In contrast to recent years, there was a definite male-predominance in our team, and we had a record 9 relay entries, one of which yielded our only gold. Sadly our 160+ mixed 400 free team, of which we had high hopes, had to be withdrawn due to injury, otherwise that would almost certainly have been another gold; maybe next year!
There was a great team spirit and plenty of personal bests, even if not all resulted in medals or top 10s - so much so that some suggested the south pool should be measured! Maybe that infamous "fast water", is getting faster, or maybe it's the new coaching team? Special mention to Simon Kerrigan who "pb'd" in all his events (2nd career times), but despite that, missed out on a medal for the first time gaining three 4th places- unlucky! There was great interest in the men's 4x200 free, with Simon having not raced 200 free for 20 years and Alistair Crawford hadn't since 1994. Both did well and Alistair just missed dipping under 2mins. Ryan Borthwick stormed the last leg in 1:55:81, despite a very busy programme, but couldn't quite big the bronze. Despite generously giving the leading team half a second extra head-start with his casual take-over, Alistair Crawford managed to overhaul them on the last leg of the 4x50 free, with a 22:85-GOLD! Well done Andrew Walton, Mbeh Tanji and Ryan Borthwick- British Champions. Mbeh and Ryan also played their part with Carla McWilliams and Lizzie Bentley in bagging a silver in the 72+ 200 Medley relay.
The top 10 finishers were as follows:
Gold
Men's 4x50 free 72+ Andrew Walton/ Mbeh Tanji /Ryan Borthwick/Alistair Crawford 1:36:93
Silver
Alistair Crawford 25-29yrs 50 free (23:44), 50 fly (25:34), 100 free (51:07)
Mixed 4x50 Medley 72+ Carla McWilliams, Mbeh Tanji, Lizzie Bentley, Ryan Borthwick 1:58:29
Bronze
Men's 4x100 free 72+ Robert Hyde/Mbeh Tanji/Alistair Crawford/Ryan Borthwick 3:34:00
Elizabeth Bentley 18-24 400 IM
4th
Elizabeth Bentley 18-24 200 breast (2:49:96)
Simon Kerrigan 35-39 200back (2:21:74), 400IM (5:22:35)
Rob Hyde 30-34 100 back (1:02:94)
Mixed 4X100 Medley 72+ Carla McWilliams/Elizabeth Bentley/Mbeh Tanji/ Ryan Borthwick 4:27:52
Men's 4x200 free 72+ Simon Kerrigan/Mbeh Tanji/Alistair Crawford/Ryan Borthwick 8:07:90
5th
Elizabeth Bentley 18-24 50 breast (36.37), 100 breast (1:18:81)
Simon Kerrigan 34-39 100 back (1:05:63)
6th
Dave Bradford 54-59 100 free (1:05:87)
Rob Hyde 30-34 100IM (1:01:81)
7th
Ryan Borthwick 18-24 100 fly (58:88)
Dave Bradford 54-59 50 fly (34:17)
Rob Hyde 30-34 50 fly (27:18)
Richard Wilkinson-Hall 35-39 1500 free (19:24:28)
4x50 Mens Medley 160+ Simon Kerrigan/Tim Gleeson/Dave Morgan/Scott Davison 2:04:74
4x50 Mixed Free 160+ Alistair Crawford/Sarah Livesey/Dave Bradford/Linzi Gaywood 1:54:05
8th
Ryan Borthwick 18-24 100 free (53:37)
Lauren Christian 18-24 100 breast (1:22:65)
Simon Kerrigan 34-39 200IM (2:28:87)
9th
Rob Hyde 30-34 50 back (29:91)
4x50 Mens Free 160+ Tim Gleeson/Scott Davison/Dave
Morgan/Simon Kerrigan 1:49:84
10th
Ryan Borthwick 18-24 200 free (1:56:99)
Dave Bradford 54-59 50 free (29:66)