National Arena Swimming League 2011

Hoddesdon Gain Promotion to Div 1 Final Report

Click here for final report and photographs

Arena League Round 3 HSC Team Results

Click here for Round 3 Team Results.

Final Report on 2011 Arena League Round 2 Gala

Click here for Gala report and photographs

Click here for individual swimmers performances

Hoddesdon swimmers perform at

The National Arena Swimming League Gala

Saturday, 8th October saw the first round of The National Arena Swimming League gala’s. This year the League gala’s have been divided from two divisions into three with the bottom half of Division One and top half of Division Two becoming the new Division Two. Hoddesdon SC were one of the swimming clubs in the bottom half of Division One moving into the new Division Two and were lookingforward to some exciting swimming at The Venue Borehamwood in their first round and it proved to be very exciting.

Finishing second to Chelsea and Westminster who were very strong and as a merged club are looking as if they are heading straight back into Division One. The Hoddesdon coaching team were very happy to finish second to such a club. The outstanding feature of the Hoddesdon team was the strength in depth, with all members making an important contribution to a fine performance.  Considering the number of illnesses and injuries and the stage of our training programme there were a surprising number of swims close to personal bests, as well as some pb’s and best times in relays. Swimmers achieving pb’s in their individual races were: Jack Freestone, Oliver Perry, Chloe Richards, Kaitlyn Walsh, Chris Smith, Kane Hagley-King, Georgie Pryor, Cerys Edwards, Daniel Cole, and Max McCusker. Swimmers achieving relay pb’s included: Ellie Godsave, Amy Godsave, Ryan Brewster, James Narengian, Jack Freestone, Oliver Perry, Max McCusker, Julianne Sullivan, Chris Smith and Kane Hagley-King.

The Coach and Team Manager for the Arena galas - Mary Wright said “Special mention must be made of our youngest swimmers who coped brilliantly with the occasion and performed really well. Additionally, we can be proud of the fact that we did not have a single DQ and this made a difference to our points total. Well done to each and every one of you, you deserved your second place and thank you for a great evening.”

The Hoddesdon Team are now looking forward to the second round which will be held on Saturday 12th November, 2011.

Final results 08/10/2011 Round 1 : 1st Chelsea & Westminster 349, 2nd Hoddesdon 258, 3rd Hemel Hempstead 243, 4th Stevenage 234, 5th St.Albans 233, 6th Halstead 197, 7th Hitchin 167, 8th Cheshunt A 104.

Click here for Round One Arena Results

Report on the 3rd Round of the 2010 National Arena Swimmng League

The 3rd and final round of this year’s competition was hosted by Hoddesdon Swimming Club at Southbury Road on Saturday 11th December.The Hoddesdon team swimmers knew only too well that they had to perform at their very best if they were to secure a place in the 1st Division next year. Acting hosts for the event entailed a lot of additonal hard work for the club committee and volunteers. It was due to their efforts that the gala was a great success and we would like to thank them all and in particular Sue Spicer for all her hard work organising and running the gala. As we have come to expect from our swimmers, their commitment, enthusiasm and strong team spirit showed itself once again and their performance and effort on the night was a credit to them. This showed itself in the final result where Hoddesdon achieved a well deserved joint 3rd place thus ensuring a place in the first division of the National Arena Swimming League next year. To achieve this, our swimmers performed brilliantly scoring 11 first places, 8 second places and 5 third places. They set 9 new individual Pbs and 18 new relay split time Pbs. As much as it would be nice to mention everybody’s effort here it is not practical, however there will be a link to the score sheets where all the gala data can be seen in great detail.

For the club, this year in the Arena League has been a hard but rewarding one, competing against some of the largest and strongest teams in the London Division. We may not have come out as winners but for a comparitively small club we have certainly put a good show and perhaps what is more important than winning is achieving the team comradeship and experience that we need to move on. From the Team Manager, Head Coach, Coaching Staff and Loyal Supporters a whole hearted Well Done!! to all of you who took part in this year’s most enjoyable competiton.

Well done to: Girl swimmer of the gala Kirstin Meikle and Boy swimmer of the gala Wiliam Yates.

Results of the gala: 1st place Chelsea & Westminster 287 points, 2nd place Hemel Hempstead 253 points, Joint 3rd place Hodddesdon 245 points and Epping Forest 245 points, 5th place Stevenage 219 points, 6th place Rochford District 201 points, 7th place Saxon Crown 184 points and 8th Sudbury & District 161 points.

