Speeding Tickets Galore!
On the weekend of 17th and 18th July Rotherham Metro held their level 3 short course open meet that attracted many swimmers from all over the UK. Swimmers had to achieve entry times to qualify for the meet, resulting in three categories being awarded, A grade, B grade and a speeding ticket (for swimming faster than the cut off time).
Boys Competition
Thirteen Year-old Matthew Sotheran once again proved what an exceptional talent he has by securing speeding tickets in all eight events that he entered which were 50 Fly, 100 Fly, 50,100 and 200 Free, 50 Back, 100 Back and the 100 IM. Matthew will be taking part in the National Age Group championships at Ponds Forge this week. Hot on Matthews heels in the speeding ticket stakes were eighteen year–old Thomas Nelson and seventeen year-olds Simon Worne and Daniel McLean all who gained an impressive six speeding tickets each with Simon also winning Gold’s in the A grade 50 Back and 100 Fly. Simon and Daniel will be taking part in the National Championships along with Dale Waterhouse in August at Ponds Forge.
Adam Parkes, sixteen, won five speeding tickets in the 50,100,200 back, 50 Free, 100 IM and Silver in the A grade 100 Free. Fourteen year-old James Shiel kept up the tally of speeding tickets by gaining four in the 50 Fly, 100 Fly, 100 IM and 100 Free as well as Gold’s in the A grade 100 Breast and 200 Free. Benjamin Bainbridge seventeen gained three speeding tickets in the 100 Fly, 200 Fly and 200 IM as well as A grade Gold in the 200 Breast and A Grade Silver in the 50 Fly. Ten year-old Jack McGann scored an hat trick of speeding tickets in the 50 Free, 200 Free and 100 IM, and Silver in the A grade 50 Breast followed by Bronze in the 200 Breast. Eleven year-old Robert Pearson had a magnificent meet gaining two speeding tickets in the 50 Back and 100 IM and this was accompanied with eight A grade medals which were, Gold’s in the 50 breast, 50 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, 200 Free, 200 Back and Silver in the 100 Free and finally Bronze in the 200 IM. Josh Whitehurst fifteen won A grade Gold’s in the 50 Free and 200 IM as well as Bronze in the 100 Fly, also fifteen Thomas Gibbons won A grade Gold in the 200 Free followed by A grade Bronze’s in the 50 Free and 200 Back. Eleven year-old Robert Kirk won Gold in the A grade 50 Fly, Silver’s in the A grade 100 and 200 Fly and finished with Bronze in the A grade 50 Free. Scott Mason fifteen won A grade Silver in the 200 Breast and A grade Bronze in the 100 Breast followed by B grade Gold in the 100 Free. Thirteen year-old George Russell Won A grade Gold in the 200 Fly and A Grade Bronze in the 200 IM. Samuel Pearson fourteen won six B grade medals these were: Gold in the 50 Breast, Silvers in the 100 IM, 100 and 200 Free followed by Bronze in the 100 Breast and Back. Twelve year-old Joel Mitchell won B grade Silver in the 200 Back and B grade Bronze in the 100 Free, Devin Kellet and Ben Cliff both eleven Won B grade Silver in the 100 Breast and 100 Back respectively and finally James Newton 14 won B grade Bronze in the 200 IM.
Girls Competition
Leading the way in the girl’s competition was Charlotte Pearson who gained five speeding tickets out of five events which were 50 Fly, 100 Fly, 50 Free, 100 Free and 200 Free, Charlotte will be taking part in the National championships at Ponds Forge in Early August. Ten year-old Rebecca Finnie swam outstandingly to gain a total of six speeding tickets in the 50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free, 100 Back, 200 Back, 100 IM and also Gold’s in the A grade 50 Fly and 50 Back. Kelsey Longden won five speeding tickets in an extremely competitive fourteen year-old age group competition; these were 50 Fly, 50 Free, 100 IM, 200IM and 200 Free. Kelsey Also won two Gold’s in the A grade 100 and 200 Fly and Silver in the 100 Free. Eleven year-olds Holly Sotheran and Alice Aucott were also in fine form gaining five speeding tickets each and even dead heating for first place in the A grade 100 Free thus both taking the Gold. Holly won speeding tickets in the 50 Fly, 200 Fly, 200 IM, 50 Free, 200 Free and Gold in the A grade 100 Fly followed by Bronze’s in the A grade 100 IM and 200 Back. Alice won Speeding tickets in the 50 Breast, 200 Breast, 200 IM, 200 Free and 100 IM, A grade Silver in the 50 Free and A grade bronze in the 50 Fly. Thirteen year-old Emily Shone won four speeding tickets in the 50, 100 and 200 Back and 100 IM, she also won A grade Gold’s in the 100 Free and 200 IM followed by A grade Silver in the 200 Breast. In the fifteen and above age group Frances McGrother was awarded a Speeding ticket in the 200 IM and won A Grade Gold’s in the 100 Breast and 200 Free. Ten year-old Abbie Ackroyd gained a speeding ticket in the 200 Breast, Gold in the A grade 50 Breast, Silver in the A Grade 100 Breast and Gold in the B grade 50 Free. Thirteen year-old Jess Bushby won A grade Gold in both the 50 and 100 Fly and Bronze in the A grade 200 Free and 200 Back, another thirteen year old Nicole Clarke won A grade Gold in the 200 Free and A grade Silvers in the 50 and 100 Free. Twelve year-old Abbie Hull won Silvers in the A Grade 100 and 200 Back, also in the twelve year-old category Rebbeca Britten won A grade Silver in the 50 Back and A Grade Bronze’s in the 100 and 200 Back. Fourteen year-old Kimberley Bush gained Silver in the A grade 50 Fly and Bronze in the A grade 100 IM, also fourteen Ruth Brown won Gold in the B grade 50 Free. Ten year-old Rebecca Durn was in fine form winning A grade silver in the 100 Back, A grade Bronze in the 100 IM and Gold in the B Grade 50 Fly, Eleven year-old Alicia Hartley also won A grade Silver in the 200 Back and Bronze in the 50 Breast followed by Gold in the B grade 50 Fly. Twelve year-old Bethany Woodcock swam to a very impressive A grade Bronze in the 100 Free, also twelve Chloe Rooker gained Bronze medals in the A grade 50 Fly and Free. Katie Pollard eleven won Gold in the B grade 50 Breast, Silver in the B grade 50 Free and Bronze in the B grade 100 Breast, thirteen year-old Lucy Bennett won Gold in the B grade 100 IM and Silver in the B grade 200 IM, also winning Gold’s in the B Grade were thirteen year-old Shannon Eades in the 50 Breast and fifteen year-old Chloe Pollard in the 50 Free. Other B grade medal winners were eleven year-old Lucy Handley who won Silver in the 200 Breast and B grade Bronze medal winners were Lyn Shackshaft in the 200 IM and Shauney Brewster in the 100 Back.
Other swimmers competing were:
Sophie Jones, Robyn Hartley, Rebecca Bamber, Shannon Rickett, Danielle Marsh, Fiona Connell, Shannon Sutton, Chloe Burditt, Jack Whitehurst, Thomas Hesling, William Bailey, Samuel Hull, Andrew Bishop, Kenyon Kellett, Kayley Britten, Owen Lawrence, Laura Gillott, Hannah Dannatt and Josh Hillman