Press

Throughout the autumn period the training sessions have continued without interruption, and as a consequence of all the hard work the swimmers and coaches have put in over the past few weeks we have seen some great results in the pool.

Open Competitions

On the weekend of the 5th and 6th November, 13 swimmers from the club made the trip to Neath Leisure Centre for the annual Neath Open Gala.

The team consisted of Harrison Cole-Picton, Luke Dedoncker, Emily Dilks, Arabella Haley, Amy Morgan, Lillie Murray-Coller, Caleb O`Neill, Tilley O`Neill, Alanya Thomas, Harry Thomas, Charlotte O`Neill, Owen Thomas, and Lauren Watkins.

From the start it was evident that all the hard training over the autumn was paying off, as nearly every swimmer was beating their previous times. Outstanding performances for the weekend were:

9-10 year old boys - Harrison won no less than 2 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals, picking up a meet record for the 50m freestyle in the process. Charlotte O`Neill won a silver medal in the 11- 12 year olds 100m IM, Luke Dedoncker also had a good meet, claiming 1 gold and 2 silvers, and Owen Thomas, who only swam on the Sunday, managed 1 gold and 1 bronze. Caleb O`Neill had a good Sunday – picking up 2 silvers and a bronze. Amy Morgan and Arabella Haley picked up a bronze medal each.

Finally, in their first gala for Tenby Dolphins, Lillie Murray-Coller, swam a superb 50m Butterfly and claimed a deserved silver medal, and Tilley O`Neill and Harry Thomas swam admirably in the 8 year old races.

Out of 78 individual swims – Tenby Dolphins managed 4 gold, 9 silver, and 6 bronze medals, this included 65 individual personal bests for the team. Well done to you all.

We then had a few weeks more training before the next open meet which took place at Haverfordwest leisure centre on December 3rd and 4th. A squad of 16 Tenby swimmers from both the club and county training programs took to the pool.

This meet attracted swimmers from all over west Wales and our group of super swimmers from Tenby Dolphins did not disappoint.

The Tenby swimmers entered a total of 83 individual races and 7 relays. In the individual races the Dolphins produced some excellent performances totalling 62 personal best times between them.

The notable results were as follows: Ffion Davies - gold medal in the 12 & under 100m breaststroke and 400m freestyle; Hazel Fox – gold medal in the 12 & under 100m butterfly; Talia Merriman – gold medal in the 12 & under 200m butterfly; Arabella Haley – gold medal in the 10 & under 200m breaststroke. There were silver medals for Katie Hicks and Arabella Haley in the 200m Individual Medleys. Carys Davies won a silver medal in the 12 & under 100m freestyle and Arabella Haley also won a another silver medal in the girls 10/U 400m Freestyle.

There were bronze medals for Amy Morgan in the 200m Butterfly (12 & Under), Katie Hicks in the 100m breaststroke (12 & Under) and Arabella Haley picked up 2 bronze medals for the 200m freestyle and 100m breaststroke (10 & Under).

As the result of some excellent swims throughout the weekend, Arabella Haley ended the meet as 3rd best girl overall.

In the relays – Tenby Dolphins triumphed in three races and came 3rd in one, most of the girls swam against older opposition and performed admirably.

Well done to all the girls who stayed for the relays – Talia, Hazel, Ashleigh, Carys, Ffion, Katie, Amy, Alanya, Lauren, Arabella, Lillie and Charlotte great swimming from you all.

The next big event that took place was the British Gas Swim Wales Open Winter Championships. This long course event took place at the Wales National Pool Swansea over the weekend of 16th-18th December.

As this is a Level 1 meet with tough qualifying times only our older club and county based swimmers took part.

County swimmers Hannah Saunders, Ffion Davies, Daniel Davies, Talia Merriman and Hazel Fox were joined by club swimmers Katie Hicks, Ashleigh Willars, Carys Davies and Jemma Hurds, together with Bethan Davie who splits her training between Tenby and the Swim Swansea National Squad.

We are used to seeing our swimmers perform well at open meets, and once again they did not disappoint. All of the younger members of the group swam some nice PB’s and collectively brought home a good collection of medals.

Club swimmers Carys Davies and Ashleigh Willars won a 50m freestyle bronze and 100m butterfly silver medal respectively against some tough competition, and Jemma swam to a very strong 4th in the girls 200m breaststroke.

The county based group all had a good weekend with Hannah, Hazel and Ffion all adding to their haul of silverware.

Medals and PB’s are not enough however, and we are very pleased to report that Ffion Davies has added her name to the club hall of fame by recording her first National Qualifying time in the 100m butterfly. She will now have her chance to take on the best in the UK in Sheffield next summer.

Bethan Davie who succumbed to illness during the weekend also recorded a NQT in the 200m IM before having to withdraw from the remainder of the event.

Congratulations to all who took part and we will hopefully see more of our swimmers breaking through at this level as 2012 progresses.

Forthcoming Events.

14/15-Jan-12 Swansea Valley Sprint Meet.

20/22-Jan-12 Swim Wales New Year Dragon Meet. Level 3 meet this year, so good chance for our younger swimmers to have a go at a long course swim.

29/30-Jan-12 URDD National Championships, Cardiff International Pool.

4/5 & 11/12 Feb West Wales Regional Championships, Haverfordwest.

Billy Greenwood, George Greenwood, Lillie Murray-Coller and Katie Hicks receive their awards from Head Coach Steve Davie at the Tenby Dolphins Club Christmas Party.

Club News.

Our annual club Christmas party was held at Tenby Ex Serviceman’s Club on Sunday 18th December, and as usual a great time was had by all, this time spiced up by some excellent fancy dress costumes sported by swimmers and parents alike.

Each year we make several presentations during the party and after much deliberation, the coaches awarded the following swimmers with awards recognising their achievements over the year.

Most improved boy: George Greenwood; Most improved girl: Lillie Murray-Coller; Most improved overall: Katie Hicks. Finally the Coaches Choice award this year went to Billy Greenwood. Well done all of you. Well-deserved indeed.

Quite a few of our swimmers have made it through to represent their individual schools in the annual URDD National Swimming Championships which take place in Cardiff on 29-30th January 2012. Good luck to all who are taking part.

Tenby Dolphins are very keen to keep expanding our fantastic group of competitive swimmers, so we are currently looking for more youngsters to join in the fun at the club. Our swimmers have a great time at loads of different competitions, and over the years we have had success at all levels. If you have the basic swimming skills to swim a length or two and are interested in becoming part of vibrant and fun club, please come and have a look at what we do at one of our training sessions at Tenby Leisure Centre or get in touch with us to arrange a trial. You can contact us on 01834 871941, or via email to info@tenbydolphins.co.uk.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all club members and their families a very happy Christmas and we look forward to seeing you back in the pool in the New Year refreshed and ready to go.

