26th May 2011

Thame SC Annual General Meeting: Sunday 26th June 2011 Thame Leisure Centre Dance Studio.

Whilst Group 1 are swimming, please attend the Thame SC AGM. We need your support to vote for the committee for the 2011/2012 season & you’ll hear reports from the chairman and treasurer as well as have the chance to raise questions.

Many thanks in advance for your support.

21st May 2011

Swim a Mountain Results

A final well done from the committee to all the swimmers who took part in this years swim a mountain.  

The final total is a staggering £2071.64p!

This is thanks to the effort and determination of our swimmers in completing the challenge and to a monumental effort in collecting sponsor money... supported no doubt by committed parents and carers.  In recognition for the effort made by the swimmers we have decided to award a special Thame branded water bottle to the top ten fundraisers.

These are:

Dominic Holmes who collected £176
Ella Simms £146
Imogen Newell £135
Rowan Read £130
Maisie McDonald £100
Maisie Randall £78.56
Laura Nobes £70
Rory Price £66.25
Rhiannon Price £63
Mark Camden £60

A fantastic well done to these top fundraisers.... and to all the other swimmers who made this event a great success.

A cheque for half this amount will be presented to the Trustees of Ucare, who remain extremely grateful for our support and the growing link between our two organisations. Click here for the latest Ucare newsletter

With thanks
Greg Smith

7th May 2011

Thame Bring Home The Medals at the Leighton Buzzard SC L4 Meet

The first event for Georgia was the girls 50m Backstroke. Georgia was seeded 32 out of 73 entries in this event and swam a very good race taking an early lead in her heat and was just beaten to  the touch by 0.01  of a second, finishing in a time of 33.75 knocking 1.09 seconds of her old long course PB.  Georgia finished 25th in the age group. Georgia went in to the competition ranked 29th in the region and will almost certainly have raised her ranking to somewhere around 10th when the times are updated on the British swimming web site.

The next event was the girls 50m Freestyle, where she was seeded 61 out of 112 entries. Again, Georgia swan a very good race and finished 34th in a time of 29.98, 0.09 of second outside her long course PB set in the London, South East and South West zonal regional meet earlier this year. Georgia finished 34th in this event.

Well Done Georgia!

23rd April 2011

Thame Went In Search of Chocolate!

Thame SC swimmers travelled to Basingstoke on the 23rd April for a 50m sprint meet – the Basingstoke Bluefins Easter Egg Meet, No Medals – just Eggs! Fifteen swimmers entered with only 12 turning up on the day – the Easter Bunny having kidnapped three on the A339. The facilities where fabulous with a modern 8 lane 25m pool. However, with temperatures hitting 30 degrees, it was pretty unbearable in the pool. Even allowing for that, our swimmers performed very well.

First up was Maisie Randall in the girls 50m freestyle. She swam to a new PB of 45.07.  The boys were next in the 11 year olds 50m breast which saw William Finch obtain a new 3.43 second PB of 54.68 along with a 1.23 second PB for Ben Williams with 56.18. The girls were then back in action in the 9-10 year old 50m Backstroke which saw Ella Simms get a 1.53 second PB with 45.30) and a bronze Medal. Maisie Randall took just under a second off her time with 51.84. Then came the boys 11 years 50m Fly with some incredible swims from Ben Williams and William Finch who both set new PB’s of over 8 seconds; Ben Williams swam an 8.43 second PB with 44.72 gaining a bronze medal and William Finch swam an 8.24 second PB with 59.98. The girls were then back in the pool for the 50m breaststroke with Ella Simms and Maisie Randal. Ella swam 52.93, just outside her PB and Maisie Randall swam 1:04.27, a 2 second PB. The Boys 50m freestyle followed and saw Ben Williams take just over 3 seconds off of his time with 38.20, Harry Moore 40.21 and William Finch 45.05 were just off their PBs. In the girls 50m Fly, Ella Simms produced a good swim at 51.33 whilst  Maisie Randall got 56.42. in the last event of the first session,  Harry Moore got a new PB in the 50m Back in a time of 49.28.

The second session was for the slightly older swimmers. Lauren Collins opened the afternoon swimming for Thame in the 12 years 50m freestyle in a time of 37.09 a 0.08 second PB whilst Rhiannon Price took 1.63 seconds off her PB to get 39.98. In the 13 years age group, Maisie McDonald and Jessica Russell got 33.95, a 1.88 sec PB with a bronze medal and 37.88, a 0.34 second PB respectively. In the 14years age group, Kazia Coleman achieved  39.44, just outside her PB. Flying the flag for the boys in the afternoon session was Rory Price who’s first swim was the 50m Breast in a time of 47.28.  The girls were then back in action in the 50m Backstroke with Lauren Collins (43.60), Rhiannon Price 50.41, Maisie McDonald  42.90 and a 4 second PB from Jessica Russell  with 43.92 followed by Kazia Coleman with 51.90. Rory Price followed in the boys 50m fly with a time of 41.33 a PB of just under 2 seconds. The girls 50m Breast saw Lauren Collins 57.69, Rhiannon Price 1:01.52, Jessica Russell  47.38, Maisie McDonald  50.53, ( a 1.47 sec PB) and Kazia Coleman 53.39. In the boys 50m freestyle, Rory Price put in a time of 35.14. The girls 50m Fly saw Rhiannon Price 50.36, (a 0.24 sec PB), Lauren Collins 53.81, Maisie McDonald  46.29 ( a whopping 4.28 second PB), Jessica Russell  50.95, and Kazia Coleman 47.69 (a 0.75 second PB). The final event  of the day was the boys 50m backstroke which saw Rory Price put in a 0.6 second PB with a time of 42.97.

Overall Thame SC swimmers competed in 41 races between 12 swimmers, with 21 PB’s and 3 bronze medals – or should we say CHOCOLATES! Well done to the swimmers who competed in very hot conditions.

For all the results visit http://www.swimbluefins.org/live/

17th April 2011

Thame SC is 2 years old !!

Thame SC’s second birthday passed unnoticed on Sunday 17th April 2011, two years to the day since the club launched in 2009. Dave marked the day with a range of intensive sets. Group 4 had a 5km set in the morning and Group 2 got an intensive Butterfly session from Cara in the evening. All the coaches and the committee forgot the significance of the 17th April but never mind, well done to all who have helped make Thame SC such a great success over the last 2 years!

16th April 2011

Aylesbury Relay Send Swimmers Spinning!

On the 16th April Thame SC took part in the Aylesbury Relay gala at the Aquavale in Aylesbury. We took a team of 28 swimmers, many of whom were swimming against national swimmers in this event.  This wasn’t a novice gala but with many of our top swimmers away for the Easter holidays or deep into their GCSE revision programmes we were lambs to the slaughter, as many of our swimmers were too slow for this event.  With that said and done every one performed at their best and Thame SC even managed to win two events out off the 40 events in the programme.  Some swimmers were, out of necessity, in so many events they were almost getting out of one race to dive back in for the next. Grace Gilmore was in 15 events and Thomas Goetz was in 18! 

Team Cozier turned out with Bronte and Hallam taking part alongside their Mum, masters swimmer and Thame Coach – Sherri ....... no false start DQ this time!

The team

Many thanks to all those parent who are Thame SC Officials who stepped up at the last minute when the organisers were short of officials and thanks to those who had agreed to time keep in advance. A massive well done to the team, you all swam extremely well.

Rachel Newton put in a new PB in the girls 50m Fly. Catherine Jacobs and Josh Williams set new PB’s in the 50m Freestyle. Marcus Birmingham obtained an ONB County Consideration time in the boys 50m backstroke whilst Alina Aaltonen set a new PB in the girls 50m back.

Liam Talbot set a new PB in the boys 100m Breast and Ella Simms matched her PB in the 50m Breast. Thomas Goetz set a new PB in the same event. Laura Nobes and Callum Talbot both set new PB’s in the 50m Freestyle and Joshua Williams did the same in the 50m back as well as the 50m Freestyle. Marcus Birmingham and Catherine Jacobs both swimming faster in the 50m fly and 50m Free respectively. Rachel Newton swam to a new PB in the girls 100m back. The performance by Thame’s swimmers was outstanding we took 2 1st places, 2 second places and 2 third places in the events with a grand total of 31 PB times. Well done Thame.

6th April 2011

May Bank Holiday(s) & Half Term Swimming Arrangements

Due to Thame Leisure Centre shutting at 6pm on the two May bank holidays (2nd & 30th May) the evening Group 3: Performance & Group 4: County & District training sessions have had to be Cancelled.

In addition, as usual, there is NO land training during the half term holiday on Wednesday 1st June and there will be NO Group 3: Performance and Group 4: County & District Training at Headington Pool on Tuesday 31st May 2011.

