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Dorset County ASA

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Seagulls Swimming Club

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BALMER LAWN SPONSORSHIP FOR SEAGULLS

Balmer Lawn Seagulls Seagulls flocked down to New Milton on Saturday 24 January for a collaboration with one of their favourite sponsors; Balmer Lawn. The swimmers and Coach Martin Littlefair assumed their best streamlined positions in perfect harmony with the aerodynamic contours of the Suzuki Swift. With the Christchurch swimmers preparing to compete in the upcoming Dorset County Championships towards the end of February it is fantastic for the club to receive the support of the local Honda and Suzuki dealership. Huge thanks to all the staff at Balmer Lawn!
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2015 County Championships

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Results for the Dorset County Championships 2015 held at Littledown are now available on the Swimming Results pages, together with BAGCATs points for 9 to 14 year olds, as at 1 March. Over the two weekends there were over 50 new CBTs, as well as seven short-course County Records broken by Jay Lelliott (Swim Bournemouth), Harriet Perfect (Swim Bournemouth), Jacob Peters (Poole) and Jenny Scott (Tornadoes). BAGCAT awards were presented to nine and ten year olds on Sunday 1 March; BAGCAT awards for 11 to 14 year olds will be presented at Dorchester on 14 March.
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UK Cold Water Swimming Championships 2011

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With the temperature hovering around 3C, members of Dorset’s EDOW Club joined 400 competitors of all ages at the UK Cold Water Swimming Championships on 22 January at Tooting Bec’s lido. And, despite the damp weather and very cold water, the atmosphere was electric. Phil Richardson and Mark Vides completed the 450m Endurance Swim in under 10 minutes, which is no small achievement when the  water temperature saps your strength after the first 25 to 50m. EDOW had three entrants in the Men’s Front Crawl – Ray Budynkiewicz, Phil Richardson and Dave Rimmington. None reached the final but both Dave and Ray were just outside the times. The girls fared better in the medals with Bev Murray winning a gold in the 30yds Freestyle and then a bronze in the Breaststroke. Claire Haywood won a highly deserved gold in the Freestyle, and also made the final of the Breaststroke in her age group. Annie richardson was just outside the medals in both the Freestyle and Championship Breaststroke finals while Alison Budynkiewicz took a gold medal by just 0.03 sec! In the relay events EDOW put on a bit of a show, dressing up in Edwardian finery with the males wearing boaters and curly moustaches. No medals this time, but lots of photographs! For further information, photos and the day’s results log on to www.slsc.org.uk.
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South West team demolishes opposition

By In Water Polo0 Comments19 Views
The South West Youth team returned from the ASA Inter-Regional Water Polo Youth Championships as national champions after demolishing the opposition at the Cardiff International Pool on 15/16 January. The initial draw saw the South West in the tougher of the two preliminary round groups but the first match against East Midlands saw the team steadily pull away to a 16-2 win. The second match against North West (B) was an all together tougher affair with the two sides struggling for supremacy, but astute rotation of the squad by the South West coach ensured the team outran the opposition to a 8-6 win. And with a final 9-6 win against the East region squad, the South West team finished the day unbeaten and seeded at the top end of the semi-final draw. Day two was no less impressive. The South West took an early lead in the semi-final against Wales finishing with a comfortable 24-10 win, setting the team up for a final against pre-tournament co-favourites North West (B). And after a turbulent first quarter which saw its’ keeper excluded from the game, the South West team continued to grow in confidence to take control of the match, dismissing their northern rivals with an impressive 22-10 win. Dorset was the second strongest represented county in the regional squad with three players – George Sparks (Bridport Barracudas), Elliot Wilks and Sam Webber (both Seagulls) – all of whom returned home with one of the most prized awards in UK water polo – a national gold medal!
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Dorset trio selected for England Talent Squad

By In Water Polo0 Comments22 Views
Following outstanding performances at trials in Cardiff, three Dorset water polo players have been selected for the England Talent Squad. Cianan Mann, Jackson Mullins and Charlie Roberts, all from Christchurch Seagulls, are among only 20 players nationwide who made it through the first round pick of players. The trio survived an exhaustive set of tests and drills to earn selection for a squad that is open to boys born in 1996 and 1997. Over the coming term they will now join other established players from that age group in a series of training camps at which they will have to continue to compete for their places on the squad. Meanwhile, Seagulls’ Megan Fletcher has been invited to take part in trials for the equivalent girls’ squad at Crystal Palace. These selections come less than a year after another Seagulls’ player, Sam Webber, made it into Britain’s international development squads and won a bronze medal in an international tournament in Hungary.
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Diving in Dorset

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Diving has been a popular sport in Dorset since 1931 and today there are over 100 swimmers involved in springboard and highboard diving. The two main centres for teaching and coaching are Wessex DC and Tornadoes of South Dorset, but other Dorset clubs are now becoming involved so that swimmers can enjoy taking part in the sport. Children of any age can learn to dive, provided they are safe in deep water. © Wessex Diving
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British Gas ASA National County Team Championships 2010