New Season Begins for Tenby Dolphins. 20/09/2011

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That is not to say that we were idle over the summer months! Far from it indeed. The majority of our swimmers carried on training on a slightly reduced program throughout the holiday period, whilst of course finding time for plenty of fun, relaxation and family holidays. In addition, several of our older club swimmers, and those who have progressed to the Pembrokeshire County performance program, took part in some big events over the summer months.

However, now that everyone is back in school the hard work in the pool starts again and the coaches will be upping the tempo in the coming weeks as the competition season gets under way once again.

Open Competitions

The first event that was attended by Tenby swimmers over the summer was the Cardiff Bay Sprint Meet which took place at the Cardiff International Pool on 16th July. Eight Tenby swimmers took part in the event : Owen Thomas, Lloyd Thomas, Amy Morgan, Harry Thomas, Alanya Thomas, Jemma Whalley, Harrison Cole-Picton and Emily Dilks. The poolside team at the event reported that there were some strong swims from our group with Alanya and Emily winning medals and Harrison picking up a “speeding-ticket” for being just too fast! Well done all of you.

Tenby swimmers at 2011 Cardiff Bay Sprint Meet.

As we alluded to in our last report, county swimmers Hannah Saunders and Talia Merriman qualified for the ASA National Age Group Championships which took place at Ponds Forge in Sheffield in July, and once again Bethan Davie was at the Youth Champs a week later representing Swim Swansea.

First time attendees Hannah and Talia both had an excellent week, with some strong swims and will surely be back for more in 2012.

Immediately after this meet, the Swim Wales Summer Nationals took place in Swansea, and a number of Tenby swimmers took part. Our club swimmers who entered produced a raft of new long course PB’s, which was a very pleasing culmination to a year of hard work. Hannah and Talia who were back in the pool in Swansea both won medals to close out two weeks of intensive swimming. Well done to all.

International Competition

Over the summer months Welsh squad swimmers Hannah and Bethan took part in overseas representative competitions. Hannah travelled to swim at Belinzona in Switzerland and Bethan to Porto in Portugal. By all accounts both enjoyed the experience.

More medals for Bethan Davie at 2011 UK Schools Games in Sheffield.

At the beginning of September both girls were part of the Welsh team that took part in the UK Schools Games, which this year was held in Sheffield over the weekend of 3rd and 4th September. This is always a fun event and the girls thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and the support of their team mates during the competition. Bethan, who was a gold medallist in 2009 and 2010 continued her medal winning ways with two bronze medals in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, giving her a total of seven UKSG medals won over the three years she has been selected. Well done to both of the girls, and to Carys Thomas from Pembroke who was also part of the team.

Next year the competition will be held in London slightly earlier in the year at some of the Olympic venues, so those who qualify are sure to have a good time.

Club News.

We have restructured the club slightly over the past month and we now have a little more room in the Junior and Senior squad sessions. Also, the Development Team are now in the pool at the same time as the Water Dragons so the numbers across the sessions are more balanced. First impressions are that this is an improvement for all squads.

Our group of volunteer coaches and helpers are working hard to keep the club moving forwards, but we are always looking for more help. Please come forward if you are able to assist, not necessarily with the poolside activities. There are many other areas that need volunteers to keep the club running.

Congratulations to Hazel Fox who has progressed to the County performance program. Hazel has joined club mates Hannah, Talia, Ffion and Dan who already train in Haverfordwest.

Congratulations also to those within the club who have progressed into the County Skills and Potential squads for this season. We hope you enjoy the additional training you will have the opportunity to receive.

Tenby Dolphins are very keen to keep expanding our fantastic group of competitive swimmers, so we are currently looking for more youngsters to join in the fun at the club. Our swimmers have a great time at loads of different competitions, and over the years we have had success at all levels. If you have the basic swimming skills to swim a length or two and are interested in becoming part of vibrant and fun club, please come and have a look at what we do at one of our training sessions at Tenby Leisure Centre or get in touch with us to arrange a trial. You can contact us on 01834 871941, or via email to info@tenbydolphins.co.uk.

Tenby Dolphins Spring Round-Up. 05/07/2011

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This is our first report for some time, so there is lots to catch up with. We have not reported any results since the Welsh Champs back in April, so there are a couple of months of competitions to review and quite bit of club news to update.

Open Competitions

The Swansea Valley Open took place on 7th-8th May, and we were represented by Carys Davies, Emily Dilks, Arabella Haley, Jemma Hurds, Talia Merriman, Amy Morgan, Owen Thomas, Lauren Watkins and Jemma Whalley.

Our swimmers enjoyed an excellent weekend and between them won no fewer than 26 medals as well as setting the usual crop on impressive new PB’s.

The following weekend Carys Davies joined Patrick Bunker, and two of our county swimmers Hannah Saunders and Niamh Slack at the Swim Swansea Long Course Meet. Both Carys and Patrick recorded new PB’s in the 50m freestyle, and Hannah PB’d all of her swims and won silver in the 100m breaststroke on her way to recording another National Qualifying time. Well done indeed Hannah.

May was a very busy month and Tenby had a large entry at this year’s Pembrokeshire Whitsun Weekender Meet which was once again held in Haverfordwest.

The Tenby swimmers who entered this year were: Patrick Bunker, Harrison Cole-Picton, Carys Davies, Luke Dedoncker, Emily Dilks, Hazel Fox, Arabella Haley, Kaitlyn Hicks, Jemma Hurds, Talia Merriman, Amy Morgan, Caleb O’Neill, Charlotte O’Neill, Hannah Saunders, Niamh Slack, Alanya Thomas, Lauren Watkins, Jemma Whalley and Ashleigh Willars.

Three of our Tenby girls make a flying start at the Pembrokeshire Whitsun Weekender Meet in May.

This meet has been reported in length by others previously, so we won’t go into too much detail here. Suffice to say there were numerous podium placing’s once again, so the Tenby contingent returned home with a good haul of the silverware. The times recorded by our swimmers were indeed impressive, and no less than 80% of all swims resulted in new lifetime bests for the club members. Very well done everyone.

Caleb O’Neill enjoyed a good weekend and as the result of some very impressive racing was awarded the Best Boy award for the Level 3 part of the Meet. Nice one Caleb!

To top off an excellent weekend there were also some fantastic National Qualifying Times recorded by two Tenby club members, Hannah and Talia. More on this exciting news later.

Caleb O’Neill with his trophy and medals for winning the Best Boy category at the Pembrokeshire Whitsun Weekender Meet in May.

