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A squad of mixed experience swimmers went to the two day Stevenage Open, setting over 210 personal best times they were rewarded with a staggering 183 medals, which included  38 gold, 28 silver and 27 bronze.

Fifteen-year-old Kirsty Forbes was in outstanding form and delighted the Whales supporters with a stunning display. Not only did she win all her nine events at the meet she also broke her own personal best times in each event, a fantastic achievement.

In the same fifteen-year-old girls age group Henny Andrews claimed silver in the 50m & 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 100m medley while Lauren Andrews took bronze in the 50m fly.

In the sixteen age group Janine Rayner took top honors in both the 50m & 100m breaststroke, while teammate Laura Andrews claimed gold in the 100m butterfly. Laura also took silver behind Janine in the 50m breaststroke, silver in the 50m fly and bronze in the 100m free.

Julia Braybrooke in the seventeen and over struck gold in the 100m fly and then added silvers in the 50m fly, 50m back, 100m free & 100m medley. She completed her medal haul with bronze in the 100m back.

Rachel Green was another swimmer in great form claiming her fist ever “Essex Time”, she took silver in the fourteen year olds 100m back with Victoria Beaumont finishing fourth. Rachel added a bronze in the 50m back with Victoria finishing sixth.

For the thirteen year olds Katinka Merchan and Katie Miles were amongst the medals with Katinka winning gold in the 100m back & 100m medley, silver in the 50m back and bronze in the 100m fly. Katie took a deserved bronze in the 100m breast after finishing fourth in 100m fly and 100m back. Katinka and Katie were also involved in an extraordinary three-way tie for fifth place in the 50m butterfly.

Twelve-year-old Georgia Shaw was back to her best, finishing in the top three in all her nine events. Georgia took gold in the 100m and 50m free, 100m and 50m back, 100m fly and100m medley, she had to be content with silver in the 50m fly and took bronze in both breaststroke events.

Despite setting a new PB, Jodie Momodu was unexpectedly pipped for gold in the eleven years 50m breaststroke by a girl from St Albans. Not being one to settle for second best Jodie went all out to make amends in the 100m event. Both girls set a blistering pace leaving the third placed swimmer over ten seconds behind. At the finish even the electronic timing could not split them and they both registered 1.27.37, leaving the promoters with the headache of finding another gold medal!!!! Jodie went on to take another gold in the 100m fly along with silver in the 100m medley and bronze in the 50m fly.

The boys were also in good form and were set a great example by team captain Dan Hime who only just failed to match Kirsty’s achievements when he set eight new personal bests and took eight golds. Dan just missed making a clean sweep, having to settle for silver in the last event of the weekend, the 50m freestyle. In the same sixteen-year group Ben Clifford –Stephenson claimed bronze in the 100m fly and 50m back.

The fifteen-year-old boys were well represented with relative newcomer Adam Conway taking a fine silver in the 50m breaststroke, Toby Davis took bronze behind Adam and then improved to take silver in the 100m version of the event. James Shelley faced stiff opposition in the freestyle events and did well to take two silvers, Shelley also added an unexpected bronze in the 100m fly. James Croxon completed the medal tally with a bronze in the 100m back.

David Haynes took two bronze medals in the 100m fly and 50m back despite being the youngest swimmer in the seventeen and over category, David also finished fourth in the 100m freestyle, 100m back and the 50m fly.

The fast improving Tom Bircham took the spotlight in the fourteen-year group by winning both breaststroke events with Daniel Bleach picking up two bronzes. Tom then claimed bronze in the 100m freestyle while Daniel took a further four bronze medals and topped his collection off with a silver in the 100m fly.

Johnny Congdon and Lee Parker picked up the baton for the thirteen year olds with the ever-improving Congdon relishing the challenge. Johnny got off to a great start by winning the 100m fly, he then added four silvers in the both free and back events, a bronze in the 100m breaststroke and then returned with a gold in the 50m fly. Lee swam at the top of his form, setting eight new PB’s, he finished fourth twice before claiming a deserved bronze in the 50m fly.

Lewis Clifford-Stephenson kept up the winning ways for the twelve year olds taking gold in 100m medley, 50m breast and 50m fly, he also added three silvers in the 100m breast, 100m fly and 100m free.

The youngest boys also enjoyed a fair measure of success with Tom Webb gaining silver in the 100m breaststroke, 50m fly and a bronze in the 50m freestyle. Toby Andrews finished fourth in both fly events while Tom Skingsley claimed in fourth place in the 50m breaststroke and sixth in the 100m breaststroke.

Susannah Haynes, Claire Wilson, Heather Wilson, and Gavin Johnstone were others who had top-six placings, whilst Laurence Greenway, Michael Walsh, Grace Jolly, Christina Stenson, Sarah Thomas, and Ellena Wheatley just missed out on medals finishing seventh, all setting new personal bests along the way.

The most improved PB of the day went to Chelsea Buchanan who improved her 100m freestyle time by over 30 second.