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

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

Season review 2015/16

Where do I start with this season? 

Without any doubt the best season for Larne Swimming Club in a very long time. 

IN THE POOL

Our junior club competed in Aquasprint and while we did get relegated to division 2 we saw some real developments over the season in terms of skill level and team spirit. The future is very bright for these young athletes.

The PTL team also acquitted themselves admirably in a year when we decided that as many swimmers as possible should swim in this league.

In open competition we competed in the Ulster Age Groups and Qualifying Galas, had 38 qualifiers for Division 1 of the Irish Age Groups and while only 3 qualified for Division 2 they came home with some medals from Limerick.  There is more work to be done with our development squad to get them to a level where they can experience this 1st tier of Irish swimming.

The open championships again saw our club shine as we broke somewhere in the region of 75 records over the course of the season. At one point we held 8 Irish senior records and currently hold 10 Ulster Senior records. Not to mention all the Junior records our members broke including a medley relay record in April. 

We broke the 2 oldest short course records on the books, one of which wasn’t even broken during the era of the rubber suits!

We where the only club team to have two swimmers on the Irish team to the senior Europeans, the only team EVER to have 2 finalists at the same European Junior Championships, and we became the 1st club ever to have a male winner of a medal at European Juniors.

As if that wasn’t enough one of our guys also missed the Olympic Games by 0.05 of a second………that’s about 9mm 

We are in a position where we now have 3 Irish senior International qualifiers in our program – something that very few other teams can say.

Yes it’s true that in Conor Brines, Conor Ferguson and Danielle Hill we have 3 of the best swimmers in Ireland in our squads but they don’t do it on their own, they train in our pools, in our sessions, with our members. Without the support of YOU our members and their teammates none of this would have been possible. 

Without the dedication of the largely volunteer coaching staff we wouldn’t be able to function at all never mind achieve anywhere near the level of success above.

OUT OF THE WATER

A partnership with swimming specific kit provider Swimzi saw us launch a new corporate appearance with a radical new red and white (and green) kit……not to mention a mentoring relationship with Liam Tancock.

Behind the scenes the committee also raised the bar for not only themselves but all future committees with an increased level of professionalism and again without these volunteers none of this swimming stuff would happen.

Finally we have finished the season with an opportunity to work with an Irish company producing training aids for backstroke starts wedge.ie making next season even more exciting.

Congratulations to everyone enjoy your break ……. the hard work starts again all too soon.

P