The months of July and August are relatively quiet in the Pioneer 79 Swimming Club calendar, apart from a small number of swimmers who have managed to achieve qualifying times for the Nationals.

The National Swimming Championships are held annually and have extremely difficult qualifying times. The Championships are divided into different categories depending on the swimmers age.

This year, four swimmers, all members of Pioneer 79 Swimming Club, qualified to compete in their relevant galas.

The swimmers, all of whom were competing, swam under Gallica Swim Squad, namely: William Beavan (11 years old) and Connor Makin (13 years old), both of these swimmers swam in the National Age Group Championships at Sheffield.

And Amelia Candon and Karmen Hammonds (both 14 years old) competed in the National Youth Championships also at Sheffield.

To qualify for the Nationals is a huge achievement and a credit to both the swimmers and their families, for their commitment to the training and their determination at competitions.

Results: National Age Group Championships:

William Beavan (pictured) competed in three individual races:

400m Individual Medley finishing in a time of 5.40.07 (personal best), the first 100m which was on Butterfly, was also a personal best time of 1.18.74.

200m Breaststroke, William again swam extremely well, finishing 10th fastest overall in the heats in another personal best time of 3.01.07, qualifying for the final. In the final he maintained his position but finished slightly slower in 3.02.02.

100m Breaststroke, William finished in a time of 1.27.49.

Connor Makin swam in the 200m Breaststroke, finishing in a time of 2.39.41.

Both Connor and William competed in both the Freestyle and Medley Relay teams for Gallica.

In the National Youth Championships, Karmen Hammonds qualified for two individual races and competed in;

200m Backstroke: 2.31.17

100m Backstroke: 1.07.94

Amelia CANDON over the year, achieved four individual race times and competed in;

400m Freestyle: 4.38.65

200m Freestyle: 2.12.68

100m Backstroke: 1.06.85

4x100m Medley Swim Team for Gallica, qualifying for the final and finishing in seventh place overall.

The highlight of Amelia’s National swims was in the 200m Backstroke, where she qualified for the semi-final in a time of 2.22.94, where she swam a slightly faster time of 2.22.64, finishing in 16th place overall.

Although only making it to the semi-finals, Amelia still has two years to compete in this event and has finished off the swimming season in style, having been selected to progress onto the ASA Level 2 Talent Development Programme.

Over the year, many of the younger swimmers compete in the ‘Micro-League’ - this is a league for swimmers aged nine-12-years-old and is split into three divisions with Pioneer competing in the top division.

In 2009, Pioneer 79 finished in sixth position overall, this year, after four rounds, P79 are lying in third place, qualifying for the Grand Final in Blackpool tomorrow.

It should be a nail-biting final, with Blackpool currently in second position, only three points ahead of P79, and Leyland lying fourth only three points behind the local club.

  • Pioneer 79 Swimming Club is a club consisting of swimmers of all abilities, from beginners through to masters. Anyone interested contact Susan on 01254 390793.
  • PIONEER’S Sportsman’s Dinner will be held on Friday 1 October, 7pm for 7.30pm start at Mytton Fold Hotel, Langho, with Paul Merson as Guest Speaker. For tickets and further information, telephone either 07747843456 or 07887748554.