A group of GBM swimmers and parents braved the snowy conditions to wend our way up to Leeds and back down for this Level 1 Meet just days before Christmas – some experiencing rather fraught journeys. The idea of using the gala as an excuse for forgetting something over Christmas was gratefully seized by a few of us but others braved the weather to check out Leeds finest shops in-between sessions!

Last year’s Meet saw a number of GB Olympic Swimmers also swimming but this year most of them were at the Duel in the Pool in Manchester which left our swimmers with no distractions. A number of PB’s were swum and the following achievements were attained:

Emma Mitchell achieved her National Long Course Qualifying Time in the 100m Freestyle and Natasha Sinha achieved her 200m Butterfly National Long Course Qualifying Time and improved her 100m Butterfly time also.

It was a great weekend, with both highs celebrating National Qualifying Times gained and lows commiserating with the few who just missed out on their National Qualifying Times but all in all a content group headed back to London.

Also Competing for GBM was: Grace de Rome, Ben Duxbury, Nick Duxbury, Leanne Hennessy, Max Kong and Holly Wylie

A number of GBM swimmers made their way down for an early start at Horsham for this 50m and 200m Meet. The swimmers all did very well, swimming PB’s and winning some medals also.

Also Competing for GBM was: Aaran Baggia, Hayley Bennett, Kelly Botero, Chanel Robinson, Sabrina Sinha and Lily Wylie

Our first Long Course Meet of the 2009/2010 season was at Crawley at the K2 centre Despite being somewhat overshadowed by the flamboyant outfits and make up being sported by the dancers also there for a competition on Sunday; the Open Meet was a success with all the swimmers achieving PB’s with a few almost getting their National Qualifying Times at first attempt, and 3 of the girls winning some medals to show for their efforts.

Also Competing for GBM was: Aaran Baggia, Kelly Botero, Ben Duxbury, Nick Duxbury, Joe Erb, Leanne Hennessy, Max Kong, Josh Ling, Neema Nyaulingo, Chanel Robinson, Josh Snow and Joan Tello Alvarez

Leonie Buck (13) went up to Sheffield as part of the London Region Team to compete in this Disability Sport Event National Championship in the S9 and SM9 categories.

Leonie swum in five events (100m Freestyle, 100m IM, 50m Backstroke, 100m Breaststroke and 50m Freestyle) and achieved massive PB’s in all her events which is a testament to her hard work in training.

Many congratulations to her.

A number of GBM swimmers participated in the Biathlon championship: Johanna Mandal, Sophie Parkes, Grace de Rome, Natasha Sinha, Joseph Simmons and Kylion Buck. Johanna, Sophie and Grace’s team won the Year 9 category for their school. Natasha won the individual Year 8 title and both the individual swim and run, helping her school team win the Year 8 category. Joseph received a plaque for coming 6th in the year 12 & 13 Boys after achieving a PB in the swim and run. Kylion came 1st (fastest swim in year 5) and he was 2nd overall in year 5.

These results mean that some of our swimmers have now qualified for the National Finals to be held in March 2010. All the GBM swimmers participated to a high standard with Joseph proudly displaying his GBM hat!

On Halloween a large GBM team went trick or treating in Enfield and came away with a bag of personal bests and medals and winning a mention on the Griffins website about “Greenwich Borough Mariners fielding the best Halloween outfits!”

Everyone swam Personal Bests, the atmosphere was great and GBM left the gala content with its medal hoard! Many thanks to Bob, Helen and Gil for being poolside along with Maggie Dunbar.

Also Competing for GBM was: Eser Arshan, Peter Coker, Amaia Del Rio Foces, Gabriella Drew and Jake Forrest

Natasha Sinha represented Division 9 in the above championships. The competition was very tough with swimmers from all over the country, many of whom who had been at the inter-county championships the week before. Natasha swam really well making the final of the 12/13yr old 100m Butterfly where she came 4th, narrowly missing out on a medal but swimming her long course national Qualifying time.

