Young Thame swimmer excels at Henley open water event

HENRY Bell, from Thame Swimming Club, swam the Henley Classic Open Water Event yesterday, June 29, taking the Bronze medal in the Junior Category with a time of 31.58 minutes – a whopping seven minutes faster than his time last year.

Henry Bell (Right)

The regatta course is 2.1 kilometres in length and because of the boats preparing for the races later in the week the race needed to be swum early. This meant Henry was up at 3am and in the water ready for the off at 4.45am.

A squad of other Thame Swimming Club members was in action last weekend at the Milton Keynes Swim Club End of Season Open Meet. Ian Blyth coached and encouraged the team the whole weekend, assisted by Lucy North with the swimmers putting in some impressive swims.

The gala hosted Grand Finals for the 100m Free, with Ella Simms and Laura Nobes qualifying for the girls and Harry Block and Hallam Cozier qualifying for the boys. Helen Williams, Thame Swimming Club’s Communication manager, was there. She said: “The finals created a great atmosphere with everyone cheering wildly … especially when Harry Block took home the first place!

“Massive personal bests were achieved by the following swimmers, all of whom should be congratulated.”

Hazel Randall:   400 Free (30 + seconds)
Oscar North:      200 Back (30+ seconds)
Kate Collins:      200 Breast (40+ seconds)
Elizabeth Humphreys: 400 IM (30+ seconds)
Sam White:       400 Free (40+ seconds)
Lucy Block:       200 Back (16+ seconds)

Helen added: “A big thank you also to Brian Pridmore, Paul Williams, Michele Block, Sherri Cozier and Angie Day who along with Ian Blyth gave up their Father’s Day to be poolside. Thanks also to Rachel Humphreys, Mark Simms and Wendy Randall for officiating on the Saturday too.”

Notable winners were Rory Pridmore who achieved medals in all three of his races and to Harry Block, Ella Simms and Elliot Riley-Brown who achieved medals in all but one of their races.