Three of Harrogate District Swimming Clubs (HDSC) swimmers represented the club at the Swim England National Short Course Championships. P
They competed against the best swimmers from across the country, at the event which was held over three days at Ponds Forge International Pool in Sheffield.
Agatha began her swim journey in Derbyshire before joining HDSC in 2016 aged 10. She progressed through the squads and soon competed regularly at Yorkshire County championships, then qualifying for North East Regional Championships and reaching 3 finals in May 2019. At the end of 2019, whilst on holiday in Australia, Agatha competed at the Sydney Aquatics Centre, representing Harrogate in the New South Wales Age Group competition. She has also represented Ripon Grammar School at the London Olympic Aquatics Centre in the team finals of the English Schools Swimming Association for two years running. At Winter Nationals in 2021 she will be competing in the 100m Individual Medley event, for which she holds the 16 year olds’ club record.
Imogen began swimming at Thirsk White Horse Swim Club at age 10/11. In her first gala, at Middlesbrough, a mistake was made with her entry time and she was put in the final heat with much older & faster swimmers! She came last by about 20 metres but, to her credit, she didn’t let this put her off and she went on to become the first Thirsk member to qualify for 2 North East Regional finals (50m & 100m backstroke). At this time, she was also trampolining 3-4 times a week.
Wanting to challenge herself more, she stopped trampolining at 13/14 and left Thirsk to join HDSC and, after a trial, was selected for the Performance Squad. Initially, this was a culture shock …. going from swimming 2 or 3 sessions a week to 7 and doing early mornings for the first time! However, she responded really well to the increased number of weekly sessions and HDSC’s coaching and she has managed to qualify for 2 British Finals as well as this weekend’s Nationals . Imogen has recently decided to focus on her A level studies and to move out of the Performance Squad to reduce the number of weekly sessions she does. Consequently, this will be her last major gala. However, her love of swimming will mean that she will continue to swim albeit on a more recreational level.
Connie competed in 3 events, 50mtr & 100mtr Backstroke, plus 50mtr Butterfly. Having first taking to the water at 6 months of age, she learnt to swim at Nidderdale Leisure centre, winning her first ever Silver medal at the Council SDS colour scheme gala aged 6 in the 50M backstroke. Her first Gala for HDSC was as a 9year old, swimming backstroke again at the Yorkshire County championships. Now as a 15 year old, Connie is currently ranked 3rd in Britain for her age in the 50m backstroke, with a time of 29.59. She is also ranked 9th for the 100mtr Backstroke and 13th for the 50mtr Butterfly.
4 times a week, alarms go off at 3.50 am, as part of their weekly training sessions. This is and has been a huge commitment, for many years, not only showing their desire and dedication, but also the incredible support of their families too, without whom these achievements wouldn’t be possible. The whole club & coaching team are fantastically proud of the girls, especially overcoming the recent hurdles of COVID lockdowns, during which they have run, cycled and logged onto numerous Brimhams Active Zoom workouts to keep fit when the swimming pools were shut.