The following GBM swimmers were chosen to represent their Boroughs in these games and their results are noted below

Also Competing for GBM was: Victor del Rio Foces, Gabriella Drew and Ben Sulch

Youth Games

Also Competing for GBM was: Ewan Cameron, Nick Duxbury, Joe Simmons and Josh Snow

For the third year in a row, GBM trekked down to Maidstone to take part in this Gala which consists solely of relays in each stroke (the backstroke relays always proving interesting!)  for swimmers from the ages of 11 and under up to the Masters. The Masters team consisted of 2 women and 2 men with a special proviso – the combined total of their ages had to be at least 150 years!

GBM set out to repeat their success of the previous two years and win the gala and trophy again and with fantastic swims from all the team – managed to do just that with a comfortable margin.

A great night was had by all and many congratulations to all the swimmers and our Masters and many thanks to Gil and the parents who helped out.

The GBM Team: Kevin Arundell, Aaran Baggia, Joshua Brewster, Luke Brester, Rachel Cope, Charli Crane Howard, Grace de Rome, Richard de Rome, Amaia del Rio Foces, Victor del Rio Foces, Victor del Rio Vilas, Nick Duxbury, Tony Evans, Amaia Foces Zaratiegui, Michael Gregory, Edgars Haruns, Leanne Hennessy, Hannah Jones, Max Kong, Joshua Ling, Emma Mitchell, Neema Nyaulingo, Pujaa Patel, Casey Porritt, Chanel Robinson, Helen Robinson, Natasha Sinha, Sabrina Sinha, Dan Wood, Holly Wylie and Lily Wylie

On Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th May, a small band of intrepid GBM swimmers trekked up to Sheffield to take part in the Rotherham Open gala. This was held at the Ponds Forge National 50m swimming pool.

The weekend produced some phenomenal swimming from our team, with Natasha Sinha and Neema Nyaulingo both gaining their first National qualifying times in 100m Butterfly and 200m Backstroke respectively. The atmosphere was electric which spurred the swimmers on to numerous PBs. Some of the times were tantalising close to even more NQT!

The team had a fantastic evening on the Saturday, celebrating Holly Wylie becoming a teenager and all in all had a great time in Sheffield! GBM certainly went "up North" as minnows but came back as sharks!

Also Competing for GBM was: Aaran Baggia, Joshua Brewster, Luke Brewster, Fearn Cook, Grade de Rome, Nick Duxbury, Leanne Hennessy, Max Kong, Josh Ling, Joan Tello Alvarez and Holly Wylie

Emma Mitchell (12) was the sole GBM swimmers at this Long Course Meet and performed well gaining PBs in all her events and also gaining the following places.

On this busy weekend for Opens, a small group of swimmers and parents went down to Gillingham for this Meet. For some swimmers this was their first experience of an Open Meet and they all swam very well with a number of PBs achieved.

Congratulations to Amaia del Rio Foces (10) who came 2nd on her first 200m Breaststroke swim.

Also Competing for GBM was: Eser Arshan, Peter Coker, Riya Das, Johanna Mandal, Kara Salih, Sabrina Sinha and Victor del Rio Foces

Four very eager swimmers attended the Hatfield “UK Challenge” Gala – keen to improve their times or even to achieve a national time. As usual there were some excellent swims with many PBs and medals to boot. A popular meet with teams from far and wide including a large presence from the well known Plymouth Leander Swim Club.

The running commentary from the announcer kept us all entertained as he raved about the swaying trees that could be seen outside (you had to be there to understand!!) He also noted GBM’s presence which was appreciated.

The gala was held at the Hertfordshire Sports Village, an excellent facility with a friendly atmosphere – as well a fairly easy destination to reach for those who are fast becoming well travelled in terms of gala attendance far and wide. Those who attended thought it was a place they would be happy to return to for a future meet.

Also Competing for GBM was: Neema Nyaulingo

After travelling up on Tuesday 12th May to Sheffield for an International Classification, Leonie Buck went on to compete in four events over three days.

