There was an early start for the St Christopher’s swim team on Saturday, as we met in a whirlwind of nerves and excitement when we met at St Pancras to catch the 9.02 to Sheffield.
We had qualified to race at the ESSA National Championships in both the medley and freestyle relays against the entire country. We were seeded fourth out of the 22 regional finalists…so close to the podium!
We arrived in Sheffield ready to race and the nerves were greater than ever…
The warm-up began – only 15 minutes to get a feel for the pool and our opponents. The times we had recorded weren’t going to be fast enough, we had to claw back a few seconds.
The time came; we were called for marshalling for the heat of the medley relay.
Poppy on backstroke, me on breaststroke and Mila and Karmei on freestyle. Were we going to be fast enough? It turns out we were because we made it to the FINALS with an amazing team personal best of 3.5 seconds!! However, the finals were a lot harder than anticipated, but we still pushed on through up the places every length, but Mila had the last length and she absolutely pulled it out of the bag finishing in fourth.
The freestyle relay was a similar story, and we achieved another personal best and secured a place in the final. It was our last race, and we had to enjoy it, whether we came first or last. We finished fifth, but we all went home with a smile spread across our faces
Finally, I want to say an enormous thank you to Miss Atkinson for taking the time out of her weekend to be with us and to help us to get amazing results, not only on the day, but all the training that led up to this really enjoyable event. I’m certainly going to miss all the fun days out all around England.
Well Done Poppy for your amazing start and finish, well done Karmei for all the freestyle, and well done Mila for swimming in a year above – I wish you the best of luck if you come again next year.
By Chloe Shiu Year 6