2nd April 2011

Thame Swimming Club at Risborough Springs

Thame Swimming Club is starting two new training sessions at Risborough Springs between 6pm and 8pm on a Sunday evening. To start the ball rolling and give new swimmers from the Princes Risborough area the chance to trial for the club and to get a feel for training with a competitive swimming club, there will be two trial sessions followed by the launch of the regular Sunday sessions at Risborough Springs. Two 1 hour training sessions will be offered and swimmers will be offered a place in either of those sessions according to their ability. The new Risborough Springs sessions will be integrated into Thame SC with the swimmers included in gala entries, club championships and other events from day one. Watch the club website for more news on these new sessions and the launch dates. Click here for poster.

1st April 2011

Thame Swimming Club are in the Thame Gazette again! Click here to read the full article.

Message from Jean Simmonds, UCARE
Really good news regarding the sponsored swim. I had no idea Thame SC had only been going for two years. Happy 2nd Birthday, you're doing so well - and at such an early stage to be working for another charity is just amazing.
We are going to have to work in the next week or so at getting something into an Oxford paper. Well done and please congratulate and thank the swimmers - large and small!
Jean Simmonds, UCARE

The first to reach the summit of Mt Everest was George Finch, Boys Squad Capt, closely followed by Boys Squad Vice Capt James Goetz – both completing 354 lengths of 8850m in about 2 hours. They both did a 150m cool down swim to complete 9km (now that is just showing off!!!). First to finish the event was James Newton who did swam up Mount Kosciusko, 89 lengths 2220m.  Others mountains swam included Mt Kilimanjaro(Africa), Mt Blanc(Europe) or Mt McKinley (USA) and of course Everest.  Most swimmers kept a steady pace taking up most of the extended four hour session to complete the challenge.

The club chose to support UCARE partly because our club patron and Olympic Swimmer, Simon Burnett is also a UCARE patron but also because of the great work that this charity does in our local area.  UCARE provides the public with information and education about urological cancers. They also fund world-class research in Oxford into the causes, prevention and treatment of urological cancers and related conditions and the charity is entirely funded by donations.

UCARE volunteers are climbing Kilimanjaro for real to raise money for the charity.  Simon Burnett who took a break from his Olympic training routine to visit the club gave some words of encouragement to our swimmers.  Simon recently dedicated his silver medal from the 2010 Commonwealth Games to UCARE and said “It’s so important to support UCARE as they are dealing with the lesser-known cancers”.

Click here to see all the photos

Simon’s 50m Free time against Group 1 & 2 swimmers was 23.....something. Jamie & George, as qualified time keepers were helping officiate this evening but were so impressed with Simon’s swim all we got was “23.something”, muppets! Anyway, I think Simon passed the criteria to join, if he wants to.

Many thanks to the coaches and officials for another smooth run time trial and also...........................

Many, many thanks Simon for visiting the swimmers and spending time with all the ages and abilities – you really inspired them this evening and they all went home with big grins on their faces.

First Weekend  5th – 6th March 2011: The first weekend of the main county championship got underway at the Aqua Vale, with Thame swimmers rising to the occasion.  The standard of swimming was extremely high and our swimmers held their own under tremendous pressure. At these championships not only do swimmers have to achieve the entry times to get in, they are then swimming against the best within the Oxon & North Bucks ASA, many of which are regional and national standard swimmers and had been competing at the British Gas National Championships in Manchester between the 5th and 12th March. Opening the swimming for Thame was Nacho Mendi in the Boys 100m Backstroke swimming in a time of 1:19.72 a 5.03 second PB and finishing 11th in his age group.  Next up was Grace Gilmore in the girls 50m Fly in a time of 36.99 (0.52) just outside her PB and finished 19th in her age group. Hallam Cozier, swimming in his first counties at the age of 9, was next up in the Boys 50m free with Nacho Mendi, Connor Lloyd and boys squad Vice Captain, James Goetz. Hallam finished 9th in a time of 40.21, Nacho finished 12th in a time of 32.19 ( a 0.13 second PB) whilst James finished 13th in a time of 27.92 ( a 0.01 second PB giving him the “fastest in the club” title again, quite a swim after many weeks of illness with an ear infection that has dogged his training for this year’s counties).

Grace was back in action in the girls 100m IM finishing 23rd in a time of 1:23.53. Thame entered into the relays for the first time for this year’s counties. The first event was the Boys 16 and under 400m freestyle relay, THAME  A; James Goetz, Nacho Mendi, Liam Talbott and George Finch finished 3rd in their heat and 11th overall with a thrilling chase of the other teams in their heat. THAME B; Rory Price, Dominic Holmes, Christopher Swart and Connor Lloyd, started but did not finish due to technical difficulties with goggles and breathing. Then came the girls 400 Medley Relay, THAME A; Georgia Cahill on Back, Amy Fleming on Breast, Grace Gilmore on Fly and Hannah Hawken on Free and THAME B; Emily Malkin on Back, Rebecca Smith on Breast, Susannah Smith on Fly and Olivia Hawkes on Free both swam well with many of the swimmers competing at the counties for the first time. Both Georgia and Emily have new pb’s on the opening legs of their 100m Back 1:11.21 (a 1.14 sec PB) and 1:21.26 (a 0.56 sec PB) respectively.

George Finch next to swim in the 200m IM, finishing 14th on a time of 2:27.92. Grace Gilmore then swam in the girls 200m free, edging ever closer to a regional time by finishing on 2:32.87 (a 1.36 sec PB) and finished 15th. The finals of the day and the second set of relays came in the third session. As usual the atmosphere was great. The officials were clapped on to music before all were asked to stand for the national anthem. The first relay was the  16 and under boys 4x50m medley followed by the girls 16 and under 4x50m freestyle. Thame A; Liam Talbott on Back, James Goetz on Breast, George Finch on Fly and Connor Lloyd on Free, finished 11th overall and 1.80 seconds faster than their entry time. This was a thrilling race as Thame A were in contention throughout their heat in second or third place throughout. James Goetz swam an excellent 50m Breaststroke leg in a new PB time. However, we came first in the heat – at least on the score board. It turns out that having finished his first leg backstroke, Liam had exited the pool and was cheering on the anchor leg swimmer, Connor Lloyd from the block, waving his hand to urge him on, so much so that he hit the pad with his hand and placed us first – fortunately something you can’t get DQ’d for. Thame B; Dominic Holmes on Back, Rory Price on Breast, Nacho Mendi on Fly and Chris Swart on Free finished 18th with a new team PB on their entry times. In the Girls 4x50m free relay, Team A; Hannah Hawken, Grace Gilmore, Amy Fleming and Georgia Cahill, knocked nearly three seconds off their entry time, only to be DQ’d for moving before the start. The nerves of the day were starting to take their toll in a highly charged atmosphere. The Thame support crew in the audience were shouting like mad for the relay teams and Thame Chairman, Ian Goetz literally shouted himself hoarse. Thame B; Emily Malkin, Alice Peet, Olivia Hawkes and Rowan Reed finished 17th overall with a new team PB. The relays saw a new PB for Dominic Holmes of 36.92 secs on the opening backstroke leg, and for Emily Malkin of 33.41 secs on the opening  50m free leg.

On Sunday 6th March, George Finch opened Thame’s swimming for the day in the boys 100m Fly in a time of 1:09.01 to finish 16th. Grace Gilmore was next in the girls 100m free in a time of 1:12.54 finishing 12th. Georgia Cahill finished 4th on a time of 1:03.19 ( a 1.97 second PB) and qualified for the evening finals. George Finch put in a time of 34.79 in the boys 50m Breast, finishing 9th and was first reserve for the evening finals. Marc Furlonger, the only and first Thame Master in the county championships, also in the 50m breast, put in a time of 34.43secs. Then came the girls 50m backstroke where Thame swimmers excelled. Disability swimmer, Joanne Hewitt from Thame SCs Group 1: Developer & Training group, swimming under the Bucks Disability Swimming Club banner,  put in a time of 50.18 (a 3.85 sec PB) to take 1st place in this event and a GOLD medal as the County Champion. Grace Gilmore put in a time of 40.25 secs finishing 25th. Amy Fleming, after an extended lye in, finished 8th  and qualified for the evening finals with a time of 35.11 secs ( a 0.13 second PB). Georgia Cahill finished 4th with a new ASA South East Region (SER) qualifying time of 32.53 secs  ( a 0.66 second PB) and qualified for the evening finals.

And so to those finals. For the 100m, 15 year old girls Freestyle Final, Georgia Cahill was seeded 4th from earlier heats, swimming in lane 6 and entered with a 1:03.19sec time. Georgia swam an incredible race with a 29.48second the first 50m, setting a new 50m PB and finished the 100m on 1:02.96 ( a 0.23 sec PB), just 0.46 seconds off of a regional time and taking home a finalists medal in fifth place. In the 50m, 15 year old girls Back Final, two of Thames’ swimmers, Georgia Cahill and Amy Fleming were qualified. Georgia, again in lane six seeded 4th and Amy in lane 8, seeded 8th. Amy, swimming in her first ever counties, swam to a new personal best time of 34.93 seconds and finished 8th. Georgia again rose to the challenge to finish 4th on 32.54  seconds.

