Jacob selected for NW Water Polo's Raven Team

Congratulations to the 26 lads who have been chosen to represent Swim North West at this years under 14's boys Inter Regions at Walsall on the 10th & 11th December, including Pioneer 79 Swimmer Jacob Gibson, and ex Pioneer 79 swimmers, Harry and Daniel Bentham....

The following was posted on the North West Water Polo FB Page today......

Our Tiger team will be coached by our experienced coach; Ant McGunness (Bridgefield) and joining the coaching staff for the first time and assistant coach is Harry Palin (Lancaster). Jill McCormack will be the tigers team manager.
1 Jake Alderson (Lancaster)
2 Daniel Bentham (Bolton School)
3 Harry Dunkerley (Tyldesley)
4 Callum Fookes (Stretford)
5 Ben Jayasekera (Manchester)
6 Samuel McCormack (Bridgefield)
7 Charles Moore (Lancaster)
8 James Pyper (Bridgefield)
9 Jack Ratcliffe (ORCA)
10 Tom Simpson (Manchester)
11 Martin Stefanov (Bridgefield)
12 Zach Williams (Bridgefield)
13 Marcus Woods (Bridgefield)

Our Raven team is being coached by Addison Brown (Tyldesley) with Tom Prayle (Manchester) assisting him. Jed Bentham is joining the team as the team manager.
1 Harry Bentham (Manchester)
2 James Blenkinship (Tyldesley)
3 Michael Dixon (Bridgefield)
4 Frankie Docking-Smith (Bridgefield)
5 Jacob Gibson (Preston)
6 George Johnston (Radcliffe)
7 Sebastian Jones (Tyldesley)
8 George Jones (Bridgefield)
9 Robert  Morgan (Manchester)
10 Benjamin Paul (Bridgefield)
11 Ben Price (Manchester)
12 Ethan Pritchard (Radcliffe)
13 Louis Stowell (Warrington)

Well done!

P79 Swimmers at British Modern Biathlon Championships

The British Modern Biathlon Championships were held at Tudor Grange Leisure Centre, Blossomfield Road, Solihull on 26th & 27th November 2016.

Competing in this event is a great opportunity to gain valuable competition experience and for school age athletes to improve run and swim times for the British Schools' Modern Biathlon Championships rankings list.  Pioneer 79 Swimming Club had three of its swimmers taking part, in the Under 13 Age Group we had Ella Williams and Katherine Waters, whilst in the Under 16 Age Group we had Leah Williams.  For the Under 13 Age Group, the distances the girls were required to complete were 100m Swim/1600m Run, whilst in the Under 16 Age Group, participants were expected to complete 200m Swim/1600m Run.

Katherine, Leah and Ella

Ella (12), who was competing for Holy Cross Catholic High School, finished her swim in a time of 1:09.80, which placed her 16th overall going into her run, gaining 1144 points.  Her run of 6:57.80 gained her another 886 points and finished 52nd overall.  With the points then added together for the swim and run, Ella's points total of 2030 placed her 45th overall.

Katherine (12) was competing for Woodhey High School.  Her swim time of 1:10.98 gained her 1124 points, which placed her in 21st position going into the run.  After a strong run of 6:27.88 she claimed 1037 points, finishing 43rd in the run.  Again, once the points were accumulated together, Katherine found herself finishing 31st with 2161 points.

Leah (15) was also competing for Holy Cross Catholic High School.  Her 200m swim time of 2:14.43 placed her in an impressive 4th place with 1156 points going into her run.  An equally impressive run of 5:46.72 gained her 10th position and another 1142 points.  Once the points were added together, Leah had finished 2298 points which placed her 3rd overall, just 6 points behind her nearest rival, Zoe Brickley from the West Midlands who took the silver medal.  The winner, Daisy Anderson from the South East won the event with 2380 points.

Leah in 3rd position on the podium

It is exciting to report on and see so many of our swimmers excelling in different sports throughout the country at such high levels, may we take this opportunity to congratulate you all and wish you the very best for future events.

