Birmingham 2022

So at long last, after a trials meet in April, the commonwealth council NI has announced the aquatics team for Birmingham 2022.

An aquatics team of 11 has been selected to represent Northern Ireland

SWIMMERS
Danielle Hill
Daniel Wiffen
Jack McMillan
Victoria Catterson
Grace Davison
Kaitlin McCaw
Mollie McAlorum

PARA SWIMMERS
Bethany Firth
Barry McClements
Siomha Nic Bradaigh

DIVER
Tanya Watson

3 #teamlarne athletes have been selected as part of this team

Danielle Hill & Daniel Wiffen were preselected having represented Ireland at the Tokyo Olympics however both achieved the Qualifying standard set for selection to the Commonwealth team at various meets in this cycle anyway.

Danielle is a fantastic ambassador for not only our squad in Larne but also our sport in Ireland. She is testament to the adage hard work pays off. If you surround yourself with the right people, trust the process and dare to dream you can achieve anything.

Daniels career has been on an upward trajectory over the last 2 years and his move to Loughborough has paid off massively with an incredible series of swims since qualifying for Tokyo.

Danielle will contest 50/100 free 50/100 back 50 fly

Daniel will contest 1500 free 400 free

Kaitlyn McCaw was selected as the 3rd girl on the 4 x 100 freestyle relay.

Having taken a hiatus from the sport to concentrate on studies Kaitlyn has shown that swimming into your twenties can and should be a rewarding experience. A great message to all younger swimmers.

Kaitlyn will contest 50/100 fly 4*100 free

These three will join Oliver Gunning on the team after Oliver was confirmed as part of the para triathlete team

Oliver will contest para triathlon

Having 4 athletes on the team from a small club is a fantastic achievement for all involved but even more important, 3 out of those 4 swim IN OUR PROGRAM every single day.

Congratulations to all who have shown that with hard work the right environment and the support of a strong squad you can achieve all you wish within a club program

Well done all we cannot wait to watch you all race this summer

A busy weekend

It was a busy weekend for #teamlarne athletes with three different meets happening and our athletes competing all over Europe.

Aquasprint

The youngest members of our club took part in their next Aquasprint meet. This time racing against Leander Swimming Club.

With the focus of these meets on short fast swimming and lots of noise and enjoyment the result is always a secondary issue.

It is fantastic to see that the junior swimmers love to swim so much and are so supportive of each other.

The future of our club is in safe hands

Glasgow International

Kaitlyn McCaw travelled to Scotland to take part in the Glasgow International Meet in Tollcross pool.

This was Kaitlyn’s 1st representative meet and comes in the middle of a heavy block of work both in the pool and finishing her dissertation for Uni.

Kaitlyn raced 4 events and qualified for 2nd swims in all 4 making for 8 swims in 3 days. The final of the 50 fly was undoubtedly the highlight

Kaitlyn is proof that if you love swimming, there is no reason why you cannot swim past school. Having taken 6 years out of the sport to concentrate on studies Kaitlyn now has a big summer ahead of her.

Mare Nostrum

Last but by no means least, Danielle travelled to Barcelona to race on Wednesday and Thursday and then on to Canet o race Saturday and Sunday

The Mare Nostrum tour is the best athletes from around the world racing head to head over 3 meets in 8 days.

Once again D was swimming through these meets with her eyes set on a much bigger summer.

Contesting in 4 events at each meet and making finals in them all ment that Danielle raced 16 swims in 5 days. #tough

If Kaitlyn is proof that if you don’t have to stop swimming at the end of school, Danielle if the role model that hard work will always pay off

Great racing guys now for an exciting summer

European Short Course Championships 2019

The European Short Course Championships happens every 2 years in December.

For Irish athletes it’s an opportunity to race against the very best in Europe without the pressure of funding or future team selection riding on your performance.

In a season that has Irish Olympic Trials, European Long Course and potentially the Olympics at the end of it, this may not be the most important meet if the year. It is however I vital opportunity to race and gives a nice mid season punctuation before transitioning to the long course season.

Team Larne had 2 athletes selected to represent Ireland on this meet.

Danielle Hill (50, 100 BC, 50, 100 FREE)

Conor Ferguson (50, 100, 200 BC)

The team travelled from Belfast on Monday the 2nd. A training session on Tuesday then racing started on Wednesday 4th.

