Monnow Swimming Club took part in the Cardiff Bay Sprint Meet recently alongside 22 other swimming clubs across South and West Wales.

Eleven competitors aged between 10 and 13 swam in a number of events in the International Pool in Cardiff. For many it was their first experience of an Olympic-sized pool. Undaunted by the 50m distance, the team performed exceptionally well, achieving personal bests in nearly every race.

This was a Level 4 meet, with two categories of swimmers – A and B grade depending on the entry time.

Swimmers could enter 50m events in each of the four strokes and the top 10 in each age group based on finishing positions in the 50m events were eligible to compete in the 200m Individual Medley.

The swimmers won a grand total of fifteen medals and seven much coveted “speeding tickets” were awarded for swimming faster than the upper cutoff times for this level of meet.

Special congratulations go to Lucy, Matt, Ben and Rosie who qualified for the Individual Medley. Lucy won four silvers and a bronze in her events. Sophia and Louise won gold medals in the B category while Ben won gold in the 50m backstroke A category.

The full results are available here: Cardiff Bay Sprint Meet 2014 Results

Monnow Swimming Club has been awarded Swim Wales’s recognition of quality, the Dragon Mark. This is national recognition that Monnow is providing safe, effective and quality services to all its members

Dragon Mark Club Accreditation is Swim Wales’s Club Development model, a planning tool, based on the principles of Long Term Athlete Development, enabling clubs to help swimmers, teachers, coaches and committees to achieve their full potential. It focuses particularly on the needs of the swimmers, striving to provide them with the best possible support and environment. The benefits of becoming a Dragon Mark Accredited Club are mainly seen through the process itself. The programme enhances club management, strengthens the structures and unites the club with a philosophy and programmes that ensure the best environment is available for our swimmers. The award is not just a badge of honour but is a development tool that allows the club to continually improve.

Greater Gwent Fastwater Open Meet

Over the weekend of 19/20 October,  Lucy competed at the Newport International Pool along with hundreds of swimmers from all over South Wales, Bristol, Somerset and border counties.

She entered the junior development pentathlon, swimming really well to record new personal bests in three of the events. Lucy won two golds (backstroke and freestyle) and a silver (Individual Medley) and was placed overall first in the girls aged 10 pentathlon.

Her trophy was presented by Sam Hynd, a GB Paralympic gold medallist in Beijing.

Over 50 swimmers took part in this year’s championships at Monnow Swimming Club which were held at the Monmouth School Sports Club recently.

The swimmers, aged between 7 and 17,  competed over distances ranging from 25m to 800m in backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle and individual medleys.

A staggering 26 club records were broken and new times were set for the first time in the club’s history.

“It is great to see the young swimmers of Monmouth and the local area achieving personal best times and breaking long-standing club records,” said Richard Sparkes, club chairman. “Our new coaching set-up introduced this season is beginning to have an effect.”

The events were overseen by the Monnow Club committee, coaches lead by referee Alan Roberts, himself a veteran Welsh swimming record holder and club president.

At the awards ceremony held last week, individual achievements were celebrated with presentation of medals and trophies to each age group winner and chairman’s fun prizes including the most elegant swimmer and brightest swimming costume. The Coaches’ award, which is given to the swimmer who has shown the most commitment and best attitude during training, was presented to Katie Cameron.

Monnow Club Championships got off to a flying start on Sunday 22 September with 20 swimmers taking part in the 200m Individual Medley, 100m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle.

Already there have been lots of personal best performances and new club records have been set in several events.

Record breakers will be announced on the 11th October awards night.

Splashdown 2013 was held on the 7th September at Monmouth School Sports Complex.

The club chairman, Richard Sparkes, Head Coach, Jane Sambrook and Treasurer, Fiona Creasey outlined the strategy for the club and the exciting activities and events coming up in the next few months.

If you would like to volunteer to help with the club, either as a coach, an events organiser or just supporting the committee, please contact Richard Sparkes.