Dolphins make a splash!

The swimmers who successfully qualified to swim were Hannah Johnston (14 years), Jenny Lowrie (14 years), Gregor Batley (14 years), Ben Fish (14 years) and Ben Saxon (18 years) in the Open category and Ed Brown (13 years) in the age group competition.

The 14 years olds were stepping up to swim in the Open category for the first time which includes all swimmers from 14 years to adults.

Ed Brown, in the 13 years age group, finished fourth in the 100m backcrawl (1.10.34), fifth in the 400m individual medley (5.15.44) and seventh in the 100m freestyle in which he broke the one minute barrier for the first time in a time of 59.19 seconds! He also came in the top ten in the 200 IM (2.29.09), 400m freestyle (4.36.37) and 50m freestyle (27.57).

Ben Saxon qualified for two open finals placing eighth in the 100m backcrawl (1.00.36) and ninth in the 50m backcrawl (27.62).

Gregor Batley placed 22nd in the North East in the 200m butterfly (2.22.30) and also swam personal best times in the 200m breaststroke (2.43.31), 200 individual medley (2.21.71), 100m breaststroke, 100m butterfly and 100m individual medley.

Hannah Johnston swam a personal best time in the 50m freestyle (28.60)

Congratulations also go to Ben Fish and Jenny Lowrie for some super swims against outstanding competition.

Meanwhile, Alnwick Dolphins held the Northumberland Invitational swimming gala for its second year last Sunday.

Swimmers from Morpeth, Ashington, Tynedale and Blyth clubs attended. There where 170 swimmers including the Alnwick Dolphins.

The gala at this time of year allowed many swimmers to gain entry times to higher level competitions including the County, Regional and Scottish National short course meet. It also allowed Alnwick swimmers to enter a gala at their own pool, for some of the younger ones it was their first competition.

Events covered all swimming styles with distances up to 800m. Competitors aged from 10 to 18 years.