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Herts Flyers Open Meet - Going ahead as planned

Today's event at QE Boys is going ahead as planned. The warm up is at 1.30 pm. Swimmers need to give notice if they are not attending so they can be withdrawn from the events they have entered. This is particularly important so that events are not swum with "empty" lanes. If you are not planning to attend then please email pbscgalasec@gmail.com . This email address is being monitored so your withdrawal can be notified to the event organisers.

To those swimmers who are attending we wish you the best of luck and hope that you swim well.

January - Swimmer of the Month Trophy "And the winner is........."

Wray Shewell Cooper, PBSC's Head Coach last night awarded the Swimmer of the month trophy to Nicholas Formby who swims in Squad 2. Nicholas has the honour of being the first recipient of this trophy and it is well deserved given the recent progresses he has made. Over the last few months he has shown a great commitment to training regularly and although not having been in Squad 2 for long has progressed towards the front of the lane. His commitment to training has also led to improved performances in competition where he has posted a number of PB's and he has also achieved his first County Qualifying time.

Well done Nicholas!

Herts Flyers - "Last Chance County Qualifier" Open Meet

Tomorrow we have forty four PBSC swimmers competing at QE Boys School in the Herts Flyers Open Meet. This open meet is the last opportunity for those swimmers seeking to attain County Qualifying times and we wish all PBSC swimmers the best of luck and hope they swim well.

The warm up starts at 1.30pm and PBSC Swimmers are advised to be ready on poolside by 1.15pm.

PBSC Camping weekend / Chessington World of Adventures

A number of the Clubs members are keen campers and Steve Shipman has kindly offered to organise a camping weekend for those that are interested in a weekend away. The dates in mind are the weekend of July 7th and 8th 2012. Initial thoughts are to look for a site close to Chessington World of Adventures to incorporate a day at the theme park. If you are interested in taking part in this weekend which is open to all Club members then either speak to Steve Shipman who is often on the balcony at the FF or email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk and your email will be forwarded to him. Steve will need to know numbers and tent sizes etc so that he can make appropiate enquiries with campsites.This is a geat opportunity for the kids to have some social time away from the rigours of training and competition.

Thanks to Steve for offering to arrange this activity! 

Herts Major League Results

We are still to post the Herts Major League results from last weekends events. This is because due to delays by the "hosting" clubs not submitting them to the Herts Swimming League(HSL). The HSL need to confirm the results before circulating the official results to Clubs.

As soon as we are able to publish the official results we will update tthe website and the PBSC Hytek Database. 

PBSC Social -Peanuts and Counties Awards night

PBSC will be having a social event and disco at Elm Court on Saturday 28th April 2012. At this event there will be awards for our swimmers who have swum in the Peanuts Trials and at the Herts County Championships. It will also be a great opportunity for the kids and parents to socialise away from the pool so make sure you put it in your diary now.

More info closer to the date!

Squad 4 - Friday training at 6.15pm

We are pleased to announce that Squad 4 will have a new session at the Furzefield starting this Friday 3rd February 2012 at 6.15pm. Swimmers will need to be on the pool side for 6.10pm.

This weeks usual Squad 4 session on Thursday at 7.15pm will go ahead as usual but will be replaced by the Friday session after this week. Over recent months we have seen significant growth in the Club which has led to a high demand on the water time that is available to our swimmers. To alleviate some of this pressure we have had consultation with the Furzefield Sports Centre management and have managed to secure this additional pool time.

Wray, PBSC's Head Coach has taken the decision to move Squad 4 to the Friday evening slot. This will allow Wray, the opportunity to take Squad 4 on a regular basis which also gives the swimmers a great opportunity to have his experience and direction as well as the opportunity to impress him.

In the event that this change causes any great difficulties then please speak with Wray and Bronwen.

We look forward to seeing Squad 4 swimmers at this new session.

Great Performances by "Jade" and "Blue" Teams

Last night saw two excellent performances by the "Jade" and "Blue" Team's that were competing in the second round of the Herts Major League in Divisions 3 and 1 respectively.

The "Jade" team who were competing at the Furzefield finished in second place to Royston SC in a close run gala. In the early part of the gala we were in fourth place but came through strongly to finish second. This result should put us into a good position in the league going into the final round where if we do well we may have a chance at gaining promotion - Well done to all PBSC "Jade" team on a great result!

The "Blue" team who were competing at The Venue, Borehamwood also excelled in their performances and finished in third place behind very strong teams from Watford SC and Hoddesdon SC. This great result should put us into the final where we will be competing against the top six Hertfordshire Clubs. This is a great achievement for the Club after gaining promotion last year - Well done to all PBSC "Blue" team on another fantastic result. 

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC "Jade" team coach - "It was a great performance by the Jade Team to finish in second place and I was delighted by the effort shown by the swimmers. This result put's the team in a great position going into the final round were if we can avoid disqualifications we can do well"

Wray Shewell-Cooper - PBSC "Blue" team coach "It was another great performance by the Blue team, who are performing well above my expectations in the Herts Major League. As Head Coach I'm also extemely happy with the performance of the "Jade" team who are competing in the Herts Major League for the first time"

The swimmers times from each of the galas will be posted as soon as we are able, which is likely to be in the next few days because we have to await the official results from each event.

Here are some photos from the Blue team gala at Borehamwood.

Georgina finishes 11th at "Zonal" Championships

The ASA "Zonal" Championships were held on Saturday 28th January 2012 at Corby in Northamptonshire and PBSC's only qualifier for this event was our girls captain, Georgina Lawson.

The "Zonal" Championships were a new competition introduced last year and they are the next "stepping" stone between the Regional and National Championships. To qualify and swim in these Championships is therefore a fantastic achievement in itself.

Georgina is the first PBSC swimmer to compete in a "Zonal" Championship and on Saturday she swam in the 50m Freestyle recording a time of 28.91 seconds to finish in 11th place out of 43 competitiors in the 14 year old girls age group. This was a great swim and Georgina just missed out on making the final by 0.2 seconds. Well done to Georgina!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Georgina swam really well to finish 11th and I'm very happy with the performance. It's my first "Zonal" Championships too and I'm hoping to be back with more swimmers from PBSC next year"

Good Luck to PBSC Swimmers competing this weekend!

This weekend we have Potters Bar Blue and Jade Teams competing in the second round of the Herts Major League at The Venue, Borehamwood (arrive 5.45pm) and Furzefield Sports Centre (arrive 6.15pm). We will have over fifty swimmers from the Club taking part in these two gala's. In addition to this Georgina Lawson, PBSC's Girls Captain will be competing in the "Zonal" Championships that are being held earlier in the day before heading back down the motorway to Borehamwood.

PBSC Blue are currently in sixth place in Division 1 going into the second round and need to consolidate on a great first round performance. PBSC Jade Team who are competing in the Herts Major League for the first time this year are currently in 3rd place in Division 3 and should have a good chance on improving on this position at our home pool. Good Luck to all PBSC swimmers that are swimming in the two galas!

Georgina Lawson is the Clubs only qualifier for the "Zonal" Championships that are being held this weekend in Corby. "Zonal" Championships were introduced last year and are the next tier between Regional and National Championships. Georgina will be competing in the 50m Freestyle and will be competing against the very best swimmers from East Region and the Midlands - Good Luck to Georgina!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach " I was delighted with the first round performances from the Jade and Blue Teams. It's important we try and consolidate on the first round results, and I'm confident we will. It's important that both teams avoid picking up disqualifiactions as like the first round there is likely to be a small points margin between the competing Clubs"  , "I'm also looking forward to attending my first "Zonal" Championships with Georgina and I'm looking for her to cotinue her recent good form at this high level event"

Swimmer of the Month Trophy

As we approach the end of January 2012 it is an appropriate time to announce that Wray Shewell-Cooper, Head Coach will be awarding the "swimmer of the month" trophy. This is a new initiative for 2012 and Wray's nomination for January is currently under consideration. The recipient of the monthly award will be presented with the above trophy that can be retained until the next recipient is named.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I'm looking forward to awarding the "swimmer of the month" trophy and have a number of swimmers under consideration for the inaugural award. There are lot's of different criteria for which I will be making the award that include attitude and commitment to training, improvement in technique and competition perfomance. I was impressed by the swimmers performances in the Peanut's trials and have a number of the younger swimmers who took part under consideration for it's first award" 

Peanuts Trials at the Furzefield on Sunday 22nd January 2012

Well done to all swimmers, supporters, officials and helpers for a successful time trials on Sunday night.  62 swimmers swam 25m of each stroke and recorded 136 personal best times and a further 68 NPT (no previous time).  The information gained from the trials will help the selectors for the upcoming galas and will help the coaches develop the swimmers.  There were a small number of disqualifications which happens in all galas at all levels and even these help swimmers and coaches focus on swimming and racing technique.  Here are the results of the trials.  If you missed the trials please speak to your coach about whether there might be other opportunities to record times.

