Ballymena swimmers travelled to Magherafelt in optimistic form after the Christmas break. Magherafelt is a five lane pool so each team must restrict the number of swimmers who compete. The visitors have the choice of restricting girls or boys and for this event Ballymena chose to reduce the number of boys.

Six wins in eight races got the visitors off to a confident start but as in recent galas, the prospect of a runaway victory was halted by strong individual performances from the opposition. For Ballymena, sisters Katrina and Heather Carson lead their respective age groups to maximum points with Katrina winning five out of five events and Heather just being prevented from doing likewise in the Individual Medley by a strong swim from Deirdre O’Kane. For the boys, Calvin Kernohan matched Heather’s score and this time it was Michael Purdy who denied Calvin a clean sweep by winning the Butterfly. By the end of the individual events Ballymena had an almost unassailable lead and another six wins out of eight in the freestyle relays sealed a fifty-two point win for the visitors and ensured a good start to 2008 and continuation of their run of good form.

Best individual performances on the night went to Ross Little with four PBs and Claire O’Neill, Aoife McCann and Roshan O’Donnell with three. Nineteen swimmers shared another twenty-five PBs.

The local club have six weeks to prepare for their next swim, which is a home gala against Swilly Seals from Letterkenny on the 1st March. This will be a sterner test against a club who dropped down a division just this season.

Sat 27th Oct - Progress in defeat for Swimming Club 

Ballymena Swimming club were well beaten by City of Derry in the second gala of the season but came away encouraged that the gap since the last encounter had closed significantly. City of Derry have a long tradition as a Division 1 club and are currently working their way back up through the divisions after dropping out of team competition a few seasons ago. Ballymena lost the first two relays by the narrowest of margins but hopes were up again when the B-group boys and girls had convincing wins. The remaining relays however went CoD’s way with the senior boys Ulster swimmers setting down a marker for the rest of the gala.

In the end City of Derry was too strong for Ballymena but progress has been made and the local club were pleased that the gap since the last encounter had significantly decreased. In all 55 swimmers recorded personal best times and three younger swimmers, Ganesha O’Donnell, Grace Caufield, and Amy O’Kane competed for the first time in this league. Top of the PB list were Roshan O’Donnell with five and Aoife McCann and Claire McCarry with four each. Claire’s Individual medley time was a big improvement and makes her a natural choice for this event in future competitions. Una O’Neill and Calvin Kernohan had three each and for Calvin in particular this is an impressive performance as he is already performing at a high level and taking medals in open competition. The next gala team gala is another home gala against Portadown on the 1st December .

Sat 20th Oct - Busy Weekend for Ballymena Swimmers

Five swimmers from Ballymena Swimming Club competed in the Potential Olympians on Saturday, at the Grove in Belfast. They were Katrina Carson, Victoria Shaw, Chris Best, Ross Lyttle and Matthew McDonnell. All sucessfully achieved personal bests in their events. The weekend also saw the first meet of the Age Group Superstars. Calvin Kernohan obtained a silver medal in the 100m breast stroke.Congratulations to all who competed. Next Saturday sees the clubs second PTL Gala of the season against the City of Derry.Swimmers would greatly appreciate the support of family and friends

Ballymena Success at Larne Sprints

Saturday 6th October saw the commencement of the Open Galas with the Larne Sprints. Clubs from both the North &  South participated. Competitors from Ballymena Swimming Club were: Chloe & Calvin Kernohan, Katrina Carson, Chris Best, and Matthew McDonnell.Everyone put in a galant performance, especially those competing against older swimmers. Calvin Kernohan ,a personal best in the breast stroke managed to make the finals, coming 5th.Chris Best's all-round performance obtained places in three of the finals, resulting in 3rd in backcrawl , 4th in freestyle & 5th in breast stroke.Katrina Carson achieved  2nd in  breast stroke & 6th in butterfly final.This is a promising start to the season & the result of committed training.

Ballymena swimmers off to flying start in PTL league.
With the season just underway Ballymena swimmers have already notched up a win against Belfast club Alliance in a closely fought contest at the Grove pool. Last years encounter was decided by a handful of points so it was immediately encouraging when Ballymena won the first four relays. The next three went Alliance's way and a repeat of last year looked likely however the Senior boys won their race convincingly to bring the race tally to 5/3. The rest of the gala went the same way with Ballymena slowly edging ahead and repeating the same success in the final set of relays. The final score was Alliance 554 Ballymena 590, still close but for Ballymena a definite improvement over last year, thanks to superb performances from the youngest swimmers some of whom competed for the first time. Well done to Claudia McKernan, Una O'Neill, Richard Johnston and Josh King. There were 28 personal best performances amongst the boys and 17 from the girls.

Best performances in the younger age groups included Peter Meehan with 5, Chloe Kernohan with 4, and Megan Boyle and Roshan O’Donnell with 3 each. At the senior end Chris best and Connor Purdy with 3 apiece, demonstrating the benefit of their pre-season training. Next gala for the club is at home against City of Derry on the 27th of October. Support from parents and friends would be greatly appreciated by the swimmers.

2006/2007 End of Season Gala

The end of season teaching gala provided an opportunity for the children learning to swim to show off their newly obtained skills to parents and friends. Each heat had placings for 1st 2nd and 3rd with medals and trophies to win. Great enthusiasm was shown by all the swimmers, cheered on by family and coaches. The club looks forward to improving on these skills next season, and promoting these budding swimmers.

The Team Gala allowed the older swimmers to compete against their team-mates, again competing for medals, a personal best or the ultimate, a club record. New Club records were obtained by: Heather Carson and Calvin Kernohan In the backstroke, Kathryn Costello in the breaststroke, Heather Carson in the Butterfly, and Calvin Kernohan in the individual medley. This gala placed swimmers in the categories laid down by the PTL (Provincial Towns League), for next season. Some swimmers were competing against team-mates as never before. Praise must be afforded to the young swimmers of A and B group. For some this was their first trial of swimming 50m in a Gala situation. The whole club rallied behind these swimmers and special mention must be paid to Jack O’Hanlon, who completed his first ever individual medley with magnificent support from swimmers and spectators alike.

13th January 2007

Teletots off to winning start.

Well done Ballymena Teletots;  Ballymena started the season with a win against Alliance and a massive 86 Personal Best Times.

PTL Team Success - Division 4 Winners 5/4/06

Congratulations to the PTL team on promotion to Division 3

At the end of season gala in the Grove pool Ballymena was presented with the cup for Division 4. Our D group also took the trophy for the highest points and the A group were runners up, missing out on a cup by only two points.

This is the icing on the cake for an excellent season when the team has made a habit of winning.

We were also represented at the end of season gala by Michael Purdy, Emer Carroll, Deirdre O'kane, Katrina Carson, Victoria Shaw, Philip Caroll, Ryan Wray, and Connor Purdy. Connor and Michael both struck gold and there were a good number of PBs.

Division 3 will present us with new challenges and new places to visit. Good luck for the 2006/2007 season.