Mid Sussex Marlins proud of successes in County Championships

The club came 3rd in the Age Group Girls competition and 2nd in the Open Mens, coming 6th overall. Rachael Bowen is the Sussex County Open Champion in 50m Fly and 50m Free, Alex Bowen keeping the family tradition was also crowned Open Champion for the same events. Guy Cooper took the title for the 100m Fly.

The younger girls flew the flag for Marlins with Rhiannon Evans claiming a clutch of medals including 3 golds and the top position in the 11 year old girls category. Heidi Denyer also had a great Counties with plenty of top three placings including gold for 100m Breaststroke and an overall position of 2nd in the 10 year old girls. Sophie Shaw swam some fantastic PBs with top placing in three events whilst Alex Curry took home two gold medals in his breaststroke events – both in the 13 years age group. In the 15 years age group Holly James swam into first place in the 50m Backstroke.

The middle weekend was given over to the team relay events at Eastbourne. This year Mid Sussex Marlins were dominant poolside with a sea of blue – it was great to see so many swimmers involved from the Club and a fantastic team spirit. The morning started well with the 12 -13year girls and boys both reaching finals – girls finished 1st and 3rd in Medley and Free – boys placing 1st in both events. Later in the day the Ladies Open team grabbed a silver medal and the Mens Open swam into 3rd position in the finals. The club came 4th overall, a huge improvement from last year where we struggled to enter any teams, showing how Marlins is rapidly becoming one of the largest competitive clubs in the county.

Coach Steve Murphy said: “This year’s county championships has been a great success for Marlins and a stepping stone for future development at the club. There were so many highlights and medals which is a great testament to the swimmers and all the coaches.

“There is still a lot of work to be done to get the club to where it should be but we are working hard and looking forward to the challenges ahead.”