Neil Sturge Condolences
It is with our deepest sorrow that we inform you of the passing of...
After an exhausting two weeks competing at Ponds Forge Sheffield at the British and English National Swimming Championships Vulcans swimmers and Coaches Paul Hogg (Head) and Adam McIntyre (Assistant coach) were celebrating some outstanding performances.
The first week saw Ethan Grace-Riches (15), Oliver Nevitt (16), Lauren Woods (16) and Laura Dickinson (13) competing at the British Championships.
Ethan got the club off to a great start on Day 1 with a personal best time in the 50 Backstroke of 28.48 which qualified him for the final where he again produced another new best time of 28.41 where he finished in 10th place.
Day 2 saw Oliver Nevitt produce a great heat swim in the 200m Butterfly to move up from a ranking 20th place to finish in 17th place.
Ethan was again in action this time in the 100 Back where he again qualified for the evenings final which saw him come in 8th place.
Lauren Woods began her National campaign on Day 3 in the 200 Butterfly where a tough heat swim saw her come in 24th place.
The final day of competition at the British Championships saw both Ethan and Laura competing. Ethan had a strong swim in the 200 Back where he finished in 19th place. Although only 13 years old team mate Laura Dickinson had qualified for the 100 Butterfly event in the combined 13 & 14 years age group where a great swim saw her finish in 15th place just missing out on the final by 2/10th of a second.
The second week saw the English Championships begin where the above 4 also competed but this time joined by Elissa Gratton (17).
Day 1 saw Oliver Nevitt demolish his best time in the 400 IM by 4 seconds with a 4.54.26 which qualified him for the final where he finished a creditable 10th. In the same event Elissa Gratton started with 17th place in the 17 & over age group.
Lauren Woods began her English Championship campaign with a 14th place in the 100 Fly on Day 2. It was on this day that Laura Dickinson also began her campaign with a superb swim in the 50 Freestyle where she broke the 28 second barrier for the first time with 27.91 to qualify for the final.
In the final Laura again lowered her best time to 28.85 to win an excellent BRONZE medal.
Awesome 50fr final for Laura D with yet another PB, and a very well deserved bronze medal @Swim_England summer championship meet, making us @SwimVulcans very proud, as have all the swimmers competing over the last few days Oli, Lauren and Ethan, with still more to come ......... pic.twitter.com/EIGBzpfeRk
— Lincoln Vulcans SC (@SwimVulcans) August 1, 2018
Day 3 saw Ethan back in the water swimming in two events. First up was the 100 Freestyle where a new best time of 55.41 saw him progress to the final. He then this up with another brilliant swim in the 200 IM which saw a 3 second improvement to qualify for another final in 2.14.37.
Well Ethan @SwimVulcans made that look easy in the 200IM @Swim_England Summer Championships #SESwimming #bringonthefinal pic.twitter.com/3gmOW7Po46
— Lincoln Vulcans SC (@SwimVulcans) August 2, 2018
In the finals Ethan swam a great 100 Free dropping his time to 54.80 to finish 5th. However, the best was still to come where he again repeated his great heat swim to win GOLD and become English Champion.
Elissa Gratton finished her National swims with a strong 200 Butterfly where she came 19th on Day 4. On the same day Laura qualified 9th for the 100 Free final with another new best time of 1.01.43.
Before Laura’s final the longest event in the pool, the 1500m Freestyle took place with Lauren Woods going into the event ranked 5th. However, Lauren smashed her best time by 13 seconds to win the SILVER medal with 18.06.43.
Later in the evening Laura swam a superb final in the 100 Free taking another second off her pb to finish 7th.
Last day of the @Swim_England National Summer Meet @PondsForge and we’ve got Laura in the 50fly to come ........... #splashanddash #determined #pumped pic.twitter.com/AqsAtTyDzk
— Lincoln Vulcans SC (@SwimVulcans) August 4, 2018
The final day of competition saw Laura go in the 50 Fly final where yet another best time Again in the final Laura showed great composure and racing skills to not only lower her pb to 29.11 but to round off a great Nationals with the BRONZE medal.
Coaches Paul and Adam who started with the club at the commencement of the season in September 2017 stated this was a really great start to our first Nationals with the club which has also seen great improvements at Regional and County competitions. Both swimmers and parents have bought into the changes we have brought into the club and this has been reflected in these great results. We look forward to the new season and progressing even further.