We will be entering two PBSC Teams "Blue" and "Jade" in the 2012 Peanut's league which is a swimming league for young swimmers in Hertfordshire. As part of the Club's preparation for these events we ran some time trials for all "Squad" swimmers who are under the Age of 13 as of 30th June 2012.

The results from these time trials will help us select the teams that will represent PBSC in the forthcoming galas: -

The Tape Trophy - Saturday 11th February
The South Herts Trophy - Saturday 31st March
Peanut's Gala Round 1 - Saturday 21st April
Peanut's Gala Round 2 - Saturday 19th May
Peanut's Gala Round 3 - Saturday 16th June

Please try and keep the above dates free so that you are able to swim for the Club (if selected). If you have any questions with regard to the Peanut's trials please speak with Wray and Bronwen. Note the youngest age for swimming in the galas is 9 years on 30th June 2012, but we encourage 8-year olds to enter the time trials.

Thanks to the older squad swimmers and masters swimmers for giving up their pool time on Sunday.

Hoorah for the young officials

Niamh Gormley has qualified as a level 2 judge and as such is probably the youngest in the country at 15.  This is hot on the heels of Samantha Burt who was the youngest J1 in the country at 14.  Fantastic progress and well done to both of them.

Watford Open Meet - The Results are in and PBSC swimmers performances exceed expectations

The results from this weekends County Qualifier Open Meet at Watford are in and show that PBSC swimmers were in great form. The results from the event can be summarised as follows:

* PBSC swimmers competed in 258 swims of which 142 (55%) were personal best times for the swimmer. In fact so many of our 55 swimmers set PB's that there are too many to list by name on this website entry. Please see the results on this link to see all the PB's but special mentions to Amelia Hardy for a 9 second PB on her 100m Butterfly, a 28 second PB to Jack Shewell Cooper in the 400m Free, Georgina and Stephanie Tallon in the 200m IM, Stephanie Tallon in the 50m Butterfly, Katie Gormley (200m Free, 400m Free and 200m Breast), Samantha Burt (200m free and 50m breast), Vinthiya Perinpanathan in the 200m Breaststroke, Charli Stapleton (100m Breast),  Madeleine Formby (50m Breast), Adam Gill and James Blount in the 50m Freestyle - Well done to all swimmers that achieved PB's in their events

* We had numerous swimmers who won medals in their events - Georgina Lawson, Ben Harrison, David Shipman, Andrea Houben, Ellen Hunt, Samantha Burt, Morgan Newman, Jack Higgins, Sean Lovell, Katie Harrison, Georgianna Balchin, Phoebe Love, Aryan Alekasir, Georgina Tallon, Thomas Stanbury, Andrew Bays, Kate Andrew, Harriet Newman, Lauren Andrew, James Woodward, James Ayres, Katie Gormley and Jack Shewell-Cooper - A big well done!

*There were 103 swims that were swum in a time that achieved the swimmers a County Qualifying time. Those that attained their first County Qualfiying times for the 2012 Hertfordshire County Championships were Harriet Newman, Rachel Connery, Claudia Hawkins, Sean Lovell, Nicholas Formby, Kaywon Alekasir, Joshua Higgins and Josef Wheeler. PBSC now have 46 swimmers that have attained qualification for the 2012 Championships. Well done to all PBSC Swimmers that swam CQT's this weekend.

* Four PBSC swimmers achieved Regional Qualifying Times. They were Ben Harrison (200m Breast, 200m Free, 400m Free, 200m Fly, 200m IM),
Morgan Newman (200m Breast), Georgina Lawson (100m Free, 200m Free, 400m Free, 100m Back) and Phoebe love (100m Free, 200m Free). Well done to Ben, Morgan, Phoebe and Georgina.

* Georgina Lawson continued her current record breaking feats by breaking four PBSC Club records in the 100m Individual Medley in a time of   1 min 11.66 and then breaking her own 100m Club record in the 100m Freestyle in a time of 1 min 01.08. Well Done to Georgina.

The results from the Watford Open meet are now on the PBSC Hytek Database that can be accessed via the link on the swimmers times page.

Wray Shewell-Cooper PBSC Head Coach "It has been a successful weekend at Watford and it is great that so many of our swimmers achieved PB's especially as for some this was their first open meet experience. It's also great to see so many of our swimmers winning medals and I am really pleased with how the team performed, it was above my expectation"

Here and here are some pictures from session 2.  Here are some pictures from Sunday.  Apologies for any accidental omissions.

Watford County Qualifier Open Meet 2012 - Good Luck to all PBSC swimmers that are competing!

This weekend there will be over fifty PBSC Swimmers competing in the Watford County Qualifier Open meet that takes place over four sessions, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. We are the Club with the biggest number of swimmers competing so we should have a big presence on the poolside which should help make for a great weekend of racing. For many of our swimmers they will be aspiring to achieve County Qualifying times to so they are eligible to enter this years Hertfordshire County Championships. The session timings are as follows: -

Saturday 14th January 2012   - Session 1 warm up 1300 hrs and start 1400 hrs, Session 2 warm up 1700hrs and start 1800 hrs.

Sunday 15th January 212 - Session 3 warm up 0830 hrs and start 0930 hrs, Session 4 warm up 1245 hrs and start 1345 hrs.

Wray Shewell-Cooper PBSC Head Coach "I'm excited about having such a big team from PBSC competing at the Watford County Qualifier Open meet and confident there will be some good performances from all of our swimmers. I'm looking for the team to encourage each other over the weekend"

Extra Video's on "Coaches Corner"

See "Coaches Corner" for some extra video's and the link to the "Go Swim" website, that has great video's, tips and drill's and well worth viewing by our swimmers.

Goals achieved in Bognor!

Samantha & Edward Burt ventured South over the weekend to take part in Littlehampton Swimming Club’s Splash into 2012 meet. They rose to the occasion and both achieved the goals they had set themselves. Edward started off the gala well, gaining a new personal best in the 50 free. He then joined his grandparents to watch Samantha come away with medals in all the events she entered, including gold for the 200m free. Medals were not what Sam wanted from the meet, her goal was to gain another CQT. This looked unlikely as she could barely walk following the land training on Friday. However, grit, determination and a strong level of competition meant that she achieved her aim. Well done to both of them. It was a great meet, the hosts were very welcoming and the level of competition was strong throughout the age groups. The pool was opposite Butlins at Bognor & close to the sea. Maybe this is a venue more of the cub could experience in the future – their next meet is in April.   

PBSC Morning training sessions at Queenswood School to start this week!

We are pleased to announce that PBSC will this week start two weekly morning training sessions at the Queenswood School pool. Wray-Shewell Cooper, PBSC Head Coach will be taking these sessions and PBSC swimmers will be training alongside swimmers from Queenswood School.

These morning sessions are an important development for the Club and are open to swimmers in Squads 1, 2 and 3. These sessions will take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, starting at 7am though to 7.45/8am depending on the swimmers need to get to school.

PBSC are keen to develop our swimming programme and the link with Queenswood School is a great opportunity, so we are encouraging our swimmers to try and get along and take part in these sessions. The first session will start on Tuesday 10th January 2011.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "The additional water time and the opportunity to link up with Queenswood School is a fantastic opportunity for the Club and I am encouraging as many of our Squad 1, 2 and 3 swimmers to come along for some extra training"

PBSC Swimmers off to a "Flyer" in the Herts Major League 2012

PBSC swimmers made a super start to 2012 with two great team performances on Saturday 7th January 2012 in the first round of the Herts Major League.

Hemel Hempstead

Potters Bar "Jade" were competing in the Division 3 at Hemel Hempstead and finished in fourth place, just missing out on third place to Bushey SC by six points. This is a great first round performance by the team as it is the first time we have entered two teams in this swimming league and our swimmers demonstrated they can do well in this competition. 

There were individual first places by Thomas Stanbury, Paul Newman, James Blount, Rebecca Hurley and Stephen Curley - Well done to these swimmers and it's good to see their efforts in training being rewarded.

It is also very pleasing that there were 25 PB's Times achieved by the following swimmers: Eleanor Lawson, Amelia Hardy, Siobhan Gallagher, Luc Houben, Lorcan Vieyra, Nicholas Formby (x3), Madeleine Formby, Josef Wheeler, Sabrina Dighe, Jessica Hurley, Alex Ayres, Adam Gill, Mathew Papa (x2), Kate Andrew, James Blount (x2), Rebecca Hurley, Paul Newman, Yasmine Crowe and Stephen Curley - Well done to all these swimmers.

