News Archive 2000-2005

Year 2005

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE DOVER LIFEGUARD CHANNEL SWIMMING RELAY TEAM
Sophie, Tori, Lucy, Mel, Corienne and Laura completed the swim on the 27th Aug 2005 in a time of 9 hours 47 mins.
WELL DONE!!

PHOTO

Dover lifeguards, Emma Dray and Natasha Hyde represented Kent in the inter-county gala held at black lion leisure centre in Gillingham on Friday.

They had both swum superbly to gain county honours. Natasha, swimming in the 50m butterfly was not over awed by the fact that all of the other competitors in her event were taller with some of them ranked nationally. She swam a good race and finished sixth overall. Emma, also swimming against highly ranked swimmers in the 50m freestyle, swam a determined race to finish fourth by the narrowest of margins from the top three swimmers. Both swimmers had done their bit for the county but unfortunately Kent were beaten by Surrey when the points were totalled up. Well done to both girls for their efforts in representing the county.

The fifth round of the East Kent Developmental Series was held at the Kingsmead pool in Canterbury on Saturday, with the Dover Lifeguard Development Squad hoping to build on its previous successes in the series.
Emma Harrison and Chris Newberry opened events for the Dover team in the 16/u Backstroke with good swims to finish fourth and fifth place respectively, which was a reflection of the standard of the competition on the night. The next series of events saw First places for Dover`s Luke Matcham pb time of 45.67 (11/u breaststroke), Sophie Weymouth pb time of 40.56(9/u freestyle) and Daniel Skedd in 39.56 (9/u freestyle).
The 9/u Freestyle relay of Stephanie killin,Megan Basford,Daniel Skedd.and Callum Basford also stormed home in first place but Dover were now sitting in 5th place overall after the first quarter of the gala.
The next Quarter saw the Dover team continue to push for a trophy with first places for Zadie Cable(12/u freestyle), Gemma Prosser (13/u backstroke) and Sian Steer in the 12/u 100 I.M along with second places for Callum Basford(10/u butterfly) and Adam Delo(13/u backstroke) saw Dover moved up to fourth place overall by the half way stage of the gala.
To start the second half of the gala Sarah Hill had a good swim in the 16/u freestyle. This was followed by a first place for Daniel Skedd in the 9/u backstroke and second places for Sophie Weymouth 47.57(9/u backstroke),Kenna Bisset 45.36(12/u breaststroke), Amy Gibbs 39.02(10/u freestyle), Matthew Farran 39.71(10/u freestyle) and Nicola Brown in the 16/u 100 I.M in 1.20.43, bringing in a fine haul of points for the Dover team.
The 9/u and 11/u medley realy teams strengthened Dover's position with first places for both teams consisting of 9/u -Sophie Weymouth, Joseph Bisset, Megan Basford, Daniel Skedd and 11/u-Conan Harvey, Kenna Bisset, Emma Dray and Sam Ward. Dover were now in joint third place overall.
The Dover team showed superb determination over the last quarter of the gala with second and third places almost across the board and first places for Emma Harrison in the 13/u freestyle and Joseph Bisset in the 10/u breaststroke and when the 12/u medley team of Luke Matcham, Charlotte Hyde, Zadie Cable and Daniel Seagrove -Castle finished second the stage was set for an exciting finale with the top four places to be decided.The squadron freestyle relay team of Natasha Hyde, Amy Gibbs, Emma Dray, Charlotte Hyde, Emma Harrison, Sarah Hill, Callum Basford, Conan Harvey, Sam Ward, Luke Matcham, Adam Delo and Kye Westgarth finished in fourth and there was a long nervous wait for the points to be totalled during which time the P.A blasted out music and the swimmers all joined in with the cha cha slide. Then came the moment of truth and Dover had again just been pipped to first place by less than six points(one race) but should all be proud of the determined performance winning them the second place shield.