Swim Swansea Mini-Meet Series

A new gala series is being run by the Swim Swansea club this year. A total of four short Mini-Meets aimed at the younger elements of the swimming community, are being held between April and July at the Penlan Leisure Centre. Each competition last just two to three hours so is not too demanding for swimmers and parents alike.

Several of our club members are having a go, and thus far have enjoyed some nice successes along the way.

Emily Dilks, Alanya Thomas, Caleb O’Neill, Lauren Watkins, Lauren Davies, Lloyd Mammatt and Rosie Mammatt have all entered one or more of the galas in the series so far, and Emily, Alanya and Caleb have won several medals along the way. Well done all three of you.

Emily Dilks, Caleb O’Neill and Alanya Thomas with their medals won at the Swim Swansea Mini-Meet.

International Competition

The Celtic Tri-Nations International between Wales, Scotland and Ireland took place in Swansea from 27th-29th May.

A number of top international swimmers were in attendance and Tenby was represented by Bethan Davie who was part of the Welsh team for the event. Beth enjoyed one of her best swims for some time on her way to second place in the 200m breaststroke.

After a very close run competition and some exciting races over the course of the meet Wales emerged victorious which was great for the athletes and spectators alike.

A supporting gala ran alongside the main competition, and Carys Davies, Ffion Davies, Hazel Fox, Talia Merriman and Hannah Saunders all took part. Hannah swam strongly to win two gold and a silver medal in the 10-13yrs age group category whilst also recording another NQT in the 200m freestyle.

West Wales Regional Junior Development Meet

This gala took place on 18th June at the Penlan Leisure Centre and Coach Paul Haley reports that a group of 5 swimmers from Tenby Dolphins entered the meet.

From the off all swimmers began very well achieving PB`s in nearly every race.

Charlotte Rees, Jack Rees, Alanya Thomas, Emily Dilks and Arabella Haley amassed 15 PB`s in the 23 races they swam in.

Emily finished 5th overall in the Girls 10 & under category – swimming strongly in her 200m IM in particular.

Arabella also finished 5th overall in the Girls 9 & under category – up against some tough competitors she just missed out on a top 3 position in most races.

Thanks to Paul for the update and well done to all of our swimmers.

Open Competition

To close out our round up of recent gala results, the Cardiff International Open Meet took place at the Cardiff International Pool over the weekend of 1st – 3rd July.

Just two of our swimmers made the trip to Cardiff for this meet. Hazel Fox and Carys Davies made the trip to join a large entry from across the UK. A number of swimmers use this meet as a warm up event for bigger competitions later in the summer and there were some top quality athletes in attendance.

Hazel and Carys enjoyed a good couple of days and both swam well to record 4th positions as their best results.

Club News.

Two more Tenby swimmers have propelled themselves higher up the ladder in the world of competitive swimming in recent weeks. Hannah Saunders had previously qualified for the ASA National Age Group Championships for the first time in the 200m breaststroke at the Welsh Championships back in April. We are delighted to report that she has continued the good form she has recently displayed by adding no less than five more times to her list of possible entries for the big event in Sheffield in July. She is enjoying a real purple patch of form at the moment and we all hope she can carry it on through the summer.

We are also thrilled to report that Talia Merriman has likewise climbed to the next rung of the ladder by qualifying for the ASA Nationals herself in the 100m butterfly and backstroke. Talia, who has been knocking on the door for several months, made her breakthrough at the Whitsun Weekender meet, and is now in full preparation for her debut at Sheffield. Well done Talia!!

The girls will be competing against the best in Britain in different age groups; Talia in the 11years category and Hannah in the 13years group.

National Qualification is a significant achievement for any swimmer and the club has no less than three members who will be competing in Sheffield this year. Joining rookies Hannah and Talia will be Bethan Davie who is making her 5th appearance in Sheffield this year when she competes in the 14-15yrs age group at Ponds Forge at the ASA National Youth Championships the following week.

Bethan has already competed in the British Championships, ASA Senior Champs this year and straight after the Youth Nationals she is off to Porto with the Welsh team to compete in the Portuguese Nationals.

We wish all three girls the very best of luck at all the competitions and hope the training with the various squads and coaches goes well in the run up.

Tenby’s 2011 National Qualifiers, Hannah Saunders, Bethan Davie and Talia Merriman.

2009 and 2010 Champion Bethan and Hannah have also been selected to represent Wales at the UK School Games in September, so both girls will be back in Sheffield again in September. Congratulations to both of you and also to fellow National Qualifier Carys Thomas of Pembroke on your selection. Well done all three of you.

Our final bit of news this week concerns one of our senior swimmers Matt Davie who is a Year 13 pupil at Greenhill and a long-term club stalwart both as swimmer and coach. Some months back Matt entered a Speedo sponsored competition he spotted in the Swimming Times magazine. We are very pleased to report that he was the successful entrant, winning an all expenses paid trip to watch the World Swimming Championships which take place in Shanghai later this month. Exciting or what! Watch out for the Welsh flags on TV!

To close, don't forget swim training will continue throughout the summer holidays as usual.

Tenby Swimmers Excel at 2011 Welsh Championships. 26/04/2011

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In preparation for this meet, both our club and performance-club based swimmers had been training hard, and a number of those who train in the Tenby pool also took part in the Llanelli Open in mid-March.

Open Competitions

The 2011 Llanelli Open took place over the weekend of 12th to 13th March and was attended by the following Tenby swimmers:

Bethan Davie, Gareth Davie, Emily Dilks, Lydia Dilks, Hazel Fox, Billy Greenwood, George Greenwood, Morgan Grieve, Arabella Haley, Kaitlyn Hicks, Talia Merriman, Amy Morgan, Caleb O’Neill, Ben Rees, Alanya Thomas, Owen Thomas, Lauren Watkins, Jemma Whalley and Ashleigh Willars.

There were some excellent performances over the course of the weekend and many of the swimmers set some very good new PB’s. There were also a lot of medals shared out between the team, with Bethan and Talia winning three gold medals apiece in their respective events.

Well done to all those who took part and many thanks to the poolside volunteers who helped out over the course of the weekend.

Welsh Championships 2011

This year no less than twelve Tenby club members competed in the prestigious Welsh Championships at the 50m National Pool in Swansea. This is by a huge margin the largest number who have ever qualified in one year, which alone is a major achievement. Four of the group were our county based swimmers, Hannah Saunders, Niamh Slack, Dan Davies and Ffion Davies, who train with Paul Dowey in the Pembrokeshire program that is based at the Haverfordwest pool. They were joined by club swimmers, Sam Lewis, Talia Merriman, Jemma Hurds, Carys Davies, Kaitlyn Hicks, Ashleigh Willars and Hazel Fox who train in Tenby. The final member of the group being Bethan Davie who currently splits her training between Tenby and the Swim Swansea National Squad.

