Prior to the return of competition for the South Lincs swimmers, they had the opportunity to participate in the second series of Level X Racing held by Swim England.

The swimmers were able to race all distances and strokes in their home pool and have their results submitted to a National Leader board. The South Lincs swimmers participated in events from June through to August completing every distance from the 50m events up to the 1500m freestyle and with the results finalised the swimmers acquitted themselves admirably.

Ellisha Cookson led the way topping the National leader board in two events in the girls 17 years age group. Ellisha claimed gold in the 50m breaststroke in a strong time of 33.85 seconds, just a few fractions of a second outside of her personal best time. Ellisha completed her double by finishing top of the leader board in the 100m individual medley. Again Ellisha was marginally outside of her best, but produced a fantastic swim of 1.07.10 to claim her gold medal. There was a third medal for Ellisha and this came in the longest event contested, the 1500m freestyle. In this event Ellisha swam to a new personal best time of 18.02.03 and her time was enough to see her claim a third place finish on the leader board and a bronze medal to add to her gold’s.

Oscar Goldsmith led the way for the boys in the Level X Racing series and was also a double gold medallist. Oscar produced a host of new personal best times across a range of strokes and distances, however it was his long distance freestyle swims that saw him top the podium. Oscar claimed his first gold medal in the 800m freestyle with a storming time of 9.30.73. Oscar swam strongly throughout the race holding a demanding pace to break the ten minute mark for the first time which gave him top spot on the leader board in the boys 13 years age group. The following day Oscar took on the 1500m freestyle and was just as determined in his racing, stopping the clock with another big new personal best time of 18.15.62.

Francesco Monaco showed it wasn’t just the senior swimmers of the club who could perform at this level and claim medals in a National competition. Francesco, competing in the boys 9 years age group, also produced multiple personal best times in the events he contested and topped the leader board to claim gold in the 200m freestyle with a superb time of 3.04.42. There was also a silver medal for Francesco in the shorter 100m freestyle where another great personal best time of 1.26.40 was set. Making it a hat trick of medals and one of each colour Francesco also struck bronze in the 200m breaststroke with a strong performance of 4.04.25

Kitty Lamb, who was a medallist in the first series of Level X Racing, managed to gain a further medal in the second series. This time Kitty swam to a bronze medal in the demanding 800m freestyle. Kitty put in a hugely strong performance to finish third in the girls 10 years age group and in her first ever attempt at this event. Kitty touched the wall in a time of 12.49.35 to win her medal in fine style. Emma Croker was also a medallist in the first series of Level X Racing and was able to add a further hat trick of medals in the second series of racing. In her preferred sprint events Emma claimed a silver medal in the 100m freestyle. Just outside of her personal best time, but with a very strong performance of 57.95 seconds, Emma was able to take second place on the leader board. In the shorter 50m distance Emma swam another solid time of 26.82 seconds to take third place on the national leader board and claim the bronze medal in this event. Finally there was a surprise for Emma as she took a bronze medal in the 1500m freestyle. Never one of Emma’s target events, she did produce an excellent swim of 18.05.63 giving her a new personal best time and her third medal of the series. Emma swam to all her medals in the girls 16 years age group.

South Lincs Head Coach Keith Haynes said "I am delighted with the results we have achieved in the second series of Level X Racing. Not only have our senior swimmers produced outstanding results, but our juniors have shown themselves to be just as competitive on a national level. We are a small club and to collect twelve medals in a national competition shows how competitive we are as a club and that we can take on swimmers from much larger programmes. It is never easy for senior swimmers to get themselves up to race in their familiar home environment and without the adrenalin rush of other competitors to challenge them, but the South Lincs swimmers have done an exceptional job."

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by Website Admin