Rykneld Masters Gala

This years gala saw again, an increased number of entries to what we hope all the competitors from clubs far and wide fully enjoyed. As with any organised event it is necessary for a great deal of hard work to be done by a willing band of volunteers and it is the sign of a good club when there are so many to thank for their services after the eventIndividual thanks must go to Carol Green, Christine Moorcroft and Lorraine Goucher for this years organisation to Dave Fletcher and Rob Sewell for the Computer setup and timing on the day, for our D.J. Simon Brown and also to Dr David Hunt ' he who persuades' with his full list of Officials and helpers who gave their time willingly to make the gala the success it was. I would especially like to thank our young swimmers that came along all working hard, helping in various ways throughout the day..

Our swimmers have safely returned from this years Swim Camp . However this years swim camp was the final coaching session with Rykneld for Joe Lack who will be starting his new coaching postion with Norwich Penguins on his return. I know that the whole of club would like to say a huge 'thankyou' to Joe for everything that he has done for the club over the past years and a big thankyou also goes out to Joe's family for the 'Surprise' Disco and buffet which gave the club a final chance to say goodbye to Joe

Derbyshire Championships 2003

This years results from the Derbyshire Championships are the best ever at the swimming club, the medal tally for our swimmers came to 99 with a total of 172 placings in the top 6, a justified reward for all the hard work from swimmers coaches and parents at our club. Highlights from the championships included our 12 yr boys Dan Cocking, Joe Cooper and Dominic Hartshorne finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in the 1500m freestyle, all three gaining National Qualifying times. Michelle Sanders competing in the 400m IM and Erica Brown in the 800m freestyle both

Diddy League The 2003 Diddy league 1st round was held at Sutton Leisure Centre, Sunday 6th of April. This is always one of the first competetive galas that the 9 years will have competed in. We also had a number of our more experienced swimmers unable to attend, but this gave the opportunity to other swimmers to show what a great set of young swimmers we have coming through. That is exactly what they did ! right from the start each swimmer swam their hearts out for the team, with every point vital. Team Captains for this year Jack Bowley and Danielle Walton saw their team mates victorious with a fantastic team effort. Fianal Score- Rykneld 203, Bingham 202, Chesterfield 140, Matlock 101, Radford B 91.

Norwich Designated Meet A number of our swimmers set off this Easter weekend to visit their 'old' (as in previous) coach, Joe Lack whilst they competed in the Norwich Penguin's Long Course Designated Meet. All swimmers produced great swims with Michelle Sanders gaining national times in the 400m & 800m Freestyle which saw Michelle take 1st place in the 800m and 4th in the 400m. Ben Cooper came 2nd in the 100m Fly in a time of 1.05.84 a long course pb. Joe Cooper was 7th in the1500m which again was a national time and Joe just missed out of a national time in the 400m IM. Dominic Hartshorne was a finalist in the 50m freestyle and gained a long course pb in the 200m I.M.

It is always great to add items from club members and my thanks go to Richard Elliott for his following reflections of our clubs history.

30 years of Rykneld
If you didn't know Rykneld Swimming Club turned 30 years old in the summer of last year, over the years producing top quality swimmers. With many coaches and teachers helping us along the way to reach our full potential. Mandy and David Hunt, Glyn Roberts, Barry Moss, Dave Booth, Joe Wood, Beryl Marriott, Lillian Johnson, Les Fountain, Reg Clarke, Linden 'Dusty' Rhodes. Les Booker (Grandad), Steve Preston, Paula Milson, Alan Bacon, Mick Tuck, Eric Cummins, Godfrey Bettis, Francis Dalrymple-Smith, Mick Merritt, Dougie, Sarah and Carole Hunt, Stephanie Mather, Alan Holmes, Jamie Bend, Joe Lack, Alan and Alison Marsh, Christian Green, Lee and Nikki Hartshorne, Chris and Thomas Moorcroft, Brian Wibberley, Rob Sewell, Heather Cooper, Caroline Cocking and I'm sure many more which I can't recall.
We've had some great combinations of team managers along the way from when I joined all those years ago anyway, I couldn't tell you about before then. We've had:-
Dennis Milson and Sandra Fountain, John and June Pearson, John Pearson and Pearl Taylor, Pearl Taylor and Charlie Elliott, Charlie Elliott and Anji Fletcher, Anji Fletcher and Mick Cooke and present team managers Mick and Jackie Cooke.

