Barry Amateur Swimming Club hold annual Cardiff Bay Sprint Meet (From Barry And District News)

Barry Amateur Swimming Club hold annual Cardiff Bay Sprint Meet

7:20am Thursday 2nd August 2012 in Sport

ON Saturday, July 7, at Cardiff International Swimming Pool Barry Amateur Swimming Club held its annual Cardiff Bay Sprint Meet. In previous years it was called Cardiff and Vale Sprint meet.

This event was started by an ex-club member Brian Hardwick who was very involved with Welsh swimming. Brian was a member of Barry for some time before he sadly passed away. This year's event was held on such a dreary summer Saturday, but the noise and enthusiasm of the 440 swimmers that were taking part were not dampened.

Barry had 22 swimmers taking part and many of them swimming the event for the first time. This event is for swimmers aged nine and over and was a Level 3/4 meet where it allows swimmers to take part in competitions that they might not normally have a chance of entering. It is a good starter competition for swimmers and so swimmers from all over South Wales and further afield attended.

Each of the four strokes is a heat declare winner and the top ten swimmers in the overall event then takes part in the individual Medley for a final swim. For all of the races swimmers who gained 1st, 2nd and 3rd gained a medal but in the IM the 1st place winner also gained £10.

Swimming in the 15-year-old age group Georgia Looker took 3rd place in the 50m breast stroke in a time of 42s.45 only slightly off her personal best, with Ffion Goodland just behind her in 4th place.

Gaining a 1st place was Luke Birnage in the 50m breast stroke10-year-old age group in a time of 47s.18, which was a personal best for him by nearly two seconds. In the 12-year-old boys age group Ryan Connor gained a fantastic 2nd place in a time of 42s.84 with Shaun Bowden not far behind in 6th place in a time of 44s.02, which was a personal best for him.

Swimming in the 50m back stroke in the girls 15-year-old age group Georgia Looker had another fantastic swim and gained a 2nd place in a time of 36s.46, which was a personal best. Ffion again was not far behind her this time with a 6th place in a time of 48s.35.

For the boys 50m back stroke in the 11-year-old age group Declan Ewington came in 2nd place in a time of 41s.05, which was a half a second improvement on his previous time. Once again Ryan Connor swam well in the back stroke in his age group and gained a 1st place in a time of 38s.14 which was an improved personal best of nearly four seconds.

This time in the 50m butterfly Georgia Looker gained a 1st place in her age group in a time of 32s.98, again gaining a personal best by more than half a second. In the 13-year-old age group Llinos Goodland improved her personal best by over 14 seconds which is a massive amount of time.

Working very hard in the boys butterfly in his age group Ryan Connor gained a fantastic 1st place in a time of 34s 26. He improved his personal best by a massive 5s.79. Also in this age group James Hamer and Sam Smith improved their personal bests by over 10 seconds.

Once again swimming this time in the 50m free style Georgia Looker gained another 1st place in a time of 31s.22 with Ffion Goodland again not far behind with a 4th place in a time of 40s.23. Ryan Connor this time in the boy’s 50m free style gain a personal best of 33s.55 and a 3rd place.

Bethan Williams aged 12 had a very good swim and gained a 1st place in her age group in a time of 46s.69 for the kick race. This race is for swimmer to kick the length of the pool holding a float. Most of the swimmers who do this event say that it is harder than swimming normally and it is something that they would normally do as a training exercise.

Out of the 22 swimmers Barry Swimming Club had taking part eight of them got into the final IM, which is such a fantastic achievement for such a small club. Swimming in the nine-year-old age group Thomas Pugh very sadly got disqualified but did very well to get into the IM.

Luke Birnage in the 10 year age group having had very good swims all day gained a 7th place in the 200m IM finishing in 7th place in a time of 3m.40s.03. Again very sadly after swimming so well all day Declan Ewington was disqualified in his 11-year-old age group but did well to get to the final. Having not long joined the club swimming very well Naomi Hills aged 11 came 10th place in a time of 3m.29s.38.

Having had such a good day Ryan Connor in his 12 year old age group came 4th in a time of 2m.59s.64. In the 15-year-old girls age group Barry had two swimmers which is a fantastic achievement. Georgia Looker came in 3rd in a time of 2m.50s.53 and Ffion Goodland in a time of 3m.27s.72 gained a 4th place. Many of the swimmers in the IM had not swam the event before.

At the end of the day Ryan Connor was awarded the Brian Hardwick Cup for the best 12-year-old boy for the whole event. The cup was presented by Brian's daughter Rhian and his two grandchildren who swim for Cardiff swimming club. Rhian was very proud that a swimmer from Barry won the cup but hopes that her son might get a chance to win it next year when he was 12.

The club would like to thank everyone who helped at this event as without helpers from the club and officials from all over Wales it would not be able to run.

Barry Amateur Swimming Club is always looking for new members to join the club so if you would like a trial telephone Heulwen Cooper on 01446 733784.

The club swim at Barry Leisure Centre on Monday, Friday and Sunday and Cardiff International Pool on Monday and Thursday. For more information visit the Barry Amateur Swimming Club website.