Saturday 9th June 2018, Hemel Hempstead

‘Hertford were again up against some of the strongest teams in Hertfordshire for round two of the Peanuts League.

We were short of a few swimmers again, especially in the under 13 girls age group, where we only had one swimmer, so we yet again called on Isla Cavill and Katie Gorman to swim multiple events; many out of their age groups. Katie achieved our only individual 1st place of the night in the under 12s 50