The results are here.  The results can also be accessed via the PBSC Hytek on-line database, the link for which is on the "Swimmers times" page. To see the splits from the relays just "click" on the "Relay" button.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115528579666953238463/HemelHSL7thJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCKGdmpyjwNjqqgE

Click on the above link for some photographs take by our swimmers

Borehamwood

Potters Bar "Blue" were competing in Division 1, having been promoted last season and showed that as a Club we have really progressed over the last 18 months. In this first round gala we finished in third place behind very strong teams from Watford SC and City of St Albans SC. This was a great performance, especially in light of the fact that many of the swimmers were feeling the rigours of land training the previous night.

There were individual 1st places for David Shipman, Katie Conyers, Ben Harrison and Georgina Lawson and personal best swims from Phoebe Love, James Woodward, Jash Pooni, Claire Dean, Oliver Formby, James Ayres, David Shipman and Stephanie Tallon. Well done!

The results are here. The results can also be accessed via the PBSC Hytek on-line database, the link for which is on the "Swimmers times" page. To see the splits from the relays just "click" on the "Relay" button. 

Coaches Comments: -

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I'm delighted with the performance of the two teams last night and it shows we can hold our own in Division's 1 and 3. I'm really pleased that there were so many PB's and it's a great start to 2012 by the PBSC "Blue" and "Jade" teams so a big well done to all the swimmers"

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Senior Coach "The performance by the PBSC "Jade" team was excellent and all the swimmers swam really well. In particular I was really pleased with the team spirit and I'm delighted with so many PB's"

And finally, a big thank you to all the PBSC Volunteers and helpers that assisted with the management of the teams and the running of the gala's as without you these events would not happen.

Mid Herts Schools Team

We have received a request for swimmers to represent Mid-Herts Schools in the Hertfordshire School's Swimming Association District Gala on Friday 3rd February at Watford. This is to swim for Mid-Herts against five other districts in Hertfordshire as a team gala. The races are 100m IM, 50m each stroke individuals and a medley and freestyle relay each 4 x 50m. These are swum for each gender and for each of three agegroups: Years 7-8, years 9-10 and years 11-13. To qualify the swimmer needs to be at a school in the right area (Mid Herts - area 4) of Herfordshire:

http://www.hertsssa.org.uk/uploads/5/2/5/3/5253152/herts_district_map.pdf  

Joanne Mitchinson jmt@monkswalk.herts.sch.uk is coordinating entries for Mid Herts and has vacancies in most genders and agegroups. The next step for you is to reply to Joanne. Please mention your date of birth, which school you attend and that you swim with Potters Bar Swimming Club. Then Joanne will confirm whether you are selected to swim.

Wray Shewell Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I am encouraging all PBSC swimmers to put themselves forward for selection for the Mid-Herts Schools Team as being selected is a worthy achievement and it also helps raise the profile of our Club. I'm hoping that some of our swimmers may gain selection for the area schools teams and perhaps even go on and swim in the Schools National Championships"

Happy New Year - It's Olympic Year!

 

It's "Olympic Year" and best wishes to all swimmers, families and friends of Potters Bar SC for the year ahead. With the excitement of the Olympic's it is going to pass quickly and the sport of swimming will have its profile raised in the media in the coming months. The fireworks in London last night have given an insight to how exciting the year ahead will be.

At the beginning of March we have the British Championships at the Olympic pool in Stratford, which also double as the "Olympic Trials" for those hoping to make the British Team. A number of PBSC swimmers have tickets for this event and it will be a geat opportunity for them to see some great swimming. You can get to know more about the GB swimmers who will be looking to qualify for the Olympics by following the attached link http://www.swimming.org/britishswimming/2012trials/  . You can check out the stat's and profiles of swimmers such as Liam Tancock, Rebecca Adlington, Fran Halsall and Hannah Miley who are all Olympic podium prospects.

Not withstanding the excitement of the Olympics at PBSC we have a busy start to the New Year with two teams competing in the Herts Major League (Divisions 1 and 3) this weekend, with over fifty swimmers representing the Club. We also have over fifty swimmers competing at the Watford County Qualifier Open Meet over the weekend of January 13th and 14th 2012. This is a Club record entry for an open meet.

So far we have 38 swimmers qualified for this years Hertfordshire County Championships and many of those competing at Watford will be looking to attain qualifying times for additional events with some aslo aspiring for regional, zonal and perhaps National qualifying times! Good luck to all those competing! 

The Hertfordshire County Championships are a little over 10 weeks away and it will be of great interest to see how our swimmers perform. This week sees the start of a 10 week Land Training programme trial which should help boost our swimmers performances and help provide a varied form of training. For our younger swimmers we have the Peanut's Trials that will take place at the Furzefeild Sports Centre on Sunday 22nd January which is an event for them to look forward too. More details on the Peanut's trial to be published shortly.

Those that have been at the Furzefield over the Xmas break will have seen that our swimmers have put plenty of time in the pool and Wray and Brownwen are delighted with the attendance.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, Head Coach "It has been great to see so many swimmers taking a "dip" in the pool over Xmas and I'm confident this will help them perform well in the Herts Major League and Watford Open meets. The Herts County Championships are just over 10 weeks away and I'm hoping that the good attendance will continue" 

We hope to keep the website up to date with good news stories. If you have any suitable items then please email them to Chris Andrew secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk

Coaches Corner

PBSC Swimmers are encouraged to check out the video's on the Coaches Corner page, just click on the links. The Coaching staff are interested to know who has watched them so make sure you mention that you have the next time your at training.

Eugene Gormley awarded the Masters Trophy for 2011

Twenty six PBSC Masters swimmers met this evening for the annual Christmas Curry. This evening is also the presentation evening for the Masters Trophy, which this year has been awarded to Eugene Gormley. Eugene has been a PBSC Masters swimmer for a number of years, regularly training with the masters and squads. He is also a PBSC Official and often on the poolside helping out at the various galas as a volunteer and always greets everyone with a big smile!

Well done, Eugene - well deserved!

Hertsmere Challenge Team Gala

Well done to the PBSC swimmers who competed in the Hertsmere Challenge at The Venue, Borehamwood. The Official results have been received and have now been posted on the PBSC Hytek on-line database that can be accessed via the Swimmers times page. On the night : -

• Four individual 1st places for Emily Dean, Paul Newman, Luc Houben and James Blount - Well done to these four swimmers.
• Sixteen PBSC swimmers recorded PB's, they were Sabrina Dighe, Luc Houben, Harriet Newman, Sean Lovell, Vinthiya Perinpanathan, Mathew Papa, Siobhan Gallagher, James Blount, Kirsty Newton, Jack Shewell-Cooper, Sophia Zeinden, Yasmine Crowe, Paul Newman and Anna Church - Well done!

Wray Shewell-Cooper - PBSC Head Coach "PBSC Swimmers once again showed that they are swimming well and I'm extremely happy that so many of the swimmers recorded PB's"

Click on the below link to see some pictures from the evening

https://picasaweb.google.com/115528579666953238463/HertsmereChallengeDec11?authkey=Gv1sRgCOn--8vE8Z3p0AE

Georgina Lawson swims fantastically well at the Scottish Open Winter Championships

  

PBSC Girls Captain, Georgina Lawson has these last few days been in Inverness, Scotland competing at the Scottish Winter Short Course Championships. This is an Open Age competition so for 14 year old Georgina to qualify for this event is a big achievement at such a young age. Georgina has Scottish heritage, through her Mum, Karen.

On day one of the competition Georgina spent part of the session chatting with Scottish swimming sensation, Hannah Miley (pictured above) who is already an Olympian and World Championship silver medallist and a podium prospect for London 2012. In fact Georgina has commented that she was delighted that Hannah asked to look at her programme to keep track of events. On the first day of competition Georgina competed in the 50m Butterfly and set a personal best time of 31.43 seconds coming 36th out of 63 swimmers. This time was a fraction of a second outside the PBSC Club record and was a great 1st swim at these Championships.

Georgina also competed in the 50m backstroke where she made the "B" final in which she swam an incredible 31.83 seconds to finish 14th in the whole of Scotland. At the age of 14 this is a superb performance. Her final time of 31.83 seconds is not only a PB but but also broke four PBSC Club Records. This result also placed her as the 4th fastest 14 year old in Scotland.

