Home County 2nd round Gala and County long distance Championships

Maxwell swimmers have been out in force in recent galas. After a comprehensive victory in the first round of the Home Counties competition, the second round on the 19^th of February could have been expected to prove a more difficult challenge for Aylesbury Vales Performance Swim Club.

A strong team turned out to compete against Aylesbury, Banbury, Witney ‘A’ and Dunstable. Improving on the errors of the first round, all the relay squads managed to complete their races without disqualification and their 11 victories in the relays contributed to a resounding overall victory for the Maxwell Squad.

Out of 50 races, Maxwell swimmers achieved first place in on less than 35, with second place in further 10. Maxwell finished the evening a resounding 38 points ahead of a very strong Witney ‘A’ team.

The final result of the gala was Maxwell 278 points, Witney ‘A’ 240 points, Aylesbury 166 points, Dunstable 166 points and Banbury 124 points.

On the long distance events in the County Championships held at Stantonbury Campus in Milton Keynes, Maxwell swimmers achieved 8 top 6 places in the boys 1500m and girls 800m events.  The boys Senior Age Group event was won by Maxwell’s Rob Andrews in a time of 16 minutes 37.15 seconds, over 38 seconds clear of the second place swimmer. The girls Senior Age Group event was won by Maxwell’s Sarah Turner in a time of  9 minutes, 4.02 seconds, an impressive 27 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.

These successes were built upon at the second weekend of the County Championships, also held at Stantonbury Campus, were the Maxwell squad increased their haul of first places to 8, with a total of 50 top 6 swims.

The main part of the County Championships will be held over the next three weekends, with two of the three galas being held at the Aquavale Pool in Aylesbury. Maxwell swimmers will no doubt be battling for every place, especially in their home pool. With the shorter events to come, Maxwell swimmers will be hoping that their swimming holds up to its impressive recent form as there are a lot of medals to be won!

Maxwell Swim Club