28 December 13
Isle of Man and Trafford Metro were destined for promotion come the final but who were to win was a different matter where it be the Isle of Man to field there strongest team or Trafford Metro were to persist in dominating as they did in the first 2 rounds?
Well to the start the night off it was Heather Lawson and Daniel Walsh in the 100 IM, Heather made a statement with getting the 1st event off to a flier with getting top points for 1st place laying down the Law on the rest of her competitors, next up was Dan stepping in for the injured Robbie Christopherson and Dan put in a brave fight to keep the team on a high with placing 3rd in the 100 IM with 1st place going to the big guns of Isle of Man. The next 8 events consisted of the Relays and the might of the Trafford shone through with getting 42 points out of 48 Points, the most outstanding relay had to be the Medley 12-13 year boys relay as they blew the rest of the field away, Mathew Johnson not known for his Backstroke had a tricky start to the race with a slip off the wall but managed to claw back and keep the team in contention, next Jack O’Brien swing into action on the Breastroke and has an astonishing leg as he claws back the other 5 teams and takes the lead leaving Nisarg Dharashivkar on the Butterfly to maintain and improve on the lead which he manages to do with a great finish to the end Tiago Lawrie does his take over to finish the race on freestyle and Tiago with the grand splash and dash secures the win for Trafford Metro and takes all points. The next 32 events were the individual events and there some Grand performances within them, a few of which were Holly Rowlinson, Theodor Pender and Jack O’Brien. Starting with Jack the Giant killer, he had 2 individual swims 50m Breastroke and the 50m Butterfly 12-13 years, Jack proved that dedication with the up most passion and drive will get you the rewards and Jack in both Races proved this point with 2 wins. Next was Theodor
Pender he is Speed on another level at the age of 18 he put in one of the finest swims of the night on the 100m Freestyle proving racing Jammers help but if you don’t have them then it doesn’t mean you can’t win, Teddy was in 3rd place coming down the final length with Isle of man heading the lead Teddy raised his game and touched in 1st with the marginal of finishes in a time of 52.78s. And Finally Holly Rowlinson aged 12 years old swam in the open age group of the 100m Breastroke and just like teddy she was not in the lead on the final leg she was in 2nd place to Isle of Man and was against an older swimmer who was also much taller but Holly through the last 5m of the race did a giant killing with touching out Isle of Man to take 1st place. And finally it was the last 8 races Isle of Man 193 points and Trafford Metro 194 points the points were close and could swing anyway with the last 8 events of relays, 3rd , 1st, 2nd, 1st, 6th, 2nd, 1st, 1st the importance of winning the final 2 races was vital to show the strength of Trafford Metro and both relays were strong and dominated from the start this looked like it would be close for a win for Trafford but alas as the results are called out there is a disqualification in one of the earlier relays and 2nd place is where Trafford Finish with Isle of Man finishing 1st. It’s got to be said Trafford Metro gave a great performance and were fully entertaining all the way through the competition with swimming against a strong team of Isle of Man they know that next season in Division 1 could also prove fruitful with swimming in the next league Trafford Metro will be hard against it but know they have what it takes to stay in the league. Well done to all who took part in this season National Arena Swim League. Results can be found http://www.nationalswimmingleague.org.uk/north-west/round-draws
43 Swimmers: Heather Lawson, Daniel Walsh, Emily Conway, Elizabeth Twite, Olivia Dykes, Charlotte Johnson, Luke Turner, Jake Pender, William Robertson, Llwelyyn Smyth, Anna Livermore, Hannah Head, Holly Rowlinson, Eve Salsbury, Matthew Johnson, Jack O'Brien, Nisarg Dharashivkar, Tiago Lawrie, Hannah Astbury, Georgia Lillas, Kizzy Odiowei, Isobel Archer, Solomon Mhar, Andrew Bolton, Conor Bennett, Sam Bolton, Lucy Lloyd-Roach, Hannah Astbury, Louisa Zolkiewski, Isobel Howe, Theodor Pender, Craig Ward, Jonny Higham, Rachel Edmondson, Helen Sadler, Robbie Christopherson, Abigail Robertson, Eleanor Twite, Lauren Banner, Luc Chadwick, Maxwell Swift, Oscar Anderson, Conor Coogan.
