It’s the time of year when everything’s changing, a sudden abundance of green, plenty of sunshine and a very welcome switch to British Summer Time. The changing clocks make a lovely difference for our swimmers, no longer having to arrive and leave for all their training in the dark, but instead enjoying the longer daylight hours.
And it’s not just outside where things have been going on; in the pool, there has also been plenty happening since our last update.
First up, we can report a very successful performance at the Atlantis Open Meet, hosted at K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley in March. This was a chance for all of our swimmers to compete against swimmers from other clubs in a 50m pool, some for the very first time. Across the board the club did very well, being in the top 3 clubs for medallists, a terrific achievement for a club of our size. Our swimmers achieved some great results, with 7 gold medals, 3 silvers and 5 bronzes, while setting 9 new club records and plenty of personal bests.
Notable performers were:
- Callum Stevens (400 Free-Gold)
- Lana Howells Davies (50/100/200 Back-Gold & 3 club records)
- Sophie Moore (50/100 Breast-Silver)
- Lily Harding (50 Fly-Bronze & a club record)
- Yasmina Voogd (50 Back-Bronze)
- Emily Cook (100 Free-Silver, 100 Breast-Bronze)
- Connie Emmett (50/100 Free & 100 Breast-Gold & 2 club records)
- Lucy Andrews (100 Free-Bronze & a club record)
- Jasmin Arciero (200 Back-Bronze)
- Kayla Brown (2 club records)
Sophie Moore and Jack Westerman also swum times qualifying them for the upcoming South East Regional Championships in May.
Back in the Cranleigh pool, we have also been busy. On a Friday night in late March, the club completed a sponsored swim, cumulatively swimming the distance across the English Channel. Swimming 33,800m, equivalent to Dover to Calais, 44 of our swimmers swam the distance in four relay teams in one hour and 50 minutes.
As part of the relay, each swimmer swam multiple legs of 100m, attempting to swim each leg as close to their 100m Freestyle personal best as possible. Prizes were offered to the swimmers whose average performance was closest to their PB. The swimmers who performed best in each squad were Lucy Hoy (Development), Wilburt Harmsworth (Intermediate) and Lily Harding (Senior).
All swimmers put in a monumental effort as part of a true team event, gaining a new appreciation of the difficulty of the challenge. Most positively, the club raised over £2,000, which will be split between our nominated charity, The British Heart Foundation, and the club, to fund important new equipment. Thank you so much to the Senior swimmers, coaches and volunteers who organised and helped with the event, and to everyone who supported the fundraising. A special mention goes to Lia Bevan who was the swimmer who raised the greatest amount.
Our busy schedule continues, with the Littlehampton Easter Open Meet and our own Summer Open Meet next up.
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
