Imogen Clark carries Olympic Torch!

IMOGEN CLARK - OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY RUNNER! 29th June 2012 Buxton

ImogenOly mpic Torch Bearer Picture Courtesy of Sam Longden Photography

Picture Courtesy of Sam Longden Photography

 Derventio eXcel's Imogen Clark today became an Olympic Torch Bearer when she carried the Olympic torch on its relay around the country in the build up to the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Imogen poses with her Olympic Torch with her Mum and Dad

 Imogen was nominated by friends and fellow swimming club members Michelle and Katie Pearce:

"Imogen has suffered severe health problems from 6 months old. (Excema & asthma). The excema caused her to be wet wrapped from the age of 1 until it was brought under control. A severe asthma attack caused her to stay in intensive care at Sheffield Childrens Hospital for a week. Regular visits to hospital followed for 3 years with several major asthma attacks. She began to swim at Sharley Park, Clay Cross. She was spotted by Alan, the coach for Rykneld Swimming Club in 2008, she trialled, then became fulltime club member in January 2009. She has climbed the ranks within the club and is now in senior 'A' squad for past 2 years. She was invited to join Derventio excell development squad September 2010. From March 2011 she is now a full time Derventio excel swimmer (Derbyshire elite squad). At a recent Open Swimming Meet at Eckington in May 2011 she has beaten a record for the 50m freestyle that had stood since 2000, this record was held by Britains double olympic gold medallist, Rebecca Adlington, when Becky was 11 in 2000, Imogen beat this time by 0.48 seconds to remove Becky from the record books. She also beat another record that was set 25 years ago for another race. She has battled her illnesses and helped others, proving what can be achieved by determination and hard work. Imogen is an inspiration to lots of club swimmers and would be a very worthy torchbearer for next year and prove that ordinary people from ordinary backgrounds can achieve a dream."

Imogen Clark running towards the kiss of the torches, waving at friends

 Imogen who has been a member of Derbyshire's elite swim squad since Sept 2010 has gone from strength to strength.  Imogen started off in DXDS (Derventio eXcel Development squad) and coupled with the training she did with her home club Rykneld SC improved rapidly to become a full elite squad member in June 2011.  Just 8 months later she achieved one of her dreams to qualify for the National Championships in July 2012. 

 "Imogen's hard work, focus and determination and constant striving to improve her techniques is testament to why she is being so successful, when she first came into the squad her Breaststroke was one of her weakest strokes, and with consistent focus and determination is now ranked one of the fastest Breaststrokers in the country for her age.  I was so proud of her today, to overcome all she has at an early age to become a National level swimmer is great and I hope she remembers today forever" says Kim Hill, Coach.

Imogen Clark handing over the Olympic Flame to Andy Steel

Imogen Clark at the end of her Olympic Torch relay run

Imogen had a smile on her face from start to finish and was greeted by many of her family, swimming friends and school friends along the route.  Imogen is now hoping to bring her Olympic Torch in to show all of her friends at swimming.  You can watch her Olympic torch run on the official website here (you can even see her mum, dad and Michelle trying to run alongside her...for the first part!):

http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/video/live.html between 21 mins and 24 mins

There was also a piece on her on the special Olympic Derby show, which can be found on iplayer here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01k8cvv/Olympic_Torch_East_Midlands/ (21 mins and 50 secs)

Well Done Imogen we are all proud of you!

Thankyou from the Renshaw's

To all Molly Renshaw's supporters and well wishers.

Molly and her family, Jane, Mark and Danny wish for a message to extend their thankyou to all swimmers, coaches, parents and supporters in the local and wider community for their support, kind words and messages through the last week.

It means a lot to all of them.

Thanks again from the Renshaws!

Hannah Jones competes in First Senior Nationals and narrowly misses final!

Hannah Jones competed in her first Senior National Championships in the 200m Butterfly and in heavy training narrowly missed the Senior final by .04 of a second!  Hannah's focus is on the National Youth Championships in Sheffield in July.

Molly Rensahw also swam in the 400m I.M final finishing in 10th positon.

Kane Haggett in 50m Free Final!

Today we had Eve Farnsworth first in the water in the 200m Backstroke, Eve who is training through this event to concentrate on the Youth Championships in July swam in her first ever Senior Nationals and was just outside her best time.


