Looking out of the window, watching another mid-June downpour, I’m reminded that one of the joys of Cranleigh Swimming Club is that it is inside. While coaches and parents shed a layer or two to adjust to the poolside heat, we can rest assured that, whatever the weather, swimming goes on. Pity the poor cricketers whose matches and training are washed out again. Or their parents who now have bundles of energy to entertain with no place to use it!
As you might expect, since I last updated these pages, our swimmers have been busy doing what they do best: training hard and competing in galas.
Every year, the biggest events for our club are the Cranleigh Open Meets. The club typically hosts open meets 3 times a year, in spring, summer and autumn. These meets give a chance for the vast majority of our swimmers to compete against swimmers from visiting clubs from all around Surrey and beyond. Entry fees from external swimmers are also an important source of funds for our club, helping to pay for pool hire and the fantastic coaching our swimmers receive. And as home meets, these events often give the first competitive experience for swimmers in our junior squads.
This year, because of other competitions, our summer meet was unusually early, in May. The altered dates meant that we had several clubs joining us for the first time, with the meet attracting 180 swimmers. Swimmers came a long way to visit our village pool, with many coming from as far afield as London (Leander and Wandsworth).
While the timing and competition may have been different, the results were not. Our swimmers competed fantastically, with 40 Cranleigh swimmers taking part in 131 events. Amongst these were a fantastic number of medals including 31 Golds, 12 Silvers and 14 Bronzes. Every swimmer deserves recognition for their hard work, but with so many medal winners we don’t have space here to name each one. However, it is nice to highlight some of the winners who haven’t been mentioned in these pages recently. These included: golds for Alice Bruce, Eleanor Craig, Thomas Craig, Marco Mariscotti Ree, Will O’Brien, Juliette Small and Aimee Voogd; silvers for Burt Harmsworth, Ellen Shayler and Will Stanley; and bronzes for Dylan Cambridge, Martha Horsted and Abi Southwell.
As always, the Open Meet wouldn’t have run without the hard work of the parents, family and friends who volunteer to organise such an event. We are always grateful for this help and support, whether it is poolside operating a stopwatch or judging turns, at a desk announcing swimmers or providing first-class catering for visiting officials. Thank you all.
While we might like to think otherwise, the universe does not revolve around our little corner of the world in Cranleigh. For a small number of our swimmers who perform at the top levels amongst their peers, the last month also provided a good reminder of the level of competition, at the South East England Regional Championships.
Qualification for Regional Championships is a fantastic achievement, surpassing the goal of many swimmers to qualify for County Championships. This year, the continued hard work of our coaches and swimmers meant that we were fortunate enough to have 3 swimmers representing Cranleigh at the Regionals across 3 days in May. Lana Howells-Davies (200m Backstroke) and Jack Westerman (50m Breaststroke) both competed strongly, each setting personal bests, with a club record for Lana. Our third swimmer, Sophie Moore, excelled over the Meet, having qualified for the 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke. Not only did Sophie set personal bests and club records in two of her events, but in the 100m she also went one step further, qualifying for the English National Championships. This a remarkable achievement for a small club like Cranleigh and provides huge inspiration to all our swimmers to continue training so hard. Well done Sophie!
Before next time, we look forward to the Surrey County Age Group Summer Meet at the Spectrum in Guildford, as well as a smaller internal Club Championships with some longer distance 400m swims. No doubt we’ll have many swimmers doing well at both, so we’ll keep you updated.
If you are interested in joining Cranleigh ASC, please come down and see us on a Sunday evening at Cranleigh Leisure Centre from 4.30pm onwards or visit our website www.cranleighsc.org We offer two free taster trial sessions, for children wishing to see if they enjoy it.
If you are a local business who would like to sponsor our next Open Meet then please contact Paul Stevens of CASC on 07759 661949 
