Congratulations Tomas on an Award well deserved Click here for report on Tomas Stevens 2010 National Achievement Award

Today (Tuesday 3rd August) was Day 1 of the British Gas ASA National Youth Championships where some of the nation's best young talent are on show. With an early warm up start time of 6.40am Lucy, Emma and Janet were up at 5.30am in order to eat breakfast and get to the pool in time for a good warm up. Lucy's race the 200m Butterfly was at 10:30am, she swam the first 50m in a good pace of 31.40 bringing the first 100m back in a time of 1.08.32, finishing the race in a time of 2.27.47.

After an early night yesterday the start this morning didn't feel too bad. Both girls were in positive mood and looking forward to their events. Lucy's 400 Freestyle was first and swimming the first 50m in a 29.89 it set the scene for the rest of the race. The split at 100m was 1.03.16 swimming the 2nd 100m in 1.08.58; 3rd in 1.08.70 and bringing it home in a 1.06.88. Finishing in a personal best time of 4.27.32, Lucy finished 13th out of 41 16/17yr old girls. Emma swimming the 200 Breaststroke went into the competition ranked 37th out of 38 16/17yr old girls. Swimming the first 50 in 36.23 we knew she was on her way to a good swim, bringing the 100m back in 1.18.96 and finishing with a long awaited personal best time of 2.46.65 Emma finished in 24th place. Both girls missed out on a place for the final or semi-final, which they are pleased about because they can have another early night in preparation for tomorrow when Lucy has her 800m Freestyle, and Emma will start working in the pool for her favourite event on Friday the 100m Breaststroke.

This morning we had the luxury of a lay-in until 9am and a full-breakfast in the hotel restaurant! The 800m Freestyle warm up was at 12:30 with a start time of 13:30. Lucy was in heat 6 lane 4 and swam a brilliant race winning the heat with a massive pb time of 9.09.01 finishing in 7th place in the 16/17yr old girls. Lucy's 50m splits throughout the race were: 30.54; 33.87; 34.42; 34.64; 34.69; 35.04; 34.76; 34.92; 35.04; 35.07; 34.89; 34.99; 34.61; 34.79; 33.82; 32.92 Now we are looking forward to Day 4 with the 50m Freestyle for Lucy and the 100m Breaststroke for Emma.

On Day 4, Friday 6th August, Lucy went into her race ranked 41st, swimming the 50 Freestyle in a time of 27.72 she secured a place in the Semi Finals tonight in 20th place. Emma swam the 100 Breaststroke in a time of 1.16.68 finishining in 22nd place she is 2nd reserve for tonights Semi Final. Good luck girls. 

Last report! Both girls swam in their respective semi-finals and both girls finished in 19th place. Lucy swam her 50m freestyle in 28.12 and Emma swam her 100m Breaststroke in 1.17.18 turning in a split of 35.91. Well done girls. All over for another year.

For the full set of results click here

ASA National Championships 2010 at Sheffield

Arriving safely in Sheffield on the Tuesday evening we collected the necessary poolside passes and Janet attended the important Coaches Technical meeting.Up at 6am excited and ready to be at the pool for the 7.15am warm up. Today was Tomas' favoured event the 100 Back. Tomas who has been coping with an injury to the shoulder went into the warm up to test it. Feeling good he went into the heats ranked 8th. Unsure of how the competition will perform Tomas gave it everything going out in a 50m split of 32.09 and coming home in a personal best time of 1.07.71 securing a place in tonight's final in 5th position. Well done Tomas great swimming. Going into the final ranked in 5th place Tomas knew the competition was strong and he would have to swim very fast like he did in the heats. His reaction time for his start was faster than in the heats and the first 50m split was 31.98, the second fifty saw Tomas pick up his stroke rate into the finish and he achieved a further personal best time, finishing in 5th position with a time of 1.07.70! Well done Tomas.

Friday 30th July. Today was Tomas' 200m Backstroke race, as he qualified with a short course time he was in the first heat lane 2. This heat is a tough heat to swim as there are swimmers from all age groups and differing speeds all in one heat and pacing can be difficult. Tomas took the first fifty in the perfect pace of 34.18 and settled into the race keeping a consistent pace through to the end. Tomas pb'd in a time of 2.32.52 finishing in an overall position for 12yr old boys of 23rd. Well done Tomas.

ASA National Championships 2009 at Sheffield

Day One - Tuesday 28th July 2009 saw our Hoddesdon swimmers; Lucy Charles compete in the 100 Freestyle and Emma Warrington compete in the 100 Breaststroke. Lucy swam a very fast 100 Freestyle in the morning achieving a pb time of 59.79 and finishing in 21st position in the 14/15 year olds girls, meaning she was first reserve for the Semi-Finals later on that afternoon. Emma swam well in her first event of her first Nationals and just missed her pb in a respectable time of 1.16.10, and like Lucy finished in 21st place in the 16/17 year old girls, meaning she also was first reserve for the Semi Finals later on that day. Both girls had to return to the pool at 16:30hrs to check if anyone had withdrawn from the semi's allowing them a chance to swim in the semi-finals, Lucy got her chance to swim again, however, Emma wasn't as lucky. Lucy swam with nothing to lose and just missed her pb in a time of 1.00.22. Both girls came away from the pool happy with their performances, and looking forward to the rest of the week of competition.

