Leighton Buzzard Swimming Club ran a Novice Gala at Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre on 3rd December and won it in style! The gala was swum against Putteridge Piranhas, Letchworth Sharks, Linslade Crusaders and Aylesbury and District clubs.

Leighton Buzzard got off to a great start at the gala by winning both the girls and the boys freestyle relay events. In all, Leighton Buzzard won ten of the 41 events in the gala and achieved second places in a further 10 events including the girls 11 and under 4 x 25m freestyle relay. Individual events won were the boys 50m breaststroke by Frazer Hughes, the boys 50m freestyle by Fionn Bell, the boys 11 and under 25m butterfly by Will Abbott, the girls 50m backstroke by Zoe Bisby, the boys 50m breaststroke by John Shaw, the girls 11 and under 50m backstroke by Amy Edwins and the girls 50m backstroke by Georgina Hawkes. Those all important second places achieved in individual events were by Ashleigh Fisher, Kieran Hawkes, Lauren Faulkner (2), Freya Payne, Will Shaw, Kayleigh Holroyd and Louis Hunt. Second places were also achieved in two team events.

Graeme Bell, Junior Squad Coach at LBSC was delighted with the result and said: ‘What more can you ask? First – great work team!’

The final result of the gala was: Leighton Buzzard – 1st on 162 points, Linslade Crusaders 2nd on 141 points, Aylesbury 3rd on 132 points, Letchworth 4th on 126 points and Putteridge 5th on 100 points.

LBSC’s Swim Week – Eyemouth 2011

Leighton Buzzard Swimming Club members went up to Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders during half term for the annual ‘Swim Week’. This is run by Total Aquatics coaches Luke and Laurie Dormer and their team. As usual, Eyemouth made the Leighton Buzzard swimmers very welcome with acquaintances being renewed with local swimmers and regulars from clubs in Scunthorpe, Cumbria and Eston.

This year around 50 members from LBSC travelled to the swim camp with ages of swimmers ranging from 4 years to middle aged! With sessions provided to suit all ability categories, the youngest joined the ‘Learn to Swim’ group and the best the National / Regional / Counties (NRC) or Youth Groups. Apart from the daily swimming, the week was packed full of action for everyone with tough land training sessions being run by LBSC’s own Land Training Coach Rachel Blades, Zumba sessions, boxercise sessions, talks on nutrition and exercises to build strength, a talk by a Team GB Olympic swimmer, a Biathlon (run / swim), body boarding, ‘Aqualand’ and social events such as the music quiz, a film night and a Chinese meal!

The Zumba sessions were run as a part of the land training programme and were a new experience for most participants. The relevance became apparent though with swimmers discovering that they were exercising many muscles used for swimming. Boxercise was also run as an additional land training session by one of the Leisure Centre staff.

Leighton Buzzard Swimming Club members did particularly well in the Eyemouth Biathlon with three first places, two seconds and four third places. First places were won by sisters Rebecca and Katy Casterton (Youth A and Youth C girls categories) and by ‘The Grice Family’ team entry (Chris, Karin and Lauren) – the winners getting coveted ‘2011 Winners T shirts’ and the team winners glass trophies. Second places went to Tom Boozer (Youth C) and Lucy Gregory (Youth A) and third places to Michael Judd (Youth C), his father Steve Judd (Masters Men), Alison Morris (Masters Women) and Jessica Payne (Youth C girls). All 2nd and 3rd places received a commerative mug and all participants were given a certificate for completing the event.

Body Boarding has become a tradition of the Swim Week for LBSC and this year was no exception with most donning wet suits on the Thursday for an hour in the North Sea surf at Coldingham Bay, with equipment being provided by the St Vedas Surf Centre located next to the beach.

On the last day Henry Gray, the Leisure Centre Manager and renowned athlete trainer ran his ‘Aqualand’ training session for the swimmers. This is a gruelling course that involves exercises normally associated with dry land being performed in the pool. Although it is hard, the LBSC swimmers look forward to this event each year! Henry also arranged for former Team GB Olympic swimmer and 9 times British National Champion Euan Dale to come to the pool and give swimmers a talk and training tips. Euan swam against the legend Ian Thorpe in the 400IM in the Beijing Olympics. In the Commenwealth Games he won Silver Medals in the 400m Individual Medley and the 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Team. Euan also won a European Championships silver medal in the 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay.