On the second weekend at the counties we had several swimmers competing in the relays who have never swum at the counties before, some at very short notice, as somebody pulled out of the squad, so Harry Moore didn’t find out he was swimming in the first session on Saturday 12th March until his Mum woke him up on Saturday morning! After the relays, the referee, Ian Powell, called Dave over to point out that Tom Goetz’s jammers were pushing the rules a bit as they were coming too low on the leg. We found out why – he’d picked up the wrong pair and was wearing Jamie’s!

PARENTS PLEASE NOTE: There was an incident in the park on Saturday afternoon a swimmer was sat on a bench when three lads walked up to him and beat him up, breaking his nose. The police are involved in trying to track down the three lads. Parents and swimmers are reminded that parents are responsible for their swimmers at galas, the coach has to focus on the event and swimmers should always let the coach know where they are going if they leave poolside. This was a shocking incident and underlines the need to keep an eye on your swimmers, even in an area we normally associate as friendly and safe.

The championships continued with George Finch opening the swimming on the 100m Breast only to take a DQ on his turns despite putting in a cracking swim. Joanne Hewitt back in the pool swimming the 100m backstroke and came 2nd with a time of 1:45.36 (an 11.60 second PB), taking the Silver medal. Also Georgia Cahill, who came 5th in a time of 1:10.27, qualified for the evenings finals. Elliot Riley Brown swimming in his first county Championship, stepped up to the block for 50m fly and swam a time of 49.07 taking away a finalists medal. George Finch, also in the 50m fly, swam 29.68 (a 0.08 sec PB). Then came the girls 50m Freestyle which saw Ella Simms put in a personal best time of 36.24 (a 0.20 sec PB) followed by Grace Gilmore going 32.68 (a 0.69 sec PB). This was followed by Girls Squad Captain, Georgia Cahill, obtaining a regional qualifying time of 28.72 , a 0.69sec PB and a place in the evenings finals.

The boys 100m IM saw Hallam Cozier and Nacho Mendi, both swimming in their first county championships, swim 1:42.41 ( a 3.30 sec PB) and 1:20.04 respectively.  Boys squad captain, George Finch, followed with a time of 1:07.88. Then came the girls 400m freestyle relay. Hannah Hawken, Amy Fleming, Grace Gilmore, and Georgia Cahill made up Thame A whilst Rebecca Smith, Amy Haarburger, Rachael Newton, and Susannah Smith made up Thame B. Both teams put in a new personal team time on their combined entry times and both Hannah and Rebecca put in new PB’s on the 100m lead off legs. This was followed by the boys 4x 50m medley relay. James Goetz, Liam Talbott, Connor Lloyd, and George Finch made up Thame A with Thomas Goetz, Hallam Cozier, Harry Moore and Elliot Riley-Brown in Team B.  Both teams put in a new personal team time on their combined entry times and James Goetz put in a modest new PB on the first 100m lead off leg. And so to the evening finals with the 100m 15 year old girls Backstroke Final. Georgia Cahill was seeded 4th from the earlier heats, swimming in lane 2 and entered on 1:10.27. Georgia swam an incredible race and finished the 100m on 1:10.19 a new personal best. Then came the 50m 15 year old girls Free Final. This again saw Georgia in the finals, this time in lane 6, entered on 28.72. She swam to another PB in a time of 28.58. The evening ended with more relays, including the boys 4x50m freestyle relay where Thame A put in a fantastic swim and George Finch put in an unofficial leg time of 27.15! When you add the 0.4-0.5 to allow for the takeover, he was swimming the leg in about 27.55. It doesn’t count as a PB but a great swim all the same and yes, Jamie and George have been bickering about it ever since.

On the final day of the championships, everyone was tired and longing for the end. Two weekends of some great swimming had caused much exhaustion and many cases of gala bum! Grace Gilmore opened the days swimming for Thame, in the girls 100m fly in a time of 1:22.11. Then came the boys 100m freestyle with Nacho Mendi swimming 1:10.78, James Goetz 1:03.08 and George Finch 0.59.21 (a 1.14 PB) to become the first Thame swimmer to break the minute for the 100M freestyle! Then came Hallam Cozier in the 50m Back putting in a 1.79 second PB with a time of  43.92, taking home a finalists medal.

The final race of this championship saw Grace Gilmore swim in the girls 200m Fly in a time of 3:00.11.

Thame swimmers competed in 71 races and achieved 56 PB’s (79%), 13 Medals, and only 3 DQ’s. In 2010, Thame went to the counties with a smaller squad on qualification times that were less stringent. In 2011 Thame SC had a larger squad and put in an impressive performance by all of Thame swimmers who participated in the 2011 counties with several swimmers competing for the first time and swimmers who have just come back for illness and/or time off for exams. With everything taken in to account Thame swimmers did exceedingly well.

In one of the last relays, Struan McNeil, coach at Bicester Bluefins was one of the relay team members – so Dave, Darren, Rob and ????? and Thame C for 2012!!!!!!

Thame Swimming Club would like to say a HUGE  thank you to all the parents who supported their children in this event and a special thank you to all parents who gave their time to volunteer to help at the county championships. An even bigger thank you must go to Wendy Randall and the team of officials who gave their time for complete sessions even when their children were not at this event or only had one swim.  

Well done to all who took part and thanks again to everyone who volunteered.

9th March 2011

Details here about the swimming arrangements for the Easter holidays, click on the poster to enlarge the Easter Calendar.

8th March 2011

The Bills Compete at the First Ever Oxfordshire Schools Gala

They faced swimmers from King Alfred’s School, Sibford School, Marlborough and Didcot Girls School & St Birinus. That meant they faced stiff competition from the best of COSC, AVSC, Bicester Bluefins, Wantage and those Didcot Barramundis. The guys all know each other from ISIS training and will be battling it out again at the Oxon & North Bucks County Champs again on Saturday 12th March. 

The squad swam well with some cracking swims in the relays and several PBs being set. Now, the organisers ran the event well but the system was not like our normal ASA rules galas so we don’t yet have the official times, those attached were taken by Thame SC Chairman, Ian Goetz, from the shallow end – attempting to see when each swimmer had touched at the deep end, so they are APPROXIMATE. There were no judges but from what we could see at the shallow end, the turns were all good. Click here for Ians times! (pdf)

Overall the squad came third with 118 points. King Alfred’s and then Didcot Girls School & St Birinus came second and first with 139 and 146 points respectively. King Alfred’s have laid down the gauntlet to challenge Lord Williams’s to an inter-school gala. Mr Brooks is definitely up for that so the Bills will be swimming again soon. 

Once again, many thanks to Mr Brooks for ensuring Lord Williams’s swimmers get the chance to represent the school in competitive swimming and giving up his time for them.

Well done Bills!

Grace Gilmore went 1:11.00 in the 100m Free, setting a new PB and edging closer to an ASA South East Regional qualifying time. Liam Talbott took another second of his PB time in the boys 100m free. Emma Hodson went 5.41 seconds faster in the girls 50m Breast and Joshua Williams went 7.90 seconds faster. The PB’s kept on coming with Hannah Hawken in the girls 50m Fly, Joshua Williams in the 50m Free and May Allen in the girls 50m back went 1.70 seconds faster to get a county consideration time. Oliver Hawken swam 1.01 seconds faster in the 50m backstroke. The PB’s still kept coming with Rachel Newton in the girls 50m Back and Jessica Russell in the 50m Breast as well as Grace Gilmore in the 50m free and Joshua Williams again in the 50m free. More PB’s for Amy Fleming and Liam Talbott in the 100m back and Connor Lloyd in the 50m Breast. There were numerous other Pb’s in the opening legs of the relays with new Pb’s for Ella Simms, Kymir Ibragimov, Nacho Mendi, Harry Moore, Amy Strong, Elliot Riley-Brown, and Liam Talbott.

Overall a great performance from Thame swimmers and we look forward to the next round at the Aqua vale on the 9th April 2011, watch out for Tony’s emails.

24th February 2011

Thame Goes The Distance: Counties 1500M/800M and 400M Events 13/02/2011 and 20/02/11

Grace Gilmore 10:45.56, Georgia Cahill 10:49.43, Amy Haarburger 11:28.03,Hannah Hawken 11:32.29, Rebecca Smith 11:32.89, Florence Savage 12:06.99 and Olivia Hawkes 12:39.86. The second weekend saw Grace Gilmore back in action, joined by Lauren Collins and George Finch for the 400m events.

