Bridgwater swimmers hit top form for third win

 

BRIDGWATER Swimming Club stormed to a win in the fourth round of the Cotswold Series on April 28 - their third victory of the series so far.

The gala started perfectly for them, with Rachael Barr taking victory in the opening event and from there, Bridgwater didn't look back. The next win soon came, from Greg Kyd in event four, the men's open 100 individual medley.

Then Adam Biddiscombe and Amy Pring made it two in a row, taking the boys' 11/U 25 freestyle and girls' 13/U breaststroke respectively. Adam Parchment and Amy Anderson repeated the double, winning the boys' 50 back crawl and the ladies' 100 butterfly.

Yet another double came in the first bout of relays through the boys' 11/U medley team (Tom Holder, Will Hooper, Charlie Cooksley, Adam Biddiscombe) and the girls' 13/U freestyle squad (Jess Barham, Lauren Harrup, Alicia Symes, Amy Pring).

Joseph Seal returned to the team in style, with his second victory of the night in the 50 breaststroke. Then Jess Barham added to her relay success by coming home first in the 50 freestyle.

Bridgwater finished the first half of the gala off with another double in the second bout of relays: the girls' 15/U medley (Alicia Symes, Rachel Barr, Jess Fournier, Hayley Macarthur) and the boys' 15/U medley (Luke Parchment, Joseph Seal, Nick Constable, Adam Parchment).

The second half of the gala was slow to start for Bridgwater, but when the team got going they were unstoppable. The closed the gala out by not dropping a point from events 30-34, winning five races in a row. Those winners were Tom Holder (11/U 25 freestyle), Jess Barham (13/U 50 butterfly), Nick Constable (13/U butterfly), Jess Fournier (15/U freestyle) and Adam Parchment (15/U 50 freestyle).

Greg Kyd won the men's open 100 breaststroke, then there was another double in the third bout of relays from the boys' 11/U freestyle team (Will Hooper, Tom Holder, Oliver Willis, Sam Young) and the girls' 13/U medley four (Alicia Symes, Amy Pring, Jess Barham, Lauren Harrup).

Yet again, there were two wins in a row, this time for Jess Fournier and Luke Parchment, in their respective 50 butterfly races. Bridgwater finished with a treble: from Will Hooper (11/U 25 breaststroke), Alicia Symes (13/U 50 back crawl) and Nick Constable (13/U 50 back crawl).

The result guarantees Bridgwater a place in the Series final for the third year running. They clocked eight personal-best times and one relay best. They will be the only Somerset team in the Cotswold Series to make the final.

Final points: Bridgwater 162, Wellington 125, Southwold 116, Bristol Central 108.

Bridgwater SC also had a good day's competition at the City of Newport Open Meet. Both Jess Barham and Alicia Symes had personal bests in the 100 freestyle.

Bridgwater Mercury 3:17pm Friday 11th May 2007