Next up was Danny Anderson in the 50m Breaststroke setting a lifetime best in the heats in a time of 30.21.


Kane Haggett qualified for the final of the 50m Free final in 9th place.


Jodie Hawksworth and Sarah Vasey both swam in the 100m Breaststroke heats and finished just outside their personal best times.


Haggett, swam the final of the Men's 50m Freestyle finishing in 8th place, outside his personal best.  His focus however, is set on his first Great Britain International swim in Indianapolis, USA in a few weeks time.

Molly Renshaw takes Senior Gold in a NEW British Record!

Derventio eXcel's Molly Renshaw won her first National Gold medal in taking the SENIOR National Gold medal in the 200m Breaststroke tonight.


Molly, who finished just 0.9 outside the Olympic Qualification time left everything in the pool and  won the Gold medal in a New British and English Age Group Record (subject to ratification) in a time of 2.27.72.


The whole poolside were going crazy supporting Molly down the final 50m in her Olympic Team bid, and at the tender age of 16 years old, showed great maturity and strength to give her all in the final.


Molly who was interviewed at the medal ceremony said she was "gutted" to be so close to her dream in the race, but gave everything.  She is now looking forward to swimming for her country at the European Junior Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, where she flys out to in just 10 days.


Molly would like to thank all of the swimmers, parents, and other well wishers for making the journey to support her tonight.


Well Done Molly, we are very proud of you!

Other Derventio eXcel swimmers in action today were Abbie Wood, the Schools Games Champion was the youngest swimmer to compete at the tender age of 13 years old.  Sarah Vasey who was outside her best time, but will look to one of her favourite events the 100m Breast tomorrow.

Vasey finishes 9th in first Senior Final!

Sarah Vasey competed in her 1st Senior National Final at 15 years of age.  Sarah moved up to 9th position and swam a time of 33.57, just 2 tenths off her personal best time set in the heats.


Well Done Sarah!

Sarah Vasey makes first Senior National Final!

Derventio eXcel swimmers were competing today in the first day of the Senior National Championships in Sheffield.


DX swimmers qualified for this event are:


Danny Anderson
Kane Haggett
Ben Goodall
Molly Renshaw
Jodie Hawksworth
Hannah Jones
Sarah Vasey
Eve Farnsworth
Abbie Wood

Molly Renshaw was first in the water in the 200m I.M, and swam a solid heats swim to get her finely tuned for racing the rest of the week.

Sarah Vasey took 3 tenths off her personal best time in the 50m Breaststroke and qualified for tonights final.  This is Sarah's first Senior National Final at the age of 15 years of age.  The England Swimmer will now be looking to go faster in the final.

Danny Anderson also swam his first race of the competition today in the 100m Breaststroke and swam a great swim to be just a tenth outside his lifetime best, which at the age of 22 years old, was set earlier this season!

DX top the BAGCAT awards, National Qualifications and GOLD, SILVER, BRONZE!

Derventio finished off the Midland Championships with some great performances.

The Girls Medley relay team won the Bronze medal in an exciting head to head race and all girls stepped up and swam great split times (Kathryn 1.10, Abbie 1.14, Kay 1.06 and Ellé 1.02 - Go girls!).  The Girls have now qualified for the National Championships and will be looking to step up again there and qualify for the National final.

Girls Medley Relay team win Bronze (l-r) Ellé Pryce, Kay Goulden, Kathryn Roworth and Abbie Wood

The DX Boys medley relay team of Oliver Davidson, Matthew Mounsey, Jamie Ingram and Callum Gascoyne have also qualified for the National Championships. - Well Done Boys.


Matt Cross (2nd) and Matt Holt (8th) win BAGCAT awards

The two Matt's were also out in force again for round 2 of the Midland Championships.  Matt Cross (pictured left) became Midland Champion for the first time by winning the 100m Free in a time that ranks him fastest in the country!  Matt went out from the start, splitting in a time faster than his 50m personal best time and after a great turn continued strong, it was great to see Matt with his arms in the air celebrating his victory, and even more impressive the 11 year old shook hands with his competitors afterwards.
Matt who swam personal best times in every event, also took Silver in the 400m Free, and 4th in the 200m I.M.  Matt finished 2nd in the BAGCAT awards, a great progression from 7th last year.

