On July 23rd the most prestigious gala of the swimming season was held in the National Aquatic Centre, Dublin – the Irish Summer National Championships 2022
Although named a national meet, swimmers from around the globe attend, so it is a very exciting meet. Just to gain the qualifying time to be able to enter this gala is an amazing feat.
Fermoy Swimming Club had 2 such talented swimmers – Emma Crowley and Amy Hawe who qualified. Unfortunately, Amy had to scratch due to an injury – a tough break after a year of hard training – but onwards and upwards to next season. So that left one Fermoy swimmer, Emma Crowley to represent Fermoy.
Emma arrived nice and early to the pool for her warm-up, preparing herself physically and mentally for the challenge ahead. It was time for Emma to swim in her 100m backstroke in the 13-year-old category. Emma gave everything in her race and swam her socks off to gain a 1.20 pb, what a great performance. Emma swam so well, showing good technique and great courage. It is mighty hard at the top!
2022 IRISH DIVISION 2
Fermoy Swimming Club are proud to have had 5 swimmers representing us at Division 2 in UL this year. It is a huge achievement for them and the culmination of their hard work and training since the season began, all the way back in September.
Unfortunately, Margaret Verling had to scratch due to an injury, heart-breaking for Margaret after training hard all season. Grace Duggan who qualified for 3 events at the Division 2s was first up on Day 1 to swim the 100m breaststroke and what a great swim for Grace, achieving a PB. Grace was back again the next morning to swim the 50m freestyle. Accompanying Grace were Amy Hawe and Eabha Burke, both swimming the 100m butterfly. Grace swam the 50m freestyle in just 31 seconds giving Grace another PB.
Next up we had Amy Hawe who swam a very strong race, leading from the start and fought right to the end, coming in on first place to make it comfortably through to the finals with a great PB. Next up to swim the 100m butterfly was Eabha Burke who swam a tough race but stayed strong, coming 6th and securing her place in the finals.
In the finals Amy swam very well in the 100m butterfly, holding onto her place and securing her gold medal. Eabha jumped to 3rd place in her 100m butterfly, swimming just under 3 seconds faster and securing a bronze medal a new personal best time.
Returning on our final day of competition for the Fermoy swimmers we had Zach Daniels-Howard, Grace Duggan and Amy Hawe. Up first was Amy swimming the 100m freestyle and she swam a very fast race to make the finals in second place. Grace was now up to swim her favourite event of the competition – the 100m backstroke – pacing her race very well Grace may have missed out on the finals but she did have a new personal best time.
Last but not least to swim was Zach, waiting all week to swim it was now his chance, Zach swam the 100m backstroke achieving a massive PB nearly 5 seconds, making the finals in 3rd place.
In preparation for their finals, they took on some food and rest and then back to the pool for the finals. Improving her time yet again in a final, Amy held on to 2nd place and won a silver medal for her 100m free, just missing out on the gold by .01 of a millisecond. Next up was Zach who swam fantastic PB in his 100m backstroke final and won a gold medal for his efforts.
Well done to all the swimmers who swam at the Division 2s and the Irish Nationals. This year Fermoy Swimming Club brought home 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze. Well done Grace, Amy, Eabha, Zach and Emma – you were all fantastic. (JB).
Thanks
Huge thanks must go to coaches Joann and Jackie who attended the championships and guided the swimmers during the competition, sometimes the right words from your coach are just what you need after a race! Their support is invaluable.
Thanks also to Fermoy Leisure Centre for accommodating the extra training needs of our swimmers in the run up to their national campaigns – no pool no swimming – your support is much appreciated. Our swimmers are now enjoying their well-earned summer break and we will be back to training in September.
Waiting list for membership
At that stage we will be looking at waiting lists and space in squads, so please bear with us over the summer and we will be in touch again at the beginning of the new season when we know what vacancies we have. At that stage the children at the top of the list for whom a suitable spot is available, will be contacted. We have a long waiting list, and because of Covid restrictions over the last two years there has been very little movement on it. But we do our best to accommodate as many as we can based on the resources that we have. If you would like to add your child’s name to our waiting list the application form can be found on our club website.