On the final day of competition Georgina competed in the 50m Free and recorded a time of 28.49 seconds which placed her 22nd out of an entry of 60 swimmers. This fast time saw Georgina become the third fastest 14 year old in Scotland in this open age group event. This swim also surpassed the ASA Zonal Qualifying time for the Zonal Championships that take place in January 2012. Georgina is the 1st PBSC Swimmer to qualify for these new Championships, that are the next step between ASA East Regional Championships and ASA National Championships.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Georgina has done amazingly well and to make the "B" Final in the Scottish National Championships is fantastic. To raise her performance in the final and finish 14th in the whole of Scotland whilst breaking Club Records too is just great. I'm absolutely delighted for her"

Swimmers Times Database, Club records and ASA Rankings Database

PBSC Swimmers should now be able to access the PBSC Hytek-On Line Database to view their times and the PBSC Club Records. The database also records the times from each of the galas we have taken part in, so it is well worth saving the link as a "favourite" on your computer.

There is also a link to the ASA Rankings database as you may wish to search their databse to see how you are ranked Nationally, in ASA East Region and Hertfordshire ASA. The ASA Rankings database only records times that have been attained at ASA Licensed events. For those competing at the Hertfordshire County Championships 2012 you may wish to see how you are currently ranked within Hertfordshire ASA.

The link for access is on the "Swimmers Times" page, there is also a link from the "Club records" page.

Good Luck to PBSC Swimmers competing this evening in the Hertmere Challenge!

A team from PBSC are competing in the Hertsmere Challenge Gala this evening at The Venue, Borehamwood. We hope they have a great time and swim well.

Wray Shewell-Cooper - "I'm looking forward to being on poolside with the team, who I'm confident will swim well. For some of the swimmers it will be their first competition in the new season so I'm keen to see how they perform. It should be an exciting event!"

NASL Final - PBSC Swimmers achieve 19 PB's and Georgina Lawson breaks 13 Club Records

The official results from last weekend's Division 3 Final have been received and as expected show that our swimmers swam fantastically well recording 19 Personal Best times (PB's). Georgina Lawson was in incredible form breaking an amazing thirteen (13) Club Records on the night, some of which have stood for over 15 years. Georgina's times and the  Club records broken were: -

• 50m Back in a time of 31.99 seconds breaking the 14,15,16 and Open age group records 
• 100m Back in a time 1.08.64 breaking the 14, 15, 16 and Open age group records - These records were held by Sarah Price, who went on to become a double Olympian!
• 50m Free in a time 28.28 seconds breaking the 14,15,16 and Open age group records 
• 100m Free in a time 1.01.62 breaking the 14 years age group record - This record had stood since 1987.

There were PB's for Katie Conyers, Morgan Newman, Claire Dean, Joshua Higgins, Thilan Walallawita, Kelly Sanders, Lauren Andrew, James Woodward, Andrew Bays, David Shipman, Jash Pooni, Katie Gormley and Phoebe Love

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "The results show that our swimmers really swam well and I'm delighted that so many of them recorded PB's on the night. Georgina was in "red hot" form and to break 13 Club records in one gala is a great achievement" 

The results are here.

Georgina to compete at the Scottish National Short Course Championships in Inverness, Scotland

Georgina Lawson, a pupil at Mount Grace School and Potters Bar Swimming Club’s Girls Captain, will fly to Inverness in Scotland to take part in the British Gas Scottish National Open Short Course Championships that are being held between December 15th and 18th 2011. This is one of the premier events in the Scottish Swimming Calendar and Georgina will be rubbing shoulders with 2012 Olympic hopefuls like Hannah Miley, who won a silver medal at the World Championships in 2011.

Georgina has succeeded in attaining qualification to compete in the following events: -  50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle, 50m and 100m backstroke and the 100m Individual Medley

Over the last year Georgina has excelled in her performances that have included breaking a longstanding club record held by double Olympian Sarah Price. As Captain and one of our strongest swimmers Georgina is a great inspiration and role model for our young swimmers.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach - “Georgina should be delighted she has qualified for the Scottish National Short Course Championships. It’s well deserved given her efforts over the last year and I’m sure she will thoroughly enjoy the occasion. I’m confident she will swim well and be a great ambassador for Potters Bar SC”

Ian Bays, PBSC- Chairman “It’s great to see our swimmers competing at such a high level and on behalf of all at Potters Bar SC I wish Georgina a successful time at these National Championships

Timekeepers Course

A big thank you to our members who gave up their time to complete the Timekeepers Course which was held at the Furzefield Centre on Sunday. The Club now have 11 newly qualified TKs - well done to Todd Chadwell, Luc Houben, Georgina Lawson, Aryan Alekasir, Graham Lovell, Darren Woodward, Ian Bays, Eleanor Burt, Bronwen Hardy, Pia Cunningham and Dani Harrison. The course involved a 2 hour classroom session followed by a poolside assesment. All those who passed are given the opportunity to continue onto the Judge 1 course. The club is grateful to Ian MacKenzie who facilitated the afternoon and the clubs own J2S Gary Wright who filled the role of starter for the assessment. The club intends holding another TK course in the New Year - anyone interested in taking part please contact Karen Lawson (officials@pottersbarsc.co.uk) or speak to any Committee member for further information.

PBSC Swimmers excel at Division 3 - Final of the National Arena Swimming League

In a very exciting final PBSC swimmers raised their performances to finish in second place behind Deben, who were worthy winners. The evening got off to a tense start when a number of our swimmers arrived late due to a car fire causing havoc with the London traffic. It was a great relief though to see them arrive moments before they had to get onto the blocks and race. PBSC swimmers showed great determination throughout the gala and were consistently well placed in most races despite some very close finishes. There was fantastic support from the balcony and this made for a great atmosphere. At the end of the gala, Andrew Bays (Boys Captain) and Georgina Lawson (Girls Captain) were presented with the Pennant for PBSC finishing in second place in the Final.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "It was a great gala and a great result for Potters Bar Swimming Club. The swimmers swam fantastically well and they should all be really pleased with their performances"

We are awaiting the official results before publishing the swimmers times but are confident the results will bear out that our swimmers stepped up and swam fantastically well.

Good Luck to PBSC Swimmers in the NASL Division 3 Final

On Saturday 10th December 2011 PBSC swimmers are competing in the Division 3 final of the National Arena Swimming League (London) which is being held at the Clissold Sports Centre, London. PBSC are currently in second place in the league behind a strong team from Deben. On the night we will also be competing against Ware, Brompton Bees, Clissold, Bethnal Green Sharks, Berkhamsted Sports Centre and Griffins of Enfield. If we finish in the top two in the league we will be promoted to Division 2. It is going to be an exciting final and our swimmers will need to raise their performances and swim well to secure promotion.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "This is going to be a very competitive final with many of the events decided by fractions of a second. We must avoid disqualifications so we don't drop unnecessary points. That said it's going to be a great event to take part in and I'm sure our swimmers will do well. I'm also expecting the usual fantastic support from the balcony as this will help raise our swimmers performances"

Niamh and Sam pass their J1 Officials Course

Congratulations to Niamh Gormley and Samantha Burt, who are the latest PBSC swimmers to pass their J1 Officials assessment! Niamh and Sam have already started the next stage of officials training by undertaking the J2 course and we wish them well with that.

Coaches Corner

Have a look at the new tab on the left called "Coaches Corner". There are some video links published that swimmers may enjoy.

PBSC Swimmers excel at the ASA East Region Winter Championships in Norwich, with PB's and Club Records!

Both Georgina Lawson, PBSC Girls Captain and team-mate, Phoebe Love were in excellent form at the ASA East Region Winter Championships, where they were competing against the very best swimmers from the Counties of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. This was an open age group competition so it was a big "step-up" for Phoebe and Georgina, who are the first two PBSC swimmers to compete at these Championships for many years, and they can be delighted with their performances as follows: -

• Georgina Lawson set personal best times in the 50m Backstroke recording a time of 32.80 seconds and in doing so broke four PBSC Club records in the 14 & Under, 15 & Under, 16 & Under and Open Age Groups which is a fantastic achievement! Georgina swam 29.17 seconds in the 50m Free, 32.90 seconds in the 50m Fly, and 1.03.71 in the 100m Free.
• Phoebe Love recorded a personal best in the 50m Free in a time of 29.00 seconds, a time of 32.17 seconds in the 50m Fly and a time of 1.05.18 in the 100m Freestyle. 

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Phoebe and Georgina qualifying for these Championships at such a young age is a great achievement in itself and for them to perform so well on the day is very very pleasing. I'm delighted they both set PB's as this shows they rose to the occasion and swam well on the day. Georgina breaking the Club Records in the 50m Backstroke is a great accomplishment of which she should be very proud"

The Daplyn Trophy - PBSC achieve best results for many years!

