Full results for all three sessions via the meet calendar.

30 Oct: Two more sessions of club championships and more records go - new meet bests for Chris Boyce, Russ Korting, Louisa Downs and Holly Tanner among numerous PBs. Full results via the meet calendar.

25 Oct: Several updates - top of the list is to congratulate Lauren Macarthur (and note the spelling, folks!) who is sole candidate for ladies' captain and thus returned unopposed. The men's captaincy is between Daniel John and David Thomas. The vote will be over club champs weekend, 30-31 Oct, one vote per eligible swimmer, i.e. 13 and over (I'm 99 per cent sure this is as of 31st of December, will confirm.)
In the water, medals for Adam Barrett, James Tichband, Frankie Wilkins and Callum Willcox at the latest stage of the Bath distance series on Sunday, and two cracking records on Thursday among top swims at the club champs 400 IM - results via the meet calendar. Sorry the 1500 free report didn't appear in the Post - it may do this week.

20 Oct: Reminders - tomorrow is the deadline for nominations for the club captains' positions. The AGM will be at the Civic Offices (Kennet Room) on Monday 8th November, 7.30 p.m. for 8.00.

18 Oct: Completely outside RSC's control, but afraid Reading Boys' is out of action for the foreseeable because of a hairline crack in the pool filter.

17 Oct: Well done Reading's contingent at inter-counties - Berks and S. Bucks placed second in Division 2 and are thus promoted.

16 Oct (cont) RSC's October graded meet - full results via the meet calendar now.

16 Oct: Good luck to the Reading swimmers representing Berks & South Bucks at Intercounties in Sheffield on Sunday - Bruno Bamberger, Louisa Downs, Amy Kunicki and Emma Zadrozny - 0515 departure from Wycombe! Details of the event here.

14 Oct: Club championships 800 free press report and 1500 free results now loaded via the meet calendar, plus both Speedo press reports and full results for both teams. Age group winners in the 1500 this evening were David Mills, Chris Boyce, Adam Barrett, Alex Macarthur, Garry Dixon, Russel Korting and Daniel John. Russ was quickest overall. Garry beat Craig Woodward's 14s' age group record and Russ was just a second outside the 15s, also held by Craig. Garry was inside the 2005 15s' NQT (although obviously this was not a designated meet) and Russ within striking distance of the time for 16s. Full report in the Post on Thursday.

12 Oct: News of Speedo Rd 2. The As will be at Guildford and the Bs at Fareham on 13th November (note this corrects date I first published). Full round draw via the league site here. And the 2005 national qualifying times have been published - see the ASA site here. The iniquitous two-year age bands for youth championships have been done away with - small consolation for people who might have found themselves having to qualify against swimmers almost two years older in 2004, I know - and at first glance the times don't look as daunting, at least in the girls' programme. Or maybe it's just that when they don't cut two seconds off each 200m time, you're pathetically grateful.

9 Oct: Very promising opening to the Speedo League. Reading B win at home and the As place third at Brighton. Great reward for all the hard work put in by swimmers and coaches since the season started.

7 Oct: Numerous excellent swims as the club championships get under way with the 800 free. Age group winners are Annette Hopson, Frankie Wilkins, Ashley James, Amy Kunicki, Holly Tanner, Louisa Herring and Emma Zadrozny. Many thanks to all parents who helped.

1 Oct: Well done Grace Waldron, coached by Harry Wild and Gordon Dart in Age Group Squad, RSC's latest Evening Post Swimmer of the Month. Bath meet report can now be read via the meet calendar - many thanks Steve James.
    And this was in the Post last night. I don't know any more about it, except of course that a plan to build the pool was announced last year:
    "A developer has been chosen by the council to build a brand-new 25-metre swimming pool at Palmer Park. At a meeting of the cabinet on Monday night, Wycombe Leisure Ltd was confirmed as the council's preferred partner for the £4m project.
    "It also confirmed that the company - which is run as a non-profit-making trust - would take over management of the Palmer Park stadium for an as yet undecided length of time after the pool was built.
    "`This is really exciting,` said Catherine Wilton, lead councillor for culture and sport. `The community is at the heart of the project, and we are involving local people at every stage.
   "A spokesman for the council said it was hoped the new facility would be up and running by 2007."

