THIS year the City of Hereford Swimming Club increased their number of qualifying swimmers for the Midland District Age-Group Championships.

Nine swimmers took part, their ranks boosted by debutants Tom Harris (10), Grace Alexander (10), Tasha Webster (11) and Hannah Casewell (10).

The strength of the competition this year was clearly demonstrated by the fact that despite three of the swimmers (Joshua Darby, Michael Herbert and Crystal Cope) meeting the qualifying requirements for the 800m freestyle the volume of swimmers with faster times meant they were unable to compete.

In the first session Harris (1min 31.74s) and Alexander (1min 29.36s) swam personal bests in the 100m backstroke, Webster completing the same event in 1min 21.79s. Casewell finished the 100m breaststroke in 1min 44.18s.

The club's more seasoned swimmers also had solid swims. Laurence Gummerson, despite still nursing a broken toe, finished the 800 freestyle in 10min 42.44s, 100m and 200m butterfly in 1min 18.46s and 2min 28.99s respectively with 100m freestyle in 1min 11.19s.

Robert Griffiths finished the 100m and 200m backstroke in 1min 18.11s 2min 41.11s respectively and 2min 43.88s in the 200m individual medley. Isabella Fox made a personal best with a time of 1min 08.89s in the 100m freestyle and 5m 13.93s in the 400m freestyle.

Taylor Whitchurch who achieved all 11 regional qualifying times started well with a time of 1min 36.50s in the 100m breaststroke. Crystal Cope made the only final of the competition finishing 5th in the 200m butterfly, four seconds faster than her qualifying time (2min 59.90s).

The second weekend session was heavily disrupted by pool closures meaning all the races had to be crammed into a extended Sunday.

The extra rest appears to have paid off for many Hereford swimmers, followed by a swathe of personal bests: Alexander (3min 04.66s 200m backstroke), Cope (5.29.36 - 400m free and 1.26.54 - 100m fly), Webster (5.24.76 - 400m free), and Whitchurch (3.27.42 - 200m breast, 1.24.47 - 100m fly, 5.14.67 - 400m free and 1.11.22 in the 100m free).

Whitchurch completed the competition in 16th place on the basis of his overall swims (measured using Bagcat points).

Chief coach Chris Treanor said he was extremely proud of the resilience of all the swimmers who had put in their best performances despite the difficulties and delays on the second weekend.