Farnham wins final round of Div 2 (West) National Swimming League.

It was a great night of celebration for the swimmers as Farnham clinched promotion with an impressive win in the final round of the league clash held at the Eddie Read Swimming & Diving Complex in Southampton on the 13th Dec 2008.

Farnham were up against clubs from Rushmoor Royals (b), Chalfont Otters, Littlehampton, West Wight and the Isle of Wight with the league table showing Littlehampton and Farnham level on points with 2 wins each in the previous 2 rounds.

Farnham started brilliantly with a win from Rebecca Fisher and a Third from Rob Dale in the open age group 100 Individual Medleys.

This was followed up by Farnham winning 5 of the 8 relay events, which gave them a healthy 8-point lead after 10 events of the 50 to be run.

We then had some excellent swims with winners in these races:

• Elle Walton in 3 events - 13 and under 100 and 15 and under 100 metre backstroke plus 13 and under 100 metre butterfly.
• Katherine Browne in the Open age group 100 metre butterfly.
• Lucy Peters in the 11 and under 50 metre butterfly.
• Jack Peters in the 13 and under 100 metre backstroke.
• Rebecca Fisher in the 15 and under 100 metre butterfly and also 15 and under 100 metre breaststroke.
• Kayleigh Copeland in the Open age group 100 metre backstroke.
• Adenais Vachon in the 15 and under and Open age group 100 metre freestyle.
• Connor Price in the 15 and under 100 metre freestyle.
• Natalie Jones in the 13 and under 100 metre freestyle.

With the majority of these being Personal bests and club records.

Also worth a mention were close run second places for these events:

• Jack Peters in the 13 and under 100 metre breaststroke.
• Marcus Frontera in the 11 and under 50 metre butterfly.
• Katherine Browne in the Open age group 100 metre breaststroke.
• Pippa Littlejohn in the 11 and under 50 metre freestyle.
• Josh Wreford in the Open age group 100 metre freestyle.

This meant that after 42 of the 50 events Farnham held a commanding 14-point lead going into the final relay events.

Despite some mishaps with the tension mounting the club managed to win 3 races with a second in another to finish the night champions and gaining promotion to Division 1.

Well done to all swimmers especially considering a lot of the athletes swimming above their actual age group and the fact that the club has been hit by the dreaded bug that seems to be going around all the schools, which disrupted training for the last 3 weeks for the majority of the squad.

The coaches are really pleased with the progress of all swimmers and look forward to the challenge of the next division in 2009.

13th December 2009