Nationals achievements for Thame swimming club members

THAME Swimming Club member, Lucy Block, became the first Thame Swimming Club swimmer to qualify for the English Nationals which took place in Sheffield during the first week of August 2018.

Lucy Block and Ian Blyth

Lucy had qualified for three events the 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke. Just to get to the Nationals is a great achievement as only 20 swimmers per event in England can swim in these championships.

Lucy pushed herself to even higher levels by making the finals for all three events, going on to finish fifth in the 50m event, fourth in the 100m and seventh in the 200m. All of these swims were personal best times and this being Lucy’s first big event Nationally, she did herself, Thame town and Swimming Club proud.

Marcus Birmingham

Ian Blyth, Head Coach commented: “This is a fabulous achievement and shows Thame Swimming Club can produce swimmers at the top level.”

Marcus Birmingham, who also swims for Thame Swimming Club, recently competed at the 2018 Irish Nationals in Dublin, qualifying for the second successive year and putting in a great performance and making the club very proud of his achievement.

Marcus had qualified for four events, the 100m and 200m Butterfly, and the 200m and 400m Individual Medley. He improved on a couple of his entry times and managed to finish a very impressive 12th in the 400 Individual Medley and 10th place in the 200m Butterfly, narrowly missing out on the final.