Crawley Town Life Saving Club Open team retained Surf Life Savings GB Open Pool National Championships title for the fourth consecutive year taking their total number of title wins to six so making them unquestionably the most successful team ever to compete at theses championships. In addition Crawley Towns Youth team finished second with the Crawley Masters achieving their best ever result when coming third.
The total medal haul was; 51 Golds, 20 Silver and 32 bronzes with Sam Lawman being Crawley Town’ Open highest medal winner with 7 golds. In the Youth it was Sam Murray won 3 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronze and for the Masters Donna Wickens who currently holds 6 British Masters records with 4 individual golds.
Crawley Town picked-up 9 Open national individual titles through; Marina Macartney – 50m Manikin Carry, 100m Manikn Carry with Fins and 100m Manikin Tow with Fins, Samual Lawman – 50m Manikin Carry, 100m Rescue Medley, 100m Manikin Carry with Fins and 100m Manikin Tow with Fins and Richard Jagger in the 200m Super Life Saver. For the Youth 3 individual titles via; Sam Murray U19 – 100m Rescue Medley and 200m Super Lifesaver, Keira Narraway U15 – 100m Manikin Carry with Fins. The Masters 10 individual titles came from Donna Wickens (50-54 age group) – 100m Obstacles. 50m Manikin Carry, 100m Rescue Medley Relay, 100m Manikin Tow with Fins, Pamela Shaw (55-59) 100m Obstacles, 50m Manikin Carry and 100m Manikin Carry with Fins plus Jennifer Amos (55-59) and Richard Jagger (30-34) in 100m Manikin Tow with fins and 100m Obstacles respectively.
Crawley Towns top team, the Youth U17 Girls comprising Georgia Blenkley, Tara Karim, Brooke Mickel and Frankie Phillips who took all three relay titles along with 12 golds in the 4x50m Obstacles, 4x25m Manikin Tow and 4x50m Medley. The Boys U19 team comprising Alex Jackson, Sam Murray, Gerasimas Vuliyerys and Joe Woollard won the Manikin relay but had to be content with bronze in both the Obstacle and Medley relays. The Girls U15 team of Emily Hurst, Amaia Lopez, Keira Narraway and Sadie Phillips took silver and bronze in the Manikin & Medley relays respectively. Sadly the two U15 boys of Iker Lopez and Max Morgan did not have a team however their top 16 performances certainly helped the Youth team achieve 904 points needed for second place overall. Crawley Town Open win was remarkable when considering they could not swim a lady relay team, expect for the drawn mixed Lifesaver relay, which Marina, Jade joined Andrew Morley and Sam Lawman for a comfortable win. Crawley Men consisting; Alex Jackson, Richard Jagger, Sam Lawman, Andrew Morley, Sam Murray, Martin Schofield, Dan Seagrove-Castle, Warren James and Joe Woollard swam two teams “A” & “B” with the following medal placings; Obstacle – “A” gold, Manikin “A” gold & “B” bronze, Medley (Championship Blue Ribbon event) “A” gold & “B” silver. Crawley Town’s Mixed Masters Relay teams involving Jennifer Amos, Richard Jagger, Gary Lee, Pamela Shaw and Donna Wickens gave away far too many years in the 30+ category to medal but still managed top 6 placing in all three relays.
A special mention must go to Crawley Town 83 year old Master who when competing in the Ladies 60+ age group achieved a personal best in the 100m Manikin Tow with fins by some 30 seconds and Andrew Morley who became the first Crawley Town male swimmer to break the 24 second barrier for a straight 50m Free Style. Also the ever hard working Richard Jagger who successfully competed in both Open & Masters on the same day to ensure Crawley Town achieve maximum points.
Crawley Town LSC will now start to prepare for this year’s European Youth and Open Club Championships taking place in Riccione, Italy during September. Please visit Crawley Town Life Saving Club’s website.
Gary Lee – 01293 544324 (B)