Sponsored by
Gold-rush for COPS at county championships
CITY of Peterborough Swimming Club (COPS) topped the medals table by a country mile at the Cambridgeshire County Championships.
CITY of Peterborough Swimming Club (COPS) topped the medals table by a country mile at the Cambridgeshire County Championships.The city club took both the boys and girls skins titles and dominated the team relay events. In addition 11 COPS swimmers were crowned age group champions out of the 18 categories available.
A total of 74 COPS swimmers had achieved the qualifying entry times for the four days of racing which were held at the Regional pool in Peterborough and the Parkside pool in Cambridge. And between them they collected a whopping 401 medals, including 182 golds.
They also set a record 499 new personal best times of which 25 were new club records and 17 are potential county records.
More importantly for head coach Ben Negus, 45 swimmers attained a total of 196 qualification times for the regional championships and subject to ratification, seven of those times are qualifying times for the national championships.
Negus said: "Our preparation for this meet were meticulous. We selected the right open meets for our swimmers to achieve the qualifying times then we went to Belgium at half-term.
"We were physically and mentally prepared for these championships. But qualification is only the first step on the long road to the regional and national championships. Our performance levels have to step up again if we are to go there with a realistic chance of coming away with the right result for Peterborough."
Each swimmer is awarded points for each result based upon time and distance - similar to the heptathlon in athletics - and the British Age Group awards (BAGCATS) are then given to the swimmer who accumulates the most points over four different types of race. The BAGCAT winner is not automatically the swimmer who wins the most gold medals but several of the COPS BAGCAT winners won 10 or more of their events.
There were eighteen age divisions at the county championship and COPS swimmers took eleven of them.
The BAGCAT winners for COPS were: 10-years-old Piers Casey (5 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze) and Olivia Standish-Leigh (9 gold, 2 silver); 11 years-old Joshua Aylett (11 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze) and Heather Pfeiffer (10 gold 3 silver, 1 bronze); 12-years-old Sam Holmes (13 gold, 1 bronze) and Molly Norman(11 gold 2 silver); Thirteen-years-old Zara Bailey (10 gold 1 silver); fourteen years old Liam Knight (10 gold) and Joanne Longland (14 gold and 1 silver); 15-years-old Ashley Binns (7gold, 5 silver 2 bronze) and 16-years-old Sophie Sweet (7 gold, 1 silver).
The COPS record-breakers were: Josh Aylett 1 club record, Zara Bailey - 3 club, 1 county record, Matt Brigham (13) - 2 club, 1 county record, Andrew Coates (17) - 1 club record, Antony Coombe (11) - 1 club record, Bethany Freeman (12) - 1 club record, Tom Freeman (17) - 1 county record, Charlotte Harrison (13) - 1 club record, Sam Holmes - 2 county records, Liam Knight - 4 club, 2 county records, Jo Longland - 1 club record, Molly Norman (12) - 2 club records, Sophie Sweet - 3 club, 4 county records, Charlie Walker - 2 club, 6 county records and Ellen Williams (13) - 2 club records.
In the skins event the top eight swimmers from the 200m freestyle event came together for a series of knockout races. The swimming stroke to be used in each race is decided by drawing lots. This way the swimmer who wins the event is potentially the best all-rounder but the drawing of lots can result in the same stroke being chosen each time.
After seven exciting rounds the girl’s skins event was won by Joanne Longland, who is becoming somewhat of a specialist at winning this type of event, and eighteen-years-old Charlie Walker won the boys’ event.
The final session of the championships was taken up with the relay events. COPS won 18 of the 24 races to retain the Joyce Parish Memorial Trophy for relays for the fourth consecutive year, which also served to underlined their dominance at these championships.
This championship was one of the best ever for COPS and if this form continues for the rest of the season then Peterborough may see the foundations of a swimming dynasty begin to take root.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Peterborough
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: West
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.