A long day was had by all as we travelled to Bournemouth for Round 1 of the Southern Junior League. Due to the unavailability of a pool for one of the other galas, it meant our gala was run with a full 8 teams. We knew Ferndown, last year's winners, would be strong but the strength of some of the other clubs this year was unknown.
We were missing a few swimmers with one still stuck in Australia and unfortunately we had an injury on the night which meant a bit of a shuffle round. From the start it was clear that Ferndown would still be the team to beat. The PA system was not working so we did not know how the gala was going but it looked like Ferndown and Poole were getting the lions share of first and second places but we were not far behind in most races and looked to beregularly coming in third place. In fact that is how it panned out in the end with the final points below:
1st Ferndown 337
2nd Poole 334
3rd Southwold 266
4th Trowbridge 241
5th Keynsham 193
5th Weymouth 157
7th Frome 139
8th Melksham 84
A special mention to the 2 swimmers who stepped in last minute, in the 9 year old category, Ben Palmer and Jessica Merrett. It was their first real gala and they were obviously very nervous and both swam extremely well in the anchor legs of the relay events. Wins were hard to come by and we only had 2 first places and they went to Jessica Shaw in the 11 years 50 Back and Ryan Bates in the 12 years 50 Back events. Overall it was a very good result for the team, bring on the next round and keep your diarys clear (Sat 22 May).
Keith :-)
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