Day 3, Saturday and we are half way there. The girls 400m free is the first event and Aer Lingus have three swimmers in the final. Tara English proves to the quickest of our swimmers in this one and takes the bronze. Not to be outdone, cometh the hour, cometh the man. Club captain Gavin Truman steps up and takes gold in the u/16 boys 400 Free, a triumph for hard work and persistence as he said himself!
In the 200 back, Wendy O’Neill takes bronze. One of the races of weekend was about to take place. Templeogue fresh from winning the 4 x 100 metre freestyle in a record breaking time, where lining up a possible double by taking the 4 x 100 IM relay title from the current champions and junior record holders Aer Lingus. Something had to give and what took place was truly memorable. A speech from Alan beforehand settled some nerves, but the tension was palpable, (and the was just in the balcony).
Last weekend from Thursday 22nd of July to Sunday 25th, saw the last competition of the national swimming calendar, the Irish Youth and Senior Championships, and if you expected this to be a top competition, you were not about to be disappointed.
An international flavour was added by the arrival of teams, from Scotland, France, Egypt and South Africa, so, after the Long Course Nationals where many of the events were dominated by the USA team, there was definitely a mood among the Irish swimmers that things were going to be different this time around, and to be fair they were.
All photos courtesy : Kieran Berry.
Aer Lingus Swim Club team photos from the Irish Youth Open Championships at the NAC. Well done to all swimmers on some great individual and team performances. Full Swim Meet report to follow shortly…
After rising to the rank of A- list celeb with his last article, a newly sun tanned Maurice McCrohan makes a welcome return to our website. Enjoy!
“…I was reading though last years Division 2 results getting myself and young Sinead psyched up for the Div 2′s. I scrolled down the list of club names and noted there were dolphins, sharks and jets among the competition!
I don’t wish to send the ALSC Committee into an apoplexy of EGM’S to consider changes of the club name and logos!. After all Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton are three stand alone football names,all of which have official and even unofficial nicknames!. But this did get me thinking that the best sporting clubs all have a nickname or a legend. Everyone knows who the All Blacks, Springboks, Kangaroos,Pumas etc are!.
Boys U15 who finished 2nd in 200m IM relay
Girls U12 who finished 4th in 200m Free relay
Boys U12 who finished 3rd in 200m IM relay
…proving that our swimmer’s talents extend way beyond the pool ( just don’t get on the wrong side of the bunch below ), X Factor here we come…!
ALSC Girls U12 who came 1st in 200m IM relay
ALSC Boys U15 who came 1st in 200m Freestyle relay
ALSC Boys U12 who came 4th in 200m Freestyle relay
ALSC Boys Division 1 Squad Photo.
Well done to all swimmers, the team have got off to a great start in both individual and team events. We’ll have more photos and a full gala report soon.
Photo courtesy: De Photo
For more Division 2 Gala photos click on the De Photo logo on our website.
Gala report from Coach Paolo;
“…Here we are again……….. back from Limerick after competing in the Irish Age Groups Div 2 Gala. Three days of intense and exciting competition took place in an atmosphere, which was very warm in every sense.
The Gala was well organised, presenting only minor flaws. Everything went relatively well and sessions ended within the scheduled timeframe. We had a small team of 4 girls (Sinead, Megan, Ciara and Eilbhe), all of them in the under 12 Age group, one boy in the same Age group (Derek) and one in the under 16 (Michael). So the team was small in numbers but grand in spirit and attitude. They cheered and supported each other all the way throughout the three long days of competitions.
The first day we started with the girls in the water for the 100Bk. They all got fantastic Pbs with Eilbhe lowering hers by more than 3 seconds and Sinead missing the final for 0.04. Then it was Michael’s turn with the 200IM in which he swam very close to his Pb and almost made the podium. Ciara, Megan, Sinead and Eilbhe had a fantastic medley relay, which almost made the final.
Once in a while you see something that causes your jaw to drop. This is one of those moments…
How long can you hold your breath? It reminded me of an ALSC training drill. You know the one; you’re asked to swim underwater as far as you can without breathing. A full length is an amazing feat, a real sight to behold. Well this clip takes it to another dimension; it’s a real mind bending experience. Fasten your seatbelt and hold on.
This is world champion free diver Guillaume Nery base jumping at Dean’s Blue Hole, filmed on breath hold by Julie Gautier.
Dean’s Blue Hole is the world’s 2nd deepest blue hole or underwater sinkhole. It plunges 202 metres (663 ft) in the bay west area of Clarence Town, Bahamas. If that’s not a big enough challenge check out Zacaton, Mexico, which is even deeper at 335 metres (1,099 ft).
Sorry to spoil the illusion, Nery said he never reached the bottom; the distance is so far as to make it impossible. Nery says, “…This movie is an artistic project, a fiction…” It was shot over the course of four afternoons. Swimming 25m underwater is nothing to sneeze at after all!
Oh, just to let you know the song is called “You make me feel” by Archive.
