Summer League

A very grumpy team manager turned up at the Link Centre, having already made five changes, during the day, to an ever dwindling team list. His humour did not improve when one swimmer failed to turn up, meaning that the under 12 boys would miss out on any points for their relay events. This is such a shame for those that do swim but there was little anyone could do about it. So it was left to a very depleted team to carry the honours on the night and without exception, they all swam magnificently. And boy did it make a difference to see us win the first race of the evening!

It seems such a short time since victory in the final round of the winter league and here we were at the start of another summer league campaign. Having gained promotion to Division 4 last year, Corsham B now face Dolphins C, Melksham and Wroughton, a tough prospect if we are to retain that spot in the league. Unfortunately, Melksham were unable to field a team, so we faced only two teams at Milton Road.

(By Alan Hall, Club Sec). Saturday 12th September was a day of three “firsts”. This was the first time to the writer’s knowledge that the B team had travelled to Durrington. Second “first” was that there was not a single ‘phone call announcing the non attendance of a swimmer and the final “first” was the fact that going into the last round, Corsham B was placed 1st in Division 5 of the Moonraker league.

CORSHAM B GAIN CONTROL (By Alan Hall). Another excellent gala at home saw Corsham B finally “win” a Summer league gala, albeit in a tie with Durrington. An improving Marlborough B took third spot, whilst league leaders Swindon had to be content with 4th on the night. It was a while before Corsham got into their stride and the lead was not realised until after 30 races. From that point onwards, however, the team stepped up a gear and whilst they eventually tied, they did recover all of the ground lost to Swindon in the earlier rounds.

CORSHAM B FIGHT BACK (By Alan Hall). “In a thrilling finish, Corsham’s B team recovered some of the ground lost in Round 1 of this years Wilts ASA Moonraker Summer league, with a hard earned 2nd place, coming in a mere three points behind Swindon, but some way in front of Durrington & Marlborough B. And this result might have been better, had we not had to declare an over age swimmer for the under 12 boys team. The evening started well with a 2nd and first place in the Open IM events, swum by Richard Worthy and Emily Hall respectively.

I didn't get the opportunity to tell most of the swimmers how pleased and proud I was with their efforts last Saturday. This was always going to be a tough year, competing as we are against 3 very strong teams, but to do so with 14+ swimmers unavailable made it a huge ask. I especially want to mention the youngest age group, Edward, Oliver, Charles and Elliot for the boys and Hannah, Robyn, Lucy and Felicity for the girls. We made huge demands of them and I was really impressed with their attitude, commitment and their good humour.