City of Ely’s Amateur Swimming Club, the Barracudas, were in action again at the Newmarket Spring Open over the weekend of 1st/2nd of March. Against strong visiting teams from Colchester, Bottisham and Mildenhall clubs, as well as the hosts Newmarket, the team of 46 Ely swimmers performed superbly with many excellent individual performances as well as coming home 3rd overall in the team rankings behind the much bigger teams from Colchester and Newmarket.
Across the different age categories, the Barracudas brought home a very impressive 88 individual medals, of which 39 were golds, 17 silver and 32 bronze. The team also achieved an incredible 191 personal best times (PBs).
Stand out performer of the weekend was Annabelle Smith in the 14 year old female category, who swam superbly on both days of competition on her way to collecting 11 medals, 9 of which were golds in a clean sweep of the 50M+100M+200M breaststroke, 50M+100M+200M butterfly and 100M+200M+400M individual medley events (as well as silver medals in the 50M+100M freestyle, narrowly beaten in both races by fellow Ely swimmer Olivia D’Souza). Annabelle was awarded the coveted ’top girl’ for the event and is pictured receiving her certificate and prizes from the organisers. Alex Pashley (also 14) had another strong weekend coming out third overall in the male/open rankings including gold medals in the 100M backstroke, 100M freestyle and 200M individual medley.
The club’s younger swimmers (13 and under) were back in action again the following weekend at Round 1 of the ‘Junior Fenland League’ competition at Whittlesey’s Manor Leisure Centre on Saturday 8th March, with Ely coming out as overall victors on the night against clubs from March and Thetford.
Ely’s swimmers next go to events in Luton and Cambridge as part of a very busy spring schedule for the club.
Note: Photos with parental permission.
