Swim Ulster Development Gala 3 – 4 March 2017

Swim Ulster will be holding their third Development Gala of the season in the Lagan Valley Leisureplex in Lisburn on Saturday 4 March 2017.

Until a swimmer has the full criteria to advance to Swim Ulster Qualifying Galas, they may continue to compete in all events listed for Development gala.

Breifne closing date for entries is Sunday 19 February at 5.00 pm.  Full meet information can be found here.

Breifne –v- Larne Aquasprint Gala

Breifne Swim Club had their second Aquasprint Gala of the season on Saturday 11 February 2017, when they played host to Larne Swimming Club in the Leisure Complex in Cavan.

Once the team photos and warm up were complete, the young swimmers were ready to hit the water and commence the gala.

The first four events were the Medley Relays, which consist of a team of four swimmers, swimming each stroke, the backstroke, followed by the breaststroke, followed by the butterfly and finishing with the freestyle.  The Breifne swimmers got off to an incredible start by winning all four of the Relay events and starting the gala with an incredible lead of 16 points.

After the Medley Relays comes the individual events and first up was the backstroke.  With the Breifne swimmers excited by their relay success, they were keen to continue this winning streak.  The Girls Group A finished in first and second place along with the Boys in Groups B and C.  Along with two other first place finishes, saw Breifne stretch their lead by 32 points.

The next event was the breaststroke and again the Breifne swimmers didn’t disappoint.  They took an incredible 4 first and second place finishes by the Boys Group A, Boys Group B, Girls Group C and Boys Group C.  With another first place finish in this event, the Breifne lead was extended by 46 points.

The butterfly event saw the Breifne team take another 3 first and second place finishes by the Group A Boys, Group B Boys and Group C boys.  The two sides were now divided by 60 points.

The final individual event was the freestyle.  Again the Breifne side excelled themselves, by taking 4 more first and second place finishes.  The winning groups here were the Girls Group A, Boys Group B, Boys Group C and Girls Group D.  There was one other first place finish, securing Breifne with a massive lead of 78 points going into the final event, which was the Freestyle Relays.

The Freestyle Relay events always cause great excitement and this evening was no different.  The Breifne side were fired up and ready to go.  They comfortably won the first three relays races and just lost the fourth by over a second.

A great evening of swimming and the final score was Breifne 243 points and Larne 157 points.

The Breifne Aquasprint team are swimming again on Saturday 18 February, when they will play host to Limavady Swimming Club in the Leisure Complex in Cavan

Swim Ulster Development Gala 2 – 21 January 2017

Swim Ulster held their second Development Gala of the season on Saturday 21 January 2017 at the Omagh Leisure Complex, Mountfield Road in Omagh.

Fourteen swimmers from Breifne Swim Club attended this gala, nine from the Competition Squad – Abby McDowell, Alegra Aylward, Katie Gannon, Charlie Gannon, Maia Smith, Beth Grant, Doireann McNamara, Maksimas Aylward and Donnacha McNamara and five from the Development Squad Ella Maguire, Autumn Vickerman, Hamish Vickerman, Sean Hourihane and Conor Hourihane.

The swimmers took part in fourteen different events gaining a total of fourteen personal best times.  They also won five gold medals, six silver medals and two bronze medals.

Technical assessment still continues in the development galas and this is to ensure that all swimmers progressing to qualifying galas have four legal strokes and can execute good streamlining on turns (hips past the flags).  Swimmers under eleven are assessed on 100M IM and swimmers over eleven are assessed on 200IM.

Seven swimmers passed the technical assessment, allowing them to progress to qualifying galas (if they have the three qualifying times including the IM time).  They are Ella Maguire, Alegra Aylward, Katie Gannon, Conor Hourihane , Maia Smith, Beth Grant and Maksimas Aylward.

Medal winners are as follows:

Gold Medals

Hamish Vickerman – 100M Freestyle Kick
Alegra Aylward – 50M Butterfly
Maksimas Aylward – 50M Butterfly, 100M Breaststroke
Beth Grant – 100M Breaststroke

Silver Medals

Alegra Aylward – 100M IM
Maksimas Aylward – 200M IM
Abby McDowell – 50M Freestyle
Hamish Vickerman – 50M Freestyle
Ella Maguire – 100M Freestyle Kick, 50M Butterfly

Bronze Medals

Beth Grant – 200M IM
Alegra Aylward – 50M Freestyle

A full list of results can be found here.