Sliabh Beagh Swim Well at Antrim Championships
This gala was held over the weekend to 18th and 19th April, with Lisburn being the venue for Saturday and some of our swimmers making the long journey to Larne on Sunday.
Over 2000 swimmers from more than 30 clubs attended this gala. The purpose of this gala for some was to gain some qualifying times for the division 1 and 2 nationals in the summer. For others it was to gain valuable experience in racing and to try some different strokes. Sliabh Beagh had 15 swimmers in attendance.
Katie Bowden improved her times significantly in all her strokes with PBs in all her swims.
Faolan Campbell swam the 400 free for the first time and he improved his 200 im swim by an impressive 10 seconds.
Niamh Collins was delighted with both her swims again improving her times in both races.
Matthew Comiskey gained his second division 2 time for Limerick in June in the 400 freestyle by improving his time by a massive 14 seconds and he was happy with his 200 im swim.
Eoghan Keenan attended 2 days of these championships and overall had very good swims. He swam the 400 im for the first time and returned a great time.
Emma McElvanney, Ellen McGeough and Arpitha Muthalaga swam good solid races and the 3 girls returned PBs in all their swims. Great swimming girls!!
This was Eimear McKennas first gala of the season and it’s great to see her back racing again.
Kian McAree and Deirdre O Harte swam the 100 back and both swimmers were happy with their performances. Deirdre also swam the 100 free.
Oran O Calaoin swam a fantastic time in the 100 backstroke returning a huge PB of 6 seconds. He swam 50 beast and 50 free producing great times with a massive personal best in the breaststroke by 8 seconds.
Cliona Sheridan swam very technically good races and returned pbs in all 3 races.
Jamie Sheridan had a great day with pbs and podium finishes in 100 free (2nd), 100 fly (2nd) and a great swim in the 200 free which earned him a first place finish.
Nathan Shields competed in the 400 free and 200 im and he was happy with his results. He also gained a 2nd place finish in the 200 im.
Overall pbs and medals were collected over the 2 days. Huge improvement was evident in stroke improvement/stroke length and underwater work coming out of turns. In order to continue to improve one must pay attention to detail at all practices.
As the saying goes
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act but a habit”