The opening weekend of the Devon County Swimming Championships was another fantastic success for Honiton Swimming Club, writes Tom Bornet.

Honiton had three Swimmers take part in the 100m Individual Medley: Wilbur M, Julia L and George B. The 100 IM is unique in the County programme, as it is the only event that takes place in the 25m pool configuration, with 25m of each stroke. 

All three swimmers performed brilliantly, recording personal best times with Wilbur placing 16th, Julia 13th and George 12th in their respective age groups.

The same three swimmers then returned with Julia swimming the 100m Breaststroke, and George and Wilbur swimming the 50m Butterfly. They were joined by 15 year-old Isabel B-G and 16 year-old Club Captain Ellen B, who were both swimming the 200m Butterfly. 

Both boys swam excellently with Wilbur adjusting to his first swim in the 50m pool to finish 17th and George swimming another PB to finish 13th.

The 200m Butterfly is a gruelling event and both Isabel and Ellen were rewarded following excellent heat swims with the chance to do it all again in the finals. After a quick turnaround, both swam brilliantly again in their finals to come within a few seconds of their heat swims, Isabel finishing in 5th in the 16 Y-O category and Ellen one place better in 4th  in the 17& Over category. Both Brilliant results in the County wide competition.

Narrowly pipping the girls to the performance of the weekend was Julia L in the 100m Breaststroke. Following a solid swim in the heats, just outside her personal best, Julia qualified 7th fastest for the 8 lane final.

With the fastest qualified swimmers in the middle lanes, Julia started the final in Lane 1. As the swimmers emerged from their dives and got into their swimming, Julia was keeping pace with the leaders in the middle lanes and as they reached the halfway turn was in 3rd place as they set off for home.

Tiring slightly in the last 25m Julia kept going to touch the wall in 4th, narrowly missing out on a medal but saving the best for the final with a 2.5s PB. As always, head Coach Ralph was delighted with the performance and attitude of all the Honiton Swimmers.