Kingfishers on the road again… 

Saturday 15th June saw us off on another adventure… this time, at the lovely John Charles  Centre, Leeds, for the Jorvik Meet. It has been ages since our last outing at the Harriman’s in  March - so we were hungry for competition. 

We took a party of 29 Swimmers up the motorway on yet another miserable morning - no sign of  “flaming June” anywhere to be seen… and, for those who had competed in the morning session,  driving, heavy rain on the homeward bound journey was not part of the plan. However - spirits  were very definitely not dampened. There were some OUTSTANDING performances across the  range of age groups with medals, PBs and top girl/boy performances galore. The endeavour,  enthusiasm and determination of ALL of our swimmers was thoroughly amazing. Nothing was left  in the pool - and the outcomes speak for themselves. 

There were 85 new PBs - with special mention to the following swimmers who achieved four or  five PBs from their swims 

Sophie Barley 5 

Emily Davies 5 

Rodger Murray 5 

Miranda Burkill 4 

Maisy Ebbage 4 

Laura Garbacik 4 

Millie Varley 4 

Corey Edwards 4 

Jakub Garbacik 4 

Ben Gilson 4 

William James 4 

Lucas Stallard 4 

Medals were awarded to swimmers who achieved a place in the first six. Overall, our Kingfishers achieved 98 medals: 

31 Gold Medals 

19 Silver Medals 

16 Bronze Medals 

12 Fourth Place 

 9 Fifth Place 

11 Sixth Place 

In an entry field of around 370 swimmers from 12 clubs across Yorkshire, competing over 50m in  the four major strokes, and 100m IM - these are fantastic performances and we are extremely  proud of everyone of our swimmers. The commitment they show at training, together with the  skills and professionalism of our coaches and Team Managers, combine to produce swimmers  who can perform at the top of their game whenever they are put to the test.  

A special WELL DONE goes to the following swimmers who achieved a top three place in the  overall age categories: 

Rodger Murray - Winner 11 Years Boys 

Emily Kirk - Winner 11 Years Girls 

Jennifer Powell - Winner 12 Years Girls 

Ava Burkill - Winner 14 Years Girls 

Noah Burkill - 1st Place 10 Years Boys 

Jakub Garbacik - 2nd Place 9 Years Boys 

Laura Garbacik - 2nd Place 12 Years Girls 

Aria Sanders - 3rd Place - 9 Years Girls 

Sophie Barley - 3rd Place - 11 Years Girls 

Our swimmers’ performances gained us another INCREDIBLE second place out of twelve teams!

Progress is not a straight line / one direction phenomenon. When performances dip, our  swimmers have the resilience to persevere with their training, the patience to deal with  disappointment, but most importantly, the confidence and belief to trust that their training will  eventually pay off. As Adam Peaty wisely said… “whatever your end goal, enjoy the journey” -  there will be ups and downs… but we grow as individuals when faced with challenges and  adversity.  

Once again, a HUGE thank you to all our swimmers, their families and friends, the coaches, team  managers, officials and other volunteers - we could not do this without you.  

Our next outings are both team galas: 

Saturday 22nd June BML at Dearne Leisure Centre, Goldthorpe - Warm up at 4.15 pm  Saturday 29th June BML at Adwick Leisure Centre - Warm up at 5.30pm 

* Please register at the pools fifteen minutes earlier than the warm up times.  

You won’t want to miss these team Galas - EVERY swimmers’ place in their races counts… so we  need your support more than ever, as we aim to secure our BML League Two position for another  year! The teams are displayed on our club notice board at Armthorpe.  

Please note: training arrangements for these two Saturdays, for swimmers not involved in the  BML Galas, are as follows 

Saturday 22nd June 2.00pm - 3.30pm  

Saturday 29th June - no training 

See you at Dearne!  

PS can you spot five musical links in this report? 

The Harriman’s Meet, held on Sunday afternoon 24th March at Adwick Leisure Centre, was our THIRD inside the month ofMarch - so we’ve been very busy indeed. However, showing their typically positive and enthusiastic attitude, our cohort of 27 Kingfishers carried on where they had left off, with terrific

successes across the 10-15 age groups. The age groups were determined by age at 31st December 2024 - so many of our swimmers were swimming in an older age category. In addition to Armthorpe Kingfishers, Dearne Valley, Adwick, Doncaster DARTES and Edlington Stingrays were in attendance. There

were around 160 swimmers in total at the Meet. Many of our regular seasoned swimmers were in attendance, as usual, because they just can’t get enough, but this Meet is hugely popular amongst our younger, less experienced swimmers, and, for many of our contingent, this was their very first competition - and they certainly made the most of it!

Inspired by our trusty coaches and team managers, along with Adwick’s “feel good” play list, the transformation from “rabbits in the headlights” before their first swim, to the bouncy confidence demonstrated from there on in, was delightful to see, and it is very clear that there are some stars of the future amongst those “newbies”! Hopefully they will go from strength to strength. It wasn’t all plain sailing, but, as they say, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”.

With cut off points within easier reach at this gala, there were quite a few “speeding tickets” up for grabs - and they were grabbed with delight by swimmers, and often, but not always, prized above medals. There were PBs galore - especially for our newbies, who came away with a full set of official times. However, despite the previous meet being only a week ago, PBs were still being set by our swimmers.

