Portadown’s young swimmers win five of last five galas making it through to ‘swim offs’

The Portadown swimming stars remain unbeaten in the Forest Feast Aquasprint Swimming League.

Hosted by Leander ASC last week, the fun and friendly gala was a close call with Portadown winning by just 10 points: Portadown 205 Leander 195

Indeed the young swimmers at Portadown have been enjoying a successful season so far in the local AquaSprint Junior Swimming League.

Sponsored by local healthy snack provider, Forest Feast, the AquaSprint league provides opportunities for swimming clubs throughout Ulster to participate against each other in 25m races over all four strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly) and 100m relay events. The galas are open to swimmers aged 9-13 years and promote a friendly and fun environment while also providing competitive racing between clubs.

Portadown ASC have been competing in Division 3 and the club has recently concluded their league fixtures for the 2022 season, achieving a remarkable five wins out of five.

This season has been the first opportunity for many of the young swimmers to participate in swimming galas following the removal of Covid-19 restrictions.

And they have achieved great success despite a reduction in their allocated pool time at South Lakes Leisure Centre in Craigavon.

With great excitement and a little nervous energy, Portadown ASC opened their season in February with a home gala at South Lake Leisure Centre and a deserved victory against Larne ASC.

Later that month, Portadown ASC hosted Alliance ASC from Belfast at South Lake Leisure Centre and the club’s young swimmers won a hard-fought victory by a tight margin, emphasising the importance and contribution of every boy and girl in the squad.

In the first of three AquaSprint fixtures in April, the Belfast club, Olympia ASC, visited South Lake Leisure Centre and again Portadown ASC emerged victorious with a strong performance as the young swimmers started to gain experience and enjoy competing for their club.

Portadown ASC then travelled to swim against Lecale ASC in Downpatrick. However, being away from home did not deter this group and victory number four was achieved. Finally, last weekend (Saturday 30th April), Portadown ASC were on their travels again, this time to Lisnasharragh Leisure Centre in Belfast to face Leander ASC. Portadown ASC dug deep yet again and were able to secure another hard-fought victory, ensuring the club returned a 100% record over all five fixtures.

This means that Portadown ASC now progress to a ‘Swim-Off’ on 10th June with the second and third placed Division 3 clubs and the reward of promotion to Division 2 on offer to the winners. With the energy and skills this super group of young athletes have, combined with the experience they have gained so far, let’s hope they all continue to progress and have plenty of success in the “Swim-Off” and in the future!

-

-