Over the course of the four day event there were some super performances, by all of the swimmers against tough competition in what can be a very intimidating environment, especially for the younger members. However, our swimmers are all seasoned competitors, and they handled the pressure well and did their very best throughout the weekend.

As we are sure will be reported elsewhere, the Pembrokeshire County Squad had a great weekend, so well done to all the Pembrokeshire crew. It is great to see our local performance swimming program going from strength to strength.

From a club perspective, Tenby also enjoyed their best ever competition in terms of results. No less than four of the group won gold in one or more of their individual events and can proudly call themselves 2011 Welsh Champions. Previously, we have only ever had three Welsh Champs in the club so this is a fantastic achievement. Well done indeed Talia, Dan, Ffion and Bethan!

The podium results are as follows: Bethan Davie, 1st 14-15yrs 200m Breaststroke, 2nd 100m Breaststroke, 3rd 200m IM and 200m Freestyle; Talia Merriman, 1st 10-11yrs 200m IM and 100m Backstroke, 2nd 200m Backstroke and 3rd 100m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle and 400m IM; Dan Davies, 1st 11-12yrs 200m IM and 200m Breaststroke, 2nd 100m Freestyle, 400m IM and 100m Breaststroke, and 3rd 100m Backstroke; Ffion Davies, 1st 10-11yrs 200m Butterfly and 400m IM, 2nd 100m Butterfly, 200m IM, 200m Breaststroke, 3rd 100m Breaststroke and 200m Freestyle; Hannah Saunders, 3rd 12-13yrs 100m and 200m Breaststroke; Jemma Hurds, 2nd 10-11yrs 1500m Freestyle.

All in all that is a total of 26 medals, consisting of 7 gold, 9 silver and 10 bronze. By far and away the best Tenby performance ever. Fantastic!

All the other swimmers had some super performances setting many huge PB’s and Hazel and Ashleigh also made championship finals. Well done to all of you!

Tenby’s National Qualifier Hannah Saunders with 3 of our 4 Welsh Champions for 2011 Dan and Ffion Davies and Talia Merriman.

Forthcoming Events

7th-8th May Swansea Valley Junior Open, Pontardawe.

14th-15th May Swim Swansea Long Course Open

21st-22nd May Pembrokeshire Whitsun Weekender

27th-29th May Celtic Tri Nations, Swansea

Club News.

The final bit of very exciting news from this year’s Welsh Championships is that Hannah Saunders has achieved a National Qualifying time for the 200m breaststroke and will now have the chance to compete at the ASA National Age Group Championships in Sheffield in July. Regular readers of these reports over the past few years will realise that this is a major milestone in any swimmer’s career and she is only the seventh swimmer from Tenby who has ever achieved this. Congratulations from all of us in Tenby Hannah, we are very very proud of you!

Such has been the standard of swimming over the past few months that our club records have been broken over and over again. We will try to update the record board as soon as all of the official results are to hand.

We are always looking to recruit new members to our club, so if any youngsters out there would like to be part of a vibrant and exciting competitive club please check out the contact details on our web site. www.tenbydolphins.co.uk.

Dolphins Excel at West Wales 2011. 15/02/2011

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Open & Team Competitions

Those of you who follow competitive swimming will be aware that for most club swimmers, the annual Regional Championships is the pinnacle of the swimming year. Yes, there are a number of bigger competitions around, but for the average swimmer this event is where they compete against like-minded youngsters from across West Wales.

This year we were fortunate that the competition was staged at the Haverfordwest Leisure Centre, so just for a change, not too much travelling involved to get to the pool.

Those who swam in individual events were: Morgan Blanc, Harrison Cole-Picton, Bethan Davie, Gareth Davie, Carys Davies, Luke Dedoncker, Emily Dilks, Hazel Fox, Rhiana Galvin, Tesni Galvin, Anna Garvey, Billy Greenwood, George Greenwood, Arabella Haley, Kaitlyn Hicks, Jemma Hurds, Sam Lewis, Talia Merriman, Amy Morgan, Caleb O’Neill, Hannah Saunders, Niamh Slack and Alanya Thomas.

These were joined by quite a few others for the relay competition on the final afternoon of the Championships. More on that later in the report.

In competitions such as this the age group categories are often combined into two year bands, and as such every other year a swimmers will be disadvantaged by being “out of age”. For many of our team this was the case this year, but despite this the results were impressive.

From the outset of the Championships, the Tenby swimmers began acquitting themselves extremely well, with our Junior squad members performing above expectations in most cases.

Despite most of the team competing in several galas in the past couple of months they were still able to achieve huge PB’s, progress to finals, and in several cases make it onto the podium against tough opposition.

As is always the case with events such as this, it is not possible to list the full details of all the results, but these are available to view on the club web site.

Notwithstanding this, we must mention some stand out performances. County based swimmer, Hannah Saunders, continued her impressive run of late and won no less than 10 gold medals in the 11-12yrs category. To add to her achievements, Hannah set new championship records in just about every swim. Super swimming Hannah!!

Our two other County based swimmers taking part in the competition also had a good few days. We were delighted to see a return to form for Niamh Slack, who is once again on the PB trail, and Sam Lewis also swam well.

For our club based swimmers there were gold medals for Carys Davies, Hazel Fox (4) and Bethan Davie (3). These three, together with Jemma Hurds also won a host of silver and bronze medals. Well done girls.

Talia Merriman swam extremely well in the backstroke and freestyle events. Talia was out of age for the competition, but still managed to reach 6 finals, eclipsing many older and more experienced swimmers. She won a bronze medal in the 200m backstroke and set some truly impressive times which are now very close to National Qualifying standards. Way to go Talia!

As we described earlier, the performances across the team were top draw. All in all, no less than 82% of all swims resulted in PB’s, but this does not show the full story. The most impressive thing in many cases was the amount by which the swimmers improved their previous lifetime bests. A really great performance all round.

One of the highlights of the West Wales Championships is the relay competition which is always held on the final afternoon. The swimmers who had been competing over the two weekends of the competition were joined by quite a few additional team mates to strengthen the relay teams. The other clubs also drafted in additional swimmers, and the poolside was packed.

With all the teams in party mood, the atmosphere poolside was electric and extremely noisy as the supporters and swimmers cheered for teams in each and every event.

Over the years, Tenby have enjoyed considerable success in this competition, and were are delighted to report that once again we were the runners up behind a dominant Swim Swansea team. This is a considerable achievement for a “Development” club.

As a club we do not have many older swimmers (particularly boys) on the books, and several of our youngsters had to swim up in age group categories much older than themselves. In the open categories a few “retired” swimmers came back to help us out, so thanks to them and thanks to the club members who have moved to the fit swim sessions for also coming out to bolster the team.