Girls 400m IM, Grace Gilmore set a new personal best at 6:14.58and 13th place in age group. In the boys 400m IM, George Finch set a new personal best at 5:20.69 and 5th place in age group, with a finalists’ medal.
In the girls 400m Freestyle, Lauren Collins set a new personal best at 6:27.91 and new PB’s in the 100m and 200m splits. Grace Gilmore set a new personal best at 5:26.61 and 17th place in age group.

Overall a fantastic start to the 2011 Counties for all our swimmers competing and many for the first time in these events, all our swimmers achieved new personal best times. On a personal note it was a pleasure to be there to watch and support our swimmers whose performances were outstanding. Click here for Results.

Well done to all and well done Thame SC.
David Jones, Head Coach, Thame SC.

24th February 2011

We have now received the accepted entries for the main county championships over the weekends 5th-6th March and 12th-13th March.

This year’s County Championships are a Cardless meet. No cards will be sent to swimmers. You will have to be at your session in time for warm up to allow the Thame SC Coach or Team Manager on duty at the time to inform the organisers which swimmers are present. Therefore, please allow time to park and get to the Aqua Vale pool. The event is very busy and it is not unheard of for everyone to be kept waiting outside until the leisure centre staff allow entry, so please ensure you have suitable clothing to keep warm in the queue before entry. Car parking will be limited with most of the Aqua Vale car park being used for officials and coaches. Therefore, if you can be dropped off or you can lift share we suggest you take that option.

The venue for the County Champs on 5th – 6th March and 12th – 13th March is:

Aqua Vale Swimming & Fitness Centre
Park Street,
Aylesbury,
Buckinghamshire,
HP20 1DX
T+ 44 (0)1296 488555

The accepted swims, events and session warm up times are available on the following links, please click on them for further information

• Thame Accepted Entries
• Events & Days
• Session Times
• Thame Relay Teams

They have not made it easy with different terminology on all the information that is being issued, but if you look at the events and the session timings together you will see that, For Example - Gala 5 on 5th March relates to the morning session, Gala 6 to the afternoon and Gala 7 to the evening. You can then follow that through for the rest of the sessions on the other days.

The Open individual events are for all swimmers aged 9 & over. There are events that state for Boys 11 & over and Girls 10 & over, which means any swimmers under the lowest age shown are not eligible for that event.

For the Relay teams, all Thame teams are competing as Juniors, as the teams are all under 16 years old.

CAR PARKING: The Aqua Vale car park will not be empty and will probably be reserved for coaches and officials. You may have to find parking elsewhere in Aylesbury. Please allow time to get from your car to Aqua Vale and also ensure that you’ll be able to get your car out of the car park after the last session in the evening when the championships have finished. The following link gives info on parking costs and times www.eplanning.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/ . Remember that the multi-story car park next to the cinema has been pulled down and hence there is less parking available near the Aqua Vale, you may want to lift share or get dropped off.

LOCKERS: The general public will still be using the fun pools at Aqua Vale. Swimmers are advised to take coins for the lockers at Aqua Vale as in the past simply placing clothes in an unlocked locker has resulted in clothes being thrown on the floor by members of the public. DO NOT leave valuables in your locker. You will not be able to take large bags poolside as the life guards will be looking to keep the air conditioning system clear (the vents are at the back of where the swimmers sit).

FOOD & DRINK: Please bring food to keep you going poolside during the event, suggestions for what to bring can be found in the Membership Pack: http://www.thameswimmingclub.co.uk/TSC_Membership_Pack_v3.0-6-6-2009.pdf . There is a coffee area at the pool but this will not be open for the whole period of the championships.

Enjoy the County Championships and good luck!

21st February 2011

ISIS AQUATICS – Thame SC Withdrawal

As you know, ISIS Aquatics was set up in 2010 to provide additional development capability for Oxfordshire swimmers pushing towards ASA South East Region (SER) times and competitions, under an experienced coach, Lindsay Powell. Lindsay left City of Oxford Swimming Club (COSC) in the Autumn of 2010 and COSC, Abingdon Vale SC and Wantage SC have now all decided to withdraw from ISIS Aquatics. This means that the original aim of ISIS Aquatics is no longer being delivered. In addition, the ability of Thame SC’s coaches and swimmers to attend ISIS training on a regular basis has been severely hampered by clashes with Saturday competitions. The proposals to move ISIS to a fortnightly based Saturday session in the Banbury 50M open air pool between May & September do not address these issues and hence, after consultation with the Thame SC committee, coaches and parents, Thame SC is withdrawing from ISIS Aquatics.

For those of you with swimmers who have swum with ISIS, ISIS will no longer be available to you. Thame SC is constantly looking at ways of extending pool time for our swimmers and providing the training needed to extend their performance. We are looking at ways of developing 50M training sessions and swim camps with our colleague in the BBAT clubs.

If you have any questions, please contact communications@thameswimmingclub.co.uk

21st February 2011

....And Now a Parents View

Crystal Palace was an imposing setting for the South Regionals. One could only look in horrified admiration at the lemming like kids doing their practice on the highest diving board. Poolside most people were sporting tops with "top that" logos - Nationals 2010, Easter Island Training Camp - that sort of thing. Even the parents had classier carrier bags.

We met Dave there - he'd had a long journey as his SatNav had taken him via Alexandra Palace! Jane and I had gone down the night before to stay at Georgia's brother Jack's flat 10 minutes away but I had underestimated just how uncomfortable and ill equipped a bachelor pad can be (think Men Behaving Badly) but bless him, he gave up his bed so Georgia could get some valuable kip. She did really well with 2 PB long course 100m Free and Back but the competition was fearsome. All in all, a valuable experience and actually a really enjoyable trip to London.

Jamie pipped George on times in the 50M free and yes, they bickered in the car all the way back to Thame about who is the fastest – the excuses are getting better but Jamie swam a good race given he hasn’t been able to train for nearly 3 weeks due to an ear infection and was on Doctor’s orders to only be in the water for a maximum of 30 seconds. His time... 29.10 secs.

Thame SC didn’t have a coach at the event due to some admin issues so thanks to Emma Riley for sitting in with the swimmers for the second session on Sunday 13th Feb and also to our friends at Bourne End SC who host Thame in their little corner, poolside and in particular Andy Ruler, Head Coach at BESC who helped to ensure the Thame swimmers were supported and in the right place at the right time. We were surprised to hear the James Newton was swimming and put in a massive PB in the 200M IM, achieving 2:41.61.... except he’s from Peterborough SC! Well done to the Thame trio.

Fancy a night out? Click here for the poster for a great event on 26th February when the famous Oxford cappella group will perform at the Holywell Music Room, in Oxford in aid of UCARE.

UCARE (urology cancer research and education) is a local charity that Thame Swimming Club has teamed up with for our annual sponsored swim (more info on this very soon).  Simon Burnett, our local Olympic Swimmer is patron to both Thame Swimming Club and UCARE.

29th January 2011

Thame SC Head to Dunstable for the Chiltern League Round 1.

Saturday evening Thame Swimming Club travelled to Dunstable for the first round of the Chiltern League.  We just managed to field a full team, with Rachael Newton celebrating her 14th Birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHeL) and about half our original team at the birthday bash.

The atmosphere was electric, Olivia Hawkes (Girls Vice Captain) opened the swimming of Thame in the 100m Freestyle to take second place and score the teams first points. Liam Talbott was up next to take first place and a new PB also in the 100m Freestyle.

Sophie Smith put in a new PB in the girls 10 and under 50m Breaststroke, Nacho Mendi  went 2.93 seconds faster in the Boys 50m Butterfly and obtaining a county consideration time. William Finch kept the PB’s coming when he swam 3.91 seconds faster than his previous best time in the 10 and under boys 50m freestyle. In the 12 and under 50m Backstroke Bronte Cozier for the girls set a new PB of 45.06, and little bother Hallam went 45.71 a county time and new PB. 14 and under 50m Backstroke saw Florence Savage and Nacho Mendi put in new PB’s and both reach county consideration times.

Amy Fleming set a new PB in the girls 100m Breast stroke. Harry Moore kept up the good work with a new PB and County consideration time in the Boys 12 and under 50m Breast stroke. Samuel Collins swam straight to a county time in his first ever competition in  the boys 10 and under Backstroke, Florence Savage put in a new PB in the girls 12 and under 50m Butterfly, George Finch set a new personal best in the boys 100m Backstroke, Callum Talbot in the boys 50m Freestyle went 38.75 setting a new PB.

The team did very well we took:-
16 1st places
17 2nd places
8 3rd places
5 4th places
And only 3 DQ’s

Due to the nature of how this event is scored Thame swam 12 events too fast (good news for the swimmers and coaches) however not so good for the points i.e. 12 events that we didn’t score any points on.  Keep up the good work guys swimming faster is better than points.

On the night we scored 172 points coming 3rd overall and are currently in 5th place in the division 2.
Well done to all who took part and I have selected the team for the next round, 26th February 2011 at Stanton bury Campus, Milton Keynes. Please watch out for Tony’s email and remember to reply please ASAP.