It has been a busy weekend for PBSC with two boys teams and two girls teams competing at The Daplyn Trophy at The Venue, Borehamwood on Saturday evening. In the Girls competition our teams were up against 15 teams from clubs from across Hertfordshire and our Boys were in a field of 12 teams.In a very exciting gala the PBSC Boys and Girls Teams achieved the best results the Club has had for many years of entering this particular competition, and in particular well done to: -

•   PBSC Girls Blue Team of Anna Church, Katie Gormley, Claire Dean, Andrea Houben and Jessica Hurley who were bronze medal winners. 
•   PBSC Boys Blue Team of James Woodward, Joshua Higgins, Thilan Walallawita, Ben Harrison and David Shipman who came in 5th place.
•   PBSC Girls Jade Team of Georgianna Balchin, Katherine McEnery, Vinthiya, Perinpanathan, Lauren Andrew and Rebecca Hurley who came 12th
•  PBSC Boys Jade Team of Morgan Newman, Jack Higgins, Oliver Formby, Jack Shewell-Cooper and Jash Pooni who came in a very creditable 6th place

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "It's great to see PBSC post its best results in this competition for some years and well done to Claire, Anna, Katie, Andrea and Jessica for winning bronze medals, which is a great result. I am also really pleased with the achievements of our other teams"

The results from the Herts ASA website are here. Swimmers performances are here.

ASA East Region Winter Championships 2011

                                                                                      

Phoebe Love and Georgina Lawson, two of PBSC's leading female swimmers will this weekend travel to Norwich to compete in the ASA East Region Winter Championships 2012 that are being held at the University of East Anglia Sports Park. This is one of the premier events in the East Region calendar and the girls are the first PBSC swimmers to qualify and compete at these Championships for many years, which is a great achievement in itself.

Wray Shewell-Cooper PBSC Head Coach - "Phoebe and Georgina qualifying for these Championships is not only a fantastic personal achievement but great for PBSC too. As the Head Coach I'm looking to see them raise their performance and I'm confident they will"

Watford Middle Distance Open Meet

It was a busy weekend of competition for the thirty plus PBSC swimmers competing at the Watford Middle Distance Open Meet, the results of which are on the "reports and results" page. 

The overall performance of the swimmers was fantastic with a Club record broken by Georgina Lawson in the 50m backstroke, Ben Harrison achieving East Region Qualifying times, 1st places for Morgan Newman, James Ayres, Olivia Seal, David Shipman, Katie Gormley, Niamh Gormley and Andrea Houben. There were also medals for Katie Harrison, Danielle Houben, Jack Shewell-Cooper, Andrew Bays, Thomas Stanbury, Thilan Walallawita, James Woodward, Lauren Andrew, Aryan Alekasir, Kate Andrew, Georgina Tallon, Georgina Lawson and Emilea Read-Letts. There were lots of PB's too - A big well done to all of our swimmers!

Danielle Houben, Stephanie Tallon, Katie Harrison, Luc Houben, Katherine McEnery and James Ayres also became 1st time County Qualfiers, a great achievement and well done! In total there were 61 swims that surpassed the CQT at this meet.

And not to be outdone by the swimmers, Karen Lawson (J2), Eugene Gormley (J1) and Chris Andrew (J1) also made it a successful weekend by passing their officials course assessments. 

Wray Shewell-Cooper "It's great to see so many of our swimmers coming away from this meet with medals and PB's which is a reward for their commitment in training and well deserved. I'm also delighted that a number of PBSC swimmers became 1st time County Qualifiers as it's going to be great to have a big squad at the Counties" 

Herts Development Meet 

The official results for this gala are on the Reports and Results Page. Well done to Emilea Read-Letts and Olivia Seal on achieving County Qualifying times and also to Amelia Hardy, Georgina Tallon, Stephanie Tallon and Josef Wheeler for setting new Personal Best Times!

Are you interested in becoming a qualified time keeper?

We will be running a time keepers course at the Furzefield Sports Centre on Sunday 11th December 2012. We would encourage any interested members to take part, the course will consist of a two hour classroom session followed by a practical assessment that will be integrated into a time trial session for our younger swimmers.

As a Club we are very keen to increase the number of qualified timekeepers so that we can run the various swimming galas we have planned for next year, so if you are interested please speak with Karen Lawson, our Officials Co-ordinator for more details. Karen can be found on the balcony at the FF most evenings.

Hertfordshire Masters win at Newmarket

A team including nine Potters Bar Masters won the East Region Inter-county Masters competition on Sunday.  Report and writeup are here. Results download is here.  Our own John Cunningham broke the East Region 50m fly record.  Daryl Mason, Nicola Lawrence, Wray Shewell-Cooper, Ian Bays, Barbara Edlin, Steve Lestrange, Kelly Sanders and Jackie Jackson also represented PB for Hertfordshire.  This is the second year that Hertfordshire has won the trophy.  Full results including County positions as a download are here.

Presentation evening

Here are some pictures from the awards ceremony at the presentation evening.

Over 250 PBSC members attended the presentation evening which was held in the school hall at Mount Grace School. It was great to see our swimmers being presented with their medals and certificates by Wray and Bronwen.

Wray, PBSC Head Coach "I was delighted to present our swimmers with their medals and certificates as they have performed so well this year. It was also great to see so many of our Club members at the presentation evening as it's important we celebrate the achievements of all our swimmers" 

Barnet Copthall 100s

Great swims at the Barnet Copthall 100s meet.  Here are the results.  In summary 25 swimmers, 71 swims, one 1st place, two 2nd places, four 3rd places and 31 PBs.

Also here are the current CQT swims for the 2012 County Champs. We are already up to 105 swims, compared to the 98 swims this time last year

NASL Round 2

Great result from the second round of the National Arena Swimming League on Saturday.  First place again and by a mnargin of 35 points.  Well done to the swimmers - young and old and all those who helped make it possible.  Here are the results and here are some photos.

Presentation evening 19th Nov

This year's Presentation Evening will be held at Mount Grace School, Potters Bar on Saturday the 19th of November. 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Presentations to all those who competed in this year's Club Championships, individual squad awards, club trophies including Swimmers Swimmer, Hurley Trophies, Wray's Award and more. We plan to operate the evening as a fundraiser which means we will be operating a Raffle - any donations would be gratefully received - prizes can be anything from a bottle of wine, sporting tickets, unwanted presents to meal vouchers. There will be a licensed bar and food available. Tickets for the evening are priced at £3 per head and are available from Karen Lawson, Ian Bays or from any member of the committee or coaching staff. We look forward to seeing you there and making this another enjoyable night for our swimmers and their families ! This really is a chance for swimmers and parents alike to mix and hopefully raise some funds in the process.

Butterfly Clinic Sun 6th Nov

We are delighted to announce a 'Butterfly Clinic' to be run on Sunday evening from 6.15pm to 8.15pm on Sunday 6th November. John Cunningham our own reigning world champion butterfly swimmer will be demonstrating technique and leading the coaching at this session. The session is open to all squad swimmers and masters who would normally be eligible to swim on Sunday evenings. The different squads will be given appropriate training for their level of development. Just turn up at your normal training time and prepare to have your butterfly tuned up.

We have the whole six lanes of the pool on Sundays from this Sunday 6th November until 18th December. We are suggesting a voluntary donation of £2 per participant at this fly session to contribute to the cost of additional pool time. This can be collected by the coaches or committee on the balcony.

We urge all squad and masters swimmers to take advantage of this offer. If it is successful there may be similar clinics between now and Christmas. Please speak to your coach in the first instance if you have any questions.

Charity Gala 5th Nov

The club is organised a charity gala on 5th November in aid of Pancreatic Cancer Research.  The gala was at Furzefield using the format of the Herts Major League division 2.  PBSC entered two teams as the club will be entering two teams in the Major League in the new year.  Here are the overall results.  The team results are here.  Here are some pictures of the occasion.

Over £600 was raised for Pancreatic Cancer Research from entry, the raffle and Wrays "golden" moment!!

Three cheers for Chief Coach Wray on his golden birthday year and for being a good sport in the name of charity.  Some extra photos here of this sponsored event.