P79 Swimmers in Top Form at Stockport

Our Pioneer 79 swimmers were on top form this weekend at the Stockport Metro November Meet. The competition was a ‘last opportunity’ for swimmers to achieve Winter Short Course National Qualification Times as the closing date for entries is Thursday, so for those close to the qualification times it was an extremely tense weekend. With the competition heavily over-subscribed, there were an awful lot of rejected entries, but included in the accepted entries were numerous British International Swimmers including British Olympian Max Litchfield.

Starting the competition off on Friday evening, we had 4 swimmers taking to the pool in the longer distance events, 800m for the girls and 1500m for the boys. Beth Hartwell (12) finished 8th in her age group with a time of 10.28.83; Isabel Cockerham (16) finished 6th in a time of 9.36.49; Meghann Leaver (17) also finished 6th in her age group in 9.02.16. Ben Makin (14) finished 8th in his age group in a time of 17.25.21. Each of these swimmers achieved new personal best times in their respective events.

Arran Bostock (17yrs)

Saturday produced a number of outstanding swims including Elodie Smallwood (15) achieving a further 2 Short Course National Qualifying Times to add to the other 2 she has already in the bag (200Fly/400IM). In the 100m Individual Medley, her time of 1.07.58 was 0.12 inside the qualifying time, whilst her 100m Butterfly (1.04.98) was 0.02 inside! Tom Gilroy (20) also produced a SCNQT in the 50m Backstroke – 26.38. Saturday’s MEDALLISTS in their age group categories included: Ben Turland (Bronze) 50m Back, (Silver) 100m Freestyle, Tom Gilroy (Silver) 50m Backstroke, Ben Martin (Gold) 100m Freestyle, Jess Simpson (Bronze) 100m Breaststroke, Ethan Naisbitt (Bronze) Multi-Disability 400m Freestyle, Lily-Grace Duckworth (Gold) 50m Freestyle and Ben Makin (Bronze) 50m Breaststroke.

Sunday was another successful day, with even more swimmers achieving new personal best times as the competition drew to a close. 15year old Ben Turland’s efforts throughout the weekend produced no less than a 100% pb rate in all 7 events he swam, unfortunately missing 5 Junior SCNQT’s by less than 0.5 seconds on each occasion. One of his most outstanding results was that in the 200m Freestyle, where he broke the ‘2’minute barrier for the first time, producing a time of 1.59.99! Another fantastic result was that of birthday boy, 17year old Arran Bostock, who broke the ‘1’minute barrier for the first time in the 100m Backstroke, a target he has been aiming for quite some time – so his time of 59.36 was probably one of the most fitting birthday presents he could have asked for! 15year old Ellie Ward had been aiming for a SCNQT in both the 100m and 50m Breaststroke. Narrowly missing the 100m Breaststroke time by less than half a second, she went on to produce a time of 34.31 in the 50m Breaststroke, providing her with her first SCNQT for the Winter Championships, and a well-earned silver medal in the process!

Ellie Ward (15 years)

Sunday’s medallists in their age group categories included: Ethan Naisbitt (Silver) Multi-Disability 100m Butterfly, (Bronze) Multi-Disability 100m Backstroke, Ewan McKavett (Bronze) 100m Butterfly, Ben Turland (Silver) 50m Butterfly, 100m Individual Medley and 50m Freestyle. Ben Martin (Gold) 50m Freestyle, (Silver) 50m Butterfly and (Bronze) 100m Individual Medley, Ella Williams (Gold) 50m Backstroke, Ben Makin (Silver) 100m Individual Medley and Ellie Ward (Silver) in the 50m Breaststroke.

One of Pioneer’s younger swimmers, Katie Hale (11) who was competing for Ellesmere College at this event, competed in 3 events, she returned with 3 new personal best times and 2 bronze

medals in the 200m Freestyle and 400m Individual Medley.

Other swimmers competing were: Beth Hartwell, Mia Smith, Mikaela Shackleton, Isabel Cockerham, Meghann Leaver, Baylie Seery-Kelly, Leah Williams, Ellie Perris, Charlotte Collin, Eleanor Collin, Caitlin Armstrong, Ruby Cain, Emily Nuttall, Kara Pedley, Olivia Nicholls and Darcy Williams.

