On Saturday 14th February 2015, Binney, Lauren, Freya Evans, Sophy Kendall, Ellie Latta, Charlotte Lund, Liza Meder, Charlotte Preston, Keeley-Rose & Elise Richards, Ella Royle, Izzy Smith, all their fantastic parents and supporters and I braved the early morning (too early!) and clambered aboard a bus bound for Birmingham to take part in the Boldmere Junior Invitation Meet – the swimmers that is, not the parents. Those of you who were sat at home eating Valentines Chocolates missed out on a great day!
Warm-up commenced at 8.15 am and the girls barely had time to wait before the individual IM races started. Sophy, Ellie, Keeley-Rose, Elise, Izzy, Ella and both Charlottes all swam their hearts out and a few PB’s were gained – off to a brilliant start.
Next was the Breaststroke, with Sophy, Freya and Ellie doing 25m and the rest swimming 50m with more PB’s and then a short but nevertheless well-deserved break!
Soon enough though, the break ended and more swimming needed to take place; bring on the Butterfly! Charlotte Preston boldly took on the 50m and the other girls thankfully made do with the 25m.
Then just as we were all beginning to flag, lunchtime arrived and we all rushed downstairs to the fresh air. However, the girls soon got bored and headed back to the pool to show-off their moves doing the YMCA and the Macarena, with Liza posing brilliantly for the cameras as the Photographers took pictures to mark the event.
Soon it was time to go back to the pool and swim Backstroke. The swimmers, yet again, smashed PB’s and then it was time for the eagerly awaited Freestyle. All the swimmers, unsurprisingly, swam their hearts out yet again and gained another haul of PB’s.
To summarize the gala: PB’s were smashed by every swimmer, who also made the top ten in their age categories on 14 occasions with Sophy placing 3rd and 1st in Breaststroke and Freestyle respectively. Most importantly though, everyone had a great time; and I definitely recommend this event to everyone next year.
Lucy Kendall, Girls Junior Captain