Good times at Sheffield event
ASHBOURNE & District Swimming Club members closed the year by competing at the Derbyshire ASA Long Course Sprints Competition at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.
This gala consists of mainly 50m and 100m races.
Ashbourne took a team of 13 swimmers who all performed well in the 50m pool, some of them for the first time.
Event wins were not a realistic target in most cases for the Ashbourne swimmers but all were hoping to gain County Championship qualifying times or improve on the ones they had already set, ahead of the championships in February.
Nine of the Ashbourne team swimmers gained one or more county qualifying times and many got new personal bests for a long course competition.
Highlights included Anna Poyser (12), Ellie Torpey (14) and Imogen Scotcher (12), who all improved their county times.
Edie Hambleton (10) competed for the first time in a 50m pool and gained a county qualifying time in the 50m breaststroke.
Elena Andrews (12) and Isobel Torpey (12) scored new PBS and their first county qualifying times, both in the 50m freestyle.
Jolyon Woodisse (14) got county times in both the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly.
Jessica Kaul (14) secured three county times, 12-year-old Katie Hancock got new PBS in three events and Kate Haswell (14), already a strong county swimmer, came fourth in the 50m freestyle.
Robyn Tisley (14) got PBS in all four of her events and it was her first time competing in the 50m breaststroke at an open meet.
Michaela Dick (15) could at least reflect that she swam well, considering she was recovering from an injury.