Since I've been at Rykneld there has been so many people helping the swimmers on their way both by helping on poolside, and behind the scenes on the committee. And I would like to thank everyone who has put their efforts in to this swimming club over the past 30(nearly 31) years. Without you all, this club wouldn't be here today. THANKS!

USA Swimming turns 25
This year, 2003, it is the 25th anniversary of USA Swimming, the governing body of swimming in the United States. See what the best in the world are like! If you're interested in swimming times for all events, training schedules, the history of USA Swimming, or to talk in their forums, visit their website, www.usswim.org Other interesting websites:-

www.swimming.org.au - Austrailian swimming association
www.swiminfo.com - The worlds leading independent resource for swimming
www.usswim.org - USA Swimming
www.usms.org - United States Masters Swimming
www.ishof.org - International swimming hall of fame
www.swimming.ca - Canadian swimming
www.brittishswimming.org - The Amateur Swimming Association
www.fina.org - The world governing body of swimming

Loughbrough Training Having been individually selected after their excellent performances in this years Derbyshire Championships, 6 of our swimmers were invited for a day of specialist training at the Loughbrough pool, with other swimmers from the Midland District. Janice Sewell, Dan Cocking, Dominic Hartshorne, Joe Cooper, Jack Bowley and Christian Johnson attended the in-depth training course which our roving reporter on location, Jack Bowley said was "a brilliant day of swimming full of lots of technical information and useful tips on technique."

Diddy League Round 2 Our team for the round 2 of the Diddy league competed excellently to finish in 2nd place at the Sutton leisure centre pool. Another great team effort as we pushed the eventual winners Ripley all the way to the final heat, everyone of our swimmers was a credit to Rykneld Swimming Club. Coach Alan Marsh said it had been a good opportunity to give gala competition experience to some new faces in the team. The result leaves Rykneld placed high in the league and we are already looking forward to Round 3 of the Diddy league in June.

