Kingsbridge Kingfishers succeed in and out of the pool

Kingsbridge Kingfishers have had a busy past few weeks in and out of the pool, beginning with success at the annual Two Counties Open Meet.

31 young swimmers wearing blue and orange achieved almost 150 personal best times, as well as 66 county qualifying times for next season. Amongst those achieving this for the first time were Emily Baxter and Freddie Stathers, who both won medals.  

Kingsbridge Kingsfishers 

More challenging regional qualifying times were also being sought for this season. Lucas Quiggin completed some excellent swims in difficult events, securing qualifying times in the 200 Butterfly, 100 Breaststroke and 200 Breaststroke.

There were many swimmers who won their heats, sometimes in very close and exciting races! Best of all was a battle between friends Lexie Gomm and Sophie White, who finished first and second in their heat with great personal best times, with just 0.01 seconds between them.

Some heats were declared as ‘hot heats’, meaning prizes for the winners. Fabiano Noto and Daniel Carrick both raised their game and picked up prizes, then continued their good form throughout the competition to achieve personal best times in every event.

Gold medals in their age group were won by Chloe Morris, Lucas Quiggin, Layla Quiggin, Lottie Taylor, Romy Stephenson and Toby Morris. There was also a first ever medal for the rapidly improving George Stone.

After this competition, attention was drawn to a fundraising event on Friday, 21 March, which saw a large team of Kingfishers join forces in an hour-long relay to raise money for the club’s new starting blocks, as well as the Fire Fighters Charity.

A group of Old Kingsbridge Kingfishers 'Legends' who helped raised £1,700 

Five lanes of juniors combined to reach a total of 887 lengths. There was also a 50m Freestyle show down between some old ‘legends’ of the club, with Emily Lawrence winning out the women, and Josh Dunn winning the men’s race. These events helped to raise an amount of over £1,700.

Report from Conor Morgan.