Gibbons emerges as the star of the show

Fifteen swimmers from Athlone Swim Team travelled to this year's Irish Age Group Championships which took place in the fifty metre National Aquatic Centre in Dublin earlier this month. A brilliant performance by all swimmers resulted in thirteen out of the fifteen qualifying for individual finals. Undoubtedly the star of the show for Athlone was Brendan Gibbons, who in the under-14 age group, took home a massive haul of two gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Brendan's excellent results earned him, for the third year in a row, the coveted award of overall swimmer in his age group. His time of 17.23 in the 1500 freestyle and 9.14 split through the 800 metre mark were both Connacht Junior and Senior Long Course records - a remarkable achievement considering Brendan is still Junior for another four years. Brendan finished well, over a minute ahead of his nearest competitor. His second gold came in the 400 metres freestyle in a superb time of 4.24. He took silver in the 200 metres freestyle (2.07), bronze in the 400im (5.12) and 200im (2.27) and also had top five finishes in another three events. In this vein of form, there is no doubt Brendan will continue to rewrite the record books in the near future. Brendan was also a member of the boys under fourteen 4 x 50 metre gold medley and silver freestyle relay team, with Evan Galvin, Ryan Condron and Alex Condron completing the quartet. The boys took the national title in the 4 x 50 medley relay with a super time of 2.07. They were agonisingly touched out for the gold in the 4 x 50 metre freestyle relay with their heat time fast enough to win the gold, but a final time that was slightly slower, earning them the silver. An average time of 28 seconds per swimmers for the lads was exceptional giving them a total time of 1.52.00. Chloe Joyce was another swimmer who had an excellent gala, with Chloe taking home a bronze medal in the girls under-15 200 metres breaststroke in a time of 3.02. Chloe also made the final in the 200 im, 100 butterfly, and 100 breaststroke to round off an excellent weekend. Niamh McNamara was unlucky to miss out on a medal in the under 13 girls age group, with Niamh swimming a brilliant final in the 200 metres butterfly to finish 4th in an excellent time of 2.46, a full ten seconds faster than her heat time. Niamh also made the final in the 800 freestyle, 100 butterfly, and 200 freestyle to cap off a very memorable gala. Another of Athlone's swimmers who was unlucky to miss out on a podium place was Christine Conway, who finished 5th in the girls under-12 100 backcrawl in an excellent time of 1.17. She finished 5th in the 100 freestyle in a super time of 67.50 with a fingertip separating her from third place. Michael Kelly had a brilliant introduction to division one reaching four finals in his first outing in the under 12 category and, no doubt, we will hear a lot of Michael in the future. Other swimmers to make finals with excellent personal best times were Siobhan Ryan (who finished 5th in both the under-14 100m backcrawl and 100m freestyle), Sinead Whelan (6th in the under-13 100 freestyle and 7th in the 100 breaststroke), Eimear Corry (6th in the under-14 100 breaststroke and 8th in the 200 breaststroke), Caitlin Dully (7th in the under-12 100 metres butterfly and 9th in the 100 metres freestyle), Darragh Joyce (6th in the under-13 200 metres breaststroke), Sionnan O'Reilly Collins (7th in the under-14 800 freestyle), Ryan Condron (7th in the under-14 100 breaststroke), and Evan Galvin (8th in the under-14 200im). Well done also to Olwyn Sheridan who put in a good performance in the 100 metres freestyle and Katie Costelloe and Aoife Kelly who competed in the girls 4 x 50 freestyle and medley relay finishing a very creditable 4th. The Club would like to thank Siobhan and Bright Ideas for once again sponsoring the new gear for all the swimmers participating in the summer championships. Good luck to all those competing in this year's Athlone Community Games Finals. Training will take place on Saturday the 8th of August from 12.30pm to 2.00pm and Monday to Friday 9.30am to 11.00am. Elite swimmers resume training on the 1st of September - A squad on Monday 7th of September, Junior Squad on Wednesday 9th of September, and the Development Squad on September the 12th.