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On Saturday 16 October our County Team travelled north to Sheffield for the annual Inter-County Competition held at Ponds Forge. With good team spirit, everyone swam well and supported each other enthusiastically but this year’s competition proved strong and Dorset finished 18th out of the 20 teams in Division 1; this will see Dorset once again competing in Division 2 in 2011. However, with 11 out of 24 individual swimmers competing at the younger end of their age group along with nine first time swims, the young team shows great promise for next year’s competition. Special mention should be made of the following swimmers – Dan Speers, 3rd Boys 12/13 yrs 100m Freestyle (56.27), Jay Olenicz, 2nd Boys 14/15 yrs 100m Backstroke (1:00.01), and the Boys 14/15 yrs Medley team of Thomas John, Thomas Mules, Jay Olenicz and Harry Thorpe which finished 5th overall in a time of 1:52.47 beating Lancashire who went on to win Division One. Congratulations to all our swimmers, and thanks go to our officials, coaches Emma Hirst and Sam Woodward, and to County President Mary Rousell who also accompanied the team. The Team: Bournemouth Dolphins – Tess Carter, Olivia Esposti, Isabelle Frampton, Jamie Holmes, Charlotte McRae, James Seddon, Harry Thorpe, Jack Thorpe; Ferndown – Christina Cole, Craig Freeman, Fiona Hardy, Francesca Hughes, Jay Olenicz, Luke Raggett, Thomas Tiller, Naomi Vides, Alan Wong; Poole – Courtney Rowan, Daniel Speers; Torndoes of South Dorset – Thomas John, Thomas Mules, Jennifer Scott, Alyce Westwood; West Dorset – Olivia Thornton.
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Regional silvers for Dorset

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he 2010 ASASWR Water Polo Championships held in December has resulted in a silver medal for Dorset’s Junior Men’s team. Competing against Somerset, Gloucester and Devon, all county sides with a long history of water polo competition, this was only Dorset’s fourth intercounty tournament. The first game against Somerset was a relatively low scoring match ending with a 4-5 loss but the match against Gloucestershire, normally a stronger side than Somerset, resulted in a 7-4 win which was a considerable achievement. Dorset were then straight back into the pool against Devon – by far the strongest side that had easily overcome Gloucestershire, demolished Somerset and had been resting – which resulted in a 12-9 defeat, and Dorset’s best performance ever. With Somerset and Gloucestershire both finishing with the same number of points, Dorset took silver on goal difference – the first medal by a Dorset team in the Championships! Dorset also entered the ASASWR Mixed Academy 14&U Championships against the two established counties of Devon and Gloucestershire with a record of not having beaten either county in any of the last three championships. The match against Gloucestershire proved frustrating and five early goals before Dorset started scoring proved too much of a deficit to overcome resulting in a 20-12 loss. However the match with Devon proved an entirely different prospect. Dorset got off to a good start and notched up ten goals before Devon could respond, resulting in a magnificent 6-23 win for Dorset – and another silver regional medal for a Dorset side. Dorset Junior Men’s Team: Oliver Bowen-Ashwin, Matt Cracknell, Joe Foale-Groves, Dustin Mackay, Jack Murray-Tyson, Joe Rammage,  James Rogers, George Sparks, Anand Vaithilingham, Sam Webber and Elliot Wilks who was voted Best Overall Player. Dorset Mixed Academy Team: Christian Flavell, Emily Jack, Ciannan Mann, Charlie Roberts, Mikey Kingsley, Jackson Mullins, Megan Fletcher, Josh Marshall, Billy Uppard, Rhys Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Bowerman
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Littledown Master Class

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The past few weeks have been some of the most eventful in the short history of Littledown Masters. Building on the success of becoming Half Iron Man World Champion in December 2010, James Gilfillan will once again be heading to Florida in November this year after qualifying at the weekend for the Half-Iron Man World Championships in Clearwater. Gilfillan, 31, came 13th overall out of 1,200 competitors in the qualifying event in Belgium, and only weeks after he won his first British title with an impressive performance in the national event at Lake Bala, Wales. Completing the 2km swim, 80km bike ride and 20km run in 3hr 47mins 15secs, Gilfillan was one of only two of the 600 competitors to finish in under four hours. This past week the Club also waved goodbye to Keith Mahon and Barbara Walton who fly out to compete in the Age Group Triathlon European Championships in Spain having qualified to represent Great Britain at both this event and at the Worlds’ in Beijing in September via wins in major Sprint Triathlon qualifying events earlier in the year plus. Barbara (pictured right) also gained a medal for GB in last years World Championships in Budapest. Both qualified for the European Championships competing at Belvoir Castle earlier this month where Keith (50-54 age group) completed the 750m open water swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run in 1 hr 9mins 12secs and Barbara (60-64 age group) in 1 hr 29mins 55secs. And finally, Peter Kirk, 56, became a National Champion in his age group at the 2011 Masters Championships in Sheffield with a winning time of 2:27.7 in the 200m Freestyle. Back in the pool the next day, and having swum seven races in two days, he had to settle for silver in the 100m Freestyle with a time of 1:04.25, a mere nine tenths behind the winner!