Swim Ulster held their annual Swim Festival in Newry Leisure Centre on Sunday 18 June 2017. 

There were 9 swimmers from Breifne Swim Club who attended this gala, Ella Maguire, Clodagh Clarke, Aoibheann Clarke, Beth Grant, Louise Hastings, Milly Owen, Abby McDowell, Jamie McDowell and Maia Smith.

This small group of swimmers, swam to success to end the season by recording 20 new Personal Best times and managing to secure 8 Gold Medals, 10 Silver Medals and 2 Bronze Medals.

Medal Winners were;

Gold Medals

Milly Owen – 50M Backstroke, 50M Freestyle, 100M Butterfly, 50M Butterfly
Louise Hastings – 100M Freestyle
Abby McDowell – 100M Freestyle Kick
Aoibheann Clarke – 50M Backstoke
Maia Smith – 50M Freestyle

Silver Medals

Louise Hastings – 50M Backstroke, 50M Freestyle, 100M Backstroke
Jamie McDowell – 100M Backstroke, 100M Freestyle
Ella Maguire – 50M Backstroke
Aoibheann Clarke – 50M Freestyle
Maia Smith – 100M Butterfly
Abby McDowell – 100M Freestyle
Beth Grant – 100M Freestyle

Bronze Medals

Beth Grant – 100M Breaststroke
Ella Maguire – 50M Freestyle

A full list of results can be found here.

The NAC Swim Club held their annual Long Course gala in the National Aquatic Centre, Blanchardstown on Sunday 11 June 2017. 

Breifne Swim Club had 1 swimmer from the Competition Squad, Lucy Hogan and 4 swimmers from the Development Squad, Sahara Smith, Cormac Crotty, Lucy Hogan and Martha Spring attend this gala.

For some of these young swimmers, it was their first time attending a Long Course gala and they managed to come away with 8 new Personal Best times out of a possible 12.

A full list of results can be found here.

Bangor Swim Club held an Open Club Championship Gala over the weekend of Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June 2017.  Saturday was for all 11 and over age group, while Sunday was for the 10 and under.

Breifne Swim Club had 3 swimmers for the Competition Squad attend this gala, 2 on the Saturday, Leah and Maia Smith and 1 on the Sunday, Alegra Aylward.

Saturday saw the girls achieve some Personal Best times along with a host of medals.  The success continued on Sunday with Alegra obtaining 2 out of 4 Personal Best times, and 3 medals.

Medal winners were,

Gold Medals

Leah Smith – 50M Butterfly, 100M Freestyle
Alegra Aylward – 50M Breaststroke, 50M Butterfly

Silver Medals

Leah Smith – 200M IM
Alegra Aylward – 50M Freestyle

Bronze Medals

Leah Smith – 50M Freestyle, 100M Breaststroke
Maia Smith – 50M Butterfly

A full list of results can be found here.

Having finished 4^th overall in Division B, this year Breifne Swim Club were the strongest team going into the final on Finals Night.  This year Breifne were up against Cookstown and Larne and the finals were taking place in Dungannon Leisure Centre, Dungannon on Friday 2 June 2017.

As always in an Aquasprint gala, the first event is the Mixed Medley Relays.  Breifne dominated this event winning three out of the four relays and coming second in the fourth.  This secured Breifne with an early lead of 40 points with Cookstown coming second on 24 points and Larne third on 20 points.

The Backstroke event was up next and the A Girls took first and second place while the C girls and C boys took first place.  This stretched Breifne’s lead further with 103 points, Larne with 76 points and Cookstown coming third with 73 points.

As the Breaststroke commenced, the Breifne team were on top form taking first place in the A girls, B boys, C girls, C boys and the D girls events.  This pushed Breifne ahead with 171 points, while Cookstown slipped into second with 126 points and Larne in third position with 126 points.  

The Butterfly event saw the A girls again taking first and second place, while the C girls and D boys took first place. 

The last individual event was the Freestyle where the A girls once again took first and second place.  The C boys and D girls also took first place.  Breifne were now well in the lead with a score of 304 points, Cookstown 235 points and Larne with 217 points going into the final event of the evening, the Freestyle Relays.

With an explosive atmosphere from the spectators, Breifne again completely dominated this event winning all four of the Relays.

There was no doubt who the victors were on the evening with Breifne finishing first on a massive 348 points, Cookstown second with 263 points and Larne third with 229 points.