South West Winter Regionals 2023 meet report

This weekend saw our top swimmers take part in the South West Winter Regional Championships at Millfield. This is the top short course regional competition this side of Christmas and attracted the highest level competitors from across the region including Great Britain Olympians James Guy and Matt Richards. 

Theo Parker-Minty and Georgie Byam swam in the opening long distance session on Friday night. Georgie came 15th in the 800m FC Junior (15 and under) category, in a time just outside her pb. Theo smashed his pb in the 1500m FC by an impressive 54 seconds and came 4th in Junior category, just missing out on a medal. 

Saturday saw Oscar Bellinger and Theo swim in the opening event of the 400m Freestyle and both did good times, within 5 seconds of their pbs, coming 4th and 11th respectively. Great Britain’s Brodie Williams was in Oscar’s heat for the 400m Freestyle and swam it all backstroke in a time of 4 minutes and 4 seconds!! 

The boys were then almost immediately in action again swimming the 200m Fly. Both recorded short course PB’s of 2.15 and qualified for the B final in the evening session. Iola Bellinger was next in the female 50m Breaststroke and despite only having recently returning to training from injury recorded a good pb, coming 28th overall (4th in her age group). 

Theo and Oscar were in action again in the afternoon session. Theo swam the 400m IM and producing another great effort, knocking 12 seconds off his pb to come 5th in the Junior category. Oscar was equally impressive, knocking nearly a second off his 100m FC time to come 7th in the Junior category. 

The last session of the day were the open age group finals. Theo and Oscar went head to head in B final of the 200m Butterfly despite both being juniors. Both boys swam superbly, producing yet more best times, with Oscar securing the junior silver medal just ahead of Theo who won the junior bronze medal. 

Oscar and Iola were in action in the first session on Sunday. Oscar was first up swimming the 200m FC. He executed his race plan perfectly swimming a lifetime best of 1.57.62 which secured another bronze medal. Iola was next in the 100m BR and despite being just outside her long course best time recorded a short course best time of nearly 7 seconds, coming 3rd in her age group. 

The afternoon session on Sunday saw Oscar, Theo, and Iola back in the pool. Oscar was first up in the 100m Fly. He again swam really well in another short course best time of 59 seconds, placing 8th in the Junior category. Theo was next in the 200m Backstroke and despite being seeded 27th, produced a great swim in the heats, knocking nearly 2 seconds off his best time to make the B final.

Iola’s final event was the 200m Breaststroke where she recorded a short course PB of over 10 seconds, coming 3rd in her age group. Oscar wrapped up the afternoon in the 200m Individual Medley and although slightly slower than his long course best time, again recorded a short course best time coming 11th in the Junior category. 

The final session gave Theo the opportunity to contest the Junior medals and a great swim from start to finish saw Theo again lower his best time to win the bronze medal. All the swimmers competing can be really proud of their efforts and achievements at this high standard meet and we look forward to some more great swimming at the next competition.