Barnet Copthall 200s

PB swimmers notched up 21 personal bests and 10 NPTs with 3 firsts and 3 seconds at the recent Barnet Copthall 200s meet.  Here are the results.  The picture shows Olympian Ed Sinclair with the PB team.  During his swimming career Ed Sinclair represented Great Britain at two Olympic Games - Sydney 2000 as part of the 4 x 200 Freestyle relay team which finished 5th and Athens in 2004. He also competed at 4 European Championships winning 6 medals and 5 World Championships winning 3 medals. He also held the British record for three years in the 200 meters Freestyle. His highest World Ranking was 7th in 1999 in the 200m Freestyle Long Course.

National Arena League Round 1

Chief Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper said: "PBSC swimmers excelled themselves in the first round of the National Arena Swimming League coming out worthy winners in a very exciting gala. The performances by all swimmers were fantastic and I was particularly pleased with the relay teams as we were well placed in each event. It was also great to have the best support in the gallery as this always spurs the swimmers on! The second round is only a few weeks away so I’m looking for our swimmers to continue to work hard in training so that we can build on last night’s result."

Well done to all that took part.  The Results are here. Here are some great pictures too

Outing to Panto

We are organising a trip to the Panto at Wyllyotts for Dec 22nd. All details here. Closing date Nov 1st.

Club AGM

The Club's Annual General Meeting will be on Thursday 17th November at the Furzefield Centre, starting at 8.30pm, more details and a committee nomination form are here.

Herts Senior League

Please see the Masters page for those masters swimmers and other swimming parents for a fun gala on Nov 26th!

Club Champs

Thanks to all the organisers, officials, helpers, coaches, supporters and swimmers.  Plenty of great swims and some photos are here and here. Photos for session 2 are here and here. Photos for session 3 are here and here. Results are finally here.  Sorry for the delay.  Winners over the years are here

Hoddesdon Open Meet

A good attendance and performance from PB swimmers.  18 first places, 14 speeding tickets, 8 County qualifying times and 58 PB or NPTs.  Here are the results.  Did anyone get any pictures?

Sheffield Dukeries 28th Aug

A team of Potters Bar Swimming Club swimmers travelled North to compete in the Worksop Dolphins “Dukeries” Open Meet, which was held in the 50 metre International Pool at Ponds Forge, Sheffield over the August Bank Holiday weekend. This is the second year that PBSC have competed at this event. It gives our swimmers the opportunity to experience swimming at this prestigious venue at the very start of the new swimming season. The early start for the warm up necessitated that the team stayed over the previous night at a hotel in Sheffield. There was a team bonding session over Pizza’s at a Local restaurant before retiring for an early night. The performance of PBSC Swimmers can be summarised as follows: -

· Phoebe Love was placed 1st in the 50m Butterfly, and 2nd place in the 100m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle. Phoebe also qualified for the “Skins” Final, which was a new experience for her. She made it through to the second round before being eliminated. She also won the Top Swim award for her age group, which capped off a very successful weekend.

· Georgina Lawson won the 100m Freestyle for 12/13 year old Girls, in which Phoebe came second making it a PBSC “1-2”. Georgina was also 3rd in the 50m Backstroke.

· David Shipman swam extremely well to finish in 2nd place in the Boys 11/12 years 100m Freestyle in a time of 1.12.36, a new PB by 2.6 seconds and a County Qualifying time.

· Georgianna Balchin was in great form achieving three County Qualifying times in 100m & 50m Breaststroke events and the 50m Freestyle. Jack Shewell-Cooper (50m Freestyle), Lauren Andrew (50m Butterfly & 100m Freestyle) and Katie Gormley (100m Freestyle) also swam well to achieve County Qualifying Times. Well done to Georgianna, Jack, Lauren and Katie.

· There were also Personal Best swims from Amelia Hardy, Josef Wheeler, Kate Andrew, Luke Maddock Lyon and good early season swims from Eleanor Lawson and Niamh Gormley.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach – “ It was a very enjoyable weekend at Sheffield and I am pleased with the performance of our swimmers so early in the season. The team spirit was great and It was good to see the swimmers enjoying themselves. Phoebe was our top performer at this event and it was great to see a PBSC swimmer winning the Top Swim award and being in the “Skins” final. I’m also delighted with the win by Georgina, the silver medal won by David and the good performances by the rest of the team, many of whom recorded PB’s and achieved County Qualifying times! ”

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Senior Coach – “ It was great to see our swimmers performing well in this long course pool, and to see many of them recording PB’s in their swims. It was a great opportunity for them to swim in a 50 metre pool, which is often very daunting and they can feel very proud of how they all performed”

Here are some pictures.

Swim Camp 2011 report

A number of swimmers attended a swim camp at Millfield School in Somerset this summer.  Read about it in the Swimmer Information page.

Joel wins gold in European Youth Olympics

Joel Knight former PBSC swimmer has just won gold in the 1500m race at the European Youth Olympics in Trabzon, Turkey.  He broke the British record by 11 seconds in a time of 15:28.26.  Well done Joel!

Joel is pictured at the recent club celebration with the Peanuts teams and their awards.

County Qualifying times

The dates for the Herts County Championships have now been set so we can now see who has achieved CQTs so far.  This will be maintained on the Swimmer Information page.

Watford Open

“Georgina Lawson, PBSC’s Girls Captain was in “red hot” form at the “Alternative Nationals Open Meet” held this last weekend in Watford, where she broke long standing Club Records in the following events: -

· 50m Backstroke in a time of 33.65 seconds
· 50m Freestyle in a time of 28.89 seconds
· 100m Freestyle in a time of 1 min 02.70 seconds – This particular record was held by Sarah Price, who went on to compete in the Sydney Olympics in 2004. Sarah also broke over 30 British Records and one world record, as well as setting Commonwealth and European bests during her swimming career that started at Potters Bar Swimming Club.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach stated “Georgina has done exceptionally well this year and breaking all these Club records in one weekend is a remarkable achievement. To see Sarah Price’s record broken gives you some idea of the potential Georgina has, and as one of the Club Captains she is a great inspiration for our younger swimmers”

There were also great swims from Sam Burt who swam in the 400m IM in a time of 6.07.15. This was her first time swimming this event and she looked very strong and swam very well. She also swam in the 400m free, this she hadn't swum for a very long time and did a very big PB. She achieved a very good time of 5.19.50. Sam also swam in the 50m fly and free and was very near to her PB times in both.
Ellie Lawson swam well especially in the 200m freestyle, which I believe she hadn't swum before and she clocked a time of 2.53.35, well done to her.
Ben had some good swims too, he swam for the very first time in the 400m IM in a time of 6.06.62, however was dq'd on a backstroke turn (glided in), but really enjoyed the experience and is desperate to do it again! He also swam in the 400m free and looked very strong clocking a time of 5.30.11 a new PB, his previous time was 6.18.55!
Another new event for him was the 200m breaststroke in a time of 3.23.47.
Morgan swam a great 200m breast in a time of 3.32.29, but was unfortunately dq'd - an official even commented on what a great swim it was!
As a club with only a few swimmers we didn't do too badly on the medal table -

Georgie won 4 Golds
Ben won 5 Golds and 1 Silver

It was a great end to a very successful swimming season!

Peanuts Round 3

The Jade team swam brilliantly coming third on the night and third in the league.  Here are the results and  here are some photos of the action.  This means the Jade team should be in a strong position in division 3 next year if the number of teams stays steady.

The Blue team won their gala on the last race at Borehamwood in an exciting finish.  Here are some pictures and here are the results.  This puts the Blue team in 7th place out of 12 in division 1.

Katie Qualifies for Irish National Championships

Potters Bar SC swimmer, Katie Gormley took part in the Irish National Age Group Championships  held at the National Aquatics Centre in Dublin, Ireland. Katie has qualified to compete in the 400m and 800m Freestyle events and will be competing against the best swimmers in Ireland at this prestigious event. It is a fantastic achievement for Katie to qualify for these National Championships and from all at PBSC we wish her the best of luck.

Head Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper said “Katie is one of the hardest workers in training so I’m delighted that her efforts have resulted in her qualifying for the Irish National Age Group Championships. The National Aquatic Centre looks a great venue to compete at and I’m sure the occasion will help Katie raise her performance. I’m confident she will swim well!”

Live results here.

Herts Masters 2011

The Herts Masters Championship was held at the Venue, Borehamwood on Saturday 25th June.  Your team from PBSC put up an impressive performance including 26 first places with 61 personal best or NPT.  Cate Jackson broke the East Region record for 100m IM and Jackie Jackson broke her own East Region record for 50m freestyle.  Daryl Mason broke the club record for 50m breaststroke.  Full results with all competitors are here, and summary of our club's competitors are here.  The team points total is here.  More galas coming up on our Masters page.

