News Bangor Age Group Gala Report 15/12/2009 Success for City of Belfast Swimmers The first of two age group galas hosted by Bangor Swimming Club took place on Sunday 29th November. The Club had 11 swimmers entered despite some late withdrawals and everyone peformed fantastically well. Beatrice Campbell and Jessica McCann were first up for CoB in the 100m freestyle. For both it was their first competition and they both swam superbly well in the 9&Under event. The biggest pb in the freestyle was achieved by Caitriona O’Loan with a 6 second improvement - that really shows how her training is paying off. Backstroke quickly followed with all 11 swimmers taking part. Luke Campbell, the only boy representing the Club at this gala, performed a very confident 100m backstroke. It was great to see our new members stepping up to the plate and performing so well. Our youngest swimmers were in top form with Katie O’Reilly and Sofie Hunter showing serious improvement with 22 and 24 second pb’s respectively. CoB was represented in the 100m freestyle final by Hannah Beattie in the 10&Under event. Hannah was a very close fourth and achieved an Ulster Age Group qualifying time by swimming a 4 second pb. In the backstroke Hannah was joined by Christina McDowell and they came 3rd and 5th respectively. Both girls also achieved Ulster Age Group qualifying times. After the break, came the butterfly events. Katie O’Reilly and Erin Blundell took part in the 50m 9&Under event, both taking 3 seconds off their pb’s. Caitriona O’Loan, Hannah Beattie and Christina McDowell all swam in the 100m 10&Under event, all three gaining new pb’s. The final event of the day was the breaststroke. Eight swimmers swam the 100m event, all achieving pb’s - fantastic considering some swimmers were competing in this event for the first time. It was great to see Ellen O’Neill back in to pool and she finished with three pb’s in three swims. Hannah and Christina were back in the finals, finishing 4th and 5th respectively in the 100m butterfly. Christina McDowell won bronze in the 100m breaststroke and she and Hannah achieved Ulster Age Group qualifying times. Well done to all the swimmers who took part and hopefully more of the Club will be available for the meet at the end of February. I could not have been happier with the way in which CoB swimmers performed and conducted themselves throughout the meet. Keep working hard and the results will come. The final tally was 42 swims, 41 pb’s, 6 finals, and two bronze medals. David Stronge.