Halloween Spooktacular at Hengrove Park

This was our first targeted meet of the new season and with all the recent coaching changes it was great to see so many swimmers competing and enjoying their racing. It was a very long and full weekend of racing and we saw some amazing swims from all those who took part.

Over the weekend we had 32 swimmers competing. Out of the 104 swims on Saturday there were 70 PB’s (LIFETIME BEST TIMES!) and another 15 swims within 1 second of the PB’s. Out of the 105 swims on the Sunday we had another 77 PB’s and 9 more swims within a second of their PB’s.

There were 67 medals won over the weekend including 37 gold, 19 silver and 11 bronze. The team came 5th overall behind the bigger clubs who had many more swimmers (we were top on average points per swimmer!)

This was a fantastic effort from all those competing, especially given that we have only just started the season. What was also really pleasing was that Salisbury only had 1 DQ all meet.

100m Breast Stroke: Hugo Tribbeck, Ethan Hemming, Theo Parker-Minty

The swimmers were given more responsibility for their warm ups and race starts (having practiced them in their last training sessions before the meet) to help them become more self-reliant. They took this on board really well and were also really engaged in their pre and post race discussions.

These brilliant performances are a direct reflection of all the effort the swimmers have put into their training and is a real credit to them to show their resilience and continue their focus and commitment given the recent coaching departures.

I would like to say a massive thank you to Jon, Rashan and Natasha who were team managers for the weekend. Without their help and support we would not have been able to get the swimmers into their warm ups and to races on time and also reminding the swimmers to refuel and rehydrate.

The swimmers behaviour on poolside was exemplary through the whole weekend and it was a real pleasure to be part of the team representing our fantastic club.

We now look forward to some more great swimming at the next meets and competitions.