20 Mar 2005 - Essex Championships
Thurrock Swimming Club are Essex Champions again following a weekend of high drama, great joy, sorrow and extreme effort. The club successfully defended their title to again be named top club at the 2005 Essex ASA Swimming Championships.
The team received the Albert Turner memorial trophy in front of an ecstatic cheering crowd at Blackshots Swimming Pool in Grays, hosting only its second ever championship gala. Thurrock triumphed against 26 other Essex clubs, beating second placed Romford by a margin of 76 points. However, the margin disguises the effort required to secure the team's victory
Chief Coach Alex Morgan explained "Coming into Block D we had 5 of our Elite Squad swimmers sick with a mixture of broken arms, chickenpox and viral infections. Obviously none had trained in preparation for the gala and only Megan Langridge and Chris Webb were fit enough to compete on the day. Our leading margin of 89 points was cut in half at the end of the first day, but I am so proud of the Thurrock swimmers who lifted their performances with many finishing far higher than their seeded place, contributing all important points to our eventual victory". Thurrock were presented with the Albert Turner trophy by Essex ASA president Peter Eddy having amassed a total of 1023 points, 67 points ahead of Romford Town in second place with Chelmsford 3rd (876 points).
The team received the Albert Turner memorial trophy in front of an ecstatic cheering crowd at Blackshots Swimming Pool in Grays, hosting only its second ever championship gala. Thurrock triumphed against 26 other Essex clubs, beating second placed Romford by a margin of 76 points. However, the margin disguises the effort required to secure the team's victory
Chief Coach Alex Morgan explained "Coming into Block D we had 5 of our Elite Squad swimmers sick with a mixture of broken arms, chickenpox and viral infections. Obviously none had trained in preparation for the gala and only Megan Langridge and Chris Webb were fit enough to compete on the day. Our leading margin of 89 points was cut in half at the end of the first day, but I am so proud of the Thurrock swimmers who lifted their performances with many finishing far higher than their seeded place, contributing all important points to our eventual victory". Thurrock were presented with the Albert Turner trophy by Essex ASA president Peter Eddy having amassed a total of 1023 points, 67 points ahead of Romford Town in second place with Chelmsford 3rd (876 points).
Amongst the swims were 5 performances which also earned the swimmers their National qualifying times. Brooke Turner aged 15 from Tilbury swam a textbook 400m freestyle, tucked in second place until the final 50m when she powered out of the final turn in impressive style to romp home and take the gold medal in 4.26.50 securing her place at the national Finals in Sheffield.
It was a case of the girls going the distance as 12 year old Molly Epsley from Horndon achieved her first ever National Qualifying time, with a superb swim to win a silver medal in the 800m Freestyle in a time of 9.57.96. But it was 11 year old Kerriann Chipperfield who took the laurels, with 2 swims within the demanding times for the National Championships, also taking a silver medal in the 200m freestyle (2.24.83) and bronze in the 200m fly (2.45.99).
Joanna Waterman aged 10 from Grays, enjoyed an excellent first ever Essex Championships and continued this run with 4 medal winning swims including a silver in the 200m freestyle (2.35.57) but it was her team mate Abigail Sayer who attends Stifford Clays school who went one step better in the 200m Fly to win her first ever championship gold medal - completing the 8 lengths in 3 minutes 1.97 seconds. 14 year old Billy Tubbs also took his first ever ?Essex Gold? with a well deserved 100m fly swim on 1.04.82, just one tenth of a second ahead of the second placed swimmer. And 11 year old Megan Langridge completed the list of gold medalists with a 200m fly swim of (2.35.69).
Medal winning swims were plentiful including many of the squads best performances of the championships. 12 year old Robyn Turner completely turned the form books on their head to take bronze for 200m Backstroke (2.42.34) to add to her Freestyle bronze (2.21.25). while Georgia Hunton Clarke cruised to a silver medal in the 13 years girls 200m IM (2.31.86).