Pioneer 79’s Head Coach Mike Wilson, Assistant Head Coach James Thompson and Coach Ste Davison were on poolside at various times throughout the 3 days of competition, giving vital information to swimmers both before and after their swims.

Earlier, on social media, one of the coaching staff commented on how impressed he was with the Club’s progress so far this season, with both the dedication shown by the swimmers and their continued success, the depth of support from Pioneer parents and other coaching staff and how delighted he is to be part of this increasingly popular and successful club. Well done to all our swimmers on their achievements throughout the weekend and good luck to those who have qualified to compete in Sheffield at the Winter National Championships which will take place in December.

ESSA Secondary School Relay Finals 2016 include four P79 Swimmers

It was great to see 4 Pioneer 79 Swimmers competing in London at the Aquatics Centre for their respective schools at the ESSA Secondary School Relay Finals. (Joe Murray, Ewan McKavett, Niamh Robinson, Harry Robinson)

Joe and Ewan were competing for the 5th year in a row for St Christopher's CofE School, Accrington, after successfully qualifying for the competition in both the Senior Boys 4x50m Medley Relay and 4x50 Freestyle Relay.

In the heat of the Medley Relay, the team had a great swim, finishing in a time of 1.53.88, 7th overall, securing themselves a place in the final.  Joe swam an impressive Breaststroke leg in a time of 30.94, whilst Ewan took over from him with the Fly where he swam a phenomenal time of 26.84!

In the final, the St Christopher's team had another exciting race, Joe slightly improved on his heat time finishing in 30.76, Ewan, after an outstanding swim in the heat unfortunately finished slightly slower than his hear in 27.55, still a excellent swim.  The team improved their time finishing in 1.53.26, climbing into 5th position overall!

The St Christopher's team also competed in the 4x50 Free Relay, finishing 18th overall in a time of 1.44.76.  Ewan swam the first leg in a superb time of 25.97, whilst Joe swam the third leg in another great time of 26.06!  The St Christopher's team consisted of Joe Murray, Ewan McKavett, Harry Pilkington and Robert Bryce (Burnley Bobcats)

Harry was swimming for Canon Slade School, Bolton.  The Junior boys team qualified to swim in both the 4x50 Medley and 4x50 Freestyle Relays, the first time the school had qualified to compete at the finals in the junior boys age group for over 25 years!

In the heat of the Medley relay, Harry swam the butterfly leg in a time of 31.91, the team qualified 5th fastest for the final in an impressive time of 2.12.87.  In the final, unfortunately, the team swam slightly slower than they did in the heat, however they managed to maintain their position, finishing 5th overall in a time of 2.13.31.  The Canon Slade school team consisted of Harry, plus Dan Gregory and Sam Murphy (Blackburn Centurions) and Jake Reynolds (Horwich)

In the 4x50 Freestyle relay, Harry swam the third leg in a time of 30.47, the team finished 10th overall in a time of 2.02.32, securing a place in the final.  In the final, the team maintained their position, finishing 10th in a time of 2.03.22, unfortunately, the scoreboards went down, so no split times were available.  Harry was joined in this relay with Sam Murphy and Zac Walmsley (Blackburn Centurions) and Jake Reynolds (Horwich).

Niamh, although assisting the team to qualify for this event in both relay events, it was decided that she would not be taking part in the 4x50 Freestyle relay, but she would be swimming the Breaststroke leg of the 4x50 Medley Relay.  In the heat, Niamh swam the breaststroke leg in a time of 32.10, with the team qualifying fastest for the final in 1.58.43.  In the final, she improved on her heat split in the Breaststroke leg, swimming 31.81.  The team were in a nail biting fight for the finish with Millfield School, but were unfortunately pipped at the post - finishing 2nd (just 1/100th of a second behind Millfield) in a time of 1.57.55.

Some great swims from all Pioneer 79 swimmers..... Well done to you all! 👏🏻

Niamh rewrites record books 'down south'...

Since her move to Mount Kelly School in Devon, Pioneer 79 Swimming Club’s 17year old swimmer, Niamh Robinson has been rewriting the record books! 