All in all it was a thrilling afternoon and an excellent couple of weekends for the club. Well done to all our swimmers and thanks to the coaches and volunteers who involved themselves in the action.

Tenby Dolphins in party mode at the 2011 West Wales Relay Competition.

Hazel and Amy collect the trophy for our 2nd place overall at the 2011 West Wales Relay Competition.

Tenby Dolphins Coaches, (who best remain anonymous in a photo like this!), at the West Wales Relay Competition.

Forthcoming Events

13th-14th Mar Llanelli Open Meet, Llanelli.

19th Mar Dyfed Junior Challenge Cup, Carmarthen. (16:00-19:30)

22nd-25th Apr Welsh Age Groups, Swansea. (QT’s needed)

7th-8th May Swansea Valley Junior Open, Pontardawe.

14th-15th May Swim Swansea Long Course Open

21st-22nd May Pembrokeshire Whitsun Weekender

27th-29th May Celtic Tri Nations, Swansea

Club News.

Now the excitement of West Wales is over we are back into full training mode. We have a good entry for the Llanelli Open in mid-March and then after that our top guns will be going for glory at the annual Welsh age Group and Youth Championships in Swansea at Easter.

West Wales was brilliant but loads of hard work ahead!

A note for your diary, the club AGM is scheduled for 20:00 on 23rd March at Tenby Leisure Centre. Please try to attend.

At the beginning of March the British Championships take place in Manchester, so good luck to Bethan Davie who will once again be competing this year.

Dolphins January Update. 01/02/2011

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In the meantime, they certainly have not been idle, and we have several sets of results to update you with from competitions that have already taken place this year.

Open Competitions

The New Year started with the Swim Wales British Gas Dragon Meet, which took place at the National pool in Swansea over the weekend of 7th to 8th January.

Club swimmers; Bethan Davie, Carys Davies, Ashleigh Willars, Talia Merriman, Jemma Hurds and Katie Hicks joined our Tenby county based swimmers Niamh Slack, Hannah Saunders and Sam Lewis for the this first big competition of 2011.

The medallists were: Talia Merriman, 1st 10-11yrs 200m Backstroke, 3rd 10-11yrs 100m Backstroke, 200m IM and 50m Freestyle; Hannah Saunders, 12-13yrs 100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke, 200m IM and 100m Freestyle; Sam Lewis, 2nd 11-16 50m Breaststroke; Bethan Davie, 1st 10-15yrs 100m Breaststroke & 200m Breaststroke.

Well done to the medallists and indeed to all who swam. It was a very difficult meet to compete well in coming so soon after the Christmas break.

Next in the list was the Pembrokeshire Long Distance Championships which took place in Tenby on Sunday 16th January. This has already been reported elsewhere in the press, but to summarise we enjoyed some excellent swims. Of the eight new records that were se, 5 were by Tenby Club members; Hannah Saunders, Jemma Hurds, Hazel Fox and Bethan Davie (2). There were some excellent new PB’s across the board, and the coaches were delighted with the way the swimmers performed.

On 22nd and 23rd of January, the Exeter City Open Meet was held at the Cardiff International Pool. Being a Level 1 meet this was very heavily subscribed and the building was packed out for the whole weekend. Just two Tenby swimmers decided to give this one a go. Bethan Davie and Hazel Fox.

Hazel had an excellent weekend setting some great new Long Course (50m pool) PB’s, and picking up several medals on the way. With gold in the 10yrs 200m Freestyle and 50m Breaststroke, together with 2 silver and 2 bronze medals she can be well pleased with her swims. Bethan surprisingly did better in the 15yrs 400m & 200m freestyle (winning gold in both), than in her normal preferred events where she picked up 3 silvers and a bronze. Well done to both girls.

The same two were back in action at the same pool this last weekend when the annual Urdd National Finals were held in Cardiff on 29th & 30th January.

The swimmers represent their schools at this gala and we are pleased to report that several medals were won in both the Junior & Senior Schools competitions. In the Junior section (all Year 5-6), there were silver medals for Carys Davies, Ashleigh Willars and Hazel Fox, and in the Senior competition Bethan Davie won two gold medals in the Year 9-10 category.

Hazel Fox, Carys Davies and Ashleigh Willars with their silver medals at the Junior Schools Urdd National Finals in Cardiff

Bethan Davie wins double gold medals at the 2011 Urdd Senior Schools Finals in Cardiff

There were also some nice success stories for several other swimmers from the club who were medallists with their respective schools relay teams.

It has to be said that the attendance at the Senior competition was a little disappointing especially amongst the older age groups. In particular it was shame to see empty lanes where swimmers from the county had qualified in the Regional Gala but had not made the effort to attend the final. We also have a large number of ex club members, who as Greenhill School pupils, could make a valuable contribution to relay teams. It is a fun and relaxed event. Support Mrs Thomas who gives up her time to organise things for your Welsh Department and give it a go next year!

Forthcoming Events

5th-13th Feb West Wales Regional Champs, Haverfordwest.

13th-14th Mar Llanelli Open Meet, Llanelli.

22nd-25th Apr Welsh Age Groups, Swansea. (QT’s needed)

7th-8th May Swansea Valley Junior Open, Pontardawe.

14th-15th May Swim Swansea Long Course Open

21st-22nd May Pembrokeshire Whitsun Weekender

27th-29th May Celtic Tri Nations, Swansea

Club News

Following the recent galas held during January, it is nice to see more and more club records being set. Hannah Saunders is having a great run and has added her name all over the board. Hazel Fox has just set her first club records, as has Morgan Grieve who set a new best time for the boys 8/U 25m butterfly at the Club Champs back in December.

This is great news, when we introduced the record board we hoped it would promote the club, and above all else inspire our swimmers to improve on what they and their club mates had done in the past. It certainly seems to be doing the trick. The records keep tumbling which shows that standards are improving both at club and county level. Keep it everyone!

We are very pleased to see how our group of poolside volunteers is expanding. All of you are very welcome and make a big difference to how we run the training sessions. Thank you.

Just a reminder to swimmers in the Junior and Senior squad sessions. You have a minimum training requirement of 6 hours per week (from a max of 10), and you must enter competitions. Failure to keep on target will jeopardise your place in the 2 hour squad sessions and you may have to go back down to one hour again!

Don’t forget we have a club shop where you can order the latest kit or top up your supplies of goggles, hats, etc.. Also we have the latest club kit in stock which the younger swimmers should wear when representing the club in relays and team events. Pick up yours before the club relay day at West Wales next week.

