Cleethorpes & District Swimming Club - Minnows & Sprints Gala 2009

Young swimmers from Cleethorpes & District Swimming Club took part in their Annual Minnows & Sprints Competition, on Saturday 21st November at Grimsby Swimming Pool. The club were grateful to E.ON who was the main Sponsors for the evening, along with many other local companies who sponsored individual events.

The gala is the event CADS young swimmers look forward to all year. For some of the younger swimmers it was their first taste of swimming in a competition. A chance for the youngsters to see what they can aspire to, watching the older swimmers in the 50M sprints and a chance for the older swimmers to cheer on the youngsters and give them every encouragement.

Once the nerves were put aside, and with a packed balcony of family and friends cheering them on, the swimmers produced some excellent swims. The young Minnows swimmers were divided into three age groups, 7 years and under, 8 years, 9 years. They swam in 25m events across four strokes, Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle. The youngest swimmers were only 6 year old, with Sophie Wilkinson being the youngest of the girls, she achieved three excellent swims on the Back, Breast & Freestyle, along with three 6 old boys, Robbie Cassidy, Oliver Bradley and Max Rytting who showed their talents on the Backstroke and Freestyle.

The top three swimmers in the Minnows competition received Gold Silver and Bronze medals, for each age group, with all swimmers in the Minnows competition receiving a medal and certificate for participation. At the end of the competition the swimmers were presented with their participation medals, then paraded across the ‘boom’ to collect their certificates to sound of everyone clapping and cheering them. All the swimmers can be justly proud of their achievements on the night.

Gold Medal Minnows

Girls 7years & under

Backstroke: Grace Niblock, Breaststroke : Lucy Krofchak, Freestyle: Grace Niblock

Girls 8 years

Butterfly: Abigail Bower, Backstroke : Abigail Bower, Breaststroke : Amelia Leason Freestyle : Abigail Bower

Girls 9 years

Butterfly: Grace Lister Backstroke: Grace Lister, Breaststroke: Lily Wishart, Freestyle: Grace Lister

Boys 7 years & under

Backstroke: Joe Basdeo-Taylor, Breaststroke: Joe Basdeo-Taylor, Freestyle: Joe Basdeo-Taylor

Boys 8 years

Backstroke: William Legge Freestyle: William Legge

Boys 9 years

Butterfly: Alex Thompson, Backstroke: Josh Capes, Breaststroke: Lucas Button, Freestyle: Josh Capes

Top Girls 7yrs & under Grace Niblock

Top Boy 7 yrs & under Joe Basdeo-Taylor

Top Girl 8 yrs Abigail Bower

Top Boy 8 yrs William Legge

Top 9 yrs Girl Grace Lister

Top Boy 9 yrs Joshua Capes

Swimmers in the Sprints received medals for the top six places, they competed in joint age groups 10/11yrs 12/13yrs 14/15yrs 16 & Over. All swimmers in the sprints received a certificate for participation

There were many notable performances in the Sprints with swimmers achieving over 100 new personal best times and a host of County Championship Qualifying Times

The girls 10/11yrs saw Sophie Cragg win three events, on the Back Breast and Freestyle, with Olivia Sullivan taking the gold medal on the Butterfly

Kieran Sharman took the laurels in both the Boys 10//11yrs 50M Backstroke and 50M Freestyle, in the Freestyle event Kieran just piped twin brother Nathan to the Gold medal by 6 tenths of a second. With Sam Legge winning the Butterfly and Breaststroke events

James Burke made a clean sweeps of the Gold medals in the Boys 12/13yrs age group, with Molly Unwin winning the girls Butterfly and Backstroke with Holly Smith taking top spot on the Breaststroke and Courteney Elford on the Freestyle

Katie Over in the girls 14/15 years and Thomas Paine in the boys 14/15 years events both made a clean sweep of their events. So too Steph Gladding in the Ladies 16 & over events. For the Men’s 16 years & Over Zach Amin won the Butterfly, Breaststroke and Freestyle, with Lewis Cheung taking the honours on the Backstroke race.

CADS would like to thank the following companies for their support:

Argyle Estate Agents & Financial Services Ltd, BJB Lift Truck Limited, Carr Jemmetts, Cleethorpes Chronicle, Ciba Speciality Chemicals, ConocoPhillip Ltd County Cabs,, E.ON, Ideal..Financial Services Ltd, John Roe Toyota, K & I Scaffolding Limited, Lilies Floral Designer, Mal Mark Trophies & Medals, Parkins Valeting Limited, Pro Active Teamwear, St. Peters Chinese, Timothy Bartlett Design Limited, Malcolm Cooke & Co. Whiteheads, Woods Cycles