The school which has been very successful academically and in the pool over the years has produced over 60 international swimmers and since 2000, with more than 17 squad members representing their country at International and Major Championships, including Commonwealth Games, Olympics, Paralympics, European Junior Championships, Summer Youth Olympic Games, World Senior and Junior Championships, however it’s record books have been rapidly changing since the start of the 2016-2017 swimming season!

Niamh has competed in a couple of Open Competitions since setting out on her new adventure, and has achieved Mount Kelly Age Group Records (MK AG) in 50/100/200 Breaststroke, 50/100/200 Butterfly, 100/200 Individual Medley, and also Mount Kelly Open Records (MK Open) in 50/100/200  Breaststroke, 50/100 Butterfly and 200 Individual Medley. 

At the Recent South West Regional Short Course Championships, held at Millfield School, Street, Niamh entered 8 events.  In probably her least favourite event, the 100m Freestyle, she was slightly  disappointed with her swim finishing 34^th overall in 59.65.  In the heat of the 50m Breaststroke, her time of 32.50 qualified fastest for the final, where she went on to maintain her position, and produce a pb time of 32.22 which was both a new MK AG & Open Record, this time also places her #4 in the UK for her age.  In the final, the Mount Kelly Swimmers stole the podium, taking Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals. 

In the heat of the 100m Breaststroke, Niamh produced a time of 1.08.83, just slightly slower than her PB, but qualified 2^nd fastest for the final less than a second behind 19year old Loughborough University Student, Beth Aitchison.  In the final she maintained her position, finishing in a marginally slower time of 1.08.87. In the 17year age group for this event, Niamh is currently ranked #2 in the UK.

In the 100m Backstroke heat, Niamh qualified 3^rd fastest for the final in a new PB of 1.01.91 which was also a new Isle of Man Open Short Course Record.  In the final she was pipped into 4^th place by team mate Emily Cutler and finished in a slightly slower time of 1.02.19 with her heat time, she is now #5 in her age group for this event.  In the 50m Butterfly heat, Niamh’s time of 28.26 qualified her 5^th fastest for the final, where she went on to swim a faster time once again of 28.09, finishing just outside the medals in 4^th position, setting new MK AG & Open Records and is now ranked #6 in the UK for her age group.

Niamh’s 100m Butterfly heat time of 1.02.95 qualified her 6^th fastest for the final, however, in the final she went on to better her position as well as her time, finishing 3^rd in 1.01.24, setting MK AG & Open Records in the process, placing her #5 in the UK for her age group in this event!  In the 100m Individual Medley, her heat time of 1.04.01, although slightly slower than her pb, was new MK AG & Open Records, and qualified her 2^nd fastest for the final.  In the final, she again maintained her position, finishing 2^nd in 1.04.02.  Niamh is currently ranked #1 in the UK for her age in this event with a personal best time of 1.02.04.  Her final event was the 200m Individual Medley, with a heat time of 2.15.34 she qualified fastest for the final, where Niamh went on to better her time to 2.14.18, taking the Gold medal, and setting once again, new MK AG & Open Records.  Niamh is currently ranked #2 in this event for her age-group, with just 2016 Olympic Swimmer, Georgia Coates from City of Leeds ahead of her!

Throughout this event, Niamh was also aiming to achieve Short Course Winter National Qualifying Times to enable her to compete in Sheffield during December; over the course of the two days of competition, she produced 13 swims inside these times in 7 of the 8 events she entered.  To date, she has achieved qualification times for 50/100m Backstroke, 50/100/200m Breaststroke, 50/100/200m Butterfly and 100/200m Individual Medley.  As Niamh is now 17 years of age, the times she is required to achieve are for the ‘open’ age group, which means that at the Nationals, she will now be competing against the top swimmers in Great Britain and is currently ranked within the top 25 in the country in 5 events (50/100/200 Breast and 100/200 IM)

Niamh is also currently within the window for achieving Commonwealth Games Consideration Times which will go towards her attempt for selection onto the Isle of Man Team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, being held on Australia’s Gold Coast, April 2018.  The window to achieve these times opened on 1^st October 2015 and the final date for qualification times is November 30^th 2017.  To date Niamh has consideration times, both short course and long course in 9 events, having achieved them no fewer than 78 times since the window opened.