Teammate Matt Holt (pictured right) who also swam personal best times in every event, swam to another Bronze medal in the 200m I.M, and captured 8th position in the BAGCAT awards.

Imogen Morris wins 7th in BAGCAT awards

Imogen Morris achieved her first ever National time at these championships and then went on to capture 7th in the BAGCAT awards, again an improvement from last years standings.  Imogen also finished 8th in the 200m I.M.

Abbie Wood (2nd) and Jamie Ingram (7th) win BAGCAT Awards

Abbie Wood was on fine form on the second weekend of the Championships .  After being crowned Midland Champion on Saturday she then went on to swim an exciting if not nailbiting 200m Free.  Her target was the National Qualifying time, and in the heats narrowly missed her goal.  But as she finished joint 9th in the standings was invited to swim a swim-off for the final.  In true Abbie form, and with a lot of DX support she rose to the occassion and went out at a blistering pace to win the swim off and smash the qualifying time by a second.  Abbie then went on to finish 2nd overall in the BAGCAT awards which is higher than last year.

Jamie Ingram, who following on from the 1st weekend where he achieved his National Qualifying time in the 1500m, went on to swim personal best after personal best in the 200m Free and to finish 6th in the 200m Fly.  Jamie also won 7th place in the BAGCAT awards, again a big progression on last years standings.
Ellé Pryce won her first Midland Individual medal to add to her relay medal when she won Bronze in the 100m Free.

After a tough season Edward Borysiak rose to the occassion and achieved a personal best time in the 200m Free.

Oliver Davidson also stepped up to the mark in his last event of the championships to hit a best time in the 100m Back finishing in 5th.

Kay Goulden after her blistering 1.06 split in the relay, swam tough in the rest of her events gaining personal best time in the 100m Back.

Imogen Clark also added a big personal best time in the 100m Back to add to her medal in the 100m Breast.

Helen Thornhill captured a personal best time in a well paced race in the 200m Back.

Sophie Critchlow swam numerous personal best times in varied events including the 400m Freestyle.

Stephanie Williams also competed well and swam just off her best in the 100m Backstroke.

Kathryn Roworth stepped up to the mark in a National level field in the backstroke events.

Krissy Tomlinson who just turned 12 years old on the last day of the Championships and Francesca Muir-Harris swam tough in multiple races, and never give up throughout what was a very busy schedule having more than doubled the number of events they qualified for last year.

Joe Doody in his first ever Midland Championships swam tough in the 200m Free and 100m Back.

Katie Sloan (DXDS and Long Eaton) and Elizabeth Critchlow (DXDS and Chesterfield) competed in the 100m Free, both competing in their first ever Midland Championships.

Fellow DXDS and Ripley Swimmers Fearn Middleton and Alice Richards followed on from their great personal best times last weekend to smash their best times in the 100m Free and 100m Free and 400m Free respectivley, and with great skills.

New DX swimmers Chloe Bates (200m I.M) and Leah Beal (200m Back 400m Free), again competing in their first ever Midland Championships stepped up to the mark and gained personal best times this weekend and improved rankings in their events.

Well Done all swimmers, it was great to see swimmers stepping up and gaining personal best times, and swimming tough and improving their rankings.  Swimmers greatly improved on results from last year and the support you gave each other in all races was admiring to see.  Every swimmer went away from the championship having learnt something that they can put in to good practice for next season or for their National Championships next month.  Every swimmer who won BAGCAT awards stepped up on their results from last year, and with Derventio being such a small select group of swimmers it was great to see relay teams for the first time in nearly 3 years. 

Hasnt Abbie grown!!!!!!

Morris makes 25 National Qualifiers!

Derventio eXcel swimmer Imogen Morris qualified for the National Championships in the 200m Breaststroke at the Midland Championships.  This is the first National Qualification for Imogen and the first from the DX Chesterfield Hub.  Imogen then went on to finish 7th in the final.


Other great performances at the Midland Championships were:

Abbie Wood became Midland Champion taking the GOLD medal in the 100m Breaststroke, also finishing top out of all age groups to add to her Gold in the longer distance the weekend before.  Abbie also took SILVER in the 400m I.M in a class time.