Day 1

Danielle 100 BC

You really can’t ask for too much more than stepping up on the 1st morning and posting a best time. This is exactly what D did breaking the minute for the 1st time. This was good enough to qualify for the semi final and just missed the Irish record by 0.08.

In the Semi that afternoon, for me, she produced the swim of the week. Lowering the National Standard to a world class 58.6 just missing out on the final.

Conor 200 BC

This was a switch in focus for Conor this season and he recorded his fastest ever heat swim and 2nd fastest 200. Just missing out on a tough qualification as with no Semi Finals only top 8 progress.

Day 2

Danielle 100 FREE

The heats produced yet another personal best time for Danielle in what is her 4th choice event.

Conor 100 BC

Another great heat swim saw Conor record his 1st PB in this event in 2 years and break his own Ulster Senior Record.

Day 3

Mixed FS relay

Both Danielle and Conor has a day off from individual events with a warm up and paddle in the morning and the D was on the mixed Free relay with Shane Ryan, Jordan Sloan and Mona McSharry. Swimming on the 3rd leg she posted a 24.0 and helping the team secure a final place. This is the 1st national relay to qualify for a senior international final.

In the final the team placed 8th and while Shane broke the Senior FS record on the 1st leg Danielle again went 24.0 and the team broke the Irish senior record.

Day 4

Danielle 50 BC

Having broken the 50BC record 3 weeks ago at BUCS, Danielle swam the heats looking to move up the ranking list and progress to the next round. A time of 26.92 did just that breaking the Irish record again becoming the 1st Irish female under 27 seconds.

At European level the heats, semi and final of 50 events happen in the same day so it was back that night for the semi of the 50 back and an incredible swim of 26.74 smashes the new record and finished top 10 and just outside the final spots.

Mixed medley

Both Conor and Danielle were selected for this team with Conor on the lead of leg and Danielle on the glory leg at the end. Conor posted a seasons best and D once again produced a 24.0 to secure a final spot. In the Final the team once again broke the Irish Senior record.

Day 5

The last day of a long meet can be a tough one to get right with tired bodies and minds that are harder to focus so it’s important to stick to your routines and focus on the process.

Danielle 50 FREE

This record has been switch back and forth between D and Mona for about 2 years now. Each time they break it they lower it by a few hundredths. At BUCS D lowered Mona’s time of 50.03 to 25.00.

The heats saw Danielle produce a new mark of 24.7 to become the fastest female in Irish history and move thru to the semi final. As if that wasn’t enough she then produced an even better swim to lower the Irish standard to 24.44 agonisingly close to getting a 3rd swim finishing in a tie for 9th.

Conor 50 BC

The men’s 50 BC is always incredibly tight and in a blanket finish Conors time of 23.86 was just outside the top 16 places.

Mens medley relay

Conor is staking a claim for the lead out legs of the men’s medley events and will have done himself no harm at all touching in 23.66 (a new Ulster senior record and a time that wud have progressed to the semi final of the individual) helping the team of Darragh Greene, Shane Ryan and Jordan Sloan set a new Irish mark.

High drama in the last final of the week saw 3 teams disqualified and the Irish finish in 6th

Women’s Medley relay.

Danielle’s spot at the Backstroke lead off is secured and she delivered again with a great swim to help the team set yet another Irish senior record.

A fantastic week of racing and confidence building heading into the next block of work and heading to trials in April.

2 Athletes

7 Events

9 best times

7 Ulster records

5 Irish records (4 relay records)

3 semifinals

2 relay finals

#teamlarne

#wearelarne

European SC Championships

Glasgow, Scotland, hosts the 20th edition of the LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships in Tollcross International Swimming Centre between 4-8 December 2019.

Swim Ireland are sending a team of 11 senior athletes and 8 juniors to compete in the 1st international meet of the year

#teamlarne would like to congratulate Danielle Hill and Conor Ferguson on their selection for the senior team.

Danielle will race in the 4 events she broke Irsh Senior Records in in the ISO the 50 & 100BC and 50 & 100 FS

Conor will race the 50 & 100 BC (events he is the Ulster Senior Record Holder in)

The team travel to Glasgow on Monday 2nd December and racing starts on the 4th

Keep an eye on the Facebook page for live links etc

Good luck guys

P

World University Games 2017

Every two years the sporting world get together to celebrate the summer universiade.

