Success for Grantham Swimming Club at 'counties'

This year’s Lincolnshire County Swimming Championships took place over six days at the end of January and beginning of February.

The event saw both swimmers and spectators following rules to ensure safety to allow the sessions to run smoothly and efficiently.

In the months building up to the 'counties', Grantham Swimming Club head coach James Stannard had been working the club's swimmers hard.

James said: “The swimmers have had to wait two years for the opportunity to compete in the County Championships again, but it was great to see excellent performances from all the team.”

Round one of the Lincolnshire County Championships was held at Grantham's Meres leisure centre and saw swimmers participate in the gruelling 800m and 1500m events.

Grantham swimmers exceeded expectations, smashing their personal bests and producing some excellent swims.

Special mentions go to Jacob Fish (09), Zach Hopkinson (09), Owen Hathway (06), Grace MacDonald (09), Grace Turner (07), Francesca Hallam-Stott (07) and Chloe Hopkinson (05) for medalling in both the 800m and 1500m.

Round two of the championships was also held at The Meres during the final weekend of January.

The 400m events were held on the Saturday when swimmers had two events to swim: the 400m individual medley and the 400m freestyle.

GSC had 16 swimmers competing over the two events, with Grace Turner winning gold in both events.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, day four of the counties was rescheduled and revised so that Sunday's events were postponed till the following weekend.

This revised schedule meant that there would be no finals for the events, making it heat declared wins.

Swimmers worked exceptionally hard to compete in the added events in each session, producing outstanding performances.

Head coach James added: "For our first championships of the year, I was very pleased for the swimmers.

"Many of those who qualified only started with the club recently, but it was fantastic to see them enjoy the experience.

"Our seniors displayed some exceptional skills which we want to be recognised for.

"We now set our sights on the Regional Championships, where our swimmers will be aiming to compete against the best swimmers with the East Midlands, and to qualify for the National Championships in the summer."