In total, there were 60 PBs and 69 medals of varying colours:

Gold x 16

Silver x 23

Bronze x 12

4th Place  x 7

5th Place  x 6

6th Place x 5

A special well done to the following swimmers who achieved a top three place in all their races:

Jennifer Powell - two Gold and a Speeding Ticket

Sophie Barley - one Gold and three Silver

Maisy Ebbage - two Gold and two Silver

Lucas Johnson - two Gold and two Silver

Ava Burkill - one Gold and three Silver

Vlad Akula - two Gold

Ray Chapman - one Gold and three Silver

Laura Garbacik - three Gold and one Bronze

Mia Grant - three Silver and one Bronze

Emily Kirk - one Gold, one Silver and two Bronze

There were also some qualifying times achieved for October’s Yorkshire Championships, and other swimmers who edged ever nearer qualifying - we wish them luck in their quest. Club Rankings and Age Group Awards for Top Boy and Top Girl are not officially awarded at this meet, but scrutiny of the above list will provide some insight into who those swimmers might be. Many, many thanks again to all our swimmers, and to the Team Managers, Coaches, Officials and other volunteers who support us, without whom these competitions (and the training in preparation) would not happen. Thank you to Adwick for organising the Meet, and thank you, as always to all those parents, families and friends who come and support us time and time again - we are so grateful! Our next Club event is the Doncaster METs Teams, which will be held at Adwick on Saturday 20th April. This team event is competed for by Doncaster Clubs and comprises Freestyle,

Medley and Canon Team Relays across the whole range of age groups. 

The teams are selected from age groups 

9/10 years,

11/12 years, 

13/14 years,  and

15 and overs with age being at 31st December 2024.

The winning club is awarded the Bridon Shield. We are the current holders of the Bridon Shield, and it will take a superhuman effort for any other team to even think about getting it off us. So… you will not want to miss this!

Remember the date and come and support us!

Yet again, our kingfishers did us proud. A team of 21 swimmers travelled to the International Olympic Pool at Ponds Forge, Sheffield on Saturday 2nd March 2024, for the Worksop Dolphins Open Meet. This was the first time we had competed in this meet, and a great opportunity to swim in a ten lane pool over a straight 50m, against some swimmers and clubs we had never met before.

It was another early start for many - still dark and, on top of that, cold, wet and miserable. However, undeterred and intrepid as ever, the Kingfishers did what they do best and “stepped up to the plate”. As always, their ambition, drive, spirit and commitment were OUTSTANDING, as was their team work and support for each other. This really is what grass roots sport is all about. We have some real champions of the future here, with some of our swimmers achieving Yorkshire AND regional qualifying times! Watch this space!

It was an ENORMOUS field of around 400 competitors from 17 clubs from all over the region. In many events there were upwards of 12 heats across the age groups, amounting to 120 swimmers! The 9 years female 50m freestyle event alone had 45 swimmers! An entry of 25+ was commonplace in the 9-13 age groups. Interestingly, there were more female than male swimmers at the event. Worksop, the hosts, won the club competition with 1453.5 points; Grantham were second with 893 points, and Ripley third with 730 points. Armthorpe were an extremely creditable ninth with 358 points - amazing for such a small club and small cohort of swimmers.

For most, it was their first experience of such a splendid venue, and of “long course” competition. Swimming 50m in one go, with no turns at the halfway mark, was quite daunting - and to quote one of our excellent team managers, some swimmers were heard to say “I thought the end was never coming”  - but, come it did… eventually…bringing with it a whole new set of long course PBs to add to those already gained over “short course” swims. For some, it brought medals, although these were only awarded to the first three at each of A and B Grade events - so they were like “hen’s teeth”.

In total, Kingfishers won 41 medals: 13 Gold, 11 Silver and 17 Bronze!

So… Very Well Done to the following medalists:

Sofia Sanders 6 x Gold, 1 x Silver

Laura Garbaciuk 3 x Gold, 1 x Silver, 1x Bronze

Jennifer Powell 1 x Gold, 1 x Silver, 1 x Bronze

Lucas Johnson 1 x Gold, 1 x Silver, 1 x Bronze

Jack Collins 1 x Gold, 1x Silver, 2 x Bronze

Sam Fisher 1 x Gold, 2 x Bronze

Ava Burkill 2 x Silver 1 x Bronze

Stephen Tuffrey 2 x Silver

Noah Burkill 1 x Silver, 1 x Bronze

Jacob Witts 1 x Silver

Lucas Stallard 2 x Bronze

Ben Gilson 3 x Bronze

Maisy Ebbage 2 x Bronze

Miranda Burkill 1 x Bronze

A particular Well Done must go to:

Sofia Sanders who was the top female in the 11 years age group, and second top in the whole competition.

Laura Garbaciuk who was fourth in the female 11 years category and 12th overall.

As always - a HUGE thank you to all our merry band of spectators/cheerleaders - we couldn’t do this without you, and we recognise all the sacrifices you make to support your children, and us! And, of course, an even BIGGER thank you to our swimmers - who give everything and bring us such joy - THANK YOU!

Special thanks go to all our AMAZING volunteers:

* our coaches, who work so hard to get our swimmers ready for these competitions!

* our team managers who look after our swimmers, make sure they get to their races and collect their medals!

* our committee, particularly Mr and Mrs Kingfishers, Pete and Maureen

* our “back room staff” at the club who kept training going whilst we were at the meet

* the officials and technical support staff and centre staff, without whom these events couldn’t run.

It was a VERY long day - but so, so rewarding, enjoyable and worthwhile. We all do this for our children - because they deserve our best.

Our next scheduled event is the Beverley Barracudas on Sunday 17th March at Beverley Leisure Centre - you won’t want to miss it! See you there!

Remember, swimmers … Dream BIG, dream OUTRAGEOUS, and… SWIM FAST!