LATEST NEWS
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Fab Four at the Fast Five. 7th July 2019.
Open to all swimmers who raced in the recent South West Regionals, Adam, Sam, Leina and Alex competed against some of the best swimmers in the region, from some of the biggest clubs in the region at the South West Fast Five in Gloucester. They did themselves proud with some fantastic racing and lots of PBs.
All four swam all events and the results were decided on points gained in all 5 events. Alex was the 2nd overall 11 year old in the South West, 8th in his age group (11,12yrs). Adam 4th in the South West (13yrs). Leina 9th (12yrs) & Sam top 20 too. Hugely impressive swims from all four – well done.
Summer League, round 1. June 2019.
Wiltshire Sprint Championships - 9th June 2019
With more of our swimmers than ever qualifying for this event, we made quite an impact with our swimming (and our singing) at the recent Wiltshire Sprints. A very successful day for our squad with medals across most events.
You should all be very proud of your swims – Sophie, Eloise, Rosie, Georgia, Grace, Caitlin, Lauren, Izzy, Lexie, Jessica, Leina, Charlotte, Annelie, Bria, Niamh, Zara, Jed, Joseph, Rhys, Tom, Leo, George, Finley, Oliver, Jacob, Evan, Isaac, Elliot, Adam, Reuben, Joey, Eddie & Matthew.
RWB Otters at RWB Triathlon – 12th May 2019
Mark Hopkins, the Masters Coach and swimmer at RWB Otters, decided on an unusual way to celebrate his 50th Birthday in 2019 – he invited friends and family to join him and take part in the RWB Sprint Triathlon – creating Team 50!
It first took place 5 years ago and was set up by Ciaran Alstowe, in memory of his mum Louise, raising money for the charity Wiltshire Air Ambulance.
Team 50 had nearly 60 competitors including 9 teams, along with many members of the Otters Masters and Saturday Squad at RWB ASA Swimming Club.
Mark volunteered his time to run swim sessions for those competing in the event, along with a charity meal at Fabios, in Old Town Swindon, and in total raised £1620 for Wiltshire Air Ambulance.
Most of Team 50 have entered again for RWB Sprint Triathlon 2020, and the fund raising has already started with Paul and Annette Luker from RWB TAGB running tae kwando taster sessions for RWB Otters Swimming Club!
South West Regional Championships. May 2019.
Our most successful year for number of Regional qualifiers.
Following on from the amazing amount of county qualifiers this year, six of our swimmers also gained qualification to represent Otters at the South West Regional Championships at Plymouth and Millfield.
Massive well done to Eddie, Niamh, Adam, Sam, Leina and Alex
Sx3 Level 4 Development Meet – 24th April 2019
36 of our swimmers (many of whom have never entered an open meet) gathered together at the Link Centre in Swindon to show off their swimming skills in a race environment. The atmosphere poolside was electric with lots of happy faces and a great team spirit.
There were lots of personal best times gained which meant the PB (personal best) lolly jar was all but empty at the end of the day! We scooped an amazing medal haul of 23 – 7 Gold, 8 Silver and 8 Bronze gained by Abigail, Bria, Caitlin, Charlotte, George, George, Isaac, Jacob, Jess, Lewis, Lexie, Oliver B, Oliver L and Sophie.
We were immensely proud of our Otters team and the children looked fantastic in our club kit. Thank you to everyone who donated a club T-shirt for our younger swimmers.
Big well done to you all, such an amazing team.
RWB Academy – County Champions!
Otters compete in the Oldbury White Horse Triathlon
A team from RWB Otters took part in the Oldbury White Horse triathlon in Calne this weekend. A really fun and supportive afternoon for all the kids. Well done triathletes!
RWB Otters annual awards
Congratulations to everyone on a very successful annual awards presentation. Our main winners on the night were:
Ace Award – Andy Brown
Male Endeavour – Dom Keogh
Female Endeavour – Emma Cannell and Rachel Knight
Ian Grant young volunteer – Meg Davies
Coaches swimmer – Alex Donofrio
Swimmers swimmers – Alex Donofrio & Charlotte Barrett
Behind the scenes (unsung hero award) – Andrew & Nicki Evans.
North Wilts Primary Schools Gala
3 time Olympian and Olympic bronze medallist Jo Jackson came to see us today at the North Wilts Primary Schools Gala held at Lime Kiln where plenty of Otters were swimming.
Tigersharks 'Last Chance' Open Meet, 1st/2nd Dec 2018
Otters Club Championships night.
Take a look through the photography at one of our recent Club Championship nights at the Link Centre.
Otters swimmers at ESSA National finals!
