It has been yet another busy and successful year for Bristol Central speed swimmers, coaches, team managers, helpers and parents. I will try and capture the highlights in this report.

Once again we have welcomed a number of new swimmers to the club from other areas and clubs. We hope that they have settled into our sessions and enjoyed competing in league and open competitions. It is good to see a number of younger swimmers joining through our sessions at Jubilee and St Mary Redcliffe.

This year has seen an increase in the numbers of parent helpers at league competitions and open meets. We are continuing to encourage more people to undertake Team Manager, Child Protection and other relevant training to ensure they are equipped to support our swimmers. All helpers are subject to CRB checks to ensure the highest level of protection for swimmers.

A successful Skills Development event took place at St Mary Redcliffe involving 31 swimmers over 2 Sundays in May. Thanks to Marion for organising this and the coaches who took part.

A number of our swimmers have continued to train with City of Bristol Squad. These are swimmers who have achieved ASA SW regional qualifying times. This means that they will have up to 7 sessions with City but will continue to train with and compete for their host club – Bristol Central.

We continue to put results of competitions on the website and trying to include other information. We would like to encourage more reports and stories of events so if anybody would like to contribute a story about their experience of a competition or anything else please let me know and I will pass on to Derek Milliner and Carl Johnson. We are also continuing to record all the results to provide a list of times for each swimmer.

In September we held our new look Club Championships which included distance events to reflect the Glos Blocks programme. This was a very successful event with some old records being broken and new ones set. Thanks to Marion for organising and for everybody who took part and supported the competition.

Swimming Competitions during the year

National (Arena) League
We took part in the final last December 2009 in Bath where we were 1st and 12th overall in League 2 - an excellent result. This is one of our most important league events of the year that often provides some exciting competition. Thanks to Richard for managing the team. This year we won the first round gala with round 2 taking place in November with the final in December. Fingers crossed for a good result!

Mini Series
Bristol Central improved their position in the league this year coming 3rd overall, an excellent result. Thanks to Karen and Lee for coordinating and managing this league and for other parents who have helped at galas.

Southern Junior League
Bristol Central finished 24th this year in the Southern Junior League – an opportunity for 9-12 year olds to take part in a high quality competition against clubs across the south of England. Thanks to Nicky Bryant and Sue Sharley for managing this team.

Gloucester County Championships.
Bristol Central had one of its best years yet at the Gloucester County championships, better known as ‘Gloucester Blocks’.

A total of 32 swimmers took part in individual events – the youngest being 9 years and the oldest 20+! Bristol Central swimmers achieved a number of significant results including reaching 9 championship finals (Rachel, Finn and Alex); 9 swimmers achieved Regional Qualifying times (Rachel, Finn, Alex, Chloe, Patrick, Amber, Lauren, Steven, Christine) with Finn achieving national qualifying times.

In the bagcats age group awards Bianca Bryant was 2nd , Keira Noon 6th & Nathan Brown 2nd in the 9 years and Georgia Sharley was 4th in the 10 years. Many other swimmers achieved personal best times and numerous medals.
This year saw 14 teams, across age groups, achieve finals where our open and 17+ teams gained 2nd and 3rd places.
Many thanks to Nicky Booth for organising the entries and the rotas for each gala and for all the Team Managers and Chaperones for supporting the swimmers.

South West Regional Championships
Nine Bristol Central qualified for South West Regional Age Group and Youth Championships in May/June held at Millfield School. Congratulations to Amber Brewer, Patrick Noon, Chloe Bryant, Finn Taylor, Steven Hood, Lauren Pascoe, Alex Chklar, Rachel Curnock, Christine Howie. Finn achieved 3rd place in the 17+ 200m backstroke qualifying for the nationals. Well done Finn a well deserved result!

National Championships
Finn Taylor qualified for and competed in the 400m Freestyle & 200m Backstroke at the National Championships in Sheffield in August. Tom Shortman also represented City of Bristol in the 800m freestyle.

Open Meets
Once again Bristol Central swimmers competed in a number of Open Meets throughout the year. This gives our swimmers opportunities to compete against swimmers from across the region providing excellent competition. For some of our younger swimmers this is often a first chance to compete outside Bristol. This year our swimmers competed in the Salisbury open meet where we achieved several 1st, 2nd and 3rd places; Bristol North Open meet at Hutton Moor where our younger swimmers achieved places and swam PBs; in October Carn Brea Open Meet, held in Penzance, where again several medals were won with Amber and Chloe breaking competition records.

Thanks to the parents, team managers and coaches who organised entries to these events and supported the swimmers.

We look forward to another successful swimming year next year when swimmers will be competing in many of the same competitions and meets as this year. Well done to all the swimmers who train hard and enthusiastically represent Bristol Central and to all the parents and carers who support them.

Jean Trewhitt
Swimming Section Secretary
November 2010