On that note, we would like to remind you that you must wear your Dolphins hat when taking part in the relay competition. No exceptions!

Dolphins Enjoy Successful Conclusion to 2010. 21/12/2010

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Our squad swimmers work very hard in training to try to produce their best at a number of target meets throughout the swimming year, and the first one of this cycle has recently taken place.

Open Competitions

The West Wales Sub-Regional meet took place at the Penlan Leisure Centre in Swansea over the weekend of 4th and 5th December. We originally had a large entry to the event, but unfortunately a bout of illness afflicted several of the team, so we were eventually a little down in numbers.

The swimmers who did manage to attend were: Harrison Cole-Picton, Gareth Davie, Matt Davie, Emily Dilks, Hazel Fox, Billy Greenwood, George Greenwood, Arabella Haley, Kaitlyn Hicks, Talia Merriman, Amy Morgan, Charlotte O’Neill, Alanya Thomas, Lauren Watkins, Jemma Whalley and Ashleigh Willars.

Several of the swimmers were trying their hand at a competition of this scale for the first time. They did very well to overcome their nerves and concentrate on their swimming in front of a big audience, which must be very daunting if you are used to the confines of our pool at Tenby Leisure Centre.

Several of our more experienced swimmers had a good weekend. Our medallists were: Matt Davie, 1st 16&Over 50m Freestyle and 100m Freestyle, 3rd 200m IM, 200m Backstroke and 400m Freestyle; Hazel Fox, 1st 9-10yrs 400m IM & 400m Freestyle, 2nd 100m Breaststroke, 3rd 200m Breaststroke and 200m Backstroke; Talia Merriman, 1st 11-12yrs 100m, Butterfly, 2nd 200m IM and 200m Butterfly, 3rd 200m Backstroke, Ashleigh Willars, 1st 9-10 200m IM and 200 Butterfly, 2nd 100m Butterfly and 200m Freestyle, and 3rd 100m Backstroke.

Well done to all of you. We are pleased to see that our juniors are bringing home the bacon in a lot more endurance and stamina based events. All the effort you are putting in training is paying dividends.

One of our County swimmers, Hannah Saunders also came along to have a go at the 1500m, an event in which she rarely competes. In fact having not swum over the distance for almost two years, Hannah proved that her training is really going well at the moment by slicing a whopping 6 minutes off her entry time! Well done indeed.

We also entered relay teams at this competition, and just about all of them picked up a medal. Unfortunately due to the illness mentioned earlier, we were unable to enter the full complement of teams, and regrettably some swimmers were left disappointed that they did not have the chance to race.

Just so everyone is clear on the procedure if this crops up again, we always try to give everyone a chance to swim, but when there are more swimmers than places, we naturally try to pick teams with the fastest swimmers. Inevitably some will be left disappointed but there is no other fair way of doing things.

Club Championships

The last competition of the year was the annual Club Championships which was held on 11th and 12th December.

This was a competition with the usual friendly rivalry as club mates, who train with each other all year long, battled it out to see who would come out on top.

Full results of this will be available on the website, but to summarise there were the usual crop of impressive swims. Well done to you all.

Forthcoming Events

7th-9th Jan Swim Wales Dragon Meet. WNP Swansea

16th Jan Pembrokeshire 800m & 1500m gala. Tenby.

Make sure you all give at least one event a go!

29th/30th Jan URDD National Finals, Cardiff Int. Pool.

5th-13th Feb West Wales Regional Champs, Haverfordwest.

Club News.

The annual club Christmas party was held at the Ex-Serviceman’s Club in Tenby on Sunday 19th December. The swimmers all had a fun evening and enjoyed getting together to do something other than swimming for a change!

As well as fun, games, dancing and the Christmas raffle, we were very pleased to award trophies to the following swimmers for their efforts throughout the year. Caleb O’Neill – Most Improved Boy, Arabella Haley – Most Improved Girl, Luke Dedoncker – Most Improved Swimmer Overall and the Coaches Choice Award this year went to Ashleigh Willars for her continuing super attitude to training and great competition results. Very well done to all four of you!

Hannah Saunders presents Arabella Haley with the Most Improved Girl Trophy at Tenby Dolphins Christmas Party.

Matt Davie presents Luke Dedoncker with the Most Improved Overall Trophy at Tenby Dolphins Christmas Party.

Bethan Davie presents Ashleigh Willars with the Coaches Choice Award at Tenby Dolphins Christmas Party.

The weather has been a real problem over the past few weeks, and Talia Merriman and Bethan Davie have both had Swim Wales training camps cancelled this week because of the snow. Never mind girls we hope they will rearrange things.

We are heading into the Christmas break when normal training will be suspended. There is a one hour session for squad swimmers on 30th Dec who want to get back in the pool as soon as possible before the Dragon Meet. (Check with the coaches to confirm the time.)

Also coming up in January is the annual 800m and 1500m Pembrokeshire gala, which this time is being staged in Tenby. You really all should give this a go. 800m sounds a long way, but you do so much more than this every time you come training - you will find it a walk in the park!!

To close, many thanks to the volunteers who have helped out over the course of the year. Your contribution really makes a difference. We hope everyone has a super Christmas and we look forward to seeing you back in the pool in January.

Dolphins Update. 30/11/2010

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There is much to cover so we will keep things fairly brief this time.

Team Competition Results

On 10th October 2010, the team took part in the Pembroke Junior Shield at Pembroke Leisure Centre. A big group of swimmers were selected and on the whole swam well. They included:

Morgan Blanc, Megan Cook, Gareth Davie, Daniel Davies, Ffion Davies, Luke Dedoncker, Emily Dilks, Hazel Fox, Rhiana Galvin, Billy Greenwood, Morgan Grieve, Arabella Haley, Kaitlyn Hicks, Jemma Hurds, Talia Merriman, Alanya Thomas, Jevon Thomas, Stephen Ward and Ashleigh Willars, plus others who represented the team in relays.

Many of the swimmers improved on their entry times, and it was a very good team performance. Overall we were just beaten on points by a strong Pembroke team, so well done to them and we look forward to the rematch next time around.

Open Competitions

The Llandarcy Junior Development Meet took place on 17th October 2010, and the following swimmers travelled up to the Neath Leisure Centre to take part:

Harrison Cole-Picton, James Crowney-Richards, Emily Dilks, Hazel Fox, Arabella Haley, Kieran Johnson, Myles Johnson, Stephanie Maclean, Amy Morgan, Caleb O’Neill, Alanya Thomas and Lauren Watkins.

Once again there were some excellent swims and many of the team came away with medals.

