Banbridge swimmers make journey north worthwhile

Four medley relays were swum in each age group with two boys and two girls in each team. Also four freestyle relays were swum and Banbridge won a massive seven out of eight relays.

The Group A girls consisted of Katie McFarlane, Ciara Daly, Holly McKibbin, Holly Hubert, Alana Burns-Atkin and Megan Williams. Katie set the bar very high by winning all the individual events. Ciara came second in frontcrawl, third in butterfly and sixth in breaststroke. Alana was second in backstroke and fourth in breaststroke. Holly McK was second in fly, Megan fifth in backstroke and Holly H sixth in frontcrawl.

The Group A boys were down in numbers but two brave soldiers Pearse Rice and Cealan McCracken fought on. Pearse was third in backstroke, fly and frontcrawl. Cealan was second in breaststroke and fourth in back, fly and free. Both medley relay and freestyle relays were won by the Group A girls and boys.

Group B girls consisted of Sarah McEvoy, Niamh McGeown, Ellie Bingham, Dia McCrory and Sara Calvert. Niamh had a great night with second in fly and third in free. Sarah was second in backstroke, fourth in breaststroke and free and fifth in fly. Ellie was third in back, fourth in fly and sixth in free. Dia was third in breaststroke and sixth in backstroke. Sara Calvert was sixth in breaststroke.

Group B boys, led by Ronan Quinn, included Issac Forsythe, Jack Dougan, Jack Lennon,Christopher Mahood and Carter Bell. Ronan achieved first in fly and freestyle and second in backstroke and breast. Issac won the backstroke, got second in fly and third in free. Jack Lennon was third in breast and fifth in free. Jack Dougan was fourth in breast and fifth in fly. Carter was fifth in backstroke and both Group B girls and boys won their relays.

Group C girls included Rachel Blemmings, Jennifer Morrow, Sorcha Boersma and Codagh McGrady. Rachel gave a strong performance and won backstroke, fly and free. She also achieved second in breaststroke. Jenny was in great form with fine performances in fly, coming in second and 3rd in breast and free. She was sixth in back. Sorcha was third in back and fourth in free. Clodagh was fifth in breast and sixth in fly.

Group C beat off some tough competition to bring in the points. Peter Bigley led the team and was joined by Taylor Hill, Sam Johnston, Finlay Wright, Ben Farson and Senan Carr. Peter was second in backstroke, fly and freestyle. Taylor was third in backstroke, fourth in fly and fifth in breaststroke. Sam was third in breast and fifth in freestyle. Senan was second in breaststroke. Ben was fifth in fly and Finlay was sixth in backstroke and freestyle. Group C won their freestyle relay.

In Group D, Julia Knox was in top form as always and she was supported by Ruby McNiff and Zoe Kilpatrick. Julia won her backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle events and was second in fly. Ruby came third in backstroke and freestyle and fourth in breaststroke and fly. Zoe was fifth in freestyle and sixth in the others.

In the boys, Ryan Bigley matched Julia and Rachel with three first places (breaststroke, fly, freestyle). Ryan was joined by Dawson Patterson, Adam Wilson and Evan Calvert. Dawson was third in backstroke (just behind Ryan) and freestyle and fifth in fly. Adam was third in fly, fourth in breaststroke and fifth in backstroke and freestyle. Evan was sixth in breaststroke. Group D won both relays to cap the win.

The next Aquasprint for Banbridge is against Bangor on Saturday 30th May and the locals will need the team out in full force to win and maintain hopes of making the A final against Ards and Bangor.