On Saturday 7th May Ballymena Aquasprinters set off for their final away gala of the season to take on team Portadown at the Cascades Leisure Centre.

Getting off the coach full of energy and anticipation for that evenings gala, Ballymena showed great team spirit when the girls and boys gathered behind the newly appointed Aquasprint “ Club Captains” Rachel McBride and Robert Adair.

During warmup the team quickly adapted to the 8metre longer pool they were set to face in the night’s gala. All members of the A to D groups put in tremendous performances. As expected they were hard fought battles with the B and D groups winning their opening relays. At the end of the back crawl there was no difference in points between the two squads. There were some very good PB’s from Ballymena with Olivia Andrews knocking 3 seconds off her 25m PB despite the extra length.

In the breaststroke Ballymena edged ahead of Portadown by 4 points. Despite the obvious disadvantage of a longer pool, Ballymena continued to put in a good account with Oisin Connolly winning the “A” boys Breaststroke and wiping another second off his PB. “B” Group girls (Erin Barr, Samantha Agnew and Olivia Andrews) eased into 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively ahead of the home swimmers.

Moving into the Butterfly Ballymena knew this was going to be a matter of stamina. However, despite apprehension the team came together and increased their lead by 20points. A big congratualations to Matthew Stewart on his debut gala for “A” group boys. Despite only being in the team’s extra training sessions for 2 weeks, he cruised home with 2nd place with a time of 37.87 ( 3rd place ended with Portadown with a time of 41.07!) This stroke was finished with the “D” Group Boys, Matthew Robinson, Robert Adair and Jack O’Hanlon finishing comfortably in 1st, 2nd & 3rd place.

When it came to the Freestyle, twins Amy and Erin Barr produced a 1-2 finish with times of 24.91 and 24.93! But perhaps the best display of the night came from Roisin Ferris (4 races) and Padhraig Magill (3 races) who finished 1st place in every race they competed in. What an inspiration for the younger swimmers!

Going into the freestyle relays, Ballymena could not be beaten as the points stood at 192-168 in their favour the B and D group triumphed again as winners of their events. At the end of the evening Ballymena emerged the victors with a 212 to 188 score line.

This is credit to the hard work and dedication from all swimmers and coaches within the Aquasprint team in Ballymena. Congratulations to all our other swimmers who took part. The team is really coming together and hopefully the rest of the season will follow suit for the Ballymena Aquasprint Team.

Ballymena Aquasprints - Saturday 5th February 2011

Following a very successful league season, Ballymena were promoted into Division Two of the new Forest Feast Aquasprints League.

On this, a very exciting first gala on the season, Ballymena Aquasprints came out and were determined to put up a strong performace against a tough opposing side. Armed with a professional and striking new club kit and a positive team morale Ballymena swimmers smashed 79PBs! An unbelievable result reflecting on the hard work and training which they have put in this season so far.

Despite only having two months of extra and well needed training, the A group stepped up to the plate, firmly on Larnes heels during each race, with A group girls consistently securing 2nd & 3rd place in each race. Outstanding performances from all in A group - special recognition to Sarah Carroll who wiped an outstanding 9secs off her butterfly PB!

B Group girls were also out to win with determination and swam into an easy win for Breaststroke with an easy 3.5sec lead to all Larne opponents. 

Overall, the gala was a tremendous credit to all the swimmers' hard work and dedication to remain a Devision 2 team throughout the year.

Final Score

Larne 227        Ballymena 173

Well done to the young Ballymena swimmers. All your hard work in training has paid off. 

Now roll on the rest of the season!!!

Alice McClintock

A Very Proud Aquasprints Manager