Phoenix Sprint to County Success

Essex Auto Group congratulates Phoenix Swimming Club on having started 2010 with high accolades at the opening weekend of the 2010 Essex County Swimming Championships. Held over 4 weekends from January to March with events ranging from the 50m sprints to the endurance based 800m and 1500m Freestyle this is the premier competition for swimmers in the County, all having to achieve very tough qualification times.

Phoenix have a squad of 25 swimmers able to participate in the Championships event this year a record number of qualifiers for the Club in what has been the toughest qualification year yet. All the swimmers performed to high standards and the Club came away with a superb medal haul, a double event County Champion and a further event County Champion as well as several silver medals and top 6 placings.

Top of the tree in the 50m sprint weekend was last year’s star performer and England Talent Development swimmer Kathryn Pearse. She walked away with the County Champion titles and Gold medals in the 13yrs Backstroke, finishing a frustrating 3 tenths of a second outside the Championship record. Close behind Pearse in the medal count was 12 year old Harvey Brown who took the County Champion title and Gold in the Boys 12 years Backstroke. He was just beaten into the silver medal place in the Freestyle. Harvey also finished 6th in the Butterfly.

9 year old, Brooke Frost competing at this level for the first time walked away with the silver in the 9yrs Backstroke and Bronze in the Freestyle events. Experienced 16 year old Michael Grace showed hard training, commitment and desire can bring reward by taking Silver in the Boys 16yrs Freestyle. Another swimmer having waited in the wings for success was 11 year old Patrick Rourke who swam personal bests to take the Silver in his favoured Backstroke and finishing the Butterfly event in 7th place.

Maisie West another experienced County swimmer continued her good form with a finals spot in the 13yrs Backstroke finishing in 4th spot. James Barker surprised himself with a smashing heat time to gain a place in the final of the 12yrs Breaststroke and taking home a county pennant finishing 6th in his first County Championships.

The Relay squads performed superbly producing team best times and beating some of the Counties more established Clubs.

Head Coach, Jon Pearse, enthused about the results saying ‘this is probably the best start to a Championship the Club has ever had. These swimmers have trained for a whole year for this, starting at 5.30am and then going off to school but it has paid dividends with fantastic results. My coaching team and I are very proud of them and we look forward to seeing their performances at the longer distance events over the remaining 3 weekends of competition.’

Phoenix Swimming Club, sponsored by essex autogroup, caters for swimmers of all ages and abilities, meeting and training at various pools in the district. Anyone interested in becoming a member of Phoenix Swimming Club can contact the Clubs Swimming Liaison Officer Tina Diprose on 07941137646.

Essex Auto Group specialise in new and used cars across Essex. With over 1,000 vehicles always in stock , state of the art facilities and full after sales support, at essex autogroup we’re proud of our long established reputation for integrity, first class customer service and competitive pricing.