Orchard’s great form bore fruit with a National gold medal for Deepings Swimming Club
Chris Orchard of Deepings Swimming Club delivered a superb performance to win a gold medal at the National Masters Short Course Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.
Earlier this year Orchard qualified for the World Aquatic Championships in Doha when he set a new Lincolnshire County age group (65-69) record and his fantastic form continued at the National Championships as he won the 400IM, smashing his own county record by over six seconds.
Laura Hardy, in the 40-44 age group, achieved four top 10 placings with two personal bests (PBs) in the 200m and 400m freestyle.
Graeme Abrahams, in the 35-39 age group, managed two PBs in the 800m and 400m freestyle. Abrahams finished sixth at the longer distance.
Paul Smith-Shelton, in the 55-59 age group, claimed seventh place finishes in the 100m breaststroke and 200m IM
Chris Jones, also in the 55-59 age group, grabbed a top 20 spot in the 50m freestyle, with a fine sub-29 second time.
MIDLANDS CHAMPS
For a relatively small club, Deepings were thrilled to have three swimmers in a high calibre Short Course Championship event.
Oliver Shepherd finished 27th in the 16 and under 800m freestyle to improve his Lincolnshire county ranking to 11th.
Jacob Briers finished 15th and 19th in Junior Under 16 events and Corey Farley (15) just missed out on a PB in her speciality event, the 200m butterfly.