Northampton School for Boys exploded off the blocks on 5th November to retain their trophy in the 2nd Town Swimming Championships for years 7 & 8.

Immaculately presented and well rehearsed, a strong team of six boys took part at The Mounts Baths and right from the start Vice Captain, Jack Liggins showed his talent with a crackerjack performance in the Individual Medley. Looking extremely professional with quality tumble turns he took 1st place and got everyone in the mood for a great afternoon.

The relay teams, which also included swimmers Harry Stobart, Callum Denham and Jordan Stubbs, won all of their races and there were comfortable individual wins for Captain, Patrick Green and Ethan Hill-Campbell too. In all there were eight 1st places and one 2nd place ensuring that we dominated from start to finish. The trophy was retained following the Mixed Relay where we enlisted the services of the girls from Weston Favell Upper School to help us home.

Senior students Chase Miller, Josh Cardwell (not pictured) and Naisan Dehghani were outstanding in their roles as officials and coach and their support and encouragement was greatly appreciated by all.

Well done to everyone who took part!

In the Junior Boys section, notable performances from Charlie Hayworth, James Tomney, Zak Allen, Sam Turnell and Spencer Bovey were overshadowed slightly by the sheer size, strength and age of the opposition. Yet what our boys lacked in years and physical prowess was certainly matched by grit and determination. In both events, the Medley and Freestyle Relay, the boys were narrowly beaten but optimism still runs high for the future.

The Intermediate boys showed strength in depth too but they were unlucky to be grouped once again with strong teams consisting of National standard swimmers. George Cardwell made an impressive start with a dynamic backstroke leg followed by a demonstration swim from Shaun Dennis in the breaststroke. Oliver Allen powered through the water in elegant style while Peter Harrison dug deep to bring the Medley team home in a respectable time. The Freestyle race was another close affair but Warwick snatched that title away too.

Senior Girls, Becky Purcell, Jade Robinson, Vicky Kightly, Emma Hayes and Ruth Etherington almost pulled off the surprise of the night with an amazing and highly emotional swim in the Freestyle event. Once again our main rival Warwick had all the racing to do but their 'back-end-speed' (a technical term, honest!) brought them home victorious. In the Medley event our girls were up against strong individual National competitors yet with make-up still in place and mascara unsmudged, gave a great account!

And to our Senior boys- oh, what a night! Strength, determination, skill and pride culminated in an outstanding team performance which was breath-taking to watch. Despite no one swimmer currently competing at National or District level, collectively they reigned supreme and won both of their events with convincing style and speed. Josh Caldwell, Chase Miller, Naisan Dehghani, Jordanne Hill-Campbell and Luc Blackford now have the agonising wait to hear whether they have qualified nationally as one of the top twenty teams in the Country to go forward to the National Schools Final in February-so watch this space and wish them luck!

And finally, a big thank you to Sue Hayworth, (Charlie's mum) for recording time-splits and to Jamie, (Mr Motivator) for everything