RUSHMOOR Royals Swimming Club have competed in the Hampshire County Championships over the last three weekends and their impressive final medal tally reads 37 golds, 27 silvers and 47 bronzes.

A further 95 swims were placed in the top six and many personal best times were recorded.

The relays over the first weekend underlined the strength in depth at Rushmoor. All the 'A' teams made the finals and were sometimes joined by the 'B' swimmers.

The girls' 9/12 4x50m freestyle 'A' team (Jessica Newson, Caroline Wroe, Ingrid Chui, and Kalina Nowak), and 4x50 medley (Caroline Wroe, Ingrid Chui, Gemma Bannister, and Kalina Nowak) were in a class of their own, both winning their events comfortably.

The boys' 9/12 'A' team took a respectable second in the freestyle and third in the medley.

The women's open 'A' team recorded second places in the 400 freestyle and medley relays, with the men's open 'A' taking seventh.

The age group competition, swum over the second weekend, further reflected the development of the club's younger swimmers. Kathryn Willis and James Disney-May were first overall in the 10yrs age group. Caroline Wroe was first overall in the girls' 12yrs and Andrew Willis second in the boys' 12yrs.

Kathryn Willis, Caroline Wroe and Andrew Willis between them achieved more than 12 championship best performances.

Many other Rushmoor swimmers were placed in the top 15, including two Farnham boys. Lachlan Campbell, who was also part of the boys' 9/12 relay teams, took third in the 50m backstroke and David Schnabel was fifth in the 50m breaststroke.

It was the youth swimmers' turn on the third weekend and some great results contributed to Rushmoor's best County performance since the 1980s. Kayleigh Al Nawab and Kirsty Nash both won the 200m breaststroke in their respective age bands.

The Rushmoor squads have been re-organised along ASA guidelines and now have the bulk of training at the Aldershot Garrison 50-metre pool.

Chief coach Tony Bebbington is certain that the new training structure and the use of this facility is paying dividends.

New members are always welcome. For more information about Rushmoor Royals, contact Tony Bebbington on 01252 330666.