CCASA Distance - Truro Swim Club

Truro Triumph's Over Distance at the County Championships!

Last weekend saw a fast and furious start to this year's swimming County Championships when the distance events were held at Truro Leisure Centre.  Truro City Swimming Club had a fantastic start to the championships, amassing five Competition Best Times, two Senior County Championship Best Times and two new Senior County Records (one of which had stood for 21 years) over the two sessions.  Star of the weekend was Jack Middleton who set 7 new records in two races.

The first event of the weekend was the women's 800 metre freestyle (32 lengths) in which Truro scooped the first place in each of the age groups and gold and silver position in the senior championship.  The senior championship was won convincingly by Truro's Natasha Diment in 9.26:98 (a new 17+ Competition Best Time). Kay de Courcy also swam an excellent race, winning the junior championship and coming 2nd in the senior championship, Josie Williams completed the hat-trick by winning the 13 years Age Group.  Jenny de Courcy and Amelia Grigg were also brave enough to take on the challenge, although Amelia was heard to repeat loudly and frequently that she is never going to swim it again.  Jenny swam a beautiful, stylish race out on her own in lane 6.

The first session finished with the men's 1500 metre freestyle event (60 lengths) in which Truro took 3 of the first 4 places.  The senior championship was won by Jack Middleton in a time of 16.43:77 smashing a 21-year-old Senior County Record by 5 seconds. This was an incredibly strong swim by Jack in which he actually managed to break the 800 metre Senior County Record time as he swam through the 800 metre mark.  Luc Hesdon and Matt Trewhella, both swimming in the 13 year age group, put in fantastic performances in the same event, finishing first and second respectively
in their age group and achieving a stunning third  and fourth place in the senior championship.

The Sunday session started with the 4x200m freestyle relays. Truro teams took top spot in both the 13 years and under girls' race in a time of 10.06:72 (team members Amelia Grigg, Kelsey Stevenson, Anna Phillips and Courteney-Lee Reid  ) and the 14 years and under boys' race in a competition best time of 9.31:93 (team members Luc Hesden, Alastair Cooke, Matt Trewhella and Solo Major). The 15/18 year boys' team (Jack Middleton, Chris Cooke, Charlie Middleton and James Davis) finished a commendable 2nd to a highly competitive Newquay team, missing out on first place by an agonising six tenths of a second.  Chris, Charlie and James knocked tens of seconds off their PBs - although Charlie's attitude was much like Amelia's after the event.
   
The highlight of the weekend was the men's 800 metre event. This produced some nail-biting individual duels. Matt Trewhella set the tone, coming from behind to overtake Josh Solomon (Bodmin) in the last 25 metres of this gruelling 32 length race, even though Josh was swimming in an older age category. Luc Hesdon, swimming in the next heat, just eclipsed Matt's time, ensuring that the pair finished 1st and 2nd in their age group, 3rd and 5th in the Senior Championship and 1st and 3rd in the Junior Championship.  Tom Wood completed the Truro entries - he was the only twelve year old from Truro City to take part and finished a creditable fourth in the under 13 age group.

The real treat came in the final heat of the men's 800 metre event. This saw Jack Middleton and Andrew Cooke pitted against each other again. Over the last three years these two swimmers have taken Cornish distance swimming to new heights. This race was no exception. There was never more than a metre between the swimmers. Their split times at the 300m and 700m marks were exactly the same to a hundredth of a second. Jack eventually forged ahead over the last 25m and just held on to win on the touch. Jack's 800metre record of the previous day lasted less than 24 hours as he clocked a time of 8.44:84 to lower the Senior County Record and take the Senior Championship. Andrew's time of 8.45:17 was well inside the previous record and represented a significant improvement on his personal best. Over the years their rivalry has produced many scintillating races, but not once has their friendship or respect for the other wavered. Both move on to pastures new next year, but left in the right fashion, congratulating each other and leaving the spectators wanting more.    

That left the Women's 1500 metre freestyle event to end the second session and Truro City was not disappointed - Natasha Diment took the senior championship in elegant style, winning her second senior championship title of the weekend with her second competition best time of 17.58:12 closely followed by team-mate Kay de Courcy who won her second junior championship title and came second in the senior championships


WELL DONE TO ALL THE TRURO SWIMMERS WHO TOOK PART!