Royal Tunbridge Wells Monson (RTWM) Swimming Club travelled to Crystal Palace National Sports Centre for Beckenham Swimming Clubs’ annual Level 1 Open International Meet and were in exceptional form finishing with a tally of: six Gold; five Silver and two Bronze medals and seven top eight places.

Competing against competitors from far and wide including a very strong teams from Millfield School, Guildford and Hillingdon, eleven year old Caitlin Fearon led the way with a personal medal haul of five Gold and three silvers dominating the girls 10/11 years age group.

Freestyle specialist, Caitlin excelled in Freestyle, winning the 100m, 200m, and 400m events and only missing a fourth by 0.05 of a second. The 200m and 400m Freestyles saw Caitlin’s best performances of the weekend when she narrowly missed qualifying, a year out of age, for the 12 years 200m Freestyle at this Summers National Age Group Championships to be held in Ponds Forge in Sheffield by just 0.16 sec.

In consolation Caitlin has shot back to the top of the 11 years ASA National Rankings by a full second. In the 400m Caitlin found herself seeded in the fastest heat with the seniors and was again just outside the 12 year old National Qualifying Time (NQT) time and moved up the rankings to second. Caitlin’s other Gold medals came in the 100m freestyle; 50m Backstroke; 50 Breaststroke and her Silvers: 50m Freestyle; 200 Backstroke and 200m Individual Medley (IM).

Beth Hathaway (16 years) showed her class winning the senior (16 plus) 200m Freestyle in commanding style. Beth led from the start and had established a three metre lead by half way and was not to be caught. Beth also took Bronze in the 50m Freestyle where she was chasing an NQT to add to the 100m and 200m already achieved earlier in the year. Unfortunately she fell just shy on this occasion.

Savanna Jemmett (13 years) came home with two Silver medals and also narrowly missed two NQT’s in the 100m and 200m Backstroke. Although just outside Savanna is homing in on both times and was satisfied with a massive Personal Best (PB) in the 200m event considering she had been suffering with tonsillitis earlier in the week.

Breaststroke specialist Annabel Guye-Johnson (12 years), now back in full training and working hard having already achieved both her NQT’s again went close to her best and finished the weekend with a Bronze and two fourth places in the 100m, 50m and 200m Breaststroke events respectively in the 12/13 year old age group.

Team mate Charlotte Chapman (13 years) also established a new PB in the 400m Freestyle and had three top 8 finishes. Rising star Thomas Leman (9 years) impressed finishing 10th out of 19 competitors in the 9-11 years 50m Breaststroke establishing a new PB and 9 year old Club Record. Thomas’ performance was all the more outstanding not only because he was competing two years out of age at a level 1 licensed meet but because he beat all the 10 year old boys in the race.

Director of Swimming at RTWM, Kim Longland was very upbeat about the performances despite several NQT near misses commenting

“I was especially pleased with the way the youngsters just got on with the job and were not phased by competing against older opposition.” And added: “We were not expecting to swim well here as this was not a focus meet and fell in the middle of some hard training so these performances were a bonus. We are continuing to achieve at all strokes and all distances which is a credit to our development system and coaching staff”.

RTWM Academy Coach, Simon Killick travelled to The Pavilions in Horsham, Sussex with a group of sixteen Academy and Development swimmers to compete in Atlantis Swimming Clubs Level 4 Spring Open Meet. From a total of 62 starts the group achieved 33 top 6 places of which 65% were PB’s.

Matthew Chadwick (16 years and Over) emerged victorious in the 50m Breaststroke and 50m Freestyle and added Silvers in the 200 IM; 50m and 100m Butterfly and Bronzes in 50m Backstroke and 100 Freestyle. Ben Fitzsimons (11 years) was impressed in his first open meet also taking Gold in the 50m Breaststroke and a Bronze in the 50 Freestyle. Betty Smith (9 years), also competing for the first time took a well earned Bronze in the 200m Freestyle and achieved a PB in the 50m event.

Ella Ryan (10 years) took two Silvers in 50m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke as did Emma Green (14 years) in the 200 IM and 100m Breaststroke. Two further medals were added to the haul by Jasmine Lambert (12years) taking Silver in the 50m Butterfly and Emily Das (10 years) adding Bronze in the 200 Breaststroke. Mia Burns (10 years) swimming in her first competitive 200 Butterfly, a gruelling event for a seasoned competitor let alone a 10 year old, finished a very creditable fourth.

Other swimmers competing were: Elliot Jones (10 years); Daniel Solomon (10 years); Stephanie Andrews (11 years); Joshua Cruz (11 years); Harry Green (11 years); Stefan Wright (13 years); Joshua Harrison (14 years) and Jonathan Chadwick (14 years). RTWM will next be in action again in two weeks time at the Swim South East Regional British Gas Age Group Championships to be held at K2 Crawley.

Anyone interested in joining RTWM should consult the New Member Enquiry Page on the Club website: www.rtwmonson.org.