The next event on the calendar was the Pembrokeshire County Swimming Champs, which took place on 23rd and 24th October at Haverfordwest pool. We had a large entry of 36 swimmers, which was good to see and there were some impressive results from throughout the group. As we often say in these reports, there is too much information to include here, so please check the club web site for more details on the times recorded and the finishing positions of each swimmer.

On 6th November nine swimmers once again travelled to the Neath pool to take part in the Neath Open Meet. They were: Harrison Cole-Picton, Luke Dedoncker, Hazel Fox, Morgan Grieve, Arabella Haley, Sam Lewis, Lloyd Mammatt and Rosie Mammatt.

We are pleased to report that the guys kept up the good work and once again there were some super results. Gold medals were won by Harrison, Luke, Hazel and Morgan, and there were lots of other podium places as well. Luke and Hazel had a particularly good day, with both narrowly missing out on being awarded the top boy and girl respectively. They have been training very well this autumn so it is good to see they are reaping the rewards of all their hard work.

The big first big long course event of the season took place at the Wales National Pool in Swansea between the 19th and 21st November. This is a tough event to get into for our club swimmers as it is aimed at slightly older athletes and those who are tied into a performance club. Nevertheless, we were well represented by club swimmers and those who have now moved on to the next level, but still remain as club members.

Carys Davies and Jemma Hurds swim at the Welsh Winter Meet in Swansea on 19-21st November

Our club swimmers who took part were Hazel Fox, Talia Merriman, Jemma Hurds and Carys Davies. They joined the Pembrokeshire Team that included Hannah Saunders, Niamh Slack, Sam Lewis, Dan Davies and Ffion Davies. Also competing was Bethan Davie who now splits her training between Tenby club sessions and those of the Swim Swansea National Squad.

The swimmers recorded the following results: Hannah Saunders, 3rd 10-14yrs 100m breaststroke, 200m backstroke and 200m breaststroke; Bethan Davie, 1st 15-16yrs 200m breaststroke, 2nd 15-16yrs 200m freestyle, 2nd 15-16 years 100m breaststroke and 3rd in both the 15-16yrs 100m freestyle and 15-16yrs 200m IM.

Well done to both of you and indeed to all the club members, who swam well throughout the weekend. Our four club swimmers posted some particularly good times and acquitted themselves very well indeed against tough competition in unfamiliar surroundings. Well done girls!

There have been some great results in recent weeks and we look forward to seeing all the club swimmers continuing to develop their swimming in the coming months.

Hazel Fox swims at the Welsh Winter Meet in Swansea on 19-21st November.

Talia Merriman swims fly at the Welsh Winter Meet in Swansea on 19-21st November

Forthcoming Events

4th Dec West Wales Sub Regional Meet, Penlan

11th/12th Dec Tenby Dolphins Club Championships

7th-9th Jan Swim Wales Dragon Meet. WNP Swansea

29th/30th Jan URDD National Finals, Cardiff Int. Pool.

5th-13th Feb West Wales Regional Champs, Haverfordwest.

Club News.

The coaches are very pleased with how the swimming is developing throughout the club at the moment. There have been some very strong performances throughout the club in recent weeks and the swimmers are training very well indeed. Keep it up everyone!

A few club members who have been selected for Welsh squads this year have some training camps coming up. We hope you enjoy them.

The annual club championships are coming up, and as last year we will be pre-entering all club members for the events they are eligible for. You must make every effort to attend! The event will take place from 15:00-18:00 on Sat 11th Dec and 15:00-17:00 on Sun 12th Dec.

A fully stocked swim shop will be at the pool for the whole session on Sat 11th, so you will have a great opportunity to pick up some last minute Christmas presents.

The annual Christmas party is also scheduled for the evening of the 19th December at the Tenby Ex Servicemen’s Club. Everyone had a great time last year so be sure to come along.

Finally the club would like to pass on our congratulations to Ann and Bob Adams who were jointly presented with the “Unsung Hero” award at the 2010 Pembrokeshire Sports Awards. They are certainly very deserving winners after their years of support for swimming in the county. Well done also to Steph Amos who received the runners up award for the Club Organiser of The Year.

Dolphins off to a Flying Start. 05/10/2010

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Team Competition Results

The first event to report is the Llanelli Autumn Meet which took place at the Llanelli Jubilee pool on Saturday 3rd October.

This was a Level 4 meet, and as such attracted a good entry of up-and- coming young swimmers from across South and West Wales. With clubs from as far away as Caerphilly and Aberystwyth entering, together with a good entry from more local clubs there was some serious opposition for the Tenby team members throughout the day.

Just nine of our team decided to enter this one. They were: Morgan Blanc, Gareth Davie, Carys Davies, Luke Dedoncker, Hazel Fox, Talia Merriman, Caleb O’Neill, Charlotte Rees and Lauren Watkins.

Gareth, Luke, Talia, Hazel, Carys, Lauren, Morgan, Caleb and Charlotte enjoying themselves at the Llanelli Autumn Open Meet.

As ever with long swimming competitions, the swimmers all had an early start and were ready for the warm up un Llanelli at 07:45. Everyone looking wide awake and ready to go….well apart for the coaches that is!

We started on a high, with Carys Davies winning the first event of the day, and our swimmers steadily racked up more really good results as the competition progressed.

Morgan Blanc wins the 9yrs 100m Freestyle at the Llanelli Autumn Meet.

Overall 75% of the swims resulted in new PB’s (personal best) times and collectively the Tenby crew picked up a heap of medals.

Our medal winners were: Morgan Blanc, 1st 9yrs 100m Freestyle, 1st 9yrs 100m IM and 50m Breaststroke; Carys Davies, 1st 10yrs 50m Backstroke, 1st 100m IM, 1st 100m Backstroke, 2nd 50m Fly and 100m Fly; Luke Dedoncker, 2nd 11yrs 50m Backstroke; Hazel Fox, 2nd 10yrs 50m Breaststroke, 2nd 100m Breaststroke, 3rd 50m Freestyle and 3rd 100m Freestyle; Talia Merriman, 1st 11yrs 50m Freestyle, 1st 100m Freestyle, 2nd 50m Fly, 3rd 50m Breaststroke and 3rd 100m IM; Caleb O’Neill, 3rd 9yrs 50m Breaststroke; Charlotte Rees, 3rd 10yrs 50m Backstroke.

Lauren Watkins makes a flying start at the Llanelli Autumn Open Meet

We also went through the whole day, some 50 odd swims, without a single DQ which was really pleasing.

Thanks to the mums & dads who brought the swimmers along and for the vocal support they provided throughout.

Carys Davies swims in the 10yrs 50m Butterfly at the Llanelli Autumn Meet.

The following day, 4th October, several of the same group were at Pembroke Leisure Centre to join the rest of their teammates at the annual RAOB gala. This competition caters for the younger elements of the Pembrokeshire swimming scene and is always a busy and exciting event.

