Buxton Swimmers in action at Ponds Forge, Sheffield For those of you in Buxton, and from further afield for that matter, who have been following the progress of Buxton Swimming Club, you will have seen a remarkable improvement over the past 12 months. Under the guidance and supervision of Head Coach Gary McCaffery, his competition coaching staff of Dave Peet, Julie Wood and Di Lee, they have achieved some amazing results. Together with this, the competitive training groups are being continually supplied with fresh blood from the feeder groups which are taught by Mandy Dennison, Roy Davies, Tim Bate and Kevin Parkin, the latter two of whom are swimmers themselves at the club and all dedicate their time freely to assist younger swimmers. The club has competed in six club league events throughout the year and has won each competition comfortably; they also recently swam in a friendly swimming meet and won 39 of the 51 events. The success has not stopped there and their progress has been further shown over the past two weekends where swimmers have competed in the 10 lane 50m Olympic size pool at Ponds Forge Sheffield. A strong team of 22 travelled the short journey over the Pennines to swim in the Derbyshire County Sprint swimming meet. Buxton in the past has had limited success in these competitions but McCaffery was delighted at the way his team performed on this occasion. The overall medal tally stood at 8 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze plus numerous other placings within the top six. Special mention must go to two swimmers who have recently shown their commitment and determination. Nicola Mackay having only recently returned to the competition scene, showed how powerful she was in the pool by winning 4 Gold Medals and being narrowly pipped out of a bronze. Nicola won the 50m events in Freestyle, Butterfly and Breaststroke and won the Open Championship in the 100 m Breaststroke taking the rest of the field apart. Tara Walsh, who joined Buxton approximately 3 months ago displayed some dazzling talent by taking Gold in the Open 100m Backstroke, Gold in the 50 metre Freestyle sprint, and two silver medals in the Open 100m Freestyle and Butterfly events. Some amazing times were achieved, one being a national qualifying time for an event later next year. Tara favours distance freestyle events but nonetheless showed the rest of Derbyshire how versatile she is in all disciplines. Other Gold medal winners were Zak Jupp, a new found talent within the club who took the title in 50m Breaststroke in his age group and Christopher Morris who won Gold in the 50m Butterfly and two silvers in the Freestyle and Backstroke events. Silver also went to young Rowan Mycock who swam excellently to be narrowly beaten to the Gold. David Gilmour showed he is a talent to be reckoned with in the future by taking bronze in his breaststroke event and Sara Heathcote proved that her increased training programme has paid off by winning two bronze medals in the Backstroke and Freestyle events. All in all the whole day was a joy to watch Buxton swimmers turning on the style and win race after race delivering lifetime best performances. It was admirably supported by a strong group of parents who travelled for support and showed the other Derbyshire towns that folk from Buxton are not lacking in the vocal department. The following weekend Tara Walsh and Assistant Swimming Coach and Fitness Instructor, Di Lee, again travelled to Ponds Forge to enter an Open distance meet. Excellent swims were again delivered by both athletes, despite both suffering from cough and cold symptoms and four lifetime best performances were recorded. The vision for the club for next year is to maintain its current standing and further its progress in a wider range of events, together with looking for more competitions to encourage its younger swimmers to take to the pool and show the senior groups exactly why they are snapping at their heels. Coach McCaffery insisted that the clubs success is due to the dedication, discipline and skill level within his swimmers of which has been generously supported by the club committee, parents and the assistance he has received throughout the year from his coaching staff and in particular the staff and management at Buxton Spa Pool. The swimming club would also like to express their thanks to all the companies that have sponsored them throughout the year, without their help some of the goals would not have been achieved. We would openly welcome any other sponsors who wish to become involved with the club. If you have a desire to swim competitively, train hard and become part of a successful team take a look at the club website www.buxtonswimmingclub.co.uk and see if you have what it takes.
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