Swimmers celebrate their achievements in style

THAME’s swimming talent was celebrated in style, when Thame Swimming Club (TSC) held its annual Presentation Evening at its new home of Lord Williams’s School recently, highlighting the clubs achievements throughout the previous year.

Image Iain Phillips. Relay winners: Emily Evans, George Pearson, Lucy Block, Sam White, Zoe Cooke, Elliot Riley-Brown, Ellen Ludlow, Will Simpkins, Lily Hawkes and George Finch

Organised by Rachel Humphreys and supported by the TCS Committee members and parents too, the evening saw 180 people all enjoying delicious food (who knew that school dinners had become quite so tasty!) before Simon Haarburger took to the stage to compere the rest of the evening.

The Key highlights are detailed below:
· County Championships: with over 32 ‘Top 8’ plaques being awarded

· South East Regional Championships (Summer): well done to Marcus Birmingham, Jo Hewett & Ben Williams for their
achievements

· Smurfs @The Carnival: over 30 participants supporting the Club at the Thame Carnival

· Fundraising Cake Stall: £188 raised

· Welsh Nationals: Hallam Cozier for achieving two finals places; Ben Williams for winning the first National medal for
TSC and Josh Williams for PB’ing in all his races.

· British Learning Disability Swimming Championships: Jo Hewett for coming home with 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze
medal.

· Aquathlon: over 62 participants, with Ella Simms and Marcus Birmingham winning overall.

· BBAT: great achievement by 73 swimmers for Thame, coming 3rd overall.

· Swim Camp, Spain: inaugural camp seeing the swimmers do 65 kilometres of swimming over 22 hours of swimming!

· South East Regional Championships (Winter): Marcus Birmingham & Ben Williams for qualifying and representing the
Club

· Club Championships: 85% of the Club took part with fantastic swimming evidenced throughout.

Marcus Birmingham presented the Tom Birmingham Skins awards, in memory of coach Tom Birmingham, to Ella Simms and Harry Block.

Team USA were then celebrated and presented their awards by David & Caroline Finch, as the winners of the Will Finch Breaststroke Canon Relay in memory of Thame Swimming Club swimmer, Will Finch, who tragically passed away last year: Emily Evans, George Pearson, Lucy Block, Sam White, Zoe Cooke, Elliot Riley-Brown, Ellen Ludlow, Will Simpkins, Lily Hawkes and George Finch.

The coaches then presented the swimmers with their achievement plates from Club Champs. Three more awards then followed:

Rob Brookes ‘Most Improved Swimmer’: awarded to Ben Williams with a 17% improvement, followed by Josh Williams and Rory Pridmore, who were also studying for their GCSEs too!

Simon Burnett’s ‘Most Competitive Swimmer’: a highly fought competition with Josh Williams taking the top spot, followed by Ben Williams and Harry Block.

UCare ‘Most Committed Award’: awarded to Holly Revill for her dedication to both swimming and coaching and for always having a smile on her face.

Wendy Randall thanked all of the officials who give up their time to support the Club, saying: “We cannot attend galas without this support and we really do need more people to get involved so please do volunteer, it’s fun and rewarding too!”

Brian Pridmore, the Club’s Vice Chairman, also took to the stage (with the help of Mark Simms and Sherri Cozier) to inspire more parents to get involved with other aspects of the Club such as coaching, becoming a committee member and team managing.

The swimmers who attended the BAT Swim Camp also provided an overview of their time in Spain, coming stronger, fitter and closer as a team … with their results showing the benefits of the Camp too!

Helen Williams, Communications Manager for Thame Swimming Club, summed up the evening: “A wonderful evening celebrating so many fabulous achievements and thanks to everyone who came and made it such fun!”