Good news arrived for the club late last night. Firstly Joe McCarthy recieved notification that he has been approved for certification as a National Level Gala Referee. Congrats Joe.

This morning saw Aoife swim her favourite event the 200 Free. A strong lead out 100 of 1:03.1 saw her in the mix with some of the best in the country. A good second 100 in 1: 08:8 left Aoife with a new Personal Best of 2:11.99. This was only the start of the good news.

Aoife is now in the ‘B’ final for the 200 free. Askeaton Swimming Club have a finalist in an Irish Open National Final, something which has not been achieved since the 1980’s and never since the club returned to competitive swimming in more recent times.

Warm up for this evenings session is at 3:15 and we will try and get an update before we get back on the road.

Askeaton Swimming Club had two representatives flying the club flag on Day 2 of the SC Nationals. “Ladies & Gentlemen, you’r gala referee for this mornings session, Joe McCarthy”. In the water Aoife Duggan McSweeney had her shortest and longest events of the meet, the 50 & 400 freestyle.

First up 50 free. A quick start saw Aoife lead out her heat and turn the 25 in just 13.8 seconds a good underwater section saw her pull away a little more and her finish time of 28.13 see’s her ranked 23rd in the country and score a 1.49second PB.

After a nice swim down strategies were considered for the 400. After a good 50 today and 100 yesterday the decision was made to deviate from what we had practiced and lead out the 200 at a good pace but never let the tempo drop outside practice range.

Aoife lead out her heat at a blistering 1:05.6 pace for the first 100. Tempo still high for the next 100 saw Aoife split 1:11.8, slightly slower than planned, but still ok. Suffering from the late change of plan and not having practiced being at the 200 mark at this pace this was new territory for Aoife and she split the following 200 in 1:13.5 and 1:14.4 giving her a 4.77 second PB and setting her new time at 4:45.78 an amazing swim but leaving room for improvement.

The finals session is always amazing to see. Watching the best of the country race each other for national titles. And this evening the place was buzzing with no less than 3 Irish Junior or Senior records broken.

The opening day of the Irish Open SC Championships is always an interesting one. Getting familiar with the surroundings after 12 months, acclimatizing to the standard of competition and not forgetting your warm up togs!

Aoife Duggan McSweeney was the sole representative of Askeaton Swimming Club this year and on day 1 only had one event to swim, the 100 freestyle.

She was in heat 3 of 7 swimming in an outside lane(8). A strong start saw her lead out the heat at the 50 in 28.9 seconds. A good second 50 and we would record PB number one of the competition. And Aoife delivered, bringing the second 50 home in 31.2 giving her an over-all time of 1:00.21. It would take the two fastest swimmers in heat 5 before that time was broken.

Once the results were posted, things were looking good for Askeaton. For the first time in recent history we had a swimmer in the top 20 of an Irish Open competition. Aoife placed 19th overall. As withdrawls came from the final’s Aoife was just .05 away from earning herself a place in the ‘B’ final but a swim she can be really proud of.

Tomorrow see’s her take part in the 50 & 400 free.