CITY of Hereford Swimming Club have won their first title.

The success comes just two years after swapping from the National Western League to Division 3 of the Midlands National League. The club finished runners-up last year and opted to stay in Division 3 to build a stronger team and it proved a good decision.

After winning rounds one and two and taking the league title in the South by nearly 100 clear points in December, Hereford travelled to Birmingham for the league final and promotion swim-off.

Apart from being up against Southern Division runners-up Dunstable and Aylesbury & District, Hereford also faced the Northern Division champions Arnold and second and third-placed Kingsbury Aquarius and Swadlincote.

Four teams were to be promoted, first place would take the overall league title.

Six wins, three second places and a third saw City of Hereford take a 20-point lead in just the first 10 events. The most improved performance coming from the 11/under boys consisting of Jordan Evans, Cobus Oosthuizen, Hugo Lemar and Jamie Westoby.

During the second quarter, 13/under breaststroke swimmer George Field swam a 1.17.89 for the biggest PB (personal best) on the night - a staggering 4.5 second drop.

Josh Haines rose to the challenge and beat City of Birmingham swimmer Richard Tullet in the 100m butterfly.

City of Hereford continued to dominate throughout this quarter; if they did not record a first place finish then it was a well-fought second.

One of the most exciting events was race 25 when Sasha Matthews, training partner to Rebecca Aldington at performance club Nova Centurion, took on Hereford’s female swimmer of the year Jess Rogers in the ladies’ 100m backstroke.

Rogers took an excellent second place, by a finger’s length, in an awesome time of 1.05.08 – a 2.5 second PB for Jess.

At the half-way mark, City of Hereford had stretched their lead to 30 points.

Motivated by the excellent point score, the team then turned in 14 first places in the final 25 events. The icing on the cake came from both the senior women and senior men as they took gold in the 6x50 freestyle teams.

The final point scores were: City of Hereford 257.5 (Division 3 Champions), Arnold 194.5, Kingsbury Aquarius 178, Dunstable 160, Aylesbury & District 155, Swadlincote 100.

Chief coach Matt Puddy said: “We’ve come so far in just over one year, I am proud of each and every swimmer.

“Our team is strong and all the squads within the club are verging on full! We did not target the league this year, I’ve swum my swimmers hard over each and every round.

“They’re swimming very well but the best is yet to come.”