The Lincolnshire County Championships – the county’s premier swimming event – was hosted exclusively in Grantham for the first time this year – and Grantham Swim Club and the Meres Leisure Centre rose to the challenge. Swimmers from 10 Lincolnshire clubs converged on Grantham Meres for the championships which were split over five different days.
As usual Grantham swimmers shone brightly winning 36 gold medals, 38 silver and 48 bronze. A total of 54 swimmers aged 10 and over qualified to take part this year and together they raced 447 times.
Grantham’s Hayley Milne took the trophy for the county’s top female disability swimmer and the club’s swimmers achieved 415 personal best times and 144 regional qualifying times. Rising star Callum Melville, 13, a pupil at Belvoir High School, smashed 15 of the 23 Grantham club records broken during the meet as well as six Lincolnshire county records.
Grantham Swim Club chairman Lou Turner said: “Hosting the entire counties at Grantham was a big honour and also a big challenge for us as a club. We usually split counties across multiple pools but that wasn’t an option this year and without Grantham and the Meres stepping up, the county literally wouldn’t have had a 2019 championships.
“We’d like to thank all the swimmers, our Head Coach, parents and volunteers for their support – they’ve been amazing. We’d also like to mention the team at the Meres who deserve a big thank you and worked tirelessly to make sure everything went smoothly.
“Although Grantham didn’t win this year we came a very creditable second – it was fantastic to see so many of our swimmers qualifying and winning medals for the first time – we really are a force to be reckoned with in Lincolnshire.”
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