IT has been another exciting season for Pioneer 79 Swimming Club culminating with eight swimmers competing in the British Summer Championships.

The group were invited to attend after achieving times that ranked them in the top 24 places in the country within their particular event and age group - it is by far the hardest competition to qualify for in the swimming calendar.

The eight swimmers were Elodie Smallwood, Joseph Murray, Tom Gilroy, Niamh Robinson, Meghann Leaver, Alice Harding, Natasha Rogan and Ben Martin Elodie Smallwood, competing in the 13/14 years age group, took part in the 200m Freestyle, 200m Individual Medley and 200m Butterfly where she swam three personal bests and reached one final in her first national standard competition.

In the 200m Freestyle, Elodie swam a new pb of 2mins 11.43secs placing her 19th overall. Her next event was the 200m Individual Medley where she finished just off her pb pace, but was 17th in her age group. But Elodie saved her best until last.

Having knocked an incredible 11 seconds off her pb in the 200m Butterfly at the Regional Championships back in June, she went slightly faster to record 2mins 26.43secs - a time good enough to place her 10th fastest for the final!

In the final, not only did she improve on her placing to ninth but she bettered her pb again, this time down to 2mins 25.44secs. Joe Murray competed in the 16 year age group where he swam in 50m Breaststroke where he finished a creditable 18th in the UK with a time of 32.22secs, just 0.1secs outside his best time.

Tom Gilroy, having previously successfully competed at the National Championships, took part in the 19+ years 50m Backstroke. With a new personal best time in his heat of 27.10secs, he qualified seventh fastest for the final.

And Tom cemented his place as one of the top swimmers in the country when he maintained his position in the final with an even better time of 27.04secs.

Niamh Robinson, who represented Isle of Man in last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa last month was invited to compete in 10 events in the 16 years age group but opted to target just the eight races.

Niamh achieved final positions in each event she swam, except the 100m Backstroke where she had a disappointing swim, finishing 17th. In the 50m Butterfly, Niamh achieved a pb finishing sixth in 28.34secs. In the100m Butterfly, she was seventh in 1min 02.67secs. while in the 50m Backstroke, her time of 30.44secs was not only a pb but finished an impressive fifth place.

In the 200m Individual Medley, she also finished fifth in 2mins19.77secs. She went one better in the 50m Breaststroke, her time of 33.27secs secured fourth place and then finished seventh in both the 100m Breaststroke (1mins11.38secs) and 200m Breaststroke (2mins 35.16secs).

Fellow Pioneer swimmer, Natasha Rogan competed in the 13/14 years for Millfield and also swam in eight events where she reached two finals.

She finished eighth in the 200m Backstroke with a time of 2mins 23.69secs while in the 400m IM, her time of 5mins 10.35secs was not only a new personal best time, but it secured 7th position in the final.

Her other results were: 50m Butterfly (18th), 200m IM (12th), 100m Backstroke (13th), 100m Butterfly (14th), 100m Freestyle (18th) and 50m Backstroke (22nd).

The club’s newest member to the training squads, Ben Martin, competed in the 15 year age group for his previous club, Leyland - and he certainly made a big impression.

In the 100m Freestyle, his time of 54.46secs secured sixth place in the final while in the 50m Freestyle, he clocked 24.50secs to finish in third place and win a bronze medal.

As well as the individual events, Pioneer 79 Swimming Club were invited to compete in the girls 14/16 years 4x200m Freestyle Relay Event. This came after their impressive results at this year’s Regional Championships held at Wavertree Sports Centre, Liverpool in June. The team selected to swim for Pioneer 79 were: Elodie Smallwood, Meghann Leaver, Niamh Robinson and Alice Harding. Entering with a time of 8mins 50.51secs, they climbed up to 17th position with a time of 8mins 49.42secs.

Head Coach, Mike Wilson was delighted with the club members efforts in the last year.

“I have been extremely impressed with the progress all our swimmers have made over the last 12 months,” he said. “This year we have seen a greater number of swimmers achieving ‘National’ Competitions than ever before. “Overall, the club has produced eight swimmers invited to compete at the ‘British’ Summer Champion-ships in 26 events, this means we have eight swimmers who fall into the top 24 in each event within the UK.

“We also had a swimmer invited to compete at the Welsh Summer Nationals, another swimmer invited to the Scottish Summer Nationals and a further nine swimmers invited to compete at the ASA National Championships (England). “This is a very impressive list and with the club increasing in strength month by month, our results will only get even better next season. “The level of commitment is immense, with sessions before and after school, however the rewards are priceless. “I would like to congratulate all of my National Swimmers on their achievements and also to those who aspire to be up there against the top in the country.”