Click for Link to : Club Performance Data nb. personal best times are highlighte in green on record sheet

Click for Link to: Gala Performance Data

Report on 2nd Round of the 2010 National Arena Swimming League

Hatfield Swimming Club hosted the second round gala of the 2010 season which was held on Saturday 13th November at the Hertfordshire Swimming Village. Three of the clubs taking part in the gala contained some of the top swimmers in the London Division, despite this, the swimmers from Hoddesdon pulled out all the stops to put up a very strong show against the remaining four teams and in a closely fought battle ended the gala in a very respectable 5th place. Our swimmers achieved one 1st place, four 2nd places and four 3rd places in the gala and set a very impressive 21 new Pb’s which is a positive indication that our swimmers overall performance continues to improve. It is not practical in this report to name each swimmer who achieved a new Pb but by clicking on to the link at the end of the report the gala results sheet which contains such details can be seen. It is worth mentioning here when considering the clubs achievement in the Arena Swimming League that unlike some other clubs who have no shortage of swimmers many of our younger swimmers are of necessity required to swim up to the next age group much to their disadvantage. Therefore it is with much pride that the Team Manager, Head Coach and all the Coaching Staff would like to say a big well done to all the Hoddesdon swimmers who showed such a great fighting team spirit on the night.

The outstanding girl swimmer of the gala was Georgina Fisher and the outstanding boy was Chris Smith, however, it is a fact that for effort the whole team was outstanding.

Results of the gala: 1st place Hatfield 381 pts, 2nd place Teddington 279pts, 3rd place Watford 272pts ,4th place Edmonton 229 pts,5th place Hoddesdon 177pts, 6th place Chelsea and Westminster 170pts, 7th place Anaconda 170pts and 8th place Saxon Crown 105pts.

Click her for link to gala results sheet.

Report on 1st Round of the 2010 National Arena Swimming League.

The first round of the 2010 season was held on Saturday 9th October at Hertfordshire Swimming Village. Hoddesdon were up against some of the strongest teams in the London Division and did well to come in 6th place on the night. Although the gala was dominated by the teams from Hatfield and Ealing the Hoddesdon swimmers performed well setting 16 new Pb’s and securing one 1st place, three 2nd places and two 3rd places. True to form the Hoddesdon team gave 110% effort and never once did any swimmer give less than their best even though on many occasions some of the younger members of the team were swimming up in a higher age group. Mark Charles the team manager and Head Coach Janet Warrington were very pleased with the team’s overall performance and would like to say well done to all the swimmers who took part. No doubt this will be a hard season but it will be enjoyable and will provide valuable experience for the younger members of the club.

Girl swimmer of the gala went to Chloe Richards and Boy swimmer of the gala went Paul O Doherty.

Results of the gala: 1st place Hatfield, 2nd place Ealing, 3rd place Teddington, 4th place Shiverers, 5th place Harrow & Wealdstone,6th place Hoddeson, 7th place Chelsea & Westminster and 8th place Hemel Hempstead.

Report on Third Round of the 2009 National Arena Swimming League

The third and final round gala of the 2009 series was held on Saturday 12th December 2009 at Woodside Pool Watford. It was inevitable that being the final round the competing clubs would be entering their strongest teams and this promised to provide a gala filled with excitement and drama.True to form the night lived up to its promise resulting in many outstanding performances from the more experienced swimmers which provided an inspiration to the younger members of the teams who in turn swam up to and, in some cases exceeded expectations. This level of enthusiasm and competitiveness resulted in a most enjoyable evening for the spectators and provided a fitting end to this year’s National Arena League fixtures.

Hoddesdon swimmers performed well securing 4 -1st places, 5-2nd places and 3 -3rd places on the night. There were 11 new Pb’s set which confirms that the club swimmers are improving and will no doubt continue to do so. The team manager and coaching staff were well pleased with enthusiasm and team spirit shown and the manager’s comments were that the gala was very close overall and the club could have come 5th on another day.This has been another year where we have maintained a good division one place Well done to all!!

On an individual basis, Lucy Charles had 3 -1st places in the Open 200m IM, 100m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle. Emma Warrington had 1- 1st place in the Open 100m Breastroke. Becky Freestone came 2nd in U12 50m Breastroke, Kaitlyn Walsh came 3rd in the U12 50m Butterfly and Hayley Warrington came 3rd in U14 100m Freestyle. In the boy’s events Chris Smith came 2nd in the U14 100m Breastroke, Chris Stevens came 2nd in the U16 100m Breastroke and Craig Ross came 3rd in the Open 100m Freestyle.

