PIONEER 79 Swimming Club’s younger competitive swimmers competed in their ‘home round’ of the Micro League of the North West, at Accrington Academy.

The Southern’s Solicitors sponsored team for 2016 were drawn to compete in round two against Garston, Everton and Carnforth.

Having finished third in round one, this was a great opportunity for swimmers to gain as many points as possible in their home pool.

The Micro League is a Nationwide competition, split into Regions, then again into Divisions. Pioneer are competing in Division ‘A’ (the top division) and they have done for the last 8 years. The Micro League consists of swimmers competing in 4 age groups (9-12 years) and is held over 4 separate rounds, 4 teams in each round, and consists of a combination of individual and relay events in each round. In the Micro League, the relays are 25m legs (1 length) and individual races are 50m (2 lengths) except for the 9 year old swimmers who swim 25m individual events. The 4 galas take place between February and July, following which, depending on the overall points total in each division, teams may be involved in a promotion/relegation swim off or ‘grand final’ in early autumn in order to determine the Champion Team for each Division/Region. The Micro-League galas are extremely well supported and can be extremely noisy, parents tend to find that ear plugs are a necessity for the final event of each round, the canon, this is an event where the fastest freestyle swimmer in each age group form a relay, alternating male/female consisting of 8 swimmers in each team – without doubt always an exciting race.

Results were announced throughout the evening at 12 event intervals to ensure the swimmers and spectators could keep track. And Pioneer made a great start, taking first place in the first three events, the girls 12 years Medley Relay, the boys 12 years Medley Relay and the girls nine years Freestyle Relay.

But after the first 12 events Pioneer were lying in third place with 28 points, behind Carnforth (34) and Everton (30) and Garston trailing with 20 points.

Thanks to some excellent performances in the next quarter - Maddison McFadden, eight, Lily Gregg, 10, Baylie Seery-Kelly, Harry Robinson and Mia Newton all winning - Pioneer jumped to second place on 63 points, two behind leaders Carnforth.

And cheered on by friends and family, Pioneer continued to impress in the second half of the meet and with Emmie Turland, Ethan Cookson-Burrows and Georgia Eccles all winning, they jumped to the top of the leader board on 98 points.

The final 12 races were bound to be nail-biting! Straight into event 37, Mia Smith’s 50m Breaststroke win brought confidence throughout the team, with Pioneer 79 taking further wins in both the girls and boys 12 and under 50m Backstroke events.

The next 30 minutes saw the lead increase slightly until the 12yr Boys and Girls freestyle relay races, these races raised the roof, the noise levels were incredible as the spectators cheered home their teams. Again the Pioneer supporters proved to be the difference bringing the girls team home in first place to increase the lead to 4 points, the boys swam their hearts out and after a great lead out by Harry Robinson, saw Pioneer take the lead and hold on through Jake Cooper and a fantastic swim by Stevie Hacking, to hand over to Sam Curran for the final leg.

A strong solid swim by Sam saw Pioneer win in what was an undoubtedly close race, although Sam’s dad was seen with his hands over his eyes and missed most of the last length! Pioneer then won four relays and finished third in three and in the final event of the night, the mixed canon - which includes one swimmer from each age group, both boy and girl swim 25m freestyle - they finished in second place.

While Carnforth dominated the cannon race, it wasn't enough to pip Pioneer in the overall standings, the Accrington-based club winning with 136 points, just four ahead of Carnforth.

The outstanding winners in this event were Carnforth, however the battle for 2nd and 3rd place was extremely exciting, the noise created on the poolside and in the spectators gallery was electrifying, Pioneer pipped Everton on the touch and finished 2nd.

As the final results were calculated, the teams congratulated each other - there was a lot of uncertainty within the building as to which team would clinch top spot. Eventually, the results were announced; 4th were Garston with 85 points, 3rd were Everton with 108 points, then, there was a pause..... Carnforth had finished 2nd with 132 points and Pioneer 79 had won with 136 points!

This win, when added to the points we achieved at the previous round, puts Pioneer 79 in 6th position in the Division A Leader-board. Pioneer’s next round is on 18th June 2016 at the Dunes Splash World in Southport. We have drawn another tough round, and will be competing against Southport A, Southport B and Preston A.

Team Manager, John Robinson commented on the team’s performance – ‘Well done to all the swimmers this evening in what was a fantastic meet, every swimmer put 100% into their performances, resulting in Pioneer 79 taking a win on the night! It was extremely close throughout the evening, and after a slow start, Pioneer gained momentum and proved to be the best on the night. Congratulations also to the Pioneer 79 parents on what was undoubtedly one of the noisiest galas I have ever experienced! Let’s hope that the support from our parents and determination from our swimmers will take us to another positive result in Southport in June. Thank you once again to Southern’s Solicitors for their continued support in sponsoring the Pioneer 79 Micro League Team.’