Speedo League Round 1 It was fantastic to see our swimmers in the 1st round of this years Speedo league, there is something special when you are chosen to swim for your club and every one of our swimmers should be congratulated for the way they swam as a team. This year we have a young squad of swimmers many of whom were asked to swim in a higher age group and all competed well. A special mention to two of our senior swimmers, Ben and Laura who have both had absences throughout the season but both produced great swims . RESULT   Reddich 233 Luton 222 Brieley Hill 182 Mansfield 145 Rykneld 138 Camp Hill 107 With so many of our swimmers breaking pb's that they had set, just the week before at our B & C grade gala we can look forward to the next round of Speedo on November 9th. Although the gala was held at the Ilkestone pool Rykneld was asked to host the first round and thanks go to all our members that helped out on the day and indeed to all the friends and family that came to cheer our swimmers on. Farewell to Ben and Dave   Rykneld says farewell but not goodbye to two of our senior boys who will be moving to study at University. Ben Passey Heaton and David Northedge have trained at Rykneld since they were both knee high to a grasshopper and it will seem strange not seeing them pounding those lengths. The club wishes both lads every success in their studies. National Championships We had three Rykneld Swimmers competing in the National Championships Dominic Hartshorne, Joe Cooper and Dan Cocking. The three team mates who competed against each other in the 1500m did brilliantly with all three producing great swims on the day it is a great achievement for the three lads but fully justified as it demonstrates their dedication and hard work in training. Joe and Dan then produced excellent swims in the 200m freestyle with both swimmers getting pb's. Dan who qualified for a total of 5 events at the championships finished with Pb's in all his events. A huge congratulations to all three lads who really did themselves their parents and Rykneld proud. My thanks also to all the Coaching staff at Rykneld with a special thanks to to Lee Hartshorne and Mick Merrick for their help in providing extra training for the lads leading up to the Nationals. Lads & Dads The coaches made sure the swimmers had a tough set in their training session the night the lads were challenged to a 'friendly' game of football. Tac- tics obviously paid off as the Dads came away victorious 7-5. Great fun was had by all, the event was also successful in raising £10 towards Club funds......Thanks to all. Open Water - Bosworth   The weather kept fine as parents cheered from the grassed banks, our team of open water swimmers competing in this years Midland Open Water Champs at Bosworth. All our swimmers did extremely well Lucy Roberts 11th in 1500m, Michelle Saunders 1st in 1500m, Joe Cooper 2nd in 1500m, Liz Moorcroft 3rd in 3000m, Erica Brown 1st in Junior 5k with an overall 2nd in the Womens Listings. They were all great and looked an impressive team in their Rykneld club tracksuits. Congratulations to you all, you did yourselves and the club proud. Our Swimmers train regularly as a team at Matlock Bath Hotel open-air swimming pool and our thanks go to Carol, Sarah and Coach Chris Moorcroft who have done a fantastic job with this great team of swimmers! Rykneld On Tour This weekend our club set off for our annual day out to Bridlington followed by a competitive gala organised by Bridlington Swimming Club. Two coach loads of Club members and their families set off to have those famous fish chips and mushy peas on the sea front. The weather kept fine as swimmers took to the speed boat rides, dodgems, amusement arcades, sun bathing on the beach before getting down to the swimming gala in the evening. This year saw four team battling it out in a very exciting gala, with our swimmers pushing the eventual winners Adwick all the way to the end. Final Result   Adwick 157 Rykneld 142 Bridlington 109 Rossington 79 Leeds B Grade We had a good group of swimmers recently attending the Leeds open B Grade Gala. Liz Moorcroft, Louise White, Lyndsey Wooldrige, James Watkinson and brothers Ben and Joe Cooper. Our swimmers produced some great swims smashing Pb's and collecting medals along the way. It was great for all to see Ben Cooper swimming well again taking two silver medals and collecting speeding tickets as he returns to competitive swimming after missing training due to illness. James Watkinson, who is swimming brilliantly recently, gained 9 pb's during the weekend swim and came an overall 4th in his age group. Joe Cooper was as pleased as punch as he collected 4 speeding tickets especially as two of the tickets came in his Breaststroke events, which demonstrates how Joe has been improving in all 4 strokes. Liz Moorcroft for the girls continues to impress and collected a bronze medal and and bettered her pb's during the gala. Great swimming from all of the team well done! The celebrations went on throughout the night as the Dads got together to discuss tac tics and toast the bride and groom. Rykneld's Friendly Gala Our thanks to both Sutton and Chesterfield Swimming Clubs who competed in our friendly