Watching some of Beijing’s Paralympic medallists and elite swimmers from around the world was an incredible experience. The times and records broken were phenomenal.

Leonie competed in 100m Breaststroke (making it into the B finals); 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle and 200m IM gaining Long Course PB’s in all the events.

A small but very lively team of GBM swimmers and supporters travelled up to Coventry to swim in the City of Coventry Swimming Club Long Course May Open Meet. Although the facility was not as modern as Crawley, the events were live on line so that our home supporters could keep track of what was happening.  All swimmers tried to better their Crawley long course PB’s and there were some very exciting swims which resulted in lots of trophy wins. There were also one or two more swimmers almost reaching national times!!!

As luck would have it the hotel where the group stayed was next to what must be the largest Primark Store in the UK which resulted in the girls (mainly!) being able to indulge in some retail therapy – as if this was needed considering the overall successes at the gala. Coventry definitely had “something – for – everyone” and the group are looking forward to returning there again in the future.

Congratulations to all the swimmers

Also Competing for GBM was: Aaran Baggia

A number of GBM swimmers made the trip to Crawley to swim in this Long Course Open. The Meet and facility were excellent and virtually all the swims produced long course PB’s.

Michael Gregory swam a Senior Kent Long Course 50m Backstroke time; and also maintained his qualification for the National Swimming Championships in 50m Backstroke, 100m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke.

Leanne Hennessy also swam and maintained her qualification for the National Swimming Championships by gaining Long Course qualification times in 100m Backstroke and 200m Backstroke.

Also Competing for GBM was: Grace de Rome, Ben Duxbury, Nick Duxbury, Max Kong, Neema Nyaulingo and Natasha Sinha

Seven swimmers from GBM took part in this open gala. There were a number of personal bests and theses swimmers also achieved six top 6 finishes.

Also Competing for GBM was: Amaia del Rio Foces, Georgette Valentine Hosain, Johanna Mandal and Emma Presley

Emma Presley swam in her school’s freestyle and mixed stroke relay teams at the small schools division at these Championships and the teams won 5th and 6th Place respectively.

Also swimming was Chanel Robinson who won 1st Place in the North Kent Division in 50m Breaststroke and gained a place in the overall Kent final where she came 6th.

Many congratulations to both.

Emma Presley was the sole GBM swimmer and swam well gaining two PB’s and being just a fraction of a second away from participating in two finals - Girls 11yrs Breaststroke and Girls 11yrs Freestyle.

Many congratulations Emma!

The Kent Schools Swimming Championships were held on Saturday 23rd and 31st January 2009 at Black Lion.

Michael Gregory won the Senior Boys 100m Backstroke in a personal best time and an event best performance time.  Michael's relay team also won the Senior Boys 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay and the 4 x 50m Medley Relay in another event best performance time. Michael has been selected to represent Kent Schools in a match against Surrey Schools in March.

Joshua Ling won bronze in the Junior Boys 100m Backstroke and has been selected to represent Kent Schools in a match against Surrey Schools in March.

Also representing their schools was: Hannah Jones, Fiona Hennessy, Michael Kenny, Dylan Pratt McCullagh, Samuel Shrimpton and Alicia Woodward

This Meet lived up to its name – the weather conditions were icy and cold all weekend. Thankfully as always the pool was warm and toasty and for once, very much appreciated by everyone.

Some GBM swimmers made it a long weekend at this Meet, going down to Canterbury on Friday and swimming in the long distance 800m and 1500m races as well as the more standard length races on Saturday and Sunday.

There were some exceptional swims over the weekend and a high proportion of swims resulted in PBs. The results are shown below – congratulations to everyone and thanks again to Gil Levy for his encouragement on poolside.

Also Competing for GBM was: Aaran Baggia, Grace de Rome, Richard de Rome, Ben Duxbury, Nick Duxbury, Hannah Jones and Josh Ling