The English Schools Swimming Association National Finals took place on Saturday 17th November at the London Aquatics Centre. Three Otters swimmers were part of 2 relay teams who qualified at the Regional competition in September for their secondary school RWBA. The Junior Girls (years 7&8) swam in the freestyle and medley relays and the intermediate girls (years 9&10) in the freestyle relay. It was an incredible opportunity to compete in the Olympic pool. Huge congratulations go to Zara, Bria and Charlotte on brilliant swims on the day and representing themselves and RWBA impeccably.
Success at Marlborough Penguins 60th Anniversary Meet 13th/14th Oct 2018
16 of our swimmers competed last weekend in a joint level 2/3 meet at the Link Centre hosted by the Marlborough Penguins. Each and every one of our swimmers swam fantastically well, with many personal best and county times achieved. The medal haul was amazing with a stonking 24 gold medals, 10 silver medals, 8 bronze medals and 24 speeding tickets between them. The group atmosphere on poolside was lovely and a real team spirit was felt with swimmers cheering each other on.
Well done to Alex, Annelie, Bria, Charlotte, Eddie, Grace, Isaac, Jess, Joshua, Lauren C, Lauren K Leina, Lexie, Niamh, Sebby and Zara.
Annual Rotary Club Challenge - 30th Sept 2018
A team from RWB Otters took part in the Annual Rotary Club Challenge at RWB Academy. Teams competed head to head against other local youth teams in a variety of physical and mental challenges. Each group received a cheque for £50 for taking part, with the winners receiving £500 and £250 for second place.
Congratulations to Adam, Charlotte, Annelie, Isaac, Joey and Izzy who worked brilliantly together and had a great day.
The extensive sweet collection at the tuck shop finished the day off perfectly!
Summer League Final – 15th Sept 2018 in Trowbridge
Swindon Dolphins End of Season Open Meet 28/29 July 2018
Eleven Otter swimmers from Comp A and Comp B celebrated the start of the summer (and the break in the heatwave!) by swimming their hearts out in a 2-day Open Meet. For some this was their first ever level 3 Meet. They all swam brilliantly turning in PB performances one after the other. 59 swims across all the events from 400m IM to 50m races – and even bringing some medals home despite it being a tough competition.
Congratulations Olli, Sebby, Evan, Alex, Niamh, Bria, Leina, Jessica, Lexie, Lauren and Caitlin – you were awesome!
Tigersharks Medley Meet – 22/07/18
Otters Land Training session – 30th June 2018
Huge thanks to Paul and Annette Luker from RWB TAGB Club for putting on a land training session.
RWBA County swimming championships Year 7/8
Well done to RWBA for winning the Year 7 & 8 County swimming championships!
Kirsty from RWBA said “The reason I am emailing is because I took a lot of Otters swimmers with me and I have to say, wow, what a lovely group of kids. So supportive of each other with their cheering and encouragement, as well as being great little swimmers too”.
Well done to Reuben, Joey, Sam, Charlotte and Bria – pictured here with Stephanie Millward, British paralympic swimmer.
SX3 Development Gala – Link Centre 15th April 2018
25 swimmers from Comp A and Comp B squads, aged 8-13 joined together to compete at this entry-level gala. It was very exciting as for some this was their first-ever licensed all-day swimming event.
The swimmers were on brilliant form, pulling out Personal Best times (PBs) again and again, and were rewarded with lots of PB lollies… too many to eat in one day in fact! In all they swam 121 races across 14 different events. The top 6 in every age group received awards and the children brought home 5 Golds, 7 Silver and 10 Bronze medals, plus 15 x 4th place, 10 x 5th place and 6 x 6th place ribbons.
Huge congratulations go to Joey, Adam, Elliot, Sam, Jacob, Harry, Oliver, George, Leo, Charlotte, Maggie, Bria, Abi, Kiera, Ana, Jessica, Lexie, Amy, Emily, Izzy, Caitlin, Grace, Georgia, Sophie and Tilly – you were all stars and represented the Club superbly.
Calne Alpha Four open meet – 7th & 8th April 2018
In the middle of the Easter holidays, 8 swimmers entered the Calne Open Meet, swimming 32 races between them over two days. Calne meets are always fun and this was no exception. We saw some amazing performances, PBs and medals to bring home. Congratulations to Nick and Eddie who achieved regional entry times in the 50m freestyle and breaststroke respectively. Kudos goes to Jessica for most races swam over the weekend and medals for the tough 100m & 200m fly events. Well done to them and Leina, Lexie, Bria, Harry and Joshua on all their results.