17th January 2010

EXTRA FREE SWIMMING SESSIONS

A Level 2 coaching course is being run in Abingdon and the organisers have appealed to local Oxfordshire clubs to see if any swimmers wants to attend these sessions. The coaches who are taking the Level 2 course need swimmers to coach in their practical sessions. There are no Thame SC Coaches on this course and this isn’t being run by or through the club. If you want to go, they do ask that you go for all the sessions as the coaches have to be able to show a progressions through the course which means they really need the same swimmers to work with.

The dates for the sessions are:

• 23 Jan 1-3pm
• 29 Jan 1-3pm
• 30 Jan 1-3pm
• 9 April 1-3 pm
• 16 April 1-3pm
• 17 April 1-3pm

To find out more please contact:

15th January 2011

Swimmers Celebrate at the Club Presentation Night 

Thame Swimming Club gathered together at the Spread Eagle in Thame on Saturday 15th January to celebrate the swimmers achievements through 2010 and in particular at Club Champs. Rob Brooks, Director of Sport at Lord Williams’s School came along to present the Rob Brooks development trophy to the most improved swimmer of 2010. Our volunteer coaches, Sherri Cozier, Rob Briars, Karen Powell, Darren Talbott and Cara Evans were thanked for their support for the club with M&S Vouchers and all the officials whose time at the galas as time keepers and judges is so vital to the club’s participation, were thanked with a bottle of wine, all except the under 18 time keepers who got a bottle of coke. The swimmers received their trophy plates from Club Championships showing their 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in their age group, from Head Coach Dave Jones. 

The DQ awards made a welcome return. The award for the “Best Excuse for Missing a Gala” went to Liam Talbott for being hit by an apple in the face before the ESSA Division 10 team championships in November 2010. The “Best face pulled at a gala” went to Chris Swart and Rachel Newton whose pose at the Abingdon gala was given special mention as she’s been a good sport whilst being teased mercilessly by us all. The “Longest Shower” award went to Emily Malkin, Chris Swart, George Finch, Jamie Goetz and Susannah Smith. The DQ2 Award for the best avoided DQ had to go to Hallum Cozier who at the WDSC BC Meet in the 100M Butterfly, dived in early, did three strokes of breaststroke and took his goggles off before completing the race and winning GOLD! The “Can’t get out of bed in the morning” award, went to Amy Fleming from Group 4 County & District. The “Straight Face” award went to Marc Furlonger from the Masters squad, following his crushing defeat of both Jamie and George in the 50M fly at club champs. Marc simply said “ Well, I’ve never done it before”, George just said “Wow!”. There was also the punishment award(?). Girls Vice Captain Olivia Hawkes, Girls Captain, Georgia Cahill and Coach Cara Evans have all been training in WYCOMBE Hats. They were asked to either plead with their parents to get them the right kit or take a forfeit – Head Coach Dave Jones was stood behind them with a picture of some mistletoe and his lips puckered. The girls thought about it for all of a second and headed straight out of the door, good sports. 

The coaching team again awarded their awards for the swimmer in their groups who they felt deserved recognition for determination and commitment. The awards were as follows: 

6th January 2011

2011 South East region County qualifying times:

ASA South East Region - Age Group Championships 2011

ASA SER Youth Qualifying Times 2011

Everyone had to be Thame SC members this year due to insurance issues and only swimmers who were 15 and with a parent or 16 could participate. It was a cold night which started in the Lower High Street outside the Six Bells. As we walked around Thame we were treated to snow and as the clouds cleared – the temperature dropped. At the end of the evening we returned to the Six Bells for the count and carried home a somewhat heavy carrier bag full of coins all bagged up and ready for one of the Club Officials – Laurene Holmes to bank for us at HSBC. The team raised over £400 for the club, well done to all and a very Merry Christmas!

5th December 2010

Thame Does a Three Way Split!

Thame swimming went to three different pools over the weekend of 4th – 5th December, with swimmers swimming in a Level 3 meet at Swindon Tigersharks Link Centre pool, a Level 2 meet at the City of Oxford Temple Cowley pool and a team Gala Leighton Buzzard SC Tiddenfoot pool. Hallum Cozier was especially well travelled when he ended up swimming in all three pools well done Hallum.

Meanwhile in Oxford, the first event for our swimmers was the 100M Free, Liam Talbott setting a new PB. Girls Squad Captain, Georgia Cahill swam the 100M Back with a new PB and ISIS qualification time. Boys Squad Captain, George Finch became County qualified in the 200M IM, Georgia Cahill gained another ISIS time in the girls 50M Free. Again on Day two all swims were of county consideration level, so another very good performance from all swimmers.

Well done to all the swimmers, coaches and officials. A great, if tiring and hectic weekend. See you all at Parents .v. Kids on 10th December, 7pm – 9pm

28th November 2010

Swimmers & Parents Enjoy Club Champs!

Thame Swimming Club held its’ second club championships at the Aqua Vale in Aylesbury on Sunday 28th November 2010. The sun shone, briefly, at the beginning of the event which so easily could have been cancelled by the threatened snow which fortunately never arrived. 76 swimmers, including, for the first time, the Masters took to the water in competition. The awards will be presented at the Club Presentation Night on 15th January 2011 at the Spread Eagle in Thame. Swimmers can win awards for a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in each of the events for each age group – 9 & Under, 10,11,12,13,14,15,16 & Over and Masters. In addition we will be presenting the Coach’s awards for the Girl and Boy in each group (1A, 1B, 2,3 & 4) who the coach feels deserves recognition for commitment, attendance and effort during training. We will of course be presenting the Rob Brooks Development Trophy for the most improved swimmer and the Simon Burnett Competition Award for the most competitive swimmer. The results from Club Championships can be seen on the Results page of the website.

There were some great swims at the event. In the 50M Butterfly, Boys Captain, George Finch, rarely beaten at this distance was heard to say “Wow” when Master, Mark “I’ve never done this before” Furlonger powered past him to take the race, praise indeed from George. Tom Birmingham, Ian Keys, Carol Kavanagh and Richard Dunbabin, who had raced a 10km run in the morning, all competed for the Masters. There were several first time competition swimmers at the event and they received some sweets and a swim bag as a special prize. Heat winners also received sweets and parents could all take part in the raffle for prizes which included wine and a hamper. Dom Holmes, swimming with a strapped up broken little finger, managed to upset to referee who was concerned his strapping was an advantage – i.e. a paddle on his hand. Fortunately, Head Coach, David Jones, sorted things out.  There were some DQs and as usual swimmers should speak to their coach about their DQ so they can learn and avoid repeating it at their next competition. That also applies to Sherri Cozier or should we say COACH and Masters swimmer, Sherri Cozier who false started on one of her events, falling in to the pool and was DQ’d. Now, Sherri – if you speak to Dave about the reason for your DQ, we’re sure he’ll sort it out for you!

A great day was had by all with swimmers setting new club records, personal bests and with the number of disqualifications falling by over 50 percent, it was a pleasure to watch our athletes develop their skills in the pool. Many swimmers had a great day and put in some tremendous swims most notably are:-

GIRLS

• Florence Savage went 21.06 seconds faster in 200m IM,  
• Lily Hawkes went 30.49 seconds faster in 100 Breast stroke
• Lauren Powell went 14.47 seconds faster in the 50m Back stroke
• Rowan Reed went 25.15 faster in the 200m Breast stroke with Emma Briars going 35.89 seconds faster in the same event
• Danielle Kidd went 42.00 seconds faster in the 100m Fly along with Ella Simms 11.68, Imogen Newell 13.24, Rhiannon Price 16.48 and Kasia Coleman 11.91seconds faster.
• In the 200m Fly saw Grace Gilmore and Susannah Smith go 14.20 and 19.88 seconds faster respectively.
• 200 Freestyle saw Danielle Kidd 21.25, Rowan Reed 24.69, Daisy Laye 15.23, Rebecca Brightling 26.86 and Emily Malkin 18.71 second Pb’s.
• 200 Back stroke saw Danielle Kidd go 34.17 seconds faster along with Florence Savage 14.54 and Maisie McDonald 58.69 second PB.
• 100 m Freestyle saw Catherine Jacobs knock 11.42 seconds of her previous time along with Catlin Woods 18.95, Imogen Newell 11.97 and Freya Cox 14.18 seconds faster.
• Maisie McDonald back in action went 10.79 seconds faster in the 50m Fly.

BOYS

• Thomas Goetz knock 10.02 seconds of his personal best time in the 100m Breast
• Hallam Cozier swim 13.04 seconds faster in the 100m Fly with George Howlett coming home 45.53 seconds faster in the same event
• Callum Talbott put in a 12.45 second PB in the 50m Breast
• Boys Vice Captain James Goetz came home 50.71 seconds faster in the 200m Fly
• 100m Freestyle saw Callum Talbott and Mark Camden swim 14.25 and 18.63 second faster respectively.
• Mark Camden knocked another 14.82 seconds off in the 50m Fly. 