PBSC Summer Open

Many thanks to all who competed, officiated, supported and helped at the Summer Open gala at Furzefield on 18th June.  Here are the results. Here are the PBSC swimmer results.  Here and here are some photos of the action.

Open Water Swimming?

Su Tysoe the County Open Water Coordinator has negotiated an opportunity to train in Open Water once a week. This is following initial contact with the centre by Ian Mackenzie. This is a fantastic opportunity to establish regular training for those interested in Open Water swimming - please use it!  Here is the document explaining the arrangements.

Regional Championships

The Regional Championships held the at the 50m pool at the University of East Anglia Sports Park in Norwich concluded this weekend and our four swimmers, Ben Harrison, Georgina Lawson, Phoebe Love and Andrea Houben can be delighted with their performances in the pool at this top level event. Their performances can be summarised as follows: -

· Ben Harrison was PBSC’s top performer with silver medals in the Boys 10 years 100m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley; a bronze medal in the 200m Butterfly and 200m Freestyle, 6th in the 200m backstroke and 10th place in the 100m backstroke. Ben was placed 3rd overall in the BAGCATS competition and his successes should be set against the fact that he was competing against Hatfield swimmer, Nathan Hughes who broke a British Age Group record at these Championships (subject to ratification) and is probably the fastest 10 year old in the country. Well done, Ben!

· Andrea Houben qualified for the 3rd year in succession for the Regionals. This year Andrea qualified for the 12 years 100 m Breaststroke and swam incredibly well finishing in 11th place. Well done, Andrea!

· Phoebe Love swam in the Girls 13 years 100m Freestyle and swam a personal best of 1m 04.87 seconds which saw her come 9th place and being the “reserve” finalist. This was Pheobes first time swimming at Regional level and missed a place in the final by the smallest of margins. Well done, Phoebe!

· Georgina Lawson, PBSC’s Girls-Team Captain swam superbly in the Girls 13 years 100 and 200m Freestyle races, qualifying for both finals where she came 5th. In an exciting 100m Freestyle final where there was only 1.2 seconds between 1st and 5th place which is a very small margin. Georgina also qualified in the 100m backstroke and came 16th. This was the first time that Georgina has qualified for the Regional’s so making two finals is a great achievement. Well done, Georgie!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach said “I am very pleased with the performances by Ben, Georgina, Phoebe and Andrea as they all rose to the occasion and swam well. Ben did fantastically well, winning so many medals and coming 3rd overall in the BAGCAT’s is a great achievement. It was also great to see Georgina make the finals in her first “regionals” as well seeing Phoebe, who was unlucky in just missing out on the final, and Andrea swim well too. These performances should be an inspiration to our swimmers and I’m hoping to be back next year with a bigger PBSC Squad “

Detailed results here.

Peanuts Round 2

Well swum to all our swimmers in round 2 of the Peanuts League.  Results here for the Blue team in Division 1.  Results here for the Jade team results from division 3.  However here are some pictures from the Jade team gala.

Picture here is from the Blue Team gala at QE Boys School pool.

Kate Lack Trophy

47 swimmers from Potters Bar entered the open meet at Barnet Copthall and came away with many medals and 66% of swims were personal best or no-previous-time.  Well done to those who ventured out.  Here are the summary results for Potters Bar.

Stevenage Open

Team results from the Stevenage Open Meet on 7/8 May are here.

A link to some photos are here.

Beckenham Open at Crystal Palace

A few of our swimmers entered the Beckenham Open Meet in the 50m pool at Crystal Palace.  This was a level 1 meet with quite challenging entry times.  Well done to those that entered and enjoyed the day.

Luton Open at Barnet Copthall

Team results for the Luton Open Meet held at Barnet Copthall on 16/17 April are here.

Peanuts Round 1

Well done to all swimmers, supporters, helpers and officials for a great result from round 1 of Peanuts on Saturday.  The Jade team came a close second in Division 3 at Furzefield and the Blue team a close 4th in Division 1.  The Jade team swimmers notched up 9 first places and 54 personal best or NPTs.  The Blue team took 5 first places and 23 PB or NPTs.  This is really great and shows what hard work all the swimmers and coaches are putting in.  Full results for the Blue team are here and for the Jade team are here.

Some pictures from the Jade team gala are here.

South Herts Trophy Results

Both PBSC teams swam brilliantly at the South Herts Trophy on 9th April.  The gala was in the format of the upcoming Peanuts League galas and was an opportunity for four visiting teams from Hitchin, Enfield Griffins, Berkhamstead Sports, Cheshunt and our own swimmers to practice in a proper gala environment.  Potters Bar Blue team came first and the Jade team came fifth.  The Blue team notched up 28 PB or NPT's and the Jade team a remarkable 50 PB or NPT's.  Well done to all and thanks to the officials, supporters, coaches and helpers.  Good luck in the Peanuts Leagues!

The results for the Blue Team are here.

The results for the Jade Team are here.

Herts Major League Division One Here We Come!

The team came second in the final round of the Division Two of the Herts Major League with some great swims in a most exciting gala.  This secured second place in the Division which gives us promotion to Division One next year.  Many thanks to the swimmers, coaches, officials, helpers and supporters for making the event such a splendid success and a memorable occasion.  On the night the team managed 13 first places, 10 second places and 6 thirds, with 34 personal best times.  This made for a total of 155 points to 114 for the winners Berkhamsted with Bushey third on 184 points.  Well done team!

Team results are here.

Link to a few pictures is here.

BAGCats Awards

Ben and Georgie received their awards for coming in the top 8 in the county for their age groups from their swims at counties this year.  Well done to them both!

Herts Counties

This weekend saw the completion of the Hertfordshire County Swimming Championships, that took over place over two weekends at The Venue Swimming Pool in Borehamwood. The second weekend of competition was on March 19th and 20th 2011. At these Championships there were twenty one PBSC swimmers competing in individual events. They are: -

Andrew Bays (Boys –Club Captain), Georgina Lawson (Girls – Club Captain), Aryan Alekasir, Samantha Burt, Andrea Houben, Katie Gormley, Lauren Andrew, Rachel Connery, Oliver Formby, Ben Harrison, Jack Higgins, Joshua Higgins, Greg Hurley, Jessica Hurley, Rebecca Hurley, Phoebe Love, Luke Maddock-Lyon, Morgan Newman, David Shipman, Jack Shewell-Cooper and Samantha Over.

To compete at the County Championships these swimmers have over the last year had to achieve qualifying times to be eligible to enter. Qualifying is therefore a big achievement in itself and which they can be rightly proud about. PBSC have also entered Relay Teams to compete in the 15 and under Boys & 15 and under Girls, Medley and Freestyle Relay Teams.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach said before they started: “I’m looking forward to seeing how PBSC swimmers perform at these Championships and have every confidence they will do well. They have all swum remarkably well over the last year and should be very pleased about making it to the Counties and representing PBSC”

Ian Bays, PBSC Chairman “To compete at the County Championships is no mean feat and on behalf of the Club I wish our swimmers the very best and hope they enjoy the experience and swim well”

Results from the first weekend include a club record from Ben in the 200m backstroke, a number of new Regional Qualifying times including two from Georgie and a huge number of personal best times.  Watch for more good swims on 19th and 20th March. 

Here is the summary of PB swimmers' times and performances.

Here is the link to the online results including 50m splits.

Here are some photos.

Herts Major League Round 2

Last weekend saw Potters Bar SC win their 2nd round gala of the Hertfordshire Major League Division 2 team competition that was held at the Stevenage Swim Centre. It was a very tense and close affair with the result decided on the very last race of the night, when PBSC won the Squadron Relay beating Bushey SC into second place by a margin of five points.

PBSC swimmers performances at the gala show that they continue to excel in 2011. They achieved 13 first places throughout the gala, with individual wins for Brooke Killick, Andrew Bays, Georgina Lawson, Ben Harrison and David Shipman. There were also seven first places in the team relay events which was particularly pleasing and shows what great strength in depth we have in our swimmers. There were 36 personal best times set by our swimmers which also emphasises the point. There were personal bests for: -

Robert Branch, Oliver Formby, Jake Killick, Samantha Over, Aryan Alekasir, Georgina Lawson, Kaywon Alekasir, Kelly Sanders, Nicola Lawrence, Rachel Dean, Claudia Hawkins, Lauren Andrew, Ellen Hunt, Danielle Houben, Joshua Higgins, Luc Houben, Katie Gormley, Thilan Walallawita, Jessica Hurley, Samantha Burt, Danielle Houben and Claire Dean.

PBSC also had great support on the night in the spectators gallery, which is always great for the team's morale on poolside so a big thanks to all those there on the night.