Tigersharks Level 2/3 open meet – 17th & 18th March 2018
Prior to the club presentation evening, 3 of our swimmers braved the arctic temperatures of the Link Centre to swim selected events in the first session of this L2/3 Open Meet. On the Sunday morning we awoke to snow again, and the Sunday sessions were carrying on regardless. 6 swimmers brushed off their disco tiredness and came and swam their chosen events. Once again two days of awesome swims, PBs and with the added bonus of some regional entry times and a few medals too! Well done Eddie, Olli, Alex, Lauren, Niamh and Bria.
Winter League brilliance
Saturday 10th March saw the final of the Division 1 winter league at the Link Centre. It was a very exciting night with Otters finishing in 2nd place behind Tigersharks ‘A’ squad! Competing against strong teams from Tigersharks, Chippenham, Marlborough and Calne.
RWB Otters dive clinic
We recently held a successful dive clinic for 42 of our CSB swimmers, with a specific focus on the dive start, streamline glide, transition, start of the stroke phases and breathing. Plus some initial practice on pencil jumps to emphasise the power from the legs.
The behaviour, engagement and the effort the swimmers put in was superb, and great to see the improvement in their diving throughout the session. It was great to see swimmers tackling the blocks for the first time, and those that went from the shallow end too! As a coach, I was left buzzing from the session, which was rounded off with some bombing practice; a vital skills for all pool users!
Keep an eye out for more sessions in the future.
Mark Hopkins
Wroughton Open Meet – 12th November 2017
Following on from a nights racing at the Club Championships, 10 Otters swimmers braved the dual climate of the Link Centre for an all-day open meet. Despite the tropical steam of the pool area and the frozen dance studio/atrium they all produced some strong and courageous performances. The meet consisted of 50m races in all four strokes and a 100m IM which all the swimmers completed. We brought home a fantastic 18 medals – 5 Gold, 9 Silver and 4 Bronze, plus Alex won the age 9 trophy.
Well done Joe, Alex, Jacob, Sam, Elliot, Lauren, Lexie, Ana, Bria and Charlotte – brilliant swimming!
Wiltshire Development Gala. 30 Sept – 1 Oct 2017
This weekend two of our Otters swimmers packed their bags and headed off to Salisbury for the first ever Wiltshire County Development Meet. Both swimmers took part in 6 events each over the two days – achieving a stonking 9 PBs on times they did only 2 months ago! Alex smashed the 9 years age group winning 1 Gold and 5 Silvers, and Lexie improved her times significantly and brought home 2 ribbons for breaststroke. Fantastic swimming both of you.
A great achievement in the Summer League
During the final of the Summer League we had some fantastic races against a very strong team from Calne. The results on the night were Calne 158, Otters 152, Marlborough 107 and Corsham 79. These results were added to the results from the previous three rounds of the Summer League to give the overall final results of Calne 608, Otters 600, Marlborough 424 and Corsham 329.
Next year, the Summer League and Division 1 will consist of 6 teams (instead of 4) which means that both Calne and Otters will be going up into Division 1 next year – well done swimmers, a great achievement for all!
Swindon Dolphins Autumn Meet –23/24 Sept 2017
This weekend 12 of our Otter swimmers packed up their kit bags for a weekend’s racing at the Link Centre. They each competed 5 to 8 times – a total of 79 races in all. It was great to see them competing in a wide variety of events from 50m to 400m – really challenging themselves. We saw some great courage, endurance and spirit and lots of loud team support! Their efforts were rewarded with PBs and a fantastic medal haul of 7 Golds, 13 Silvers and 7 Bronze, plus 11 Speeding Tickets. More Wiltshire County Qualifying times were achieved – by some for the first time. Huge congratulations to all the swimmers who took part: Eddie, Joshua, Oliver, Callum, Joey, Adam, Lauren, Jessica, Niamh, Bria, Charlotte and Izzy.
Swindon Dolphins end of season Open Meet – 29th & 30th July 2017
8 of our Otter swimmers took a break from their summer holidays to swim in this two-day open meet at the Link Centre, swimming 6 to 8 races each. They all performed brilliantly, with more PBs and county qualifying times being achieved. Plus a superb 16 medals – 2 Gold, 10 Silver and 4 Bronze! Well done swimmers.
Tigersharks separated medley meet 23rd July 2017
Summer League 2nd Round – 24th June 2017
Congratulations to everyone in the Comp Squad who swam last night in the Summer League 2nd round, it was a great evening – well done!
Otters finished first last night by 4 points in a closely fought competition with Calne who won the 1st round by 6 points, thus leaving Otters just 2 points behind going into the 3rd round on Saturday 1st July.
Look who we met - May 2006