Day Two - Wednesday, 30th July saw Lucy pb in her 200 Freestyle heat with a time of 2.08.28, again an excellent swim, which unexpectedly saw Lucy make the 2nd semi-final comfortably in 18th position. Returning to the pool later that day Lucy was able to swim even faster with a new pb of 2.08.23 and finished in 18th place overall in the 14/15yr old girls.

Day Three - Thursday 31st July saw Emma swim in the Womens Open 50m Breaststroke event, Emma went into the race ranked 19th and finished in 15th position with a time of 34.81 which was just off her pb. Swimming against women aged in their 20's Emma didn't look out of place at all, and if you looked at just the 16/17yr olds she would have been 6th. Lucy achieved another pb in the 1500m Freestyle and not just by a second or two, no Lucy knocked 18 seconds off swimming the 1500m in a time of 17.32.28 finishing 13th in the 14/15yr olds. Looking at the complete field of 1500m competitors there were 70 swimmers; Lucy finished in 24th position!

Day Four - Friday 1st August 2009 at the British Gas ASA National Youth Championships at Ponds Forge Sheffield saw Emma swim in the heats of the 200 Breaststroke where she recorded a personal best time of 2.49.40 which was 6.25 seconds faster than her previous long course pb time. Emma finished overall in 24th place in the 16/17yr old girls.

Day Five - Saturday 2nd August started in the normal way alarm going off at 5.50am and us walking to the pool for 7am warm up. Myself and Lucy wandered over thinking that there was a task in hand of 400m Freestyle followed by 50 Freestyle and probably driving back to Hertfordshire just after 11am! the 400 Freestyle swim by Lucy saw her just miss her pb with a time of 4.29.48 finishing in 13th place which meant that she wouldn't be swimming in the final as the top 12 are selected (Ten swimmers plus two reserves)! Lucy then focussed fully on the 50 Freestyle, saying she enjoys it because it is just one length. In the heats she swam a pb time of 27.95 and qualified for the Semi Finals in 16th place. Delighted that we could stay a little longer in Sheffield, we had lunch and returned for the 2pm warm up. At 3pm Lucy swam in the Semi's and swam another pb of 27.60 and finished in 9th place! Now we had to wait for the finals at the end of the session 5pm! Lucy then managed to improve her pb once again and swam the last 50 Freestyle in 27.50 finishing in 10th place.

NATIONALS 2009 RESULTS by Age

Lucy Charles positions in the 15yr old girls

 100 Freestyle 12^th, 200 Freestyle 9th, 1500 Freestyle 8^th, 400 Freestyle 9th , 50 Freestyle 5th                                                            

Emma Warrington positions in the 16yr old girls

100 Breaststroke 14^th, 50 Breaststroke 5^th, 200 Breaststroke 13th

Link to photo of Janet, Emma and Lucy

Link to photo of Janet, Hayley and Holly                                              

Hoddesdon's Tomas Stevens 4th Fastest 11yr old 100m Backstroker in the Country!

Eleven year old Tomas Stevens handled the pressure of swimming in his first Nationals Bagcats Competition superbly this week. His first event was his favoured 100m Backstroke on Wednesday Day One of the Championships. Tomas swam a fantastic pb in the heats of 1.11.45 securing a place in the final. Finishing overall in 4th place just off his previous time with 1.11.81 Tomas was very tired after the long day and retired back to the hotel to prepare for his next event the 200 Backstroke on Friday. 

Tomas was happy, relaxed and focussed going into the 200 backstroke he flew off the blocks with a very fast start and the first 50 was effortless, the distance of 200m backstroke Long Course is much harder than Short Course because of the work the swimmer does off the walls, however Tomas continued to fight to the last. A very respectable time of 2.38.33 which was just off his pb from the East Regions was a great performance and Tomas was happy to finish in 13th place knowing he had done everything he possibly could.

Janet was approached by Terry Denison MBE (speaker at our Motivational Day last year) on the pool deck who congratulated her on how well Tomas had swum at these championships.The atmostphere at the Nationals is electric and Janet is sure that Tomas will only benefit from this experience and can't wait until the hard works starts all over again in September with the aim of getting those all important National Qualifying Times to secure a place in next years National Championships.

 We are now looking forward to watching Lucy Charles swim the 100, 200, 1500, 400 and 50 Freestyle events and Emma swim the 100, 50 and 200 Breaststroke events at the Youth Championships which start on Tuesday 28th through to Sunday 2nd August.

 Click here for link to Tomas Stevens photograph

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