Molly is a double Irish champion

Coleraine Swimming Club Swimmer, Molly Curry, is now a double Irish champion.
Double Irish Champion swimmer Molly Curry.Double Irish Champion swimmer Molly Curry.
Double Irish Champion swimmer Molly Curry.

The Coleraine Grammar School pupil won both the 100m and 200m breaststroke titles to complete a fantastic few months for the talented young swimmer.

Molly has been the Ulster Champion in both of these events for the past three years however the Irish titles have always eluded her.

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She had recently returned from Glasgow where she competed at the Scottish Open Nationals in both these events and even though she did personal best times in Scotland she still felt she had to improve more to win at the Irish national level.

Molly had been training hard in both the Magherafelt 50m pool and the Coleraine Grammar School 25m pool working with her Ulster and Coleraine Swimming Club coaches to perfect technique.

Her first event at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin was the 100m distance. She came through her heats against 67 other swimmers in her age category to come out top seed for that evening’s finals with a time of 1.17.23 (a 1sec PB).

However with the second seed swimmer only 0.75sec behind her she knew she would probably need to improve on her heat’s time to become Irish Champion.

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Later that evening in a very hotly contested final Molly won by taking a further two seconds off her heat’s time and beating her second place opponent by a convincing 1.7secs.

This new PB time of 1.15.27 is a European Youth Olympics Festival Qualification time for next summer’s event in Hungary – however Molly will have to repeat this time in the Qualification Window between January and May 2017 in order to qualify for next summer’s event.

The following day was the 200m event. Molly qualified 2nd through the morning heats against 50 other competitors, with a new PB of 2.50.78 and 1.45 secs behind a fellow Ulster Swimming from Ards Swimming Club.

In the evening finals with the two Ulster girls neck and neck through the first 150m it was all coming down to the last 50m. Molly showed her power and determination to win with another new personal best time of 1.46.81 taking a further four seconds off her heat’s time. Her fellow Ulster swimmer coming in 1.17secs behind her.

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Molly was able to travel home with two new Irish Champion titles and is able to take a short break before pre-season training with Coleraine Swimming Club starts in Mid August.

Two other Coleraine swimmers qualified for the Irish Age Groups in Dublin – Shannon Baird and Finn McEwan. Shannon was entered the 100m and 200m breaststroke. Shannon came 13th in the 100m with a new personal best time of 1.23.16 and 28th in the 200m with a new PB of 3.04.84 taking 4.73 seconds off her previous personal best time.

Finn was entered the 100m breaststroke and unfortunately did not manage a personal best time but came 24th in his age category of 14-15yrs.

Thanks goes to all the CASC coaches who give their time voluntarily to coach all the swimmers in the club throughout the season. Thanks also to Coleraine Grammar School, where Molly is a pupil, who allowed her to use the school pool when the Leisure Centre pool was closed for repairs.

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