Alex, one of our talented Year 7 swimmers, qualified for multiple events at the Swim Wales Winter championships in Swansea at the end of November.  To mark this fantastic achievement, we asked her to write up how she got on: 

By Alex, Year 7

On the 29th November to the 1st of December I competed in the Swim Wales Winter nationals as one of the only English swimmers competing. I qualified for 9 events which meant I was competing on each of the three days. It was a really exciting experience and I’m very grateful that I could compete.

We left at 6 o’clock on the 28th November, expecting to arrive in Wales at 10 o’clock, but we ended up arriving after midnight and just managed to make it into our hotel room before we crashed onto our beds. This was especially frustrating because we had to wake up at 7 o’clock in the morning so we could get to the gala in time.

The first day at the gala was really nerve-racking because I didn’t know what to expect of the competition. My first event was the 200m freestyle which I was particularly anxious about because I hadn’t gotten a PB in a while and it isn’t one of my strongest events. I ended up getting a 5 second PB (2:23) and coming second in my heat, which I was pleased about. My next event (200m Backstroke) was soon after. Although I didn’t quite get a PB, I was happy with my technique which I felt really improved since the last time I did it. My last event of day 1 was the 50m butterfly. Again, no PB but a reasonable performance. 

On day 2 I raced the 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke and the 800m freestyle. In the 100m freestyle I got a PB of 1:06 which I was proud of. In the 50m backstroke I got 35 seconds which is a PB. I was very happy with this because I hadn’t gotten a PB in a while. Lastly I had the 800m freestyle which I was really nervous for because it is a 32 length race. I ended up getting a 25 second PB which was extremely surprising because I had only gotten my last PB for that race 1 month before. This race has put me 2nd in Middlesex and in the top 5 in London.

On day 3 I wasn’t too nervous because I already knew what the competition was like and I wasn’t swimming any really long or tough races. My first race of the day was the 50m freestyle. I got a PB of 30.64 which was 2 seconds faster than when I swam it 2 weeks before. My next race was the 100m fly, which I sadly didn’t get a PB in. My last race was the 100m backstroke where I got a PB of 1:15.24 which has put me 5th in Middlesex.

Overall, I’m proud of my performance in Swim Wales and I’m very grateful that I was able to compete in this national level event.