Northgate on the crest of a wave after medal rush

The club certainly made waves as they enjoyed an incredible five days of competition that resulted in a mightily impressive medal haul.

The event, which welcomed swimmers from all over the Shropshire region, was the first opportunity of the year for the Bridgnorth and Much Wenlock-based club to demonstrate their abilities, and they did not disappoint!

They finished with 53 gold, 32 silver and 19 bronze medals, with 10 individual swimmers achieving 30 regional times in total.

Louise Jones stole the headlines by breaking both a club and county record in the 100m breaststroke, the second year in a row she had achieved such a feat.

Andrew Jones and Grace Goldsmith also entered the history books, with 10 club records broken in total by this terrific trio of swimmers.

The 36-strong team, aged 10 to 18, participated in 253 events, with an incredible 227 personal best times achieved.

Some of the performances were simply remarkable. In the 1500m and 800m freestyle races, Emily Gurr took 76 and 78 seconds off her previous best performances, Izzy Homer brought her times down by 55 and 68 seconds, and Finn Mattinson also got in on the act with 108 and 33 seconds knocked off his individual records for these events.

At the end of the competition prizes were given for ‘top boy’ and ‘top girl’ for the different age categories which saw four Northgate swimmers scoop these awards, with Grace Goldsmith, Martha Gibbard, Emily Gurr and Dewi Arch all at the top of their leaderboards.

Holly Morris gained a superb second place for her age category, with Elliott Pabla claiming third place in his, while 11 other swimmers were competing at this level for the first time, gaining valuable experience and, of course, new personal bests. Coach Mike Owen was proud of all of the competitors, and praised them for their efforts throughout the event.

Owen said: “The number of new personal bests speak for themselves, and are testament to the commitment levels that are obvious throughout the club.

“The coaching staff and committee members are all volunteers and are dedicated in helping the competitors achieve their aspirations. All 36 swimmers should be praised for their achievements and this is a fantastic way to start 2023.

“I also hope this encourages more young people in the locality to join what is a friendly and supportive club, that is going from strength to strength.”

The club was further boosted by a recent donation from 3 Seeds Construction Limited, with their managing director Philip Carpenter delighted to support the club.

“Northgate is an organisation delivering a wonderful, and in many cases an essential service to the local community,” he said.

“We are delighted to add the club to the list of charities that we support.”