Swimmers obtaining county consideration qualifying times (subject to age) are- 

• Girls Captain: Georgia Cahill (7)
• Hallum Cozier (2)
• Boys Captain: George Finch (10)
• Amy Fleming (2)
• Grace Gilmore (9)
• Hannah Hawken (4)
• Boys Vice Captain: James Goetz (1)
• George Howlett (1)
• Catherine Jacobs (1)
• Danielle Kidd (8)
• Nacho Mendi (1)
• Rachel Newton (1)
• Holly Revill (1)
• Ella Simms (2)
• Liam Talbott (4) 

The lights went out towards the end of the event when the system tripped out. The time was well used to get the club photograph for 2010 as fortunately Chairman, Ian Goetz, had the big flash gun with him on the day. The lighting was not great for photography all day, of the 405 photos taken on the day, many were blurred due to the low light and ended up on the cutting room floor. The good ones can be seen on the Gallery page of the website. 

Well done to everyone that took part, and thank you to the officials, committee and other volunteers who took time out to make our 2nd Club Championship a great success.

24th November 2010

Thame Swimmers Compete in Triathlon

We don’t normally have pictures of our members on bikes or running but this article is an exception. Three of Thame Swimming Clubs swimmers took part in the 1st Thame Scouts, Rowallen Troop Triathlon to raise money for Children in need in Saturday 20th November.

Our Vice Chairman, Andrew Newton, runs the Rowallen troop and wanted to give the scouts an opportunity to earn a physical activity badge whilst raising money for a good cause. Mark Camden, James Newton and Thomas Goetz all took part in the 2kM run, 10kM cycle and 200M swim.

The scouts parents were poolside to cheer them on and we suspect a tired scout troop slept well on Saturday night. Andrew Newton was very pleased with his scouts achievement, they all excelled themselves. Well done to all involved!

24th November 2010

Thame Girls Compete for the Bills at the ESSA Team Championships 

Girls from Lord Williams’s School and Thame Swimming Club were competing for the Bills, the school swimming team on Friday 19th November and the Watford, Woodside Leisure Centre. Mr Brooks kindly gave up his Friday evening to take the squad down in the minibus for the ESSA Division 10 Girls Team Championships. As ever, Lord Williams’s were one of the only, if not the only comprehensive school attending the event and were competing against teams from across the Division 10 region, including Dr Chaloners and The Abbey School (High Wycombe). In the Bills squad were; Rachel Newton, Rebecca Brightling, Holly Revill, Grace Gilmore, Susannah Smith and our old friend from WDSC, Charley Messenger.

The girls put in some good swims in the 4 x 50M Freestyle and 4 x 50M Medley relays for both the Junior (Years 7, 8 & 9) and Intermediate (Years 10 & 11) categories. Since the events were relays, only the first leg times count. Rachel Newton, swimming the first leg of the medley relay, put in a time of 38.29 seconds in the 50M backstroke, achieving a county time for the Oxfordshire & North Buckinghamshire ASA County. The girls wouldn’t have a team photo as they all moaned their hair was a mess and they didn’t all have their school tracksuits with them – so no pic this time. Well done to all the swimmers and many thanks to Mr Brooks for managing the team.

24th November 2010

ALL TRAINING CANCELLED ON SUNDAY 28th NOVEMBER 2010

On Sunday 28th November the club will be holding our annual Club Championships. The coaches and swimmers will be at Aqua Vale in Aylesbury from 1pm (warm up) until 8pm and hence our usual Sunday training programme for the 28th November has been Cancelled. Our normal training schedule will resume on Monday 29th November 2010. Group 4: County & District will be glad to get the lie in on Sunday morning as you’ll need all your energy for the 200M Butterfly!

24th November 2010

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010 EVENT DETAILS

Our first ever Club Championships is on Sunday 28th November and will be held at Aqua Vale in Aylesbury. For those of you who haven’t competed there before the address is:

Aqua Vale Swimming & Fitness Centre
Park Street,
Aylesbury,
Buckinghamshire,
HP20 1DX
T+ 44 (0)1296 488555

The first session warm up starts at 1pm, please allow time for swimmers to be poolside in time for warm up. We have secured qualified officials to ensure that the swimmers times count should they qualify for entry to the Oxfordshire and North Buckinghamshire County Championships in February and March 2010.

CAR PARKING: Since our championships start at 1pm, the car park will not be empty and won’t be free. You may have to find parking elsewhere in Aylesbury. Please allow time to get from your car to Aqua Vale and also ensure that you’ll be able to get your car out of the car park after 8pm in the evening when the championships have finished. The following link gives info on parking costs and times www.eplanning.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/

LOCKERS: The general public will still be using the fun pools at Aqua Vale. Swimmers are advised to take coins for the lockers at Aqua Vale as in the past simply placing clothes in an unlocked locker has resulted in clothes being thrown on the floor by members of the public. DO NOT leave valuables in your locker.

FOOD & DRINK: Please bring food to keep you going poolside during the event, suggestions for what to bring can be found in the Membership Pack: http://www.thameswimmingclub.co.uk/TSC_Membership_Pack_v3.0-6-6-2009.pdf . There is a coffee area at the pool but this will not be open for the whole period of our championships.

SPECTATORS: It’s only Thame Swimming Club at this event and whilst we’ll be using the first two rows of seats as the marshalling area for the swimmers there will still be plenty of room so bring the whole family to cheer you on and raise the roof with cheers of support. Spectators entry fee is £2/head and £1/programme.

AWARDS: Awards will be presented at the Club Presentation Night on 15th January 2011 at the Spread Eagle in Thame. Swimmers can win awards for a 1st, 2nd or  3rd place in each of the events for each age group – 9 & Under, 10,11,12,13,14,15,16 & Over, Masters . In addition we will be presenting the Coach’s awards for the Girl and Boy in each group (1A, 1B, 2,3 & 4) who the coach feels deserves recognition for commitment, attendance and effort during training. We will of course be presenting the Rob Brooks Development Trophy for the most improved swimmer and the Simon Burnett Competition Award for the most competitive swimmer.

So, see you all at Aqua Vale on Sunday 28th November! 

4th November 2010

Christmas Training Schedule 2010

Thame Leisure Centre have informed us that the pool has essential maintenance 20th – 27th Dec. Headington pool will not be available on the 28th Dec.

Click on the Christmas training schedule image here to see what sessions are on over the Christmas holiday.

Mr Brooks will be contacting swimmers asap after half-term – so listen out in School Notices. If possible, please keep your diaries clear for those evenings in case you are called upon to swim for the school as a member of the BILLS.

Dave was assisted poolside by Karen, Sherri and Darren and Thame provided a large number of time keepers for the event. Our thanks to Wendy Randall, Ros Hawkes, Jane MacDonald, Mark Simms, Sue Hewett, Conny & Andrew Gilmore, Laurene Holmes, Elaine Brightling and Siobhan Smith. There were some great swims, Marcus Birmingham achieved a 7 second PB and walked away with a gold medal. Amy Haarburger put in a storming swim in the 200M IM whilst many, including Maisie Randall and Amy’s sister Ellie, who only started swimming with Thame SC in September, were competing in a 50M Long Course pool for the first time. There were some DQ’s so if you were DQ’d, have a chat with your coach and find out why so you can work on it. Some were due to the old problem of fiddling with goggles after you’ve dived in – unfortunately this is a DQ. Mind you one of our swimmers must be a cat as he had nine lives where DQs are concerned. He dived in early, removed his goggles, did breaststroke on a butterfly swim for 3 strokes and then carried on.....getting the gold medal in his age group, like I said 9 lives.

There were quite a few PBs as this was a Long Course event so many swimmers PB’d on their long course times and if they were lucky, also on their Short Course (SC) times as well. Lauren Collins PB’d on every swim. The results will be posted on the Results page of the club website.

Florence Savage had a birthday announcement at the event – Happy Birthday Florence (or Florrie on your hat!) and it was noted that we have two new members... a Miss Lozza and a Miss Moomin? You can tell the new hats have arrived, if you haven’t had yours, contact communications@thameswimmingclub.co.uk or see Carol Allen (Club Welfare and Kit Officer) poolside. Some of swimmers at the WDSC BC meet came first in their age group only to find they had no medal. This is because they were entered on a B grade time and finished with a C grade time – effectively slower than they entered so a non-award was posted.