Niamh would like to sincerely thank her current sponsors for their continued support, TP Properties Blackburn, Grace Cole Ltd, Cheadle, Kozii UK and WM Lloyd’s Charity Trust, Darwen; their assistance has been instrumental to her success, enabling access to Physiotherapy treatment, vital training equipment, costumes, competition entry fees and accommodation

Pioneer in the Race for Arena Premier League 'A' Final

It was a great result for Pioneer 79's ‘Marshall Mercedez Benz of Bolton’ sponsored Arena League Team at Blackpool this weekend, there were some great performances from the Pioneer swimmers throughout the evening with everyone giving 110%! 

The Accrington based club have been involved in the Arena League for the last 15 years and, following some excellent results in the past, they have worked their way up through the Leagues and compete in the Premier League of the North West Arena League.  The Arena League currently has 400 teams participating throughout the country, which is split into 7 Regions; East Midlands, London, North East, North West, South, Western and West Midlands.  Each Division is then split again into 3 or 4 leagues with teams battling between themselves to gain places into the Premier League.  Similar to football leagues, the top/bottom two in each of the lower leagues will be promoted/relegated each year, whilst the top team in each of the ‘Premier’ Leagues, after the ‘A’ Final in their Region, will then go forward and ‘battle it out’ at the Grand Final which is held at a different venue each year, usually in April.

The event consists of 2 preliminary rounds, followed by Regional ‘A’ and ‘B’ Finals (Round 3).  The top 8 teams will compete in the ‘A’ Final, whilst the bottom 8 teams will compete in the ‘B’ Final.  Places for these finals are achieved by adding the total number of points achieved in both preliminary rounds together, therefore, Pioneer 79 were in need of winning as many points as possible, to gain a place or two which would enable them to achieve a place in the ‘A’ Final. 

After Round 1 which was held in October, Pioneer 79 were lying  9^th overall out of 16 teams.  For the second round of the Arena League for 2016/2017, Pioneer 79 were drawn to compete in Blackpool against Southport, Barrow, Preston, Blackpool ‘A’, Trafford Metro, Cockermouth and Horwich, with the remaining 8 teams in the Premier Division battling it out at exactly the same time in Macclesfield.

During the evening, the Pioneer 79 swimmers were outstanding as a team, cheering each other on and their impeccable behaviour on poolside.  The first win of the night for Pioneer came in the 3^rd event, the Girls 9-11 years 4x50m Freestyle Relay, it was a battle all the way to the finish with just 0.4 seconds between them and the eventual second placed team, Southport.  Later in the evening, it was a similar story with the young team once again taking top spot from Southport in the 4x50m Medley Relay.

11 year old Katie Hale yet again had a couple of sensational swims, finishing 1^st in the 50m Backstroke in 35.92 seconds, almost 2 seconds ahead of her nearest rival, and then went on to finish 2^nd in the 50m Freestyle in what was another very close race, with the Southport swimmer just pipping her at the finish.   15 year old Elodie Smallwood was handed the tough job of swimming both her age group 100m Butterfly and the Ladies open 100m Butterfly, having been attempting to achieve an ASA Winter Short Course National Qualifying time in this event, she pulled out the swim of her life, finishing 2^nd in the Open age group, in a time of 1.04.85, which was 0.15 inside the qualifying time.  Unfortunately, on this occasion, frustratingly, as the event was not a registered meet, the time is not able to be used, however with the knowledge of being able to achieve the time, hopefully at the Stockport Metro Meet next weekend she will be in a position to achieve the time once again, good luck Elodie!

Other outstanding swims included Ethan Ramalli in the 50m Breaststroke, finishing 2^nd in a time of 40.39, and also his 50m Butterfly swim where he finished 3^rd in a time of 37.02, both of which were faster than his actual pb’s.  17 year old Arran Bostock also swam faster than he’d ever swam before, in both the 200m Individual Medley, 2.15.04 and then again in the 100m Backstroke, 1.00.17.  16 year old Meghann Leaver also had some outstanding swims, in the 200m Individual Medley – 2.22.15 and then again in the 100m Freestyle, 59.60, finishing 2^nd in both events.

