Ethan enjoys his golden moments

SWIMMING SUZANNE BROWN

SHEFFIELD’S Ponds Forge was the host pool for the 10th Derventio Excel April Level 1 Meet where 39 Pioneer 79 Swimming Club members aged between 10 and 19 competed over two days.

This competition is well attended year upon year, and attracts some of the best clubs and swimmers in the country.

This year was the largest group of swimmers Pioneer 79 have entered for this competition and between them they did exceptionally well, returning with a bucketful of medals and personal best times.

The event was a Level 1 competition and within the British Summer National Competition Qualification Window, this allows swimmers to produce times which would hopefully place them within the top 24 in their age-group within their chosen events.

Should swimmers still be placed within the top 24 places at the end of the qualifying window, they will receive an invitation to compete at the British Summer Nationals in July, the next 20 fastest swimmers in each event will receive an invitation to attend their respective home nation Summer Nationals.

Ethan Naisbitt, 12, competed in the Multi Disability Class however he thoroughly enjoyed competing alongside the able-bodied swimmers.

By doing so, he achieved some phenomenal results, taking gold medals and setting new personal best times in every event he swam.

Ethan’s largest pb of the weekend was in the 100m Backstroke where he knocked an unbelievable 6 seconds off his previous best time of 1.39.93 at the Lancashire County Championships just two months earlier!

His mum, Ann was delighted to see the beaming smile on Ethan’s face after each event.

“It was a pleasure to see him so happy, Ethan has worked extremely hard in training to get to where he is now, we never in our wildest dreams anticipated him to swim to this standard when he started with the club just two years ago,” she said.

“The commitment by all swimmers and coaches at Pioneer 79 and the input Ethan himself has received on technique has been incredible.

“Ethan’s dream of competing at the Paralympics one day may not be off the cards yet!”

Another swimmer who had a great competition was 13-year-old Charlotte Collin.

Charlotte set herself five new pb times over the 2 days, although not quite in the medals, her swims were exceptional, whilst her older sister, Eleanor won a silver medal in the 100m Breaststroke.

Ellie Ward, 14, only 18 months ago decided to quit swimming, however, after having a six-month