The medals were coming thick and fast and that meant the club was accumulating top visiting club points. At the end of the second session on the first day Thame SC were the top visiting club by 6 points. By the end of the day this had risen to 13 points thanks in part to a gold in the 200M Butterfly from Boys Vice Captain Jamie Goetz. Needless to say there was some friendly banter with Andy Ruler, BESC Head Coach on who was going to win. The competition hotted up during the first session on Sunday – Bourne End SC closed the gap to 2 points by lunchtime but by the end of the second session Thame were declared the Top Visiting Club for the second year running! Boys Vice Captain Jamie Goetz and Hannah Hawken collected the Trophy, an engraved plate, from WDSC Chairman, Steve Vine.

Thame SC swimmers achieved 16 speeding tickets, 39 Gold, 29 Silver and 18 Bronze medals at this meet. There were 6 DQs. So, congratulations to all the swimmers in the squad – a great achievement resulting in Thame’s second trophy, well done to all!

The next major club competition will be the Club Championships on Sunday 28th November – watch out for details soon.

Click here to see the Thame Gazette article for this event.

13th October 2010

George Anderson Is a Proud Father!

Our Land Training coach, George Anderson became a proud father this week, Rowan Freddie George Anderson was born on 9th October at a weight of 9lb 5oz . Mother and baby are doing well and George is now getting used to no sleep, nappy changing and the smell of Milton fluid. Congratulations to the Andersons from Thame Swimming Club!!!!

Well, we know the training is hard Simon but you were certainly on form this week so when you head out onto the blocks for London 2012, Thame Swimming Club will be in the stands cheering you on!

Team England had their best ever medal haul in with 34 medals at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. So, Thame Swimmers, it was interesting to hear that Scotland and Team GB swimmer, Hannah “Smiley” Miley covers 80kM in the pool each week – or 3200 lengths! So no more moaning when Dave puts on a hard set. We hope you’ve been glued to your screens following teams England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and....Guernsey (yep they were in the 4 x 100M Medley relay as well) and picking up all those good tips on technique, starts, turns, stroke and of course...the underwater phase!!!!

Well done to all and in particular to Simon who we hope to see back in Thame with his medals!

You can watch Simon in the 4 x 100M Medley here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/commonwealth_games/delhi_2010/9077078.stm

7th October 2010

Simon Burnett Takes Silver in the Mens 100M Freestyle at the Commonwealth Games

Simon went into this event as the defending Commonwealth champion from the 2006 games in Melbourne. Simon was up against Brent Hayden of Canada in this event, currently the fastest in the Commonwealth. He swam a great first 50M and kept on gaining ground on the Canadian edging the Australian Eamon Sullivan, into Bronze and taking Silver for England in a time of 48.54 seconds.

Simon was interviewed by the BBC’s Sharron Davies after the event and thanked all back home for the support he’s receiving. He’s getting loads of support from the club, Oxfordshire and his old swimming colleagues. BBC Sport’s website has a tweet from former team GB swimmer, Karen Pickering expressing support for Simon.

Simon also asked people to help a charity he is supporting in Oxford. The charity is called Ucare and you can visit their website by clicking on this link: http://www.ucare-oxford.org.uk/.

Simon still has the 4 x 100M Medley Relay and the 50M Freestyle to come.

To watch the Relay click here.

6th October 2010

Thame SC On The Malcolm Boyden BBC Oxford Radio Breakfast Show

Thame SC Chairman, Ian Goetz, was interviewed today for the BBC Radio Oxford Breakfast Show on 6th October 2010. The interview was about the clubs links with Simon Burnett and the Commonwealth games and swimming in Oxfordshire. Listen to the show on BBC iPLayer: ww.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_oxford/20101006 The section on Thame SC & Simon Burnett starts at 2.09.10 and runs to 2.13.30 on the counter.

4th October 2010

Simon Burnett Leads Team England’s 4 x 100M Freestyle Relay Team to a SILVER Medal

The 4 x 100M Freestyle relay final at the commonwealth games in Delhi, pitted Team England against Australia, Canada and South Africa for the medals. The start was delayed due to floating debris in lane 5 – guess which lane Team England were in, yep – Lane 5. Out came the pool man with his net but he needed the extension so went away and came back again and all was well.

Thame’s Patron, Simon Burnett swam the first 100M leg in a time of 48.82 seconds. The 2nd leg was swum by Liam Tancock in 48.0 seconds followed by Grant Turner and Adam Brown. The team challenged the Australians and South Africans throughout the race and came in second, taking SILVER in 3:15.05. Well done team England and well done Simon!

When the 4 x100M team were interviewed by BBC Presenter and former Team GB Olympic Swimmer Sharon Davies, Simon said Hello to Thame Swimming Club...... and his Mum & Dad. Many thanks Simon.

Watch the Mens 4 x 100M Freestyle Relay: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport

Thame were plagued by a disappointingly poor turn out from parents and swimmers booking the gala and by illness, losing 3 swimmers to the latest lurgy to make it’s way around the schools of Thame. There were no minimum times for this event and hence it was an ideal opportunity for the younger and less experienced Thame swimmers to get some competition experience.

Many thanks to the Thame officials who turned out to time keep – Mark Simms, Wendy Randall, Greg Smith, Jane Moore, Sue Hewett, Ros Hawkes and Conny Gilmore. Also thanks to coach Cara Evans who turned out on Saturday 25th Sept to support Head Coach Dave Jones and the squad at the event along with Team Manager, Tony Collins.

There were some cracking PBs. Boys Captain George Finch narrowly missed his target of less than 1 minute for the 100M Freestyle with a time of 1:00.35 and that afte5r a cracking PB in the 200M Butterfly earlier in the day. Grace Gilmore secured her place at the 2011 Oxfordshire & North Buckinghamshire County Champs for 100M Butterfly with a time of 1:23.59. Thame SC had 4 girls in that event – Jessica Russell, Florence Savage and Susannah Smith all clinched PBs as well. In the girls 50M Butterfly, Maisie Randall took first place in the 9 year old age group.

On the last day of the event, 3rd October, when the 800m and 1500m events were being run, Thame SC fielded its’ first ever 800m competitor. Florence Savage swam the 800M Freestyle in a little over 12 minutes. Head Coach David Jones commented that Florence had swum a stead and almost perfect race, averaging 47 seconds for each 50M. Well done Florence!

Thame SC will be back in action again at the WDSC Meet on 16th – 17th October and don’t forget to get your entries for the Maxwell December meet in by 15th October.

I'm looking forward to the competition starting and I'm feeling quite good in the water, I'm confident I can shave some more off the times I posted at Europeans.

Talking of Europeans, I was extremely happy with my swims especially in the 50. It's been 5 years since I've swum that fast and that's really got me excited. Let that be a lesson to you all; perseverance and patience go hand-in-hand with any sport! Even though we only had a small team in Hungary it was a very elite team and great to be a part of, it was the most successful European Championship performance in British Swimming history!

So here I am at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, of all places. The people are very friendly (which is not uncommon at any big competition) and they've really made an effort to make it special. I think the reality of hosting a huge competition like this has only just started to sink in, the amount of work it takes to get this many athletes and coaches and staff comfortable and most importantly happy is no easy task, we have about 550 English team members alone! It's great to be part of such a massive team and with all the sports competing here you get to meet a lot of new people (and not just from England).

The Commonwealth Games is second only to the Olympics in terms of enjoyment and grandeur and I expect this Games to be no different. Waking up all those mornings at 5:15am was worth it when this is the reward and I would urge anyone to grab an opportunity like this with both hands when it presents itself. I can't wait for the Games to get started and thank you all for your support!

Simon B - Team England

Although each gift card is valued at £40 (a month of fat loss and toning at his Bootcamp costs £80) we want to sell as many as we can so are offering the gift cards for sale at just £20.

There are only 25 of these cards available so if you'd like to get your hands on one then reply to communications@thameswimmingclub.co.uk ASAP and we'll set one aside for you and put you in touch with George.  If you don't want one yourself but know of a friend or family member who might be interested, please pass this message on to them but remember it's first come, first served.

George runs Bootcamp sessions at 06:30 and 19:00 from the Thame Leisure Centre on Mondays and Thursdays, 09:30 on Wednesdays and 07:30 on Saturdays, as well as an 06:30 session on Wednesday and 09:30 Saturday workout in Headington.  More information is on his website www.thamebootcamp.co.uk or you can give George a call directly on 01844 660 009.

This is a great opportunity to help the club raise funds, and get fit in the process, Christmas is only 12 weeks away in case you didn't know! And you will all need to look your best in those swim suits at the Parents .v. Kids event before Christmas.

Thanks as always for your support,

Thame Swimming Club

Different aspects of the meet were organised by the different clubs with Thame picking up the computer Hytek software, run by Head Coach Dave Jones, the entry desk – kindly run by Webmaster Claire Revill and Welfare Officer Carol Allen who both unexpectedly took on the Raffle as well and announcing carried out by Chairman Ian Goetz and Treasurer Simon Haarburger and shared with Debbie Morgan of ADSC. Thame also provided the lion’s share of the time keepers, some of whom had only qualified last weekend on 12th September so many thanks and well done to them. A big thank you to Officials Secretary Wendy Randall and the time keepers for turning out and supporting the event as well as the other local officials who came to judge, start and referee. The event was aimed at providing the club swimmers a chance to compete without the cost being too high.