There were individual Pb’s in the girl’s events for: Lucy Charles in the Open 200m IM, Kaitlyn Walsh in U12 50m Butterfly, Becky Freestone in the U12 50m Breastroke and Kirstin Meikle in U14 100m Butterfly.

In the boy’s events there were Pb’s for Chris Smith in the U14 100m breastroke and 100m Butterfly,Tomas Stevens in U14 100m Backstroke,Tom Scott in the U12 50m Breastroke, Kane Hagley-King in U14 100m Butterfly and Chris Stevens in the U16 100m Freestyle and U16 100m Breastroke.

In the relay events the girl’s U12 4x2 medley team came 1st, the girl’s U12 4x2 Freestyle team came 2nd and the girl’s open Medley team came 2nd. 

Swimmer of the gala awards went to : Kirstin Meikle for a great PB in the 100m Fly and very good relay swims. Chris Smith for more P’b’s in the 100m Breastroke and Fly and his short notice swim up in U16 Fly and Open relay.

Results of the gala: 1st place Greenwich BM, 2nd place Edmonton P, 3rd place Bishop Stortford, 4th place Colchester, 5th place Wandsworth, 6th place Teddington, 7th Hoddesdon and 8th Harrow.

Click here for link to Hoddesdon swimmers performance results

         Hoddesdon Team National Arena Round 3

Report on Second Round of the 2009 National Arena Swimming League

The second round gala was held at Woodside Pool Watford on Saturday 14th November. As in the first round Hoddesdon were drawn against some of the largest and strongest teams in division 1. Every member of the Hoddesdon team swam well setting 14 new individual Pbs and 2 club records. They were rewarded for their sustained efforts by finishing the gala in 5th place which was a good results considering the quality and tenacity of the opposition which they faced.

There was two 2nd places for Georgina Fisher,second places for Lucy Charles and Emma Warington and 3rd places for Lucy Charles, Hayley Warrington and Tomas Stevens. The new club records were set by Craig Ross in the boys open 100m Freestyle and by the boys U14 4x2 Medly relay team.

New Pb’s were set by: Lucy Charles, Paul O’ Doherty(2), Georgina fisher(2), Kane Hagley King, Craig Ross , Becky Freestone, Hayley Warrington, Keira Sullivan, Emma Warrington and Chris Smith.

Swimmer of the gala awards went to Kaitlyn Walsh and Kane Hagley King.

Well done to every swimmer who took part in the gala, your efforts and enthusiasm are certainly appreciated by the team manager,coaching and support staff. Keep up the good work and this will ensure that the club maintains its position in Division One.

Results of Round 2 of the Arena National League:

1st place, Hatfield 358 points, 2nd place Ealing 328 points, 3rd place Watford 230 points, 4th place Wandsworth 219 points, 5th place Hoddesdon 182 points, 6th place Anaconda 179 points, 7th place Runnymede 160 points and 8th place Costa 141 points.

Click here for link to Hoddesdon swimmers gala performances

Report on the First Round of the 2009 National Arena Swimming League

The start of the 2009 season began for Hoddesdon with a trip to Southbury Road pool where they were drawn against some of the best teams in the league. From the start the atmosphere was electric and the pace at which the events took place was very impressive. Every team taking part were soon aware that this was going to be a tough night of competition and fast times with swimmers from team Ipswich and Ealing setting a red hot pace from the outset. Hoddesdon swimmers were keen to get in the mix but with so many problems leading up to the gala due to illness and then on the night there was more sickness they were unable to achieve their best performances. Despite these setbacks the team did their best as usual and we still managed to beat two of the teams and maybe with all fit and on form we could have beaten another two. It is not surprising that on the night there were not many Pb’s but the next round should produce better results with fingers crossed for a full fit and healthy squad. Well done everybody you showed great spirit and determination, the team manager and coaching staff were pleased that as usual you all gave 110% effort.

Swimmer of the gala awards went to:

 Boys- Chris Smith for two more Pb’s and great relay swims (swimming up in U16 as well).

Girls- Emma Warrington and Lucy Charles, Pb’s for both of them and a National Time for Emma ( if it had been a licensed meet) and our only first place for Lucy.

Click here for a link to the Hoddesdon swimmers gala performances.

Results: 1st Ipswich 355 points, 2nd Ealing 311points, 3rd Greenwich 248 points, 4th Edmonton 226 points, 5th Teddington 181 points, 6th Hoddesdon 179 points, 7th Griffins 156 points and 8th St Albans 140 points

    link to Swimming League Results Page: http://www.speedoleague.org.uk/?l=3&p=6

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