Event: South
West Age Group Regional Championships (50m)
Venue:
Date: June
9/10 & 16/17
A
sad week for Swindon Dolphin, which saw 18 year old swimmer Luke Herbert lose
his long battle against cancer, ended with the culmination of the fund raising efforts
inspired by Luke’s illness and a celebration of his memory.
Tigersharks’
Sam Clayton and Swindon Dolphin’s Tim Berry presented Otto Putland a cheque for
over £6,000
Swindon
Dolphin’s Tim Berry and Tigersharks’ Sam Clayton presented Otto Putland a
cheque for over £6,000 in response to Otto’s Challenge, an initiative to raise money
for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Otto’s challenge to swimming clubs throughout
the country was taken up by Luke’s brother Liam who was due to compete at the
championships and to present the cheque but was unable to attend. The fund raising
efforts began at the Wiltshire County BAGCAT Championship in March, following which
both Swindon Dolphin and Tigersharks organised sponsored swims and raised money through
raffles and cake sales. Over 100 swimmers and officials, including a team of
15 parents, participated in the Dolphin swim alone.
The
presentation of the cheque, which took place during the second weekend of the South
West Regional BAGCAT (Age Group) Championships at Millfield on Saturday, was followed
by a minute of applause and cheering in remembrance of Luke, and in recognition of
the efforts of swimmers, officials and parents of both clubs who, in less than three
months, have together helped Otto to beat his current target. Otto swims with
the number 6 written on his arm, representing the number of teenagers who are diagnosed
with cancer in the
each day, and on Saturday the number was also worn by the Dolphin boys and coaches.
>
Swindon boys wore number 6 on their arms
In
the pool Dolphin had another successful weekend and finished the 2007 championship
with a total of 6 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals and reached the top eight in
35 events. The very promising Samantha Berry accumulated
three new National Qualifying Times (NQTs) and previous qualifiers James
Clark and Cathal Westman improved their NQTs.
The
highlights of the second weekend included gold medal performances from Charlotte
Pitts (10 years, 400m freestyle), Samantha
Berry (11 years, 100m butterfly) and James Clark (12
years, 200m breaststroke). Rosie Wells (13)
collected a silver in the 200m backstroke while Pitts and Cathal
Westman (14) both took bronze in their 200m breaststroke events.
Other impressive performances included
Clark
’s fourth place in the 100m fly and fifth place in the 400m freestyle, Pitts’ fifth
in the 100m fly, and a fifth for Samantha Berry in
the 200m back.
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Tess Farr & Anthony Clark at the presentation
Source:
Dolphin Press Team