Club points were awarded for the BBAT Top Club Shield. Didcot Barramundi were pretty unstoppable in this competition, setting a standard and a score that was too big for our swimmers to close on. The final club points were:

There was also a top boy and a top girl and these both went to ADSC’s Hannah Morgan and Daniel Morgan – nothing like keeping it in the family. Thame’s Top Boy was Dom Holmes and our Top Girl was Danielle Kidd, well done to them. At the event Thame collected 21 golds, 23 silvers, 37 bronze and a good few speeding tickets. Out of all the swims team Thame achieved 47% PB’s BUT we also collected 30 DQ’s so if you were DQ’d have a chat with your coach to find out why and then work on the technique to avoid getting DQ’d again.

Thame swimmers put in some great swims and there were many PBs as well as some competition first timers like Nacho Mendi and new member Ellie Haarburger, who was chasing her big sister Amy who set a PB in each of her events. Due to an administrative error Club Boys Captain George Finch found himself in a rare line up – heat 1 of the boys 100M breaststroke alongside Harry Moore, James Newton and Rory Price. Well needless to say George shot off like a rocket leaving the other three to fight it out. The most memorable part of this event though was the enormous grin on James Newton’s face when he finished to the cheer of the whole crowd, having battled on after his goggles came off on the dive – well done James, who also took home a medal.

Medals and speeding tickets were coming thick and fast but just not fast enough to allow Thame to catch the Barramundis. Well done to Didcot!

The day ended with relays, initially the boys and girls 200M medley relays where Thame was able to enter two teams in each event. In the Under 12’s Girls 200M Medley relay the team of Rowan Read, Holly Revill, Grace Gilmore and Danielle Kidd put in a blistering performance to come in first and take gold medals home. In the same event for the boys Thomas Goetz, Nacho Mendi, Marcus Birmingham and Harry Moore took Bronze. The last event was a full Squadron relay, a 16 x25M Freestyle event with 8 boys and 8 girls in each squad, one in each age group 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. The event was to compete for the Squadron relay trophy which went to Didcot Barramundi with Thame coming third. Of the 16 25M swims, May Allen put in a great freestyle sprint as did the older members of the county squad.

The next BBAT meet will hopefully be a pre-counties qualification event in January 2011, watch this space for more details and then another full scale BBAT meet next September. Don’t forget Thame SC Club Champs on 28th November 2010!

Click here to see the photos from this event.

Thame swimmers will be back in action again on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th September at Temple Cowley in Oxford where the ISIS clubs have been invited to compete at the City of Oxford (COSC) Club Championships – best of luck to all those competing!

The swimmers put in some great swims with Grace, George and Nat achieving PBs. Nat also achieved a second and third place in two of his events and therefore could be considered for the ESSA Region 10 squad, fingers crossed.

Miss Lowe from Lord Williams’s School drove the minibus and accompanied the students and has hopefully got the swimming bug. The Bills will be back in action again in November for the Girls and Boys team events. Mr Brooks will be contacting swimmers about this nearer the time so listen out in school notices.

24th August 2010

AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY SWIMMING ARRANGEMENTS

Thame Leisure Centre will be shutting at 6pm on August Bank Holiday Monday, 30th August 2010. As a result we are cancelling the evening 7pm – 8pm Group 4 and Group 3 swimming session. However, a straw poll of the Masters suggested most of the Monday AM Masters swimmers would not be swimming that morning so in addition, we are CANCELLING the Monday 6am – 7:30am Masters session and opening it up to a combined Group 3 & 4 swimming training session as we do not expect all the Group 3 & 4 swimmers will be around on August bank holiday due to family holidays etc.

So, 

• MONDAY 30th August 2010 6am – 7:30am – will be a combined Group 3 & 4 training session for those who want to come. Masters is cancelled that morning.

• MONDAY 30th August 2010 7pm – 8pm session cancelled due to the early bank holiday closure of Thame Leisure Centre.

Normal swimming resumes on Tuesday 31st August 2010

BBAT MEET 19th Sept 2010 ENTRIES: YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU!

As you know, Thame SC is organising a gala on 19th September 2010 at Aqua Vale with Bourne End SC, Didcot Barramundis SC and Aylesbury District SC – the BBAT Meet and Thame SC NEEDS MORE ENTRIES!

The BBAT meet is a closed gala with only the 4 clubs taking part and is a great opportunity to compete in a friendly environment and also to try for your county times. There will be medals and also a TOP BOY and TOP GIRL trophy based on the points the swimmers accumulate as they compete in the various events and their finishing places. These trophies are not just for the top county swimmers, it’s all about your swimming in your age group throughout the day, so come along and have a go at winning them.

In addition, there is a TOP CLUB Trophy – I’m sure you’ll agree that we want this in the Thame SC Trophy Cabinet, but to do that we need swimmers to enter the events and sufficient swimmers for the relay events in Session 3. Dave will be picking the relay squads once he knows which swimmers will be there for Session 3. We need 4 x 50M boys and girls Freestyle and Medley relay teams and also enough swimmers for the 16x25M Squadron relay at the end. A girl and boy from each of the age groups (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) will swim 25M Freestyle in this relay with the clubs taking points accordingly. The atmosphere will be fantastic for these relay events – the spectators and swimmers normally raise the roof with the cheering for their swimmers and club,  so please come along and get involved. In this case POINTS MAKE PRIZES!

WE NEED:

SWIMMERS: To enter the BBAT meet click here for the entry pack, Dave can hold the entries open for the next few days sp please enter and make sure you are there for Session 3 for the relays. We have deliberately kept the cost of entry per event down for the BBAT meet as this is for our swimmers to get some competition.

TIMEKEEPERS: Each club organising the event is fulfilling different roles and since BESC and DBSC do not have qualified officials and ADSC are supplying the judges, referee and starter, Thame SC agreed to supply the time keepers as we have a good number qualified now. So far, the response has been poor, so can I please ask our time keepers to come forward and help at this event. This, like Club Champs, is our event and we need your help, ideally for all three sessions as we have 8 lanes to man. If you have volunteered and can do more sessions we would appreciate it, if you haven’t yet, please come forward – let Wendy Randall (Thame SC Officials Sec) know so she can work with the rest of the clubs to ensure the event runs smoothly. Many thanks.

18th July 2010

Summer Picnic A Great Success!

Thame Swimming Club held a summer picnic on Sunday 18th July 2010 on the Lord Williams’s School playing field adjacent to the swimming pool. The event was well attended and everyone agreed that Club Fundraising and Swim 21 Secretary Greg Smith had done a great job in pulling the event together. The original plan for a BBQ had to be changed at the last minute due to a change in school insurance banning naked flames on site.

Pimms and Beer were available as a free drink for parents on production of a ticket and the swimmers were able to quench their thirst on juice or coca cola. Newly qualified L1 coach, Darren Talbot lead the swimmers and some parents, in a game of rounders and the rain held off to allow us all to have a good time. Everyone brought a plate of savoury and a plate of sweet food and we all had a good chin wag and a great munch.

Have a great summer!

15th July 2010

Thame Swimming Club Partners with ISIS Aquatics

A new opportunity for swimming development has started in Oxfordshire. ISIS Aquatics and Thame SC have been part of the team working on the development of the constitution and the partnership between the club. ISIS Aquatics is a new Oxfordshire partnership  between Thame SC, City of Oxford SC, Abingdon SC, Whitney & District SC, Wantage White Horses SC, Abingdon Vale SC, Kidlington & Gosford SC, Banbury SC, Four Shires SC and Bicester Blue Fins. The club website can be reached through : http://www.isisaquatics.org.uk

The aim of ISIS is to provide a vehicle to enable those swimmers from the partner clubs, who are ASA South East Region (SER) qualified or within 5% of those times, to train together and attend regional and national events as the ISIS club, creating a supportive team for them at these events and the opportunity to compete in the relay events at these galas where the partner clubs might not have sufficient swimmers for a full relay team. In addition, the training allows these swimmers to make new friends across the geographic county of Oxfordshire and to be pushed by each other to attain new heights in their swimming performance.

Thame currently has five ISIS Swim Squad qualified swimmers. Thame SC Coaches will have the opportunity to attend ISIS training sessions and develop their coaching skills with the best in the county. We see this as good way to foster inter-club cooperation and to provide extra training for our top swimmers when they are not competing for Thame. As a swimmers times develop, Head Coach David Jones will monitor them against the ASA SER Times and when a swimmer comes into the Regional + 5% band, they will be notified and be eligible for ISIS.

Click here for the ISIS July 2010 newsletter

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