Atlantis Swimming Club strike gold at Sussex Championships

Held over three weekends in the Olympic sized pool at K2 the championships kicked-off with the long distance events, when Maddy Carey, 11, won the 800m freestyle in a time of 10mins 36.45secs. Regional qualifying times were recorded from Kate and Ella Windle, Isobel Dunlop and Isobel Davies, all also in the same event.

The focus switched to the shorter distances for the following weekend of competition, and the Horsham-based Atlantis were well represented across all age groups. In all, Atlantis recorded 38 finalists and 46 South East Regional Qualifying times.

Lily Davies, 13, led the way with golds in the 50m breaststroke (36.51secs) and the 200m breaststroke (2mins 48.39secs). Ella Windle, 14, followed that with wins in the 200m freestyle (2mins 13.27secs) and 200m fly (2mins 34.91secs). Seventeen-year-old Bex Lobley also recorded two victories, in the 100m breaststroke (1min 14.21secs) and 200m breaststroke (2mins 37.59secs), while Edward Hundleby, 13, won the 400m freestyle in 4mins 41,18secs; ten year old Rebecca Barber won the 200m breaststroke in 3mins 23.19secs and Eleanor Morris, 14 took the 100m backstroke in 1min 6.77secs.

The nine-year-old girls’ medley relay team struck gold, while the boys’ team took freestyle relay silver, adding to the Atlantis haul, with a weekend of competition remaining.

Head coach Bill Penny said: “Once again the swimmers at Atlantis should be really proud of themselves, they have worked hard to achieve these results with some outstanding personal best times and some excellent performances in reaching the finals.”