Press Release - "Ledbury Take Top Club Title At Hereford Open"

Swimmers from Ledbury Swimming Club took on their second meet of the season at the Hereford Open Meet. With new head coach Chris Treanor in place for eight weeks this was the first chance to see how the new training regime was working out. The result was better than anybody expected – Ledbury took the top club title by a margin of more than 40 points.

Individually, the swimmers saw some great swims with 149 county qualifying times and 7 regional qualifying times achieved. The swimmers also managed to attain 141 personal bests, more than 50% of the swims which is above average for this point in the season.

Team captain Tom Stokes set the tone for the weekend with a tightly fought victory in the 200m Butterfly in a new best time and qualifying for the Midland Championships. Matching this feat was Lucas Dewe in the 400m Individual Medley, his first ever regional qualifying time.

From the girls, highlights included Charlotte Hall swimming the 200m Backstroke in a time which qualified her for the county championships for the age group above her own and Bailey Westmacott achieving best times all 9 of her events.

Awards were given for top performing swimmers in each age group. From Ledbury winners were Lucy Stokes (16/over) Sam Hall (10 years) and Callum Berry (9yrs) whilst the final points tally for the clubs were (top 6): 1st Ledbury 777; 2nd City of Hereford 735; 3rd Soundwell 638.5; 4th Harrogate 494; 5th Shrewsbury 444.5; 6th Gloucester 377.5.

Coach Treanor had this to say of the performance “I was very impressed with the swimmers both for their swims and the tremendous team spirit that was in evidence throughout the long weekend. We came here looking for county qualifying times and smashed our pre-meet target of 100. To take the top club trophy was a real bonus for the weekend and gives the whole club a boost to start the season. I asked the swimmers to focus in the technical aspects of their strokes which they did well and this gives us a great platform to build into the county championships in February.”