British Gas Northern Zonal Meet
The inaugural British Gas Northern Zonal meet took place at Ponds Forge over the weekend of January 29th and 30th this involves all qualifying swimmers from the North East and North West of the country and is second only to the National championships. Rotherham Metro took a small team of ten qualifiers’ consisting of six boys and four girls with everyone looking to gain their national time.
Girls Competition
Charlotte Pearson (16) gained her national time with a scintillating performance in the 100 Butterfly competition thus gaining a final position in the girls 15 and over final where she once again attained the national time on her way to finishing in six position. In the 14 and under category Rachel Grainger was once again in stunning form gaining entry into the finals of both events she entered and finishing 8th in the 100 Freestyle and 10th in the 400 Freestyle. Emily Shone (14) competed in three events the 100 Breaststroke and 100 Backstroke where she narrowly missed out on a final position and finally the 200 Backstroke. Holly Sotheran (12) was the unluckiest of swimmers by just missing out on the National Time in the 200 Butterfly by 15 hundredths of a second in what can only be described as a awesome performance.
Boys Competition
Matthew Sotheran (14) was entered for seven events on the day in the 16 and under age category, which were the 50,100, 200 and 400 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke and Butterfly and 200IM. Considering that Matthew is only fourteen he swam outstandingly to reach two finals where he finished 10th in the 50 Freestyle and 10th in the 100 Freestyle where Matthew was the youngest competitor. Josh Whitehurst (16) took part in a total of six events, which were 50, 100, 200 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke and Butterfly and the 200IM and produced some very good performances. In the 200 Butterfly competition Metro had two representatives who were George Russell (13) and James Shiel (15) both producing exceptional performances, finally seventeen year-old Aaron Waterhouse put in a solid performance in a highly competitive 400 Freestyle race