Balasz takes home five gold medals (From Barry And District News)

Balasz takes home five gold medals

BARRY Amateur Swimming Club took part in the Cardiff and the Vale junior championships, held at Barry Leisure Centre recently.

The competition is held annually for the clubs within the area, including the renowned City of Cardiff.

The swimmers from BASC were aged between nine and 13 years of age. It was once again a highly successful day for the club's swimmers.

Everyone swam really well, with Barry swimmers having the chance to stand on the medal podium 26 times.

Balasz Vincze won every event in his age group (11 years), winning five gold.

Several of his victories were by a considerable distance and he still has two more years to compete in this event.

Ten-year-old Alana Wilson also took five medals: gold in the IM, freestyle and backstroke, with silvers in fly and breaststroke.

Nine-year-old Georgia Looker, who has waited patiently to be old enough to compete in this event, took five medals herself. She won gold in breaststroke and backstroke, breaking the championship record in the the latter. She also had three silver medals in the Im, fly and freestyle.

Rebecca McTavish (age 11) battled hard and took silver in the breaststroke and backstroke, with a third in the fly and just finishing outside the medals in fourth in the freestyle.

Elis Richards, age nine, who was taking part for the first time, swam exceptionally well and won gold in the breaststroke and a bronze in the freestyle.

Bronwen Harries (age 12) broke her club record to gain a bronze in the breaststroke. Amy Drew (age nine) earned a bronze in the breaststroke, narrowly missing the silver.

Nioami Everitt won a bronze in the fly and had two fourth places in the breaststroke and freestyle. Rhys Palfrey (age 10) was pipped into second place in the fly and finished in the top six in most of his strokes. Lauren Blake, (age nine), gained a creditable bronze in the backstroke.

Many others broke their personal best times and finished really well in their age groups. Praise went to Hannah Palfrey, Alice Lewis, Jessica Thomas, Rebecca Reynolds, Eloise Neighbour, Samantha Richards, Hannah Yarr, Megan Buckle, Ashton Osbourne and Kimberley Williams, and the boys, Alex Varney, George Crowther and Rhys Perry.

When not swimming the team were cheering each other on for the whole day. The coaching team and parents were very proud of the swimmers and look forward to the next event.