Tring swimmers second in Peanuts League

It was a really exciting first weekend of the Peanuts League, and nice to see such a strong team performance with every team member contributing to the result and 28 happy smiling faces throughout the evening.

The competition was tough with a strong Hoddesdon team winning comfortably, and the other five teams being very close all evening. After 12 events Tring were in sixth place, but things began to turn with the first relay events in which the team’s strength started to come through.

A special mention must go to the 9yo girls relay team of Nina Gething, Lucy Bee, Isabella Dolton and Charlie Mailey who broke the Club Record by more than a second in the 4x25m freestyle with a brilliant time of 1min19.64s.

It was also exciting to see a full 9yo boys team for the first time in many years, and with a quick time of 1.23.84m there is a great deal of potential for the future in this group.

Once the second round of individual events began Tring surged again with two fantastic individual club records, a rare achievement, by Charlie Mailey (25m backstroke in 21.71s) and Sam Pyefinch (25m butterfly in 15.72s) and some strong seconds and thirds from Daisy Knight (U11 breaststroke), Boys Captain Joe Judson (U13 freestyle), Lucy Bee (9yo breaststroke), Rosie Cave (U13 butterfly) and Lili Doubler (U11 backstroke).

Galas are won and lost by how swimmers fight to gain single places and converting a sixth into a fifth is every bit as important as winning races; lots of examples of this fighting spirit were really pleasing to see. There was a particularly impressive 25m breaststroke in his debut gala by Edward Larner – when his goggles came off on his dive things didn’t look good but Edward brushed this off and stormed through to take second in a quick 27.43s.

When the final round of relays began Tring were in a close fight for third with Cheshunt, but the strength in depth of the team really came through with a string of excellent relay races.

With a fine win by the U13 boys freestyle team (Max Gething, Joe Judson, Sam Pyefinch and Oliver Denton-Sparke) in the penultimate event of the night, Tring moved into second place overall for the first time and clinched it with a thrilling Squadron race at the end.

Head coach Johnny Bradley said: “Well done to everyone! I was particularly pleased to see the U13 boys and girls giving such fantastic support to the younger team members in their first gala - racing for your club can feel daunting first time round and just a pat on the back from your teammates means so much.

“All 28 team members were excellent, but the coaching team were unanimous in deciding that the Swimmers of the Night were Edward Larner and Lucy Bee - well done to you both and good luck for the next round in June!”