September is a time for concentrating on technique and setting a benchmark for the rest of the season and a springboard for the coming year. Billingham Autumn Meet proved the perfect opportunity for Team Jorvik to do this in a fresh, new environment with some super-fast competition for our swimmers to pit themselves against.

Nonetheless, our swimmers had a very successful meet and scooped up a total of 27 medals between them. Alex M cleared the boards medalling in every single one of his four events (Silver - 200 IM, 50 back, 100 back, 100 free).  Medals were also won by Aidan F (Gold – 200 breast); Amy (Gold- 100 breast, 200 breast, Bronze – 50 breast); Callum (Gold – 100 back, 200 back, Silver – 50 back, Bronze – 200 free); Emma PD (Gold – 100 free, Silver – 200 free); Jake (Bronze – 200 back); Jess (Silver – 200 back); Joe C (Gold - 50 back, 100 back, 200 back, Silver – 100 fly, Bronze – 50 free, 200 fly); Laura (Gold – 50 free, Silver – 100 fly, 100 free, Bronze – 50 back, 200 back).

Of our younger swimmers Robyn stood out with PBs in each of her six events including an amazing 10 second PB in her 50 butterfly! She also attempted 100 fly for the first time earning a super new time. Aidan F, Callum and Jamie also each achieved a full set of PBs.

There were also some new qualifying times for the forthcoming Upper Age Group Winter Yorkshires and NERs. Jamie achieved his Yorkshire time with a smashing swim in the 50 fly while Cormac and Alex M gained new qualifying times in 50 back and 100 back respectively. Meanwhile Joe C clocked up another North East Regional qualifying time, this time in the 100 fly.

Some of our younger swimmers took the opportunity to tackle some of the longer events for the first time with Robbie tackling the 200 breast and 200 back and Alex T taking on the 200 free and 200 back, both swimming extremely well.

There was great excitement on Saturday as Callum qualified for the Skins event. In this event the fastest six swimmers from the 200IM heats compete on a given stroke determined by a coloured ball picked out of a hat. Callum did extremely well to qualify for this event. Unfortunately, he was knocked out after the first round which was breaststroke. However, he pocketed a nice sum of money for his trouble and provided much excitement for all of us spectators!  

The Qualifying Times and Schedule for the Yorkshire Championships next February are now available on the YSA website.

Fifteen Team Jorvik swimmers attended the Sheffield City Open Sprints on 25 August 2018.  A small, friendly, afternoon-only gala, it made a nice, relaxed early start to the new season. There were some great swims which, this early in the season, augur well for the coming swimming year.
In particular, we would like to congratulate our younger swimmers who achieved new Yorkshire Times for the Lower Age Group Winter Competition just in time for the 5
September deadline: Alice (50 Free,100 Free); Freddie (100 Free,100 Back); Heidi (50 Fly, 100 Back); James T (100 Breast).
Medals were won by Aidan R (Silver-50 Breast, Bronze-100 Breast), Cormac (Silver- 50 Breast, 100 Breast), Heidi (Bronze-100 Back) and Zach M-J (Gold-100 Free).
We look forward to the rest of the season and even more success from Team Jorvik!

Our full timetable starts again on Tuesday 28th August (see Members' Area for details).  David has emailed everyone with details of their group and the new schedule - please contact him if you haven't heard from him.

For the first time in Team Jorvik’s history, three of our swimmers qualified for the National Summer Meets, which is an amazing achievement!  To explain how these competitions work: there is a qualifying period between March and May - the top 24 ranked swimmers in Great Britain in each event and age group are invited to compete in the British Summer Championships, then the next 20 English swimmers are invited to the Swim England Summer Meet. 15 year old Callum Tonkins qualified for 50m Backstroke at the British competition and 100m Backstroke at the English competition. Also at the English competition, Meredith Harness qualified for 50m and 100m Fly in the 15 year old category, while Aidan Fothergill, 14, qualified for 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke. These three were joined by Bethan Endicott, who has just joined Team Jorvik from St Ives – Bethan had qualified in the 12/13 years 50m Fly at the British Nationals and 100m Fly at the English Nationals. The meets both took place at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.

David was keen for the swimmers to enjoy the experience of their first National competition, which they certainly all did. But they also did themselves and the Club proud by each putting in immense performances. At the British Championships, Callum finished 21st in 50m Back (29.39) and Bethan was also 21st in 50m Fly (29.97). At the English Nationals, between them they swam 11 PBs and we had 6 finalists and two Bronze medals! Callum finished 14th in 100m Back (1:04.37); Meredith was 6th in 100m Fly (1:05.84) and won Bronze in 50m Fly (28.95), only 0.09 seconds behind Gold; Aidan won Bronze in 100m Breast (1:11.19), then came 8th in 200m Breast (2:38.36) and 6th in 50m Breast (32.63); Bethan finished 8th in 100m Fly (1:07.33).

It was evident that everyone at Team Jorvik is very proud of these young people, with most of the rest of the Club’s swimmers and parents watching the Live Streams, shouting their support, or following the results at home. Who knows – maybe we will have even more qualifiers next year?

Thirteen Team Jorvik swimmers took part in the Rotherham Metro A/B Short Course Meet at Ponds Forge on 14/15 July 2018. This gala marked the end of the season and the apex of our training year. Once again our swimmers did us proud. Despite only being a small group we won a total of 43 medals.

The hard work in training over the season obviously paid off as there were lots of PBs with many of our swimmers almost completing a full set. Special mention must go to Jake and Callum who both broke the one minute barrier on the 100 free, both achieving a personal best of 59.49!

There were also lots of new qualifying times for the Yorkshire Championships and the North East Regional Championships over course of the weekend:
Aidan R (New Yorkshire Time: 200 IM, New NER Times: 100 Breast, 200 Breast) 
Amy (New Yorkshire Time: 100 free, New NER Time: 50 Breast)
Callum (New NER Times: 200 free, 100 Breast, 200 Breast)
Cormac (New Yorkshire Times: 50 Breast, 100 Breast)
Eleanor (New NER times: 400 free, 100 fly)
Emma P.D (New Yorkshire Time: 200 IM)
Jake (New NER Time: 100 Back)
Joan (New Yorkshire Time: 200 IM, New NER Time: 100 Back, 100 Free, 200 Back)
Laura (New Yorkshire Time: 200 IM)
Meredith (New NER Time: 200 IM)

All in all, it was a fantastic end to a superb 2017/18 season at Team Jorvik. All our swimmers have worked really hard and always given their best which has led to some super fast swimming. I think David summed it up at the end of the gala: “It’s been a great year – and next year we’re going to go even faster!”  We can’t wait David – watch this space!