This summer the 29th univarsiade is being help in Taipei with athletes from all over the world travelling to compete for their country.

29th World Summer Universiade

Larne Swimming Club ambassador Conor Brines (a student in Queens University Belfast) has beenot selected for the Irish team.

The team travelled to Taipei on Monday 14th August for a week aclimitisation before competition started on Sunday the 20th.

Conor is contesting the 50 and 100 FLY.

The 50 FLY up first on the Sunday and what an introduction to international competition!! Conor, entered in 17th place, qualified for the semi final but only after tying for 16th place and having a swim off!

A consistent few swims on day one saw him finish 12th and just miss out on a final swim.

Not a bad start to his international career

Slovenian National Championships

Kranj – Slovenia

Club ambassador Danielle Hill made the trip to Kranj in Slovenia to compete for Ireland in the Slovenian National Championships.

A new experience for coach and swimmer with temperatures at 34° when we arrived and set to soar over the next 4 days. The program for Danielle over the 4 days was at least a familiar one with the 50 and 100 double in both Backstroke and Freestyle.

To say that the environment was a new experience would be an understatement, no swim down pool, no ledges, temp at 40° on evening of 1st final.

However the meet was exceptionally well run and the competition pool itself was absolutely perfect.

Over the 4 events Danielle won 3 Slovenian open titles and picked up a bronze. The highlight undoubtedly being the Irish senior Record in the 50 free in the last event of the week.

European Junior Swimming Championships (Updated)

For the 3rd summer in a row Larne SC is sending representatives with an Irish international team.

Having already competed in London at the European Championships, Danielle and Conor travel to Hodmezovasarhely for the Junior Championships.

The Irish team travel to Dublin on Saturday for a team session and dinner before heading to Budapest on Sunday mowning and a 3 hour transfered south to Hodmezovasarhely.

This is Danielle’s last year of eligibility for this level of competition, having raced in Holland and Baku the last 2 years, while Conor is experiencing it for the 1st time.

The Irish team of 13 athletes looks like one of the strongest in recent years so we are looking forward to some fast racing over the next week.

You can follow the action here

 

Really poor of me not to have updated this but with being away in Hungary working it was a tough 10 days.

For those who dont already know here is a very quick round up on Danielle and Conor from the European Junior Champs last week.

At a remarkably high standard of meet the Larne swimmers once again proved that they are continuing to make the transition from National to International athlete.

Conor  picked up a silver medal in the 100 BC making him the 1st Irisb male to medal at this level

Danielle continued Larnes BC tradition with 2 Irish Junior Records on the way to a final place in the same event.

 

A fantastic end to a fantastic season for these guys

P

Londons Calling

2016 EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Monday, May 16, 2016 to Sunday, May 22, 2016
London Aquatics Centre
General meet information is available from Championship Central
The meet is being streamed live and can be watched here – Live Stream

Ireland are sending a team of 12 athletes to compete in this event. Larne S.C. are providing 2 of them. Danielle Hill is racing all week while Conor Ferguson has a whistlestop meet flying in for the 100BC on Monday.

This is a senior international meet and the clubs national record holders will be brushing shoulders wirh some of the elite of European Swimming. Danielle will be in the same events as Hungary’s prolific Katinka Hosszu the 100 back & 200 back. (I still want that photo btw D)

The 2016 European Championships consists of swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming competitions.

The swimming portion will take place from Monday, May 16 to Sunday, May 22. There are 42 swimming events scheduled, 34 individual events and eight relays.

The Irish mens 4 x 100 Medley relay are hoping to make history and stake a claim for a place on the blocks in Rio later this summer. This would be the 1st Irish relay team ever to do so.

The format of the event is as follows:-

There are heats, semi-finals and finals for every individual event apart from the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events and the 400m individual medley, In these events the eight fastest from the heats qualify for the final.

In the other events, the 16 fastest swimmers from the heats progress to the semi-finals, then the first two finishers in each semi-final, plus the swimmers with the next four fastest times, progress to the final.

Nations are allowed to enter up to four athletes per individual event at the London 2016 LEN European Aquatics Championships but only two are allowed to progress out of the heats.