After 10 events, it was Preston Swimming Club who were in the lead on 61 points, Pioneer 79 2^nd on 59 points and Southport 3^rd on 55 points.  At 18 events, the top 3 positions had changed, with Pioneer 79 and Preston now joint leaders on 104 points, and Southport just 1 point behind on 103.  Over the next 16 events, the positions were swapping around race after race, however at the 34 events mark, Pioneer had taken the lead with 198 points, Southport just 1 point behind with 197 points and Preston 10 points behind them on 187.  Over the final 16 events the positions were once again changing rapidly, but it was Southport who managed to take a small lead, and the final points after 50 events were:

1st: Southport 288

2nd: Preston 283

3rd: Pioneer 278

4th: Trafford Metro 227

5th: Cockermouth 210

6th: Horwich 184

7th: Blackpool A 172

8th: Barrow 151

On social media after the competition, parents from Pioneer 79 were posting what a fantastic evening they’d had, with the team pulling together like they’d never seen before.  Swimmers and Coaches alike were extremely happy with their performances with many swimmers hitting times much faster than they’d ever previously swam!   It was a nail-biting wait for the results to be fed through social media from the other half of the Premier League competition which was being held in Macclesfield, however, once all the points were in, it was there in black and white, Pioneer 79 Swimming Club had gained enough points and had made it through to the ‘A’ Final which will take place over the weekend of 10/11 December, finishing 2 places higher than they had been at the beginning of the evening, 7^th overall!

Results overall after points from rounds 1&2 were added together:

1st - Liverpool - 353 + 338 = 691

2nd - Stockport - 353 + 260 = 613

3rd - Salford - 327 + 282 = 609

4th - Preston - 257 + 283 = 540

5th - Warrington - 274 + 265 = 539

6th - Southport - 228 + 288 = 516

7th - PIONEER 79 - 200 + 278 = 478

8th - Winsford - 222 + 206 = 428

9th - Trafford Metro - 198 + 227 = 425

10th - Cockermouth - 213 + 210 = 423

11th - Horwich - 174 + 184 = 358

12th - IOM - 168 + 182 = 350

13th - Blackpool - 165 + 172 = 337

14th - Satellites - 152 + 153 = 305

15th - Barrow - 147 + 151 = 298

16th - Prescott - 157 + 109 = 266

Pioneer 79 Swimming Club are extremely grateful to have Marshall Mercedes Benz of Bolton supporting the team as their Arena League Sponsors for the 2016-2017 season, and the team are proud to be wearing their Swimzi Arena League Team Kit bearing the company’s logo.  We are eagerly looking forward to seeing how Pioneer 79 perform at the final in December.  Good luck from everyone

3 Pioneer Swimmers compete at BUCS

This weekend, 3 Pioneer 79 swimmers have been competing for their respective Universities at the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Short Course Championships over the Pennines in Sheffield....

This is the first event in the 2016-2017 calendar and one of the BUCS' largest events in terms of entries, with students from institutions all over the country competing and has featured Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic swimmers over the years....

The 50m pool is split into 2x25m pools, with the men competing on one side whilst the women battle it out on the other!  Some events had as many as 398 entries leading to 40 heats!  The top 10 in each event competed in the 'Final' whilst the next 10 (in the 50m events only) competed in the 'B' Final.

John McKavett competed for Bangor University in the 50m Butterfly, finishing 151st out of 227 entries in a time of 29.15 seconds.  John, a previous successful 'A' Squad member who, after a short break away from competing, has returned to the pool in September after getting the 'taste' again at a university training session!

James Harding competed for Liverpool University.  James was also a very successful competitive swimmer who decided to have a break a few years ago.  He returned to the pool at the beginning of the year and is now again finding the love for the sport that he previously had.  In the 50m Freestyle, he finished 142nd out of 384 swimmers in a fabulous time of 25.44.  James went on to compete in the 4x50m Medley relay, swimming the backstroke leg in a time of 29.72, the Liverpool team finished 61st in a time of 1.53.72.

