Swimmers battle it out for honours
COMMUNITY GAMES
AURA Dundalk Leisure Centre was again the venue for the Louth Swimming Community Games which took place at 8am last Sunday morning (7th April). There was a packed house, even at this early hour, as swimmers came from County Louth communities as far north as Cooley and as far south as Drogheda South to battle it out in the pool to win the honour of pulling on the red swim hat of Louth at the National Community Games in Limerick in May.
While the first event of the day went to the south of the county when Jessica Sweeney of Tinure/ Tullyallen/Monasterboice touched the wall first in the Girls U8 25m Freestyle, Dylan Logan opened the North Louth account with a Gold in the Boys U8 25m Freestyle for Blackrock/Haggardstown. Dundalk Swim Club swimmers secured a second and third place finish in the Girls U10 50m Freestyle when Shyne Kasozi took Silver for Dundalk St Joseph’s and Emily Coye landed the Bronze for Blackrock/Haggardstown. The Club struck again in the Boys U10 Freestye when Hugo Friel picked up a Bronze for Blackrock/ Haggardstown.
Bronagh Harmon picked up the Club’s first Gold medal securing 1st place in the Girls U12 50m Freestyle representing St Joseph’s Dundalk. This was quickly followed by Skye Kasozi who picked up a gold in the Girls U14 50m Freestyle with Julia van Coller also taking a Bronze representing Blackrock/ Haggardstown in the same event.
Matthew Messin took Bronze in the Boys U12 50m Freestyle while Oisin Garry took Silver in the Boys U14 50m Freestyle both representing Blackrock/Haggardstown.
Evelyn Donnelly took 1st place in the Girls U16 50m Freestyle representing Cooley while David Coyle landed a Bronze for Blackrock/Hagardstown in a very competitive Boys U16 50m Freestyle.
Blackrock/Haggardstown secured all three places when Kate Delany secured Gold in the Girls U14 50m Butterfly event with Faye O’Rourke and Sadhbh Mullen landing Silver and Bronze. Sean O’Rourke took Silver in the Boys U14 50m Butterfly and Katie Farrell representing Ardee/Collon/ Reaghstow completed Dundalk Swim Clubs success in the Butterfly with a Silver in the Girls U16 50m Butterfly.
The Backstroke started well for Blackrock/Haggardstown when Maebh Mullen took Silver in the Girls U10 50m event, while Amelie Friel secured another Silver in the Girls U12 event. Finn Garry also representing Blackrock/Haggardstown then took home Gold in the Boys U12 50m Backstroke, while Eliza Logan secured a 1st place finish in the Girls U14 Backstroke for the Seasiders.
The Blackrock/Haggardstown success carried through to the Breaststroke when Jake Logan secured Gold in the Boys U12 50m Breaststroke and Rebekah Friel took Gold in the Girls U14 50m Breaststroke. Cedric Saavedra, representing St Josephs, won silver in the Boys U14 Breaststroke completing the individual success for Dundalk Swim Club and friends.
The hugely exciting relays got off to a great start when Blackrock/ Haggardstown Girls U13 4x25m relay team (Amy McEvoy, Rebekah Friel, Emilia Rutkowska and Julia van Coller) secured a Gold ahead of Drogheda North and Drogheda South. The Blackrock/Haggardstown Boys U13 4x25m relay team (Sean O’Rourke, Matthew Messin Jake Logan and Finn Garry) also put in a hugely impressive display finishing well ahead of Drogheda South and Drogheda North. The Seasiders were again dominant wrapping up a very successful morning in the pool when the Girls U16 4x50m Medley Relay (Kate Delany, Sadhbh Mullen, Eliza Logan and Faye O’Rourke) took the top spot in their event to the delight of the Dundalk Swim club friends and family.
But there wasn’t much time to celebrate or rest. Just a few hours later the Club had five swimmers compete at the Bangor Open outside Belfast under the watchful eye of coach Colette Donnelly. In the first event Eliza Logan landed a 1st place finish in the U13 100m Freestyle knocking 2.24 seconds off her Personal Best with a Summer National qualification time. In the same event Evelyn Donnelly (16) competing in the Over 16s category was less than 1.5 seconds from a medal position.
Patrick Harmon (17) secured a Silver in the 16 and Overs 100m Breaststroke knocking 1.03 off his Personal Best. Patrick also took Bronze in the 100m Backstroke and rounded off his day with another Silver in the 200m Individual Medley (IM). Brother Eoin Harmon knocked a massive 9.11 seconds off his Personal Best in the 200IM. Eliza Logan won a second Gold in the U13 100m Butterfly event while Alex Lapko also secured a Personal Best knocking almost a second off his 100m Freestyle time and secured a top 5 finish in the 100m Backstroke.
Dundalk Swim Club are always on the look out for the next generation of local swimming talent. The Club are particularly interested in hearing from parents of swimmers in the 7-12 age group who can comfortably swim 25 meters (one length of Dundalk’s pool) Front, Back and Breast stroke and those aged over 12 who may have some club swimming experience. For further information contact Paul at swimclub.dundalk@gmail.com.