gala at the weekend. The gala was arranged by our coaching team and helped give valuable gala experience following on from the time trials, held last month. Chesterfield were the eventual winners but the gala produced a close result between the three teams. In an exciting and enjoyable gala is was great to see swimmers from the three teams cheering on their team mates right to the last race. The gala obviously brought out the competitive spirit with so many of our team producing Pb's and many 'smashing' their times set in the time trials. Our grateful thanks also goes to all those that helped on the day. Angela swims for Great Britain Congratulations to Angela Wibberly who has recently represented Great Britain in the 2003 Special Olympics World Games, held in Ireland. Angela, who regularly trains at Rykneld Swimming Club produced four great swims winning two Bronze medals plus had two finalist placing in 4th and 7th place. Guest of honour at this years games was Nelson Mandela who was on the stage as Angela collected her medals. Open Water Liz Moorcroft and Erica Brown came away with excellent results from their swim at London Docks, Liz competed in the 3000m finishing in 5th place in the British Championships with Erica in the 5000m finishing in 6th place in the British Championships. Erica's swim also gave her an overall 20th place in the international LENS Cup. The two girls have been training regularly in the outdoor pool at Matlock Bath Hotel, with the extra training paying dividends. Erica followed on from her swim in London to swim in the Western Counties Competition at Wymouth in a 6.5km Sea swim where Erica again produced another excellent swim, taking 1st place. Erica is keeping busy and will shortly have a full weekend of competition competing in a 4.5km lake swim and a 3km sea swim at Scarbrough Midlands Age Groups Coventry We have four swimmers, Joe Cooper, Domonic Hartshorne, Dan Cocking and Christian 'CJ' Johnson who are representing Rykneld at the Midlands Age Groups in Coventry during June. The boys will be kept busy after qualifying for a number of events, our best wishes go with you for a very successful competition Dronfield Dolphins Challenge Gala Our thanks to Dronfield Dolphins for their invite to Saturdays Challenge Gala, my thanks also to coaches Alan and Christian for their determination to find a team for the gala. With a number of our swimmers either at the age groups in Coventry or away on holiday at times it was touch and go. My thanks also to Debbie and Graham, Margret and Richard who were our officials for the night. My biggest thanks though must go to all our swimmers who were totally brilliant throughout the gala. With the team taking 4th place at the end of the night, Erica Brown and Jack Bowley received the trophy for the team after a very enjoyable gala Diddy League Final 2003   The final of the Derbyshire and Notts Junior Swimming League 2003 was held at our home pool, Sharley Park. Our youngsters throughout this years competition had been producing great swims and should all feel proud for playing their part in our team reaching the final. Again our swimmers competed with a great team spirit cheering each and everyone of their team mates on every stroke from the very first to the very last race. The final result was always always going to be close and congratulations to this years champions who are Falcons. Ripley finished in 2nd place with Rykneld finishing just 4 points behind in 3rd place. Well done to all our Diddy league swimmers and big thankyou to all our club members that helped out on the day to make the gala such a success. Result -Falcons 207 Ripley 170 Rykneld 166 Treonte 132 Sutton 115 Chesterfield (B) 92 ' Didn't they do good today!! stars the lot of them ' Stoke-on-Trent Open Meet   On the 31st of May three of our swimmers set their alarm clocks early, to make the 08.30am start at the City of Stoke-on-Trent Open Meet. Louise White, Ashley Booth and James Watkinson all made the gala on time, with all three producing excellent swims throughout the day. Congratulations go to Louise, Ashley and James who all came away with a great set of personal results. Ashley Booth 3rd 50m Freestyle , 2nd 200m Breaststroke James Watkinson 5th 200m IM14yrs(pb), 4th Open 400m IM, 2nd 14yrs 100m Fly   5th 14yrs 100m IM Louise White 50m Free (pb) 100m Fly (pb) 200m Fly (pb) C.O.S.S.S Open Meet, May 24th Dan Cocking, Domonic Hartshorne and Janice Sewell all competed in the City of Sheffield Open Meet at the Ponds Forge Centre. In this long course event all three swimmers competed well, with a special mention going to Dan who finished the day with three new long course national times to his name. Well Done ASA Midland Team Championships   We had two teams representing Rykneld in this years Midland Team Championships at the Coventry Sports Centre. Our 10/12yr boys team raced to the finals in both the freestyle and medley relays finishing in 5th nad 6th place respectively. For the girls we had a 13/14 team who also swam well in both the freestyle and medley relays. Congratulations to all of our team swimmers. NEWS FLASH!!!!!! What's that swimming in the pool???? Rumors spreading across Derbyshire about a sighting of the