ON A VERY wet weekend at the beginning of June, a number of swimmers from the Barry Amateur Swimming club braved the weather to take part in the South East Wales Regional Junior Development Meet 2009 held at the South East Wales Regional Pool Newport International Sports Village.

This was for many the first time they had swam in such an event and is seen as being the first stage in obtaining a recognised time.

The event saw an increase of some 200 swimmers over last year meaning that there were more than 350 swimmers taking part on each day.

After a few hiccups with the starting equipment which all the swimmers took in their stride, the results showed that members of the Barry team produced many personal best times for their individual events and were consistently in the top half of all the swimmers in their respective age groups The swimmers taking part were Seren Mirza-Davies (8 years) who had an excellent day finishing in the top 6 in all her events with an impressive 3rd place in her 25m butterfly with a time of 22.89.

Elizabeth McCulloch (9 years) achieved a number of personal bests knocking off 16 secs in the 100m individual medley in a time of 1.51.

Anna Mirza-Davies (11 years) pulled out all the stops in her 200m freestyle event to produce a time of 2.59 a personal best by some 49 secs.

The boys, not wishing to be outdone by the girls, produced some inspired swimming. New club member Rhys James (8 years) produced a first class set of results including a 3rd place in his 25m backstroke with a time of 20.53.

Declan Ewington (8 years) secured a number of personal bests shaving 10 secs off his previous time for the 100m individual medley in a time of 1.58.

Sam Smith (9 years) showed a terrific 25m butterfly result of 23.74 shaving off 6 secs from his previous best.

The 11-12 year age group was represented by new club member Tristan Cuer achieving personal best times in all 5 events, winning the 100m breaststroke in a time of 1.33.88 and gaining a well deserved bronze medal for the overall meet in this age group. Well done Tristan.

All swimmers should feel extremely proud of their achievements. Special thanks goes to Denise Cuer who stood in as club coach for the meet at short notice.