Imogen Clark fough hard to also took the BRONZE medal in the 100m Breaststroke


Matt Holt (Ashbourne and DXDS) took 10 seconds off his personal best time to take the BRONZE medal in the 200m Breaststroke to add to the Silver he won in the shorter distance the weekend before.


Jamie Ingram pulled out a 5 second personal best time in one of his "bonus" events to finish 5th in the 100m Breaststroke.




Ellé Pryce finished 8th in the 200m Backstroke final.


Jamie Ingram (100m Breast, 400m I.M), Oliver Davidson (400m I.M), Leah Beal (200m Back), Sophie Critchlow (400m Free) also posted personal best times.

Wood achieves 400m Free National Qualifying time!

Abbie Wood swam a tough 400m Freestyle to qualify for the National Championships, showing her prowess in turn skills throughout the race.

Matt Cross won a Silver medal in what has to be one of the most exciting races so far in the Championships.  Matt took the 200m Freestyle final out from the start and continued as he meant to go on, with a close battle down the 2nd 100m, Matt was just piped to the post by .40 of a second.  This was Matt's second personal best time in the event this morning as he knocked 4 seconds off his lifetime best.

Imogen Morris followed on from her great freestyle swim the day before to win a Bronze medal in the 100m Breaststroke, showing her versatility.

The Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle team of Callum Gascoyne, Oliver Davidson, Edward Borysiak and Joe Doody finished in 5th position, this was a good improvment on their rankings, and it was great to see DX entering relay teams after an absence of 2 years.

Kathry Roworth turned her heat swim around in the 200m Backstroke to show what tough stuff she is made of to finish 4th in the final.

Jamie Ingram and Matt Mounsey swam in the 200m Breaststroke final and finished 5th and 6th respectivley.

There were more great personal best times from Matt Holt with a 10 second personal best time in the 200m Free to qualify for the final in which he came 8th, and also in the 100m Backstroke.

Chloe Bates and Leah Beal in their first ever Midland Championships knocked chunks off their 400m I.M personal bests.

Krissy Tomlinson who has a mammouth schedule at these championships gained a persona best time on her 100m Breaststroke.

Sophie Critchlow gained a massive personal best time in the 400m Free.

Other swimmers steppng up to improve their rankings were Stephanie Williams and Jack Smith.


Jamie Ingram was back in the pool following on from his big pb in the 200m Breast to pb again in the 100m Fly.  In the afternoon Jamie also finished 6th in the 200m I.M final and in qualifying for the event gained a 4 second persona best time, and another in the 100m Free.

More info to follow......

Jamie Ingram National Qualifying time at Midland Championships!

Derventio eXcel's Jamie Ingram achieved a National Qualifying time today in the 1500m Freestyle at the Midland Championships 2012.

Jamie won his first regional medal to take Silver in an expertly paced race in a time of 17.16.74 to lower his personal best time by 12 seconds in just 7 days.  This makes Jamie the 24th swimmer from Derventio eXcel to qualify for the National Championships 2012.

Well Done Jamie!

Abbie Wood also took a Gold medal in the Girls 200m Breaststroke, dominating the final from start to finish.  Teammate Imogen Clark took 7th place in the same final.

Matt Holt (DXDS and Ashbourne) won a Silver medal in the Boys 100m Breaststroke.

Kay Goulden won a Bronze medal in the Girls 100m Fly.

Imogen Morris and Ellé Pryce swam to their first ever Regional Freestyle finals and finished 4th and 5th respectivley in the 200m Freestyle.

The Boys medley relay team of Oliver Davidson, Matthew Mounsey, Jamie Ingram and Callum Gascoyne finished in 5th place, improving on their ranking by a couple of places, and will now wait to see if they have reached the Top 40 Teams in the Country. 

Along with these great results, swimmers were stepping up left, right and centre.  Swimmers were smashing personal best times and improving greatly on their rankings...

Alice Richards (DXDS and Ripley) swam a personal best time in the 200m Free to move up the rankings 8 positions.

Fellow teammate Fearn Middleton had one of the swims of her life so far to move up the rankings a whopping 13 places!!

Helen Thornhill improved 7 places in the 100m Backstroke.

Stephanie Williams 6 places in the 100m Free.




More information to follow...........