Close Second for Norton

In the second round of the Winter League, Norton Radstock led for most of the match but just lost out to Burnham, who won the last four races to snatch victory on Saturday. There were six personal bests set and many of the swimmers had to cover several races in different age groups, so it was another great team performance.

The junior boys had a great evening. The 11/under team of Jack Barter, Fergus Bowen, Liam Willcox and Freddie Lenihan won both their relays and remain unbeaten in the league. Liam is also unbeaten in the Butterfly. The 13/under team just missed out on a clean sweep of all races. Seb Craig, Martin Lenihan, Tim Inns and Matthew Whatley won both their relays and also remain unbeaten. Tim Inns also won the Backstroke and Butterfly and Martin Lenihan won the Freestyle and was second in the Breaststroke, meaning the team scored 23 out of a possible 24 points!

There was very tough competition in the senior boys category. For the 15/under team, Tim won the Butterfly and there were solid performances from Ben Bicknell, Jack Walker, Jonathan Harvey and Tim Inns in both relay teams. The Open Boys also faced tough competition. Nick Britton won the Medley and came close in the Backstroke and Butterfly. The Freestyle relay team of Owen Thomas, Matt Dark, James Harvey and Nick Britton also swam a very fast time but just missed out on the touch.

With several girls missing from the team, Alice Bowden, Saskia Mead and Sarah Britton had to cover their own races plus those in other age groups. For the 11/under team Hannah Brooks-Scully won the Backstroke and there were also second places for Hannah and Mary Inns. The Medley relay team of Alana Walkes, Willow Wyatt, Mary and Hannah came a close second. For the 13/under girls, there was a great win for the Freestyle relay team of Alice Bowden, Alice Walker, Molly Barter and Saskia Mead and a close second for Saskia in the Freestyle.

Alice Bowden also finished an excellent second swimming up in the 15/under Breaststroke. Both relay teams also came second, with Alice Bowden and Molly Barter swimming up an age group to help. Sarah Britton won the Backstroke and then repeated this victory in the Open category, where she also won the Medley. Sarah was also second in the Butterfly in both categories. The girls also gained an excellent second place in the Freestyle relay, as the team of Terri Dallimore, Saskia Mead, Alice Bowden and Sarah Britton was almost entirely made up of younger swimmers swimming up one or two age groups!

The final race was the mixed cannon, a very exciting race where we were just beaten into second place on the touch.

The final gala of the season is at Burnham on 8th December, where Norton Radstock have to beat Burnham by two points or more to win the league.