The third and final round of the Division 2 Major League will take place on March 26th 2011 and PBSC need to finish in the top two to gain promotion to Division 1.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach said “It was great to come out as winners in this very close run gala and again PBSC swimmers excelled in their performances on the night. The seven first places in the relay events shows what a strong group of swimmers we have and this laid the foundation for us winning. We also avoided disqualifications which greatly helped as there was a very small margin between 1st and 2nd place. I’m looking forward to the final round, it’s clear it’s going to be a very close final with promotion likely to be decided by a few points. We will need to step up our performances in the final, and some good work in training over the next few weeks will help us do so.

Results are here.

Tape Trophy Results

Teams from Watford, Stevenage, Cheshunt, Broxbourne and Potters Bar competed on Saturday for the annual Tape Trophy at the Furzefield Centre. The format was as in the Peanuts League and is a warm up for the teams and a bit of gala experience for the swimmers.  Potters Bar entered two teams as we have two teams in Peanuts again this year. Potters Bar Blue team won the gala with Watford coming second. The Jade team came a creditable 5th. All the swimmers put on their best performances resulting in 36 PB or NPT for the Blue team and remarkably 36 PB or NPT for the Jade team.

Andy Gardner awarded the trophy to the winning team representatives and Buffera provided some Buff goody bags for the winning team and the runners up.

Results are here for the Blue team and here for the Jade team.

Some pictures are here.

The Rotary Swimathon - Sat 12th March

The annual Rotary Swimathon will take place at Furzefield on the evening of Sat 12th March, this is a charity team event in aid of Mercy Ships UK, the Isabel Hospice and The Willow Foundation.  Teams of 5 swim a continuous 20 minute relay with swimmers expected to obtain sponsorship based on the number of lengths completed.  More details and an entry form are on the links below.

Rotary Swimathon      Rotary Swimathon Entry Form       

Watford Open Meet

Over this last weekend thirty eight of our swimmers travelled to compete in the Watford County Qualifier Open Meet, which was held over four sessions. This was our first major competition of the New Year and also one of the last opportunities for our swimmers to try and achieve the County Qualifying Times set for the 2011 Hertfordshire County Championships to be held in March. Our swimmers have worked hard in training over the Xmas period and the Coaching Team were very keen to see how they would perform at this event. Across the whole team, the swimmers did not disappoint, performing fantastically well showing that their dedication in training has paid good dividends.

In total our 38 swimmers competed in 175 races, which is a PBSC Club record entry for an open meet. It was great to see a large PBSC Team on the pool deck enjoying themselves, cheering their team-mates on as well as seeing them perform well in the pool! Our swimmers enjoyed considerable success as follows: -

• Ben Harrison achieved three East Region Qualifying times, enabling him to enter the Regional Championships that will be held in June 2011. This is the next step up from achieving Hertfordshire County Qualifying times so this is an achievement that Ben and the Club can be very proud. Well done, Ben! Ben qualified in the 200m Backstroke, 200m Freestyle and 200m individual medley. Ben, joins Andrea Houben as the second PBSC Club member to achieve an East Region Qualifying time for this year’s regional championships.
• Over the course of the weekend PBSC swimmers achieved 69 County Qualifying times, which means that they can enter the Hertfordshire County Championships that will be held in March 2011.
• There were 12 Gold Medals, 10 Silver medals and 14 Bronze medals. Our swimmers also achieved seven “speeding tickets”, which are awarded when a swimmer goes faster than the “fastest” time limit set for this type of open meet. In all there were 36 personal best times set and many swimmers set times in events that they had not competed in before. Many of our swimmers showed big improvements in their times, particularly in the 200m events which is no doubt in part to their commitment in training over the Xmas period. The full results are on the attached schedule.

Head Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper said “ I’m delighted with the number of swimmers that entered this event and it was great to be on the deck with probably the largest team there. Our swimmers commitment to training in recent weeks has paid off at this competition, with fantastic swims right across the team. There were lots of PB’s, County Qualifying times, Ben’s Three East Region qualifying times and a large haul of medals won by our swimmers. It’s been a great weekend for Potters Bar SC”

Here are the Results for club swimmers and here is a link to some photos.

Major League Round 1

Well done to all swimmers who took part in the first round of Major League winning the gala convincingly with 14 wins and 44 personal best times.

Some pictures are here and the results are here.

Fastest 50m Freestyles of 2010

The fastest 50m free of the year was John Cunningham was 25.19 set at Club Champs, full list is below

Fastest 50m Freestyles 2010

National Arena Swimming League - Round 3

We came a very creditable fourth place behind Greenwich in 1st place, Brompton Bees in 2nd place and Bethnal Green in 3rd. Whilst we beat Greenwich in the previous round it was clear that they turned up to last nights event with a much stronger team and were well deserved winners! It was an exciting gala, with some very close finishes to races, and the final points between 2nd and 4th place was close too. All our swimmers excelled and we are proud of their performances last night.

There were individual wins for Sophie, Natalie and Phoebe, and the under 13 girls of Georgina, Phoebe, Andrea and Natalie completed a "double" in the medley and freestyle team races. A big well done! There were also twenty three personal best times set by our swimmers which is extremely pleasing.

NASL Round 3 results

Presentation party

The annual presentation party was held at Elm Court to celebrate the successes at the Club Championships, the Peanuts galas and to award the club trophies. Thanks to all club members for making the event such a success.

Herts Senior League

Our two teams finished a creditable third and eighth place, thank you to all those that were coerced into helping us field two teams, results are on the link below.

Herts Senior League

National Arena Swimming League - Round 2

Although it was announced we were second on the night a few problems with scoring have changed this to third, three points behind Greenwich and five points ahead of Enfield. This sadly leaves us ninth in the league just missing out on a place in the final. On the night there were seven first places including individual wins for Jack, Lorcan and Aryan.

NASL Round 2 Results

Guide Dog Trophy

It was a chaotic but exciting gala with several Potters Bar swimmers in their first team gala, there where plenty of PBs and in a very close finish, the Blue team were just beaten into second place by 13 points by Watford and the Jade team finished a very creditable fifth.  There was 18 event wins including individual wins for Stephanie, Emilea, Ben, Georgina, David, Phoebe, Jash, Lauren and Andrea.  Well done to Andrea for breaking the club record for under 12 years 25m breaststroke.  More importantly £1,184 was raised for Guide Dogs For the Blind and special thanks to Hertsmere Leisure and Enfield Branch of GDBA.  Results and photos are on the links below. 

Potters Bar Blue Team Results 

Potters Bar Jade Team Results 

Photos from the event are here and here.

AGM

Thank you to all those who attended the club's Annual General Meeting, the elected committee is :-

President      Jacky Tape
Chairman       Ian Bays
Secretary     Andy Gardner
Treasurer      Vacancy
Committee Members    Chris Andrew, Stuart Burt, Catrina Church, Graham Dean, Jackie Gardner, Jacqui Gormley, Dani Harrison, Martin Higgins, Tania Houben, Karen Lawson, Paul Newman, Anthea Papa and Wray Shewell-Cooper.

The minutes and reports are here.

A few amendments to the constitution were passed, PBSC Constitution 

Qualifying Times

Herts County Qualifying Times

East Region Qualifying Times

National Qualifying Times

Club Championships 2010

Well done to the 125 club members who took part this year, in the 114 races there were nearly 300 new personal best times set.  Many thanks to all the officials and helpers who helped run the four galas.  Don't forget the Presentation Party on Saturday 20th November.

The competitors for the Parent / Child relay, a record number of 47 pairs took part this year.  More photos here.

The full set of results for all four sessions are on the link below,

   Club Champs 2010 Results

Top of the World for John at World Masters & 4 Irish National records

John Cunningham won the 100m fly in a time of 58.55 seconds at the World Masters Championship in Gottenberg, Sweden on Tuesday 3rd August 2010. He also broke the championship record for 50m fly (longcourse) on Monday in a time of 25.96 seconds. This took second place by 0.23 seconds. The first event for John on Sunday was the 100m freestyle in the long-course pool where he secured 8th place in a time of 55.78 seconds. On Tuesday morning John swam 25.68 seconds for the 50m free taking 8th place. All four swims beat the Irish National records and one by over 8 seconds. The 50m and 100m fly are also club records in the open age group. There were over 100 competitors in John's age group at Gottenberg.

World Masters website is here.
Congratulations John.  What next?

Thanks also to our sponsors:

Third Eye Installation Systems www.thirdeyeis.co.uk

Lidl UK GmbH www.lidl.co.uk

Buffera Ltd  www.buffwear.co.uk

  Timekeeper Course 11th December 2011