The full team list was not available at the time of writing, but those swimming in individual events were: Lewys Blanc, Morgan Blanc, Sam Collinson, Megan Cook, Carys Davies, Archie Dilks, Emily Dilks, Hazel Fox, Billy Greenwood, Arabella Haley, Jemma Hurds, Lloyd Mammatt, Dylan Morgan, Sabrina Morgan, Madison Neye, Caleb O’Neill, Ben Rees, Caitlin Rees, Jack Rees, Alanya Thomas, Harry Thomas, Jevon Thomas, Seren Thorne, Stephen Ward and Ashleigh Willars. A number of other swimmers took part in the relays.

There were lots of individual successes and many PB’s as some of the youngsters took their first tentative steps at competition swimming.

As well as individual swims the RAOB gala is a team affair, and all five Pembrokeshire clubs were there, although Fishguard Flyers and Milford Tigers had quite small groups of swimmers which affected their overall points score. Nevertheless, Tenby, Pembroke and Haverfordwest once again had a good old tussle for overall honours.

Pembroke edged the girls competition with a score of 81 to Tenby’s 70 and Haverfordwest’s 56, whilst the boys from Tenby scored 86 points to Pembroke’s 61 and Haverfordwest’s 60.

Overall this meant that Tenby once again won the team competition with a total of 156 points, so very well done to all those who took part.

Stephen Ward and Ashleigh Willars collect the winning team trophy for Tenby at the 2010 RAOB gala.

Forthcoming Events

10th Oct Junior Shield, Pembroke Leisure Centre.

17th Oct Llandarcy Junior Dev Meet, Neath.

23rd-24th Oct Pembrokeshire County Champs, Haverfordwest.

6th Nov Neath Open, Neath

19th-21st Nov Welsh Winter Open and Schools Meet, Swansea.

27th Nov Welsh Capital Open, Cardiff Int Pool.

Club News.

Congratulations to Talia Merriman, who on the basis of some impressive swimming through the 2009-2010 season, has been selected for the Welsh Regional Skills 2 squad. This is the first stepping stone in the Welsh Squad system, and we hope Talia enjoys the training camps she will be invited to attend this year.

As mentioned in the last report, we would like to see more swimmers using the morning sessions. Have a word with your squad coach to see if you are able to come along.

We would like to remind everyone that the new Speedo club costumes and jammers are now available to purchase from the club shop.

New Season Begins for Tenby Dolphins. 28/09/2010

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However, we can update you on the results from a few diverse events that our swimmers have taken part in.

Team Competition Results

On Sunday 19th September the Pembrokeshire Senior Skills Challenge took place at Pembroke leisure centre. This event which allows a wide age range of club members to compete for team honours was attended by swimmers from three of the county clubs; Namely Tenby, Pembroke and Milford Haven.

Swimmers who are part of a Performance Program were excluded so this was very much a club swimmers gala. This was reflected in the team selection with Tenby picking swimmers from our Junior, Senior and Masters squads with an age range spanning about 43 years!

First hand reports indicate that it was a really fun event, close fought to the end, with the Tenby team emerging victorious by just a point or two. Well done guys.

Open Water

Wow, that’s headline you don’t see to often in our reports!

Most people have been following what was going on with the Long Course Weekend, which will have no doubt been reported in full elsewhere. However, just a couple of mentions from a club perspective.

Andrew James entered the 1500m swim with some of his former training partners from Swansea and finished in 7th place. Well done Andrew, and well done indeed to former club swimmer Oliver Simon who won the combined swimming, cycling and running event over the full weekend.

UKSG

We are a little bit late reporting this, but Bethan Davie finished off her swimming season in style whilst representing Wales at the UK School Games in Sunderland at the beginning of September.

Bethan successfully defended her 100m breaststroke title and narrowly missed out on a double when she was overhauled in the final few metres of the 200m. Nevertheless, after a difficult season she was really pleased with gold and silver in her individual swims, especially as she beat a number of competitors who had finished in front of her at the Nationals in Sheffield a few weeks ago. She was also delighted to pick up a team bronze in the hard fought medley relay.

Bethan Davie, Wales (pictured with Jodie Hawksworth, Eng Central and Chloe Bean, Eng East) wins the 100m breaststroke at the UK School Games held in Sunderland on 4th & 5th September.

Forthcoming Events

2nd Oct Llanelli Autumn Open Meet, Llanelli.

3rd Oct RAOB Gala, Pembroke Leisure Centre.

17th Oct Llandarcy Junior Dev Meet, Neath.

23rd-24th Oct Pembrokeshire County Champs, Haverfordwest.

6th Nov Neath Open, Neath

19th-21st Nov Welsh Winter Open and Schools Meet, Swansea.

27th Nov Welsh Capital Open, Cardiff Int Pool.

Club News.

The various squad coaches report that the September training has seemingly gone well. Things are always a little chaotic when the schools go back, but everything is settling down and there have been some really good training efforts from a large number of the team members.

We can’t wait to see how everyone gets along when the open meet and gala season starts once again this weekend.

Congratulations to Dan & Ffion Davies who have moved over to the county training program in Haverfordwest, and also to Carys Davies, Hazel Fox, Kaitlyn Hicks, Jemma Hurds, Talia Merriman and Ashleigh Willars who have been selected for the County Potential Squad. These swimmers are joined by Kieran Johnson, Ben Rees and Luke Dedoncker in the County Skills Squad.

At time of writing we don’t have full details of which County based Tenby members have made the Welsh Squads for the 2010-2011 season, but we bring news of this when we have it. We can however pass our congratulations to Bethan Davie who has qualified for the Welsh National Youth Squad for the third year running. Quite an achievement as only about 12 Welsh swimmers make the grade every year.

We are starting to see a couple of new volunteers coming forward to help out. Thanks very much indeed. Everyone please take note. We need a constant replenishment of volunteers to keep the club going, so don’t just sit and watch, get involved!

Regular attendees at club training sessions will have noticed that we have welcomed several older swimmers into the club in the past few weeks. Tesni and Rhiana Galvin and Patrick Bunker have joined us from the County Program. We are delighted that we are able to offer opportunities for swimmers who are refocusing their priorities, and who wish to continue to compete but are unable to commit to a full performance program. Welcome all three of you.

Finally, we have long been fortunate enough to train in the only leisure centre in Pembrokeshire with a café on site that allows the swimmers to have breakfast before they head off to school each day. Unfortunately, due to a poor uptake on this service the café’s proprietors are on the verge of suspending the facility. Come on swimmers. Use the morning sessions and join us for breakfast before you head off to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays! You will all complain if you can’t do it in a few weeks!