A gala was run on the last afternoon to see how swimmers had improved during the week and several achieved new personal best times whilst taking part.

The Friday evening was ‘Party Time’ with all participants and coaches joining together in the Dolphin Hotel for karaoke and some dancing. LBSC members proved themselves to be great singers and were often seen with the microphone in their hand during the evening. The nearness to Halloween prompted the theme with many arriving in rather scary costumes!

Great result tonight all the results are now available, Login and see you your times

Leighton Buzzard win Inter-Club ‘B’ Gala

On Saturday evening Leighton Buzzard Swimming Club ran a ‘B’ grade gala at Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre. The gala was swum against Letchworth, Thame and Putteridge.

Of the 45 events in the gala, LBSC swimmers won 22. Those winning the individual events were: Leoné Crick, Megan Savage, Harry Faulkner, Jack Wears, Will Shaw, Sam Twitchell, Jack McGarry, Lauren Grice, Maisy Rose, Sophie Page, Rebecca Casterton, Louis Bell (2), Katy Casterton (2), Michael Judd (2), Sammy Humphrey and Emily Wright. The winning relay teams were: the girls 11 and under 100m freestyle team (Lucy Keith, Jemima Hughes, Ashleigh Hennessy-Kemp and Megan Desmond), the girls 200m open freestyle team (Sophie Page, Debbie Jewell, Sammy Humphrey and Megan Savage) and the 200m Squadron relay (Elise Crick, George Carter, Lauren Grice, Michael Judd, Megan Savage, Sam Twitchell, Sammy Humphrey and Louis Bell).

During the evening, 16 swimmers achieved new personal best times (PB’s). These were: Bethany Twitchell, Jacob Murtagh, Tory Vanderhoven, Megan Savage, Emily Wright, Jack Wears, Lucy Keith, Will Shaw, Katy Casterton (2), Sam Twitchell, Maisy Rose, Harry Wears, Louis Bell, Michael Judd (2), Jemima Hughes and Filipe Cascais-Davis.

Leighton Buzzard Swimming Club’s Junior Coach, Graeme Bell was delighted with the result and said “We had some great swimming from the squad tonight. They all did so well and to get that many PB’s so early in the season is amazing. Well done everyone!”

The final result of the gala was Leighton Buzzard 1^st on 142 points, Thame 2^nd on 113 points, Putteridge 3^rd on 90 points and Letchworth 4^th on 89 points.

LBSC Youngsters make huge effort in Milton Keynes Junior League Gala

On Saturday Leighton Buzzard Swimming Club hosted the third and final round of the Milton Keynes Junior League at Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre in Leighton Buzzard. LBSC were swimming against strong opposition from Flitwick, Maxwell (Aylesbury), Newport Pagnall and Witney.

Highlights of the gala wer the two relay and four individual events won by members of the LBC team and several swimming gaining new personal best times (PB’s).

The relay wins were achieved by the boys 11 and under freestyle team consisting of Jacob Murtagh, James Cripps, Tom Faulknerand George Carter and the girls 10 year old freestyle team of Lucy Keith, Amy Edwins, Maisie Rose and Lauren Faulkner. The four individual events won were by Lauren Grice in the girls 12 years and under 50m butterfly event, Bethany Twitchell in the girls 9 years 25m breaststroke, Elise Crick in the girls 50m butterfly and Bethany Tritchell in the girls 9 and under 25m butterfly.

Eleven new PB’s were achieved on the evening, these by Lauren Faulkner (2), Connor Ferguson, Tom Crowther (2), Maisie Rose, Will Shaw, Kiera Rogers, Lauren Grice and Elise Crick (2).

Graeme Bell, the LBSC Junior Coach was delighted with the way the team performed and said ‘So much effort was made by the swimmers and the closeness of the end result shows the potential we have for the future’.

The final result for the gala was: 1st Witney, 2nd Maxwell, 3rd Flitwick, 4th Leighton Buzzard and 5th Newport Pagnell.