A total of 14 swimmers from the Dolphin, Junior and Senior squads of Wear Valley Amateur Swimming Club competed in the 9th Annual Derwentside Charity Gala. All money raised has been donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Society and the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and Ward 9 at the RVI Hospital Newcastle. The gala was held at the Louisa Centre, Stanley in their 25m. pool over the weekend of 9/10th June. All personal bests (pbs) recorded are for short course (25m) times.
Nicole Walker and Oliver Sommerville had several very good first swims. This was their first gala. James Holliday achieved pbs in each of his 7 events and Reece Cunnachie 4 pbs, taking 5 seconds off his 100m back with a new time of 1.36.20. Lauren and Ethan Flint achieved pbs in each of their 3 events, Ethan took 4 seconds off his 50m butterfly with a new time of 45.26 seconds. Ella Sowerby achieved 3 pbs with a 4 second pb in her 100m freestyle.
Emily Whitton gained 3 pbs and Joseph Brown 2 pbs including a 13 second pb in the 100m Individual Medley (IM) with a new time of 1.48.46. Lily Mulholland also swam the 100 IM for the first time. Lucy Randall achieved 4 pbs. Annabel Cooper achieved 3 pbs, a gold medal in the 100m back and silvers in the 200m breast-stroke and 200m back. Ryan Baker reached 2 finals in the 50m breaststroke and 50m fly, winning a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke. Thomas Power achieved pbs in each of his events, gold medals in the 50m and 200m breaststroke and a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke. Well done to all of the swimmers especially the debutants.