Tom Gilroy was competing for Leeds Beckett University and continues to impress, competing in 2 individual events and a relay.  In the 100m Backstroke, Tom finished his heat in a time of 57.25, finishing 17th overall out of 134 swimmers.  His time was just 0.55 seconds outside the SC Winter National QT (SCWNQT).  He will be competing again next weekend in Stockport where he is hoping to achieve the SCWNQT for this event.  

In the 50m Backstroke, Tom's favourite event, he finished 15th fastest out of 144 swimmers, in a time of 26.31, achieving his first SCWNQT and qualified 5th fastest for the 'B' Final.  In the final he improved his time yet again to 26.13 and climbed a couple of places in the process finishing 3rd in this final, 13th overall!

Toms final event was the 4x50m Medley Relay, leading off on the Backstroke leg, he gave the Leeds Beckett Team a great start with his time of 26.42, the team finished a credible 16th out of 104 teams in a time of 1.46.40, qualifying 6th fastest for the B Final.  In the final, Tom lead off again, with an impressive time of 26.10.  The Leeds Beckett team finished 5th in the final in a time of 1.45.27, 15th overall!  Speaking to Tom after the event he said that he is extremely excited to be able to compete at the Nationals in December, and is very pleased with his results as a whole this weekend.

On behalf of the club, a massive well done, and I'm sure everyone will agree that it is great to see our swimmers competing at this level as they continue with their studies at university.  We wish you all the very best of luck for future events and look forward to getting a photo of you all together!

Ethan attends England Programme in Coventry for Para-Swimming

Pioneer 79 ASC swimmer Ethan Naisbitt is in Coventry today having been invited by the England Programmes Para-Swimming team.

Athletes who have been invited have been identified as potentially  possessing  the  skills,  ability  and attributes  to  progress onto the 2017 Junior Development Programme and in the future onto a British Para-Swimming  World  Class programme.

Ethan is doing a superb job, having picked up a bronze medal last week at the Winter Regional Championships in the 50 Free against swimmers significantly older. Ethan is in C Squad with Assistant Head Coach James Thompson and we look forward to Ethan continuing to progress and reach his potential.

Ethan on the right....

'A' Squad go Viral with Mannequin Challenge!

After just 5 hours of the following video being shared on Social Media, over 15,000 people had viewed it!

Pioneer 79 'A' Squad Swimmers - Mannequin Challenge 12/11/16

Watch this space to see if our 'B' and 'C' Squads can do just as well, if not better....tomorrow!

Great Performances at NW Winter SC Regional Championships

North West Winter Regional Swimming Championships

Liverpool, Wavertree Pool – 5th/6th November 2016

The North West Winter Regional Swimming Championships were held in Liverpool’s Wavertree Pool this weekend.  To qualify for this event, swimmers must achieve qualifying times within a certain window as stated by the North West Regional Swimming Committee.  The Winter Regional Championships are ‘Short Course’ which means that the event takes place in a 25m swimming pool.  At this event, swimmers are aiming to achieve qualifications to progress onto the ASA Winter Short Course National Championships which take place this year in Sheffield mid December.

This competition was unfortunately disrupted with a number of issues, including the Main Scoreboard not being in use which made it extremely difficult for the spectators to know who was in the pool and what times they had swam. But also, during Session 1 an issue arose with one of the starting blocks which proved to be a headache for the organisers.  The event at one point was almost abandoned, however, the solution ended up meaning that the majority of events were swam as a Heat Declared Winner.  This meant swimmers literally only had one attempt to get their best swim in, as there would be no finals run for any events after Session 2.

Pioneer 79 Swimming Club had 25 swimmers taking part at this event, achieving numerous impressive swims between them including an ASA Winter Short Course National Qualification Time by 15 year old Elodie Smallwood in the 400m Individual Medley, her time of 5.04.16 secured her second qualification time to go alongside the 200m Butterfly, which will see her compete in both events in Sheffield this December.