Gable Hall student Conor Harold from Corringham saved his best swim until last to claim a bronze medal in the 12 year boys 200m Fly (2.40.06) as did Ben Grix who matched this achievement in the 15 year age group (2.25.23). Christopher Webb from Grays may have been recovering from chickenpox, but he put everything he had into reaching 5 out of five finals including a 4th place in the 15 years 100m Individual Medley (1.08.27). And there were medal winning swims also from 11 year old Charlie Hayes (4th 200m Breaststroke (3-13.67), Thomas Ingram (5th boys 13 years 400m IM 5.12.71), Rhys Mould (6th boys 14 years 400m IM 5.07.36) and Matthew Dibble (6th 12 year boys 100m Freestyle 1.06.24).
Speaking afterwards, chief coach Alex Morgan said "I'm not sure what thrilled me the most, the spirit and efforts of the superb Thurrock squads or the fact that we were presented the award on home soil at the wonderfully equipped and staffed Blackshots pool. But I would like to thank everyone, swimmers, parents, coaches, supporters and the many people involved in the organisation and facility for making it such a special occasion for Thurrock Swimming Club."
As always though, there was little time to celebrate as the squads resumed training at 5-15 on Monday morning in preparation for the next gala at Norwich!
It was a case of the girls going the distance as 12 year old Molly Epsley from Horndon achieved her first ever National Qualifying time, with a superb swim to win a silver medal in the 800m Freestyle in a time of 9.57.96. But it was 11 year old Kerriann Chipperfield who took the laurels, with 2 swims within the demanding times for the National Championships, also taking a silver medal in the 200m freestyle (2.24.83) and bronze in the 200m fly (2.45.99).
Joanna Waterman aged 10 from Grays, enjoyed an excellent first ever Essex Championships and continued this run with 4 medal winning swims including a silver in the 200m freestyle (2.35.57) but it was her team mate Abigail Sayer who attends Stifford Clays school who went one step better in the 200m Fly to win her first ever championship gold medal - completing the 8 lengths in 3 minutes 1.97 seconds. 14 year old Billy Tubbs also took his first ever ?Essex Gold? with a well deserved 100m fly swim on 1.04.82, just one tenth of a second ahead of the second placed swimmer. And 11 year old Megan Langridge completed the list of gold medalists with a 200m fly swim of (2.35.69).
Medal winning swims were plentiful including many of the squads best performances of the championships. 12 year old Robyn Turner completely turned the form books on their head to take bronze for 200m Backstroke (2.42.34) to add to her Freestyle bronze (2.21.25). while Georgia Hunton Clarke cruised to a silver medal in the 13 years girls 200m IM (2.31.86).
Gable Hall student Conor Harold from Corringham saved his best swim until last to claim a bronze medal in the 12 year boys 200m Fly (2.40.06) as did Ben Grix who matched this achievement in the 15 year age group (2.25.23). Christopher Webb from Grays may have been recovering from chickenpox, but he put everything he had into reaching 5 out of five finals including a 4th place in the 15 years 100m Individual Medley (1.08.27). And there were medal winning swims also from 11 year old Charlie Hayes (4th 200m Breaststroke (3-13.67), Thomas Ingram (5th boys 13 years 400m IM 5.12.71), Rhys Mould (6th boys 14 years 400m IM 5.07.36) and Matthew Dibble (6th 12 year boys 100m Freestyle 1.06.24).
Speaking afterwards, chief coach Alex Morgan said "I'm not sure what thrilled me the most, the spirit and efforts of the superb Thurrock squads or the fact that we were presented the award on home soil at the wonderfully equipped and staffed Blackshots pool. But I would like to thank everyone, swimmers, parents, coaches, supporters and the many people involved in the organisation and facility for making it such a special occasion for Thurrock Swimming Club."
As always though, there was little time to celebrate as the squads resumed training at 5-15 on Monday morning in preparation for the next gala at Norwich!