Loch Ness monster are not widely exaggerated! Through the early morning mists of Matlock Bath strange ripples and waves cross the surface of a sub tropical lagoon. Three lone swimmers defying the elements and the lure of the warm quilt trained relentlessly suddenly……. a strange creature appeared to test the water. Far from being put off the swimmers embarked on another 1000m swim, this time with flippers no doubt trying to escape the rest of the set. New life guard this week as the early morning call was put out to Wes Bunting who gave Laura a welcome lay in. It didn't take long for Wes to literally fall into the routine. Spectators watch as the swimmers work their way through a grueling program of kick, pull, flipper work and the sprints learning about pace and effort in difficult conditions ( parents taking it in turn to get into trouble with their offspring!!).Water temperature 20 degrees c, air temperature 15 degrees c., trying to rain. The monster of fatigue raising its head to sap tired muscles and put doubt in the minds of swimmers, who should be proud of their ability to swim 6.4k in 1 and ¾ hours in an open air pool. Well Done everyone, Chris. Young swimmers get gala experience There was a buzz around the pool during Friday night training as the youngsters at Rykneld Swimming Club were given a comprehensive swimming gala experience. Alan Marsh who has recently taken charge of our Diddy league team organised the event which provided valuable training of race starts and competitive swimming. Alan called on the help from a number of members of our club who are qualified Referees, Starters, Swimming Judges and Timekeepers. I would like to thank everyone that helped on the night, it was especially good to see the number of our senior swimmers who arrived early for training to help. A special thanks goes to Nicky Hartshorne who told me as we started that she had been asked to step in at the last moment,' I didn't think you meant it literally Nicky'. We hope to make the race night a regular event and if there are any parents who would like to be involved, especially with time keeping please let the coaches know. For any parents interested David Hunt is currently running a Time keepers course leading to ASA registration, please contact David if you wish to support your children in this way. Open Water Fame I am pleased to announce that our two female coaches for the open water, Sarah and Carol have been given pride of place in the 'International Open Water Hall of Fame'. This is a great and fully deserved honour for the two sisters, both of whom swam competitively for Rykneld. It demonstrates how fortunate we are as a club to be able to benefit from their wealth of experience and enthusiasm This is the weather forecast for week 3 of the open water swimming .A Strong north westerly is battering the Matlock New Bath Hotel. Local Sources (Laura Chambers sent home early) report hazardous conditions. Swimmers likely to receive severe chilling, caused by unprotected shoulders (unless fully insulated) Intense phone action - worried coaches- but determined swimmers; end result. Well done to all our determined swimmers who braved the cold conditions and trained hard. 10 x 400m followed by sprints in around 1 hour 15 minutes. Extra training forecasted for next week, Tuesday morning 8-10am. Rumors of whales being seen are greatly exaggerated. Coach Strike imminent due to lack of refreshment!!!!! This is the end of the Swimming Forecast. Open Water Diary - Week 2 An enthusiastic group swapped jolly banter as they waited to swim at the second session of open water training. Gradually news spread that this week the water appeared to be colder than before. It wasn't long before the eight brave souls, who took up the challenge, were SURE that it was colder than last week!!! Bodies began to shake as a succession of swimmers left the water. Blue is perhaps a good word to describe these unfortunate individuals who still managed to swim at least 1500 metres, the distance that many would hope to swim later this summer. Swimmers of note should include: Lucy Roberts who stuck it out t o complete at least 3 km and who had to be told only to do one more length before leaving for the apparent comfort of the wooden hut. Masters swimmer Kevin Sanders kept Erica Brown company as they chipped away at the program (not the ice) so lovingly prepared by Sarah and Carol. Parents sat huddled on the sun deck as Del (Rykneld's triathlete) dressed in his wet suit cruised up and down the pool. One way or another there is no doubt that some type of insulation appears to be advantageous. Poor Erica's finger nails went blue during the 400m kick and only started to return to normal after several cups of tea (on route).Fancy a go? All new "inmates" welcome. See me at Sharley Park for details. Check out next weeks exciting episode of "I'm going out for a swim, I might be some time" Captain Oats you are not alone. Athletes See you next week, Chris. Jury Service For Dr David Hunt   Dr David Hunt has been selected to be included on the GB panel of members eligible to act as Chairman of the Jury of Appeal at British Swimming events. Congratulations go to David from all at Rykneld for this appointment.