The competition was split into two age groups, 16 & Under and 17 & Over, with separate entry times for each age group.  The times are difficult for any swimmer to achieve, so it was very pleasing to see two 12 year old Pioneer 79 swimmers at the starting blocks; Beth Hartwell achieved a qualification time for the 50m Freestyle; slightly disappointed with her swim of 31.09, she is even more determined to return next year aiming to achieve further qualification times.  Our other 12 year old swimmer was Ella Williams, Ella achieved a qualification time for the 50m Backstroke, her time of 33.38 was over half a second faster than her previous personal best time, finishing 31st in a field of 60 swimmers, so she too will be aiming for more times next year.

Other outstanding swims included the nail biting swim off between Pioneer’s 15 year old Kara Pedley and Ulverston’s Nicola Capstick in the 16&Under 50m Freestyle.  Having both achieved personal best times in the heats (28.41), a swim off was then required to decide who would be second reserve for the final.  Kara, who has become a consistently excellent freestyle sprinter, achieved a phenominal result under the pressure of the situation, touching first in a time of 27.68, knocking almost another second off the time she set in the heat.  Unfortunately, she was not required to swim in the final, however the time she posted in the swim off would have been fast enough to take the bronze medal.

Others included: Caitlin Armstrong in the 200m Butterfly, her time of 2.35.04 knocked almost 3 seconds off her previous personal best time which is an extremely pleasing result.  We had 2 swimmers, Ben Martin and Jack Hardman who both in the 200m Freestyle broke the 2 minute barrier for the first time!  Ben’s time of 1.58.79 was almost a 4 second personal best, whilst Jack’s time of 1.59.54 was also a 2 second personal best time.  Ben Turland set himself a handful of new personal best times, however, his time of 4.20.79 in the 400m Freestyle was over 16 seconds faster than he had ever previously swam this event!  Ellie Perris had a great swim in the 200m Individual Medley, knocking 3 seconds off her pb, and breaking the 2min 30 barrier for the first time!   Charlotte Dunn’s swim in the 200m Breaststroke (2.48.84) was another great swim, almost 6 seconds faster than she has swam this event in the last 12 months, and a 2 second personal best.  There were so many strong swims from our swimmers, it is impossible to list every one of them.  Head Coach, Mike Wilson was very pleased with the results, however had the event been run as it should have been (including heats and finals for each event), perhaps there would have been even more outstanding results to mention.  Under the conditions they were presented with, every swimmer gave 100% and they should be all extremely proud of their achievements.

 
25 Swimmers
4 Gold
Ben Martin – 100m Freestyle, 50m Freestyle
Elodie Smallwood – 400m Individual Medley
Meghann Leaver – 400m Individual Medley

4 Silver
Eleanor Collin – 50m Breaststroke, 100m Breaststroke
Ben Martin – 50m Butterfly
Meghann Leaver – 800m Freestyle

5 Bronze
Elodie Smallwood – 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle
Meghann Leaver – 200m Individual Medley
Ethan Naisbitt – MC 50m Freestyle
Arran Bostock – 200m Backstroke

Pioneer 79 NW Regional Qualifiers were:
Joe Murray, Elodie Smallwood, Leah Williams, Simone Ellson, Ellie Perris, Ben Marting, Jack Hardman, Ben Turland, Ben Makin, Ethan Naisbitt, Arran Bostock, Kara Pedley, Isabel Cockerham, Ellie Ward, Charlotte Dunn, Beth Hartwell, Eleanor Collin, Olivia Nicholls, Meghann Leaver, Ella Williams, Charlotte Collin, Tom Perkins, Caitlin Armstrong, Ben Gibbs and Abi Murray.

2017 Pioneer 79 Calendar.....

Just a short message to let everyone know that it was decided at a recent Social and Fundraising Meeting, that due to the difficulties of promoting calendar sales last year, that we would give the idea a miss for 2017....

However, if people would still like a calendar to be produced and there is enough interest, we may decide to do one later in the year, maybe run it September to August to run in line with the swimming season....

Also, if you or your company are interested in sponsoring a page of a calendar (if produced) please let me know....

Thank you 😬....