26 Sep: Graham completes a great Paralympics with sixth place in his 50 free in a 26.

26 Sep: First round of the Bath graded distance meet. Callum Willcox stars with three medals in three swims and Adam Barrett, Rachael Mills and Rheannon Sandell also get onto the rostrum.

24 Sep: A few requests for help:
- club championships are upcoming, with distance events on three Thursday evenings 7-14-21 October and the main body on 30 and 31 (Saturday p.m. and evening, Sunday a.m., p.m. and evening. We'll need maximum parental effort - please could all officials get in touch with Peter Tiley to indicate their availability.
- we've had a request for help with lifts for a swimmer in County Squad who has siblings in two other squads; you can imagine the logistics. Would be very grateful if anyone could offer a lift to and from Bradfield from Woodley for the Monday morning and Wednesday evening sessions. If anyone can help, please email info@readingswimclub.co.uk to be put in touch. (Same goes for any other similar requests.)
- despite the request in the latest newsletter, there are still no offers for additional help for Jane in the club shop. Please could some parents come forward. Without, it could well be the shop will have to operate with reduced hours and/or alternate weeks, and of course the revenue generated helps keep training fees down. Thanks.

22 Sep: After placing 11th in his 100 free the day before, Graham swims a wonderful second leg as his 4 x 100 relay team win the gold and break the world record. Graham, Matt Walker, David Roberts and Robert Welbourn record 3.59.62 and are the first 34-point team in the world to go under four minutes. Fine way to celebrate your birthday, eh?

18 Sep: Update from Athens - Graham didn't make the 200 IM time, but when looking out for him on TV please bear in mind that his hair is now - quote - "ginger strawberry blond kinda orange"!!!

16 Sep: Looking forward to Graham Edmunds representing GB in the Paralympics. Latest from him was that he would be swimming (individual events in the S10 category, relay is an aggregate of category points across the four team members):
21 Sept 100 free (heats start 0926 Athens time, final 5.49 p.m.);
22 Sept 34 point 4 x 100 relay (on his 30th birthday) (1100 a.m., final 8 p.m.);
23 Sept possibly the 200 IM if he could get his time down to within the top 12 in the world by the deadline, but I don't know if he did; if so, heats 1052 a.m, final 6.59 p.m.
26 Sept 50 free (heats 1114 a.m., final 7.58 p.m.);
Link to full Paralympics swimming schedule here. Athens time is BST + two hours.

9 Sep: News of Round 1 of the Speedo League, from the National Speedo League web site. Reading A are due to swim at at Brighton, along with the hosts and Kingston A, Beckenham A, Herne Bay and Tigers of Jersey. Reading B are at home along with Farnham, Worthing, Rushmoor B, Feltham and (the last one seems to be provisional) Cranleigh.

29 August: Welcome to the new season. Sorry, I didn't find time to update the site between Nationals and going on holiday, but to wind up last season's news - Garry Dixon was RSC's star in Sheffield, finishing fifth overall in the 14 years 1500 free in his best swim. One of the four ahead of him was a guest competitor from South Africa, so Garry - in a 15-second PB - was fourth best GB entrant. The girls didn't really set things on fire, with Louisa Downs's 9.26 PB in the 800 free the best effort. All Reading's girls were in the younger half of two-year age bands and the club will be aiming to get all those who qualified this season, near missers and others back in Sheffield next summer. Holly Tanner has again been selected for the Welsh ASA's long-term talent ID programme.
More recently, Glasgow-based RSC member Becky Cooke placed sixth in the Olympics 800 free final and eighth in the 400, but Ian Edmond's 200 breaststroke hopes ended in a semi-final DQ after he placed seventh in the heats. Days after the Games, Becky broke the British 800 record in the national short-course championships in Manchester and also won the 400.
And news from Reading Masters - in late July Lucy Roper was a member of a relay team which broke the world record for a two-way channel crossing on the way to also breaking the record for a three-way crossing, and the British record for a France to England swim. Lucy has also been selected for the GB open water team.