Swim Ireland Irish Age Groups Division 2 Championships was held at UL Sports Arena Limerick from June 30th to July 3rd. 563 swimmers from 78 clubs across Ireland competed over the four days. Mallow Swans with a squad of 13 swimmers made a big impression. The Mallow team got off to a fantastic start with Chloe Ferris winning the gold medal in the 800 metres freestyle event. Chloe was joined in the 200m freestyle final and 400m freestyle event by club mate Léan Duane. It was great to see both girls on the podium at the end of the 400m with Léan winning the gold medal and Chloe winning the silver medal. The 200m freestyle race was a very exciting race with Léan finishing 3rd place for the bronze medal and Chloe finishing 5th. Chloe also qualified for the 100m freestyle final finishing 7th, while Léan qualified for the 200m Individual Medley and the 100m backstroke finals, finishing 7th and 8th respectively. Colin O’Keeffe, who only recently came back to training after illness, had a great weekend, winning silver medals in both the 100m and 200m freestyle. Colin also won a bronze medal with the boys 200m freestyle relay team. Another member of the relay team was Conleth Aspel. Conleth won a gold medal in the 100m backstroke final, while also competing in the 400m, 200m and 100m freestyle, the 200m backstroke and 200m Individual Medley events. The other members of the relay team were Cian O’Connor and Ronan Kiely. Ronan swam the 100m freestyle, while Cian swam in the 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle events and finished 5th in the 100m breaststroke final. Larasati Moynihan swam the enduring 400m Individual Medley event. Larasati had a great swim finishing 2nd and receiving the silver medal. She also swam in the 100m breaststroke. Jessica Harris swam in six individual events and two relay events, while Lucy Sheehan swam in four individual events, both girls achieved great PB’s. Clare Lynn had great swims in the 100m and 200m freestyle events. Alannah McDonald, Hannah Behan and Ailbhe Lynch, swimming in their first Division 2 Gala, represented their club very well in the relay events, while achieving PBs in their individual events.
These swimmers’ season is now over and we hope they enjoy a well deserved rest. We would like to thank our coaches for the weekend Kieran Cremin and Arif Yilmaz. Thanks also to coach Cormac Powell for his work during the year, to the parents who helped at the weekend, and to the officials for their great work.