Over the October bank holiday weekend, three swimmers from Fermoy went down the road to Mallow to compete in this Munster gala.
Swim Ireland has changed the grading system and now, swimmers starting to swim in Munster graded galas must swim development galas first, at level 1 and 2. Once they achieve the necessary times they then become a level 3 swimmer, and are eligible to swim at a qualifying meet.
Qualifying times for national competitions such as Irish Short Course or Irish Age Groups must be achieved at a qualifying gala (or its equivalent).
Jodie Baker and Fiona Miao with coach Jackie Power at the recent Munster Grade 3 Qualifying Meet in Mallow.
So, these were our top swimmers competing. Jodie Baker got off to a flying start improving her 200m free short course time by 10.75 secs and winning a silver medal. She continued in this vein taking off 10.74 from her 200 IM time and winning another silver. She then decided gold was her preferred colour and won the 200m breast and 100m free.
Zoe Daniels-Howard also swam in the 200m free taking off a whopping 12.17 seconds off her short course time.
Fiona Miao swam a pb in her 200m backstroke, winning the silver medal. She also knocked off 4.43 seconds in her 200m IM to gain 3rd place and a bronze medal. She also won the bronze in the 100m breast, where she improved her time by an impressive 8.15 seconds. Adding to her collection she also won bronze in the 100m backstroke.
Well done to all the swimmers – quality not quantity. A big thank you to the parents who travelled and coach Jackie Power for supporting the competitors.
LEVEL 2 DEVELOPMENT GALA
Training continues in the Sharks and Torps squads for our next competitive club outing, the Munster level 2 development gala, in Waterford on Sunday, November 19. Warm up is at 9am, with a 10am start time.
MUNSTER SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIP
Well done to our swimmers who travelled to the Gus Healy Pool in Douglas to compete in the Munster SC Championships at the weekend.
It was a very busy weekend, and with the new structure of open finals and the smaller number of 6 finalists, it proved very difficult for our young swimmers to progress to a second swim.
However, all performed extremely well in the circumstances, getting some good pbs along the way.
Also, it was a fantastic boost to the swimmers on the Sunday to be in the presence of Olympian Fiona Doyle, who was on hand to present medals.