  Final positions - 1.Black Lion, 2.Dover & 3.Canterbury

A big thank you again to all of our sponsors who supported this event. The support is very much appreciated. Please see the links below, to a special edition of our Newsletter which will be going out around the club this weekend. We have 51 swimmers competing in Canterbury this weekend one of the largest squads that we have ever taken to a single gala. The commentary on page 2 regarding sponsorship was included in a press release this week and printed in Full by both of our local Newspapers (The Dover Express and the Dover Mercury).
Newsletter Page 1 - Newsletter Page 2

Photo's

Six Dover swimmers completed in the Brighton Open Water Pier to Pier swim on the 2nd August 2003. Well done to the Six swimmers. On one of the hottest days of this summer, six Dover swimmers ventured to Brighton to take part in the annual pier to pier sea swim. This year the team travelled together by Mini Bus to Brighton, thanks to Bramley Hedge children's centre, where Sophie Mitchinson & Craig Simmons, both club captains, beat the other 115 strong field to the finish. Craig won the overall race by a clear few meters from his Leatherhead rival Ashley Carter and Sophie won the Ladies race coming in a close 3rd overall. The swimmers pictured from left to right, Sophie, Ashleigh Stevenson, Craig, Naiki Redman, Mark Simmons & Kayleigh Stevenson all completed the approximate 1 mile race within 26 minutes. The three Dover girls also took the ladies team trophy for their aggregated time. This is the fifth year that Dover have won the overall competition, which is the longest any single club have held the two foot high trophy.

Photo's

Three Dover Lifeguard Club swimmers took part in the National Swimming Championships at Ponds Forge Sheffield this year.  Craig Simmons (Mens Captain) is competing at the Youth Championships and has gained the qualifying times to swim in the 50m and 200m freestyle. This will be Craigs fourth and last year at competing at Nationals. He will now be looking at gaining entry times for the G B Long/Short  Course Championships in the future.
Matthew Basford (13) has gained his first National qualifying time this year to enable him to swim  the 100m freestyle at the National Age Group Championships. He gained this time during the Easter weekend at the Portsmouth Open Meet.  Lauren Wraight (12) is also competing In the National Age Group Championships for her second year. This year she has gained the qualifying times in the 100m and the 200m breaststroke.

Five Dover swimmers completed in the Open Water National championship swim at Holme Pierrepont Nottingham on the 31st August 2002. Well done to the five, who's results can be viewed by clicking here.

Four Dover swimmers are this year attending the ASA National Championships at Sheffield. Lauren Wraight is at the National age groups from the 5th August, competing in the 100m & 200m Breaststroke. Craig Simmons, Katie Whitnall and Kate Mansfield are all swimming in the ASA National Youth championships from the 9th August.

Two Dover swimmers gained entry into the British Super Grand Prix at Glasgow. Craig Simmons and Katie Whitnall each qualified for 3 events at the 3-day event, which started on the 7th June 2002. The results are available at the following web site:

http://www.swimscotland.org.uk/meets02/bsgp02/index.htm

Dover Life Guard Club annual awards night was held on 7th December 2001. For details please click the link: Details and Photos

Seven Dover Lifeguard swimmers were part of the Kent Team which swum in the Hampshire County Invitational Gala in Southampton this weekend. (24th Nov 2001) Craig Simmons, Adam Patterson, Kate Mansfield, Kayleigh Stevenson, Holly Croft, Victoria Bates and Ashleigh Stevenson all swum to represent the county team, who came 4th overall.

Times Achieved and Photo

All the Age group National results can be found at the following web page: http://www.britishswimming.org

Two Dover Lifeguard swimmers were part of the Kent Team which swum in the international swimming festival in Darmstadt, Germany at the beginning of July 2001. Well done to Craig Simmons who gained a new PB in the 100m Freestyle, and to Katie Whitnall who also swum very well.

A great day was had by all that went to Calais to watch and swim in the twin towns sports festival. Our hosts were very kind to us and made our day a very remember able one. Apart from winning the swimming event, we should thank them for all the medals and pendants the swimmer received. Thanks also go to Scott Walker for the hard work he put into the organisation.

Some of the Dover swimmers will visit Sheffield over the Easter holidays, to swim in an Open meet at the Ponds Forge pool.  The swimmers will be staying at the Hotel Bristol , details are at the following web site:
http://www.hotel-bristol.co.uk

Click here to see the results.

Another good year for the club saw the Boys/Men finish 2nd overall behind Beckenham and the Girls/Ladies finish 4th. Well done to all that took part this year.

