2023 Winter Regionals

Kicking off the 2023/24 short course championship season is the Swim England East Region SC Championships, aka Winter Regionals.  Twenty-one BSSC swimmers headed to Luton to compete against the best swimmers that the six Eastern counties of England could offer.  A single set of qualifying times per gender category, meant only the super speedy youngsters like 14 year old Dylan Davenport feature on the start lists and they would be battling against experienced competitors in their twenties.  Reaching a final meant you were in the top eight swimmers in the East Region for that event, irrespective of age.

Up first were the distance specialists competing in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events and Brandon Macdonald-Williams kicked the competition for BSSC off in superb style, coming 10^th in the 1500m and breaking a long standing 14-15 year old short course club record by 6 seconds (new time: 17:18.00).  The previous record of 17:24.22 had been set by Thomas Green in 2005. 

Six BSSC swimmers reached finals in their events and twelve swimmers finished in the top twenty in the East Region in their event, an outstanding achievement.  Although Dylan Davenport was 39^th overall in the 50m Freestyle, he was the 2^nd fastest 14 year old in the field, whilst Jakey Hayes was the 3^rd 16 and under swimmer in both the 100m Backstroke (13^th overall) and 200m Backstroke (9^th overall).  Both Dylan and Jakey continued their recent great form by swimming personal best times and qualifying for the Swim England National Winter Championships for the first time.  Dylan will compete in the 50m Freestyle and Jakey in the 100m and 200m Backstroke and they are joining Ella Greatbatch (50m/100m/200m Breaststroke), Laura Burgess (50m Freestyle), Lauren Gore (50m Breaststroke) and Niamh James (50m Backstroke, 200m IM). 

Top 20 finishes (Individual and Relay):

• Laura Burgess 4^th 50m Freestyle (26.55 heat, 26.64 final), 4^th 100m Freestyle (58.27 heat, 58.74 final)
• Callum Davis 4^th 100m Butterfly (57.68 heat, 57.27 final), 12^th 50m Butterfly (26.23)
• Emma Fields 6^th 100m Butterfly (1:05.81 heat, 1:05.19 final), 13^th 50m Butterfly (29.35)
• Niamh James 7^th 200m Backstroke (2:19.99 heat, 2:21.44 final), 8^th 200m IM (2:24.52 heat, 2:25.15 final), 15^th 50m Backstroke (30.59), 8^th 100m Backstroke (1:05.16)
• Ella Greatbatch 7^th 100m Breaststroke (1:13.38 heat, 1:13.50 final), 8th 200m Breaststroke (2:40.09), 13^th 50m Breaststroke (33.72)
• Jake Lloyd 8^th 100m Butterfly (58.78 heat, 59.78 final), 16^th 100m Freestyle (53.77), 18^th 200m Butterfly (2:19.09)
• Jakey Hayes 9^th 200m Backstroke (2:10.73),13^th 100m Backstroke (1:00.53)
• Dan Chada 11^th 50m Freestyle (24.36)
• Lauren Gore 16^th 50m Breaststroke (33.96), 18^th 200m Breaststroke (2:44.84)
• Brandon Macdonald-Williams 19^th 400m Freestyle (4:23.41)
• Meisha Trend-Evans 20^th 800m Freestyle (9:44.53)
• Grace Mason 20^th 200m Butterfly (2:40.90)
• Female 200m Freestyle Relay: 5^th BSSC
• Female 200m Medley Relay: 6^th BSSC
• Mixed 200m Freestyle Relay: 6^th BSSC A and 9^th BSSC B
• Mixed 200m Medley Relay: 6^th BSSC A, 9^th BSSC B
• Open/Male 200m Medley Relay: 6^th BSSC A, 14^th BSSC B
• Open/Male 20m Freestyle Relay: 7^th BSSC

Full list of qualifiers: Dylan Davenport (14 years); Beau Reilly, Brandon Macdonald-Wiliams, Ella Greatbatch (15 years); Alice Longman, George Taylor, Imogen Tang, Jacob Hayes, Robert Gor (16 years); David Badcock, Emma Fields, Grace Mason, Laura Burgess, Lauren Gore, Meisha Trend-Evans, Miriam Moukdad (17 years); Callum Davis, Dan Chada, Jake Lloyd, Lucy Wheeler, Niamh James (18 over).