Over the weekend of 2-3 December 2017, 14 swimmers from Wear Valley Amateur Swimming Club (WVASC) competed in the Derwentside Christmas Cracker Meet held at the Louisa Centre, Stanley.
The WVASC swimmers won a total of 6 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze medals. Forty-seven personal best (pb) results were also achieved. From the senior squad, Madison Peveller (12) won a gold in the 12/13 year 100m fly, taking 6 seconds off her pb to win in a time of 1.14.27. Madison also won gold in the 12/13year 50m backstroke and secured a place in the open final, winning a silver in the same event. Joseph Dobson (14) won a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke taking 2 seconds off his pb to attain a time of 1.19.12. He was also rewarded with a place in the open 100m breaststroke final, winning another silver medal and swimming the exact same time again! Katie Kerins (13) had a fantastic gala achieving pbs in all four of her events; 50m free, 50m fly, 200m free and 200m Individual Medley (I.M.). Katie managed to take 12 seconds off her 200m freestyle pb to achieve a time of 2.32.66. Jessica Maughan (12) also swam very well in her 200m free taking 15 seconds off her pb. Charlotte Varley (13) was very pleased with her 200m fly result, gaining a bronze medal in the 12/13 year category and a 2 second pb. Nic Cooper (15) swam in 2 open finals, 100m breaststroke and 100m free, and took part in a thrilling swim off for a place in the open final of the 50m free, he lost by 00.01 of a second! Annabel Cooper (12) won a bronze in the 100m open fly final with a new pb of 1.13.92 and gold medals in the 12/13 year 200m free, 200m breaststroke and 200m fly.
In the junior squad, Reece Cunnachie (12) was very pleased with a pb in the 50m free with a time of 37.91. Mason Bartlett (12) also achieved a pb in his 50m breaststroke and came 6th in the 200m backstroke, this was the first time that he had swam this event. Emily Whitton (12) secured 5 pbs, notably taking 12 seconds off her 200m free with a new time of 2.50.46 seconds. Sophie Liddell (10) won a silver medal in her age group for the 200m breaststroke with a pb of 3.42.62 and a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke with another pb of 1.46.59. James Holliday (11) won a bronze medal in his age group for his very first 200m backstroke swim with a time of 3.18.93. Ella Sowerby (11) took 6 seconds off her 50m fly with a new time of 47.92 seconds. Lucy Randall (11) also achieved some fantastic times in events swam for the first time; 50m fly (38.86) and 100m backstroke (1.37.31), together with a 4 second pb in her 100m free.
Well done swimmers and thank you to coaches!