Pioneer Swimmers Shine in Sheffield

2016 Inter County Championships 2016

Ponds Forge International Swimming Pool, Sheffield

Sunday 23rd October 2016

Well what a competition - although Lancs didn't quite manage to make it 15 in a row, each and every swimmer did themselves, their clubs and Lancashire proud.

The eventual winners were our closest rivals, Yorkshire, winning with 544 points, Lancashire finishing 2nd with 488 points (just 7 points less than what they won with last year!)

Pioneer's Head Coach, Mike did a great job in his role as Lancashire Coach, with some great feedback from both swimmers and parents alike regarding the team talks, post race feedback and general encouragement.

Ben Martin, still recovering from a recent operation, set himself a new PB in the 100 free 51.69, just 0.8 outside the Winter SC National Time and 4th overall.   Hopefully his recovery will be quick where he will be in a stronger position to be able to achieve it at the Winter Regionals in a couple of weeks time.  Ben also swam exceptionally well in both the 16/17 yrs 4x50m Medley Relay, swimming the anchor leg in 23.26, bringing Lancashire home in 4th position.  Again, in the 6x50m Ben swam the anchor leg, slightly quicker in 23.13, bringing Lancashire home 3rd in the final event of the day.  It is worth noting that Ben, 16, was competing in the 16/17 years age group, so hopefully, if selected he could be competing in the same age group next year.

Niamh Robinson was delighted to have been chosen as girls captain for the day and certainly stepped up to the mark, taking 2nd place in the 100m backstroke in a new pb and Winter NQT of 1.01.98, then after a quick turn around, finished 1st in the 100m Fly in another pb time of 1.01.11.  In the girls 16/17 years medley relay, Niamh had another strong fly swim (27.66) managing to close down a gap on the leader to half a body length with Lancashire finishing 2nd after the freestyle leg.

Watch all the action here:

http://www.swimming.org/countyteamchamps/division-one-live-stream/

Ben 100 free @ 43.00 (lane 6)
Niamh 100 back @ 1:02.40 (lane 7)
Niamh 100 fly @ 1:32.15 (lane 3)
Ben 4x50 medley relay @ 1:52.10 (lane 4)
Niamh 4x50 medley relay @ 3:11.50 (lane 5)
Ben 6x50 free relay @ 3:40.45 (lane 4)