Swimming: Stowmarket make a splash in county championships

Winner: Amy Davies starts her gold run.

The first weekend of the county short course championships saw Stowmarket Swimming Club take 18 medals – three gold, eight silver and seven bronze.

The first medal almost went to Hannah Harrison as she was outreached for bronze in the Girls 9yrs 200m breaststroke, losing a place on the podium by less than half a second.

Calvin Coe entered the 12u 200m fly as favourite and did not disappoint, pacing well to come home with the first gold medal in a time of 2.45.03.

In the Girls 50m freestyle Bethany Skoulding, who, in her first county championships and just her second competitive gala, improved her entry time by three seconds, but just missed a bronze by a third of a second. This left it to Ria Delves to get the only medal in the event, gaining silver in the 18yrs+ age group by going under 30secs for the first time in a PB of 29.99.

Alex Harrison made the final by a swim off after a tie for eighth place. He swam a determined race, but the effort of the swim off left him a second adrift of the medals. These were picked up by Liam Kerry and Will Blackaby, getting bronze and silver respectively.

In the most gruelling race of any meet, the 400IM, Amy Davies swam a lonely race, but dug deep to take gold in the 9yrs age group. Chloe Long also put in a good time taking 14 secs off her entry time. Calvin Coe tried but failed to make a medal in the 100m breaststroke, being outreached by 0.1 second for the bronze, but was happy with a new two second PB. Rob Lancaster swam a strong race, and shared the same PB improvement taking silver in the boys 13ys age group,  a medal position also shared by Ryan Clay in the 15/16 age group.

Chloe Long and Ellena Skoulding, recovered enough from the 400IM to both get one second best times and each took a 100m backstroke bronze medal home in the Girls 11yrs and 12yrs age groups. The two girls then continued to accrue medals in the 200m race, Chloe reducing her time by nine seconds to take the silver and Ellena taking another bronze with a two second PB.

Strong stuff: Will Blackaby enjoyed a medal-laden weekend.

Hannah Harrison finally got her metalwork, taking a shiny silver in the 9yrs 50m breaststroke, As did Ella Delves in the 16yrs final, while Florence Lampart swam strongly to take bronze for the 13yr girls.

The boys 9 yrs 50m fly final looked like placings for Deben, Ipswich and Lowestoft, but they had not realised they had a battle on their hands – a Manfred Battle to be precise, in a display of focussed determination, Manfred swam the race of his life to take silver, having knocked a massive eight seconds off his entry time. Will Blackaby took up the mantle in the boys 17yrs age group swimming a strong race to take gold.

The IM races saw Amy Davies add to her 400m gold with a 200 bronze, with Rob Lancaster representing the boys with a bronze in the 13yrs.

The last race of the weekend saw Will Blackaby take a silver in the Boys 17yrs 100m free and bring the tally of medals for the club to 20, including the long-course events. This is a good result for a club the Stowmarket’s size and a good platform for the following weekend.

• Second weekend report follows later today.