Manchester International Open Meet 2015

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted! but since my last post, I’ve been on holiday (twice), it’s the start of the new season, a new head coach, new focus, GCSE’s and life just getting more manic!

I’ve just completed a busy weekend of racing at the Manchester International Open. It was fantastic to swim and be in the same company as LiamTancock, Fran Halsall, Roberto Pavoni, Hannah Miley, Molly Renshaw and loads more swimming stars.

We arrived in Manchester on the Friday afternoon, checked in at the hotel had a walk around the massive Trafford Centre followed by a good meal and a great night's’ sleep.

Saturday saw a mixed bag of results, my 1500m free was off a little but I had good personal best times on both the 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke. Had a great night relaxing with my family,

another brilliant meal and a good laugh back at the room later on :)

Sunday morning saw a big hearty breakfast and a trip to the pool for the middle session. Again, I had personal best times on 200 IM, and 100 backstroke. I managed to take gold (in my age group)

for the 400 freestyle and also got Fran Halsall’s autograph along with an Arena swimming hat too!

So, even with a cough and a cold, I had a good weekend of swimming which will be a starting point to build upon for the rest of the season.

See you next time J

3k Open Water Midlands Championships 2015

Fantastic result for me on Sunday at Bosworth Water and the Midlands Open Water Championships. It was my first time swimming 3000m and because of a change in the course, it sounds like we probably swam 3500m in the end :)

I was really pleased to see my name in 3rd place and had to look twice at my time of 42.56.02 though. I'd sort of expected a time of around 35 mins as i'd swam 2k in training and came in on 23.00.

It was sort of confirmed that the course was indeed longer than stated and many had the same opinion but to be honest, i'm not bothered as we all swam the same course and I came 3rd in my age group and 10th out of the 71 men and women that took part.

I really ought to see about a triathlon now!

Midlands Open Water Championships 2015

I got the Student Voice Leadership Award!

Last night saw South Wigston High School have their annual awards evening where various

students won awards for top effort and excelling in different areas of school.

Our school puts huge emphasis on effort, it isn't always about winning, it isn't always about how many points you get, to us it's about the effort that you put in and it's about how you conduct yourself...these awards celebrate everything that's good about our school and it's awesome students and staff!

This year i've had the pleasure of being Head Student and all the duty's that includes. It's been interesting to be a part of the engine that makes the school run and although I was asked to stand again, i've decided to focus on my school work during the next GCSE year.

Last night I was presented with the Student Voice Leadership Award for my time as Head Student It was a great night and one that I was really pleased to be part of, we've got some seriously talented students.

South Wigston High School Awards Evening 2015

My Headmaster, Mr Toward, is retiring at the end of this term so there were a couple of surprises during the evening and it was great to see him speechless for a change.

He's supported me so much and his door was always open if I needed to talk about anything, we'll all miss him and wish him well :)

English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) 2015 Result

English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) 65th Inter-Divisional Championships

Sunderland Aquatics Centre 27-28 June 2015

Just a quick update...our East Midlands squad had a good time both at the pool and "resting" in the hotel in the evening, it was good to spend some time with my mates

at night too!

I was also pleased to get a small PB on my 400 free as i'd gone slower by 3-4 secs the last two outings so i was pleased to get that monkey off my back :)

It was a tough meet with England's finest taking part so we all had a our work cut but we all swam well getting PB's

East Midlands ESSA Squad 2015 (4th row up, 3rd in from right)

Swimming related, next stop for me is the 3000m Midlands Open Water Championships at Bosworth Water on Sunday 5th July...looks like it's gonna be a scorcher so should be great!

Bosworth Water Park

English Schools & Regional Open Water Championships...i'm back!

Hi everyone, it’s been a while….I’ve had a rough couple of months in terms of achieving the times I needed for English National championship invite. My focus was always on the 1500m selection for English Nationals but I could never get near a long course time. My short course time (17.03) was a great result for me but it never happened for me in a long course pool (17.41).

My 400m (4.26.81) time was a nice surprise for me but again, bittersweet, I ended up missing the cut for that invite by about 2.8secs. I was disappointed to say the least. I also qualified with 2 times in the Midlands Championships but with our scheme of work and training, things didn't really hit that sweet spot and It’s taken me a while to bounce back to be honest but I've continued to train hard and amongst school stuff, I've had two things to focus on…

Sunderland Aquatic Centre

This weekend sees the English Schools Swimming Association(ESSA) 65th Inter-Divisional Championships where I’ll be part of a squad representing the East Midlands at the Sunderland Aquatic Centre.

I'll stay in a hotel with my squad for a night, be kitted out with the ESSA teamwear and take part in some media work too. I'll only be swimming the 400m free but I'm gonna go for it!

The following weekend, I’ll be competing in the Midlands OpenWater Championships. Last year I competed in the 1500m but this year I’m doubling up to do the 3000m. My Dad and I went to Bosworth Water Park last weekend so I could get the feel for open water again as it’s been a year…it was nice to swim with the fish, weeds and smelly water again…not!

Bosworth Water Park (that's me pointing at my Dad....it's chilly!)

Thanks for reading, I hope it's gonna be a good couple of weeks!

Success in the 1500m and 400m Freestyle!

The Leicestershire ASA County Championships started a couple of weeks ago. I've swam OK with a couple of medals as a bonus. I got a silver and 2nd place for my 1500m freestyle (sc) with a time of 17.03.96 which was about 40 seconds under the Midlands qualifying time and puts me 2nd in the County, 7th in the Midlands and around 16th in the Country. It was my best swim to date and felt great all the way. I'd got a good race plan and most importantly stuck to it :)

The picture below is of me with the 3rd place bronze I got for the 400m freestyle (lc) with a time of 4.30.53 which just managed to get me a Midland qualifying time.

Bronze for the 400m Freestyle at Loughborough Uni Pool of Dreams

I'll be swimming again this weekend in the Counties so i'm looking forward to more positive results :)