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| Swimming Stuff! |
| OK, so I could rabbit on for ages about my swimming career, and probably will end up doing so, so bear with me on this one cause it does mean a lot to me! I started swimming only so that I could go fishing with me dad without them having the fear that I would drown, cause I used to throw myself into the lakes and rivers quite regularly! So this was when I was about 6 years old I think. I would go along to all the little kids' swimming lessons and got through them pretty quickly. Then my teachers suggested to my parents that me and my brother, Andrew, join the City Of Peterborough Swimming club (COPS) Off we go to the trials and joined along no problems. This was when I was about 9 years old. I didn't want to carry on, so I didn't go anymore. That was until I realised Andrew was jenjoying it. So I gave it another go and stuck with it, now look where it's got me! I've made so many good friends over the 11 years that I've been there at the club. You can't find another substiute for that, you really can't. As well as some of the best friends I will ever make, my swimming also earned my numerous titles, records and trophie. My trophy collection spans over 300 medals and trophies, I have club and county records in various events. My most prestigious titles include National Champion of Scotland 2000 in the 50m Freestyle. Midland District Champion 2000, again, in the 50m Freestyle, I will never forget that race! Me and one of my best mates, Wayne, head to head in the heats. Dammit, he won the heats and goes into the final seeded 1st, there's me lagging behind in 3rd place. I wouldn't let that get me down though. I was fired up! So off I go in the final and kicked ass! That was the first time that I had clocked under 24 seconds for 50m Freestyle - 23.85! I cannot thank the club enough for the enjoyment that it has brought me. The best time had to be the mass outing for a two week holiday in Ibiza (Spanish island) in July 2000. 30 of us from the swimming club, children, parents and young adults like myself all together. It was fantastic! Despite the occasional mishap, I'm sure most of us that went, if not all of us, would put that down as the best holiday they have had or will have, I know I will! Things haven't been so rosy with my swimming career since I've come to university unfortunately. I joined Hatfield Swimming Club when I got here, and the university club as well. But I never really settled at the Hatfield club due to a number of things. Mainly because I knew it could never be the same as home, never! Call me a sentimentalist, but I don't think you should try and replace something that isn't and never will be as good. I have carried on with the university swimming club because I do enjoy that. I have the Student National Championships coming up in a couple of weeks time at Leeds. I expect I will be racing some folks from Peterborough who have gone to various universities around England. I know Mark, Tom and Steven are going to be there at least! If anyone is interested then you may like to know that my New Years resolution is going well. My resolution for the year was to bulk up and look like a true sprinter! Well, in order to do that I planned to eat more protein and do more weights, and do them religiously! Well I've carried on with that and have managed to put on 14 stones in weight in just 2 months, which I think is a great achievement considering I could not originally put on weight no matter how hard I tried! And all the weight that I have put on is in muscle, no fat!!! So now I weigh 13.5 stones (189 pounds). My target for the end of the year is 16 stone (224 pounds)! I'll keep you posted on my progress. Anyway, here's a list of my personal bests in case anyon'e interested, remembering that I'm more of a freetyler and breaststroker, definately not a backstroker and a sprinter, certainly not a long distance swimmer!!!: 50m Butterfly: 26.91 (19th May 2001, Coventry, Midland District Championships) Backstroke: 30.42 (8th April 2000, Peterborough, COPS Open Meet) Breaststroke: 31.43 (20th May 2000, Coventry, Midland District Championships) Freestyle: 23.85 (20th May 2000, Coventry, Midland District Championships) 23.34 in relay (18th March 2002, Cambridge, County Championships) 100m Butterfly: 1.04.68 Backstroke: 1.05.72 Breaststroke: 1.10.50 Freestyle: 55.87 (26th February 2000, Peterborough Club Championships) Individual Medley: 1.03.36 200m Butterfly: 2.41.06 Backstroke: 2.33.39 Breaststroke: 2.39.30 Freestyle: 2.07.66 (11th March 2000, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire County Championships) Individual Medley: 2.21.14 (26th February 2000, Peterborough Club Championships) 200m Butterfly: Backstroke: Breaststroke: Freestyle: 4.42.72 Individual Medley: 5.38.32 Half Mile Freestyle: 10.24.55 |
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