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COPS miss out through no fault of their own
City of Peterborough Swimming Club (COPS) took one of their largest squads to the Regional Youth Championships in Norwich this year.
City of Peterborough Swimming Club (COPS) took one of their largest squads to the Regional Youth Championships in Norwich this year.The championships are the culmination of a hard year's training and competing, and while most prospered well, two of their most impressive squad members had just cause to feel their efforts were not properly rewarded due to equipment failure.
Eighteen-year-old Charlie Walker was a good bet to bring home the top honours for the club in one of his preferred events - the 50m backstroke.
And it came as no surprise to see him qualify for the final in first place. But a failure of the starting equipment in the final meant he misheard the signal and his start was badly hampered. Despite his Herculean efforts Walker eventually finished with the silver medal.
As if that wasn't bad enough for the COPS squad a similar fate befell 14 year-old Emily Cook.
She had also qualified for the final of her 50m backstroke in third place and was expected to hold that position in the final. However, another failure of the starting equipment meant that Cook was also slow off the blocks and she came home in a disappointing (for her) fifth position.
COPS officials put in a protest over both incidents but despite ASA officials acknowledging the starts had not been properly managed, the results were allowed to stand.
This year's Regional Youth squad contained an impressive 17 qualifiers compared to last year's contingent of 11. While the overall medal count of one gold, six silvers and one bronze was five less than last year's total there were 10 new names in the squad.
Charlie Walker (18) topped the medal count with a gold medal in the 100m freestyle, silver medals in the 50m and 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke and bronze in the 100m backstroke.
Walker's time in the 200m freestyle was a new club record and in total he set seven qualifying times for the National Youth Championships.
Laura Bellars (21) took a silver medal in the 400m freestyle in a time of 6.29.66, which is a new club record.
Bellars also set club records in the 200m, 100m and 50m freestyle, 200m individual medley and the 50m butterfly.
Sophie Sweet (16) took silver medals in the 100m and 50m backstroke. Her time in the 100m event was a National Championships qualifying time and Sweet also set a new club record in the 50m freestyle event.
In the 17 year-old age group, Gemma Simpson set two new club records and personal best times in the 50m and 100m butterfly events while Luke DeMoya set a personal best in the 50m backstroke preliminary to reach the final of that event.
Sixteen-year-old Ashley Binns set 12 personal bests on his way to reaching the finals of the 400m individual medley and the 200m, 100m and 50m breaststroke events.
In the latter two events, Binns also set new club records.
Tom Freeman (17) set club records in the final of the 800m freestyle and 400m individual medley events while Freeman's sister Georgie (15) set new club records in the 200m freestyle and 50m butterfly.
Chloe Attwood (15) beat her previous best in the 50m freestyle by nearly a second.
Among those who moved up into the Youth ranks this year were Thomas Stokes (15), who set a new club record in qualifying for the 50m butterfly event. Stokes also qualified for, and set new PBs, in the 400m individual medley and freestyle events and the 200m breaststroke and freestyle events.
Emily Cook (14) qualified for the 800m and 400m freestyle finals as well as the 100m and 50m backstroke events. In total Cook set seven new personal best times representing a good debut at Youth level.
Joanne Longland (14) qualified for the finals of the 1500m, 400m and 200m freestyle and the 400m individual medley in which she set a new club record for the 100m butterfly.
Longland also claimed a new club record in the preliminary rounds of the 100m freestyle but failed to make the final.
Charlotte Harrison (14) was also swimming at her first Youth Championships and qualified for the finals of the 1500m and 400m freestyle and set three new PBs.
Ellen Williams (14) set six PBs and qualified for the finals of the 1500m, 800m and 400m freestyle events.
Other swimmers making their debuts at these championships were Roxanne Monk (14) in the 50m butterfly, 50m and 200m freestyle, 200m individual medley, Jessica Whyte (14) in the 1500m and 800m freestyle and Rebecca White (14) in the 200m backstroke.
Speaking after the event COPs head coach Ben Negus said: “I am satisfied with the progress the club is making but we still have a long way to go to achieve the potential a city like Peterborough deserves.
“The number of swimmers qualifying for Regional and National championships has increased and that is a good sign of progress.
“However, when we step up in terms of competition it’s the little things that can make the difference between being placed in a final and achieving a medal.
“We are going to have to work even harder next year to build on this performance.”
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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