Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club’s Dylan Davenport and Ella Greatbatch were on great form as they travelled north to represent Hertfordshire at Swim England’s National County Team Championships 2024 on Sunday 6th October at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.
The event sees more than 900 swimmers compete from English counties and Scottish and Welsh regions, with races going on in two pools at the same time in front of a packed house of supporters from across the country.
Dylan (15) and Ella (16) joined 25 other top swimmers from clubs including Hatfield, City of St Albans, Cheshunt and Watford to make up the Hertfordshire Team.
Results
Hertfordshire finished 9th out of the 18 Division Two teams, meaning the county easily avoids relegation and keeps its place in Division Two for next year’s Championships. This is Hertfordshire’s highest finishing position since 2019.
BSSC swimmers performed especially well in the Open/Male 14/15 200m Medley Team relay, with the team including Dylan finishing in 4th position. Ella secured a top 8 finish in the Female 16/17 Yrs 100m Breaststroke
Event format
The Championships is split into two divisions; Division 1 typically has 20 teams while Division 2 has up to 20. The event takes place in two short course (25m) pools at the same time – one for Division 1 races, the other for Division 2.
Individual events are contested over three age groups – 12/13 Yrs, 14/15 Yrs and 16/17 Yrs. There are 100m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke, 100m Butterfly and 100m Breaststroke events for each age group with one swimmer competing from each county.
There are also 4x50m Medley Relays held for each age group and one Mixed 6x50m Freestyle Relay. The mixed relay consists of teams made up of one open/male and one female from each age group.
How does the scoring work?
Point scoring is by place with first place worth 20 points, second place worth 19 points, third worth 18 and so on. This scoring continues right through to one point for 20th.
At the end of the competition, the bottom four teams from Division 1 are relegated to Division 2 for next year’s event. The top four from Division 2 replacing them in the top flight.
Winning teams
Kent won Division One, while Berkshire & South Buckinghamshire make an immediate return to the top division after securing the Division Two title.
