DRSA

Reece Dunn, Charlotte Evans, Tom Morse, Sam Tucker, Sam Wilkes and Emma Williams were the DRSA representatives at the first weekend of the Devon County Championships held at Central Park on Sunday 12th February. Tom Morse and Sam Tucker were both competing in the 13 years 100m IM. Tom finished 10th in the age group and Sam’s swin got him 8th place. Sam Wilkes was competing in the 13 years 200m breaststroke.  The last time she swum this event was at the Devon Development Galas and then she had to be helped out of the pool through exhaustion. This playing heavily on her mind but with a steady swim she recorded a creditable 8th position in her age group. Emma Williams was our only swimmer who had to stay for both sessions.  In the morning Emma swam in the 100m backstroke in which she gained 8th position and in the afternoon she swam in the 200m breaststroke in which she came 12th.  Charlotte had to withdraw due to sickness and Reece made it through warm-up but then had to withdraw, again due to sickness.

The second weekend of the Championships was held on 25th and 26th of February and again the venue was Central Park. On the Saturday Joe Saunders and Sam Tucker competed in the men’s 100m backstroke, coming 8th and 10th respectively in their respective age groups. Emma Williams then swam the women’s 200m freestyle coming 16th in her age group. In the second session of the day Joe and Sam swam again, this time in the men’s 200m IM. This time Reece Dunn joined them. Sam and Reece achieved 8th in their age groups and Joe achieved 10th in his. Finally, Charlotte Evans and Emma Williams swam in the 200m butterfly. Charlotte swam a 21 second PB and achieved 8th place, whilst Emma achieved 11th place, both in the 11 years old age group. On the Sunday, four Devonport swimmers were in action. Joe Saunders swam a good heat during the morning session with a time of 1:02;76 in the 14 years 100m freestyle, which secured 9th place. Emma Williams, Sam Wilkes and Jade Leeke were participants in the 100m breaststroke on the afternoon session. Emma finished 14th in the 11 years old age group with a time of 1:39:64. Sam was 10th in the 13 years age group with an excellent time of 1:30:74. Jade took 13th place in the 14 years age group in a time of 1:31:95.

The third weekend of the Championships was held on the 4th and 5th of March and the venue changed to Tiverton pool. Four Devonport swimmers took part in the weekend events. Stuart Smith and Reece Dunn came 9th and 10th respectively in the boy’s 10 year old age group for 200m breaststroke. Emma Williams came 8th in the girl’s 200m backstroke and 14th in the 100m freestyle in the 11 year old age group. Finally, Andrew Smith came 10th in the men’s 100m butterfly for the 14 year old age group. Andrew has never competed at the Devon County Championships before and this shows that you can take part in your first event at any age.  

The fourth weekend of the Championships was held on the 18th and 19th of March and the venue again was Tiverton Pool. It was a busy weekend for the seven Devonport swimmers who took part. On the Saturday, in the 800m freestyle, Emma Williams and Abbey Ward came 9th and 8th in their respective age groups. In the men’s 100m breaststroke the sole DRSA representative, Tom Morse, came 5th. Later in the day Charlotte Evans, Rebecca Ward, Emma Williams and Nicki Stepp came 9th, 11th, 14th and 17th respectively in their age groups in the 100m butterfly with Rebecca getting a 9-second PB. In the men’s 200m backstroke Reece Dunn and Tom Morse came 12th and 10th respectively in their age groups. Sunday the 19th was a quieter day with only Reece, Charlotte and Emma swimming. Reece came 14th in the men’s 200m freestyle and Emma and Charlotte came 13th and 15th respectively in the women’s 200m IM.