Superb performances during the first part of 2022 resulted in five Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club members being selected to join a team of swimmers representing Hertfordshire at the Swim England National County Team Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield. The 28-strong team of swimmers chosen from nine Hertfordshire swimming clubs would normally only compete against each other, but they came together as team mates in Sheffield to compete against 32 Counties of England and four regional teams from Scotland and Wales.
Meisha Trend-Evans, Kirsty Neill
Emma Fields, Kirsty Neill & Lauren Gore had previously competed at National events at Ponds Forge, the home of British Swimming, but none of the BSSC swimmers had been part of the unique thrill that is the National County Team Championships. In this fun and colourful event, the 37 teams are split into two Divisions and both compete at once in different halves of the 50m pool. Based on 2019 results, Hertfordshire were in Division 2 with the races starting from the diving pool end whilst Division 1 were racing simultaneously from the scoreboard end.
After a 6.15am start at the Hertfordshire Sports Village, the Herts team arrived in Sheffield, donned their war (face!) paint and joined more than 900 swimmers ready to do their County proud. The noise in the venue was deafening, but the atmosphere was electric resulting in some great performances from the whole County team with many personal best times and fantastic relay splits. The BSSC swimmers swam excellent races with Lauren Gore coming 4th in the individual 16/17 Yrs 100m Breaststroke (1:13.74 PB) and Kirsty Neill 6th in the individual 14/15 Yrs 100m Breaststroke (1:15.84). The 14/15 Yrs 200m Medley Relay Team with Kirsty on the Breaststroke leg were 5th; the 16/17 Yrs 200m Medley Relay Team with Lauren Gore on Breaststroke, Emma Fields on Butterfly and Meisha Trend-Evans on Freestyle came 9th; and the Mixed Open 300m Freestyle Relay Team with Alice Longman and Emma Fields on legs 3 & 5 came 13th.
By the end of the competition Division One winners were Kent, Division Two winners were Derbyshire and Hertfordshire had secured a very respectable mid-table 11th place in Division Two. No promotion this year, but all the swimmers had an amazing experience and hope for a good 2022-23 season so they can be selected again next year.
BSSC swimmers:
- 14/15 Yrs: Kirsty Neill (100m Breaststroke, Medley Relay), Alice Longman (Freestyle Relay)
- 16/17 Yrs: Emma Fields (Medley & Freestyle Relays), Meisha Trend-Evans (Medley Relay), Lauren Gore (100m Breaststroke, Medley Relay)
Hertfordshire Clubs represented (number of swimmers): Bishops Stortford (5), Bushey (1), City of St Albans (6), Harpenden (1), Hatfield (9), Hoddesdon (2), Potters Bar (1), Stevenage (1) and Watford (2).