Click here to view the recent Newspaper article on the East Invicta and Kent results. This also inludes the Total points for the East Invicta after the six sessions. Click here to see the Photo's.

Yet again our DLGC swimmers were selected to swim for Kent County ASA. This time seven swimmers travelled to Southampton to represent the County. Sophie Braithwaite, Kayliegh Stevenson, Katie Whitnall, Victoria Bates, Adam Knight, Craig Simmons and Kate Mansfield all swum well and helped the team gain 3 place overall.

Katie Witnall, Sophie Braithwaite and Craig Simmons are travelling to Sheffield this weekend (21st Oct) to take part in an Inter County championship. They will represent Kent in a number of events, which take place on Sunday PM at the Ponds Forge swimming complex. Good Luck!

Held at the Royal Albert Docks London on 9th September 2000. The event saw another two Dover County Champions.  Guy Hadfield and Sophie Mitchinson were both 1st in the 3000m County Junior age group, they were also 1st male and 1st female in the Open age group. In the same event Kayliegh Stevenson was 2nd Junior and 3rd in the Open age group.  Sophie, Kayleigh and Guy also came 1st , 2nd , and 3rd respectively in the Southern Counties 12 - 16 yrs age group race which was held at the same time.
Craig Simmons led Sophie and Guy home in the 1500m Southern Counties team race to take 2nd place.

Well done to: Mark Simmons (6th place - 13/14 years), Adam Knight (9th place - 15/16 years), Craig Simmons (3rd place - 15/16 years), Sophie Mitchinson (4th place - 15/16 years) & Guy Hadfield (12th place - 15/16 years) these five swimmers all completed the open water course at the National water sports centre in Nottingham. This event followed the Pool National Age group championships and was held on the 13th August 2000. The event was well supported, with competitors coming from all over the country. There were 3 events depending on age for male and female, the 13/14 years swum 1500m, the 15/16 years swum 1750m and the 17 and over age group swum a 2000m swim.

Three Dover Lifeguard swimmers were part of the Kent Team which won overall in the international swimming festival in Darmstadt, Germany at the beginning of July 2000. All three DLGC swimmers gained medals. Well done to Tori Bates who gained a bronze medal, Adam Knight, who came home with two silver medals and Katie Whitnall, who won gold. The Kent team beat several international teams including the Icelandic and Egyptian national teams as well as teams from New South Wales and Germany as well as the England North East team.

Five Dover Lifeguard Club swimmers have achieved one or more ASA English National qualifying times during this season and will swim at these championships during August. Adam Knight, Craig Simmons, Katie Whitnall, Sophie Braithwaite and Victoria Bates, have all worked hard to gain their places along side some of the best in the Country. The 5 swimmers will travel up to Coventry during the week of the 7th Aug and train in the pool to get used to it before their events. Good luck to you all!
Well done also to Kaira Redman, who swum in the Scotish National Championships during June.
A special thanks go to all the coaches and helpers for the hard work they have also put in to make the above all possible. Shirley and her team should be proud that yet again Dover will be represented at this years events.

The trip to the Portsmouth Easter Festival proved to be a very good event. There was a lot of good competition and our swimmers performed well. Many achieved some good PB's and others were good enough to receive medals. All involved enjoyed the 4 day excursion, even if we did all come back a little tired. Thanks must go to all involved and a special thanks to Shirley Niblett for her commitment to the event and the swimmers.

Congratulations to three of our Dover swimmers, who have been invited to represent Kent at a competition in Germany later in the year. Victoria Bates, Katie Whitnall and Adam Knight have been selected to take part in this competition. Well done to you!

Three Dover swimmers have been chosen to swim in the Southern Counties, Inter County Championships on the 21 May 2000. Katie Witnall, Adam Knight and Craig Simmons will swim as part of the Kent team in this event at Cyrstal Palace. Good Luck to the three of you!

The club is going to take a group of swimmers to the Portsmouth Festival Open over the Easter Bank Holiday. The team will leave Dover on Thursday morning and travel to Portsmouth to arrive to swim in that evenings events. There are 20 Dover swimmers taking part in the event and we hope to bring back some good results. More information will be posted on the site following the event.