Longford Swimming Club

Tuam Open

Once again, the dedication and commitment of our members and their parents was visible in the strong representation that made the trip to Tuam for this gala last weekend. The event was a great success for our swimmers; winning several medals in an extremely competitive event and recording personal best times. It is evident from the continued improvements of our swimmers that all of the hard work that is being done is paying off for them!

Sinead McWeeney turned in a great performance to win silver in the 100m backstroke. Laura Kenny succeeded in bringing home a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly, recording a PB in the process. Rachel Ward swam very well to qualify for the finals of both the 100m backstroke and breaststroke.

Mark O’Boyle also achieved a PB in winning silver in the boys u11 100m butterfly, as did Ciaran O’Hanlon when he won bronze in the same event for age 12-13. Kirill Magay swam very well and was pipped for medals in both the 100m freestyle and backstroke finals. Ciaran Madden had an excellent swim in qualifying for the final of the 100m breaststroke.

Harry Stewart, Shane O’Hanlon, Patrick Flanagan & Aaron O’Connor all recorded personal best times at this event as did Dearbhaile Madden, Kate Sweeney, Ailbhe Farrell and Aideen Skelly.

Roscommon Graded Gala

We had more excellent performances from our swimmers in this event that took place last Saturday in Roscommon. This gala gave some of our swimmers the opportunity to achieve measure their improvements against their contemporaries in the Roscommon, Carrick On Shannon and Athlone clubs.

The event was particularly memorable for Ronan Kenny, Kate Sweeney, Tadhg McNevin and Seadhna Ryan who achieved coveted “A” times in their races. This is a big milestone for our young swimmers, as it is very difficult to achieve and represents a step up in their standards.

The meet was also a great success for club members in terms of medals won. Tom Manning was a winner of a B gold in the breaststroke, with Alan Mills winning silver and Daire O’Muire winning bronze in the same event, a clean sweep for the Longford boys! Daire O’Muiri was the winner of a B gold in the IM for ages 12-13 while Jimmie Byrne won gold in both the IM and freestyle for ages 14 & over. Tadhg McNevin won a B silver in the breaststroke, as did Ronan Kenny in the IM and Kate Sweeney in the freestyle.

In the C category, Kate Sweeney won a gold in the u-11 breaststroke, while Grace Connellan won a silver. Cian Belton won a gold in the U-11 IM and a bronze in the breaststroke while Aidan O’Ceallaigh was the winner of silver in the IM. Alan Mills won the gold medal in the age 12-13 IM and also in the freestyle, while Duileach Ryan won silver in the U-11 freestyle.

In addition to the medal winners, Rachel Raleigh achieved a brilliant personal best time in the freestyle. There were also some excellent B times recorded by Duileach Ryan and Grace Connellan.

The gala ended with the traditional relay races and the excitement generated in these races was something to behold. The team made up of Alan Mills, Ronan Kenny, Daire O’Muiri and Jimmie Byrne won gold in their event. In addition to this, there was further success for the club with the team of Duileach Ryan, Cian Belton, Tadhg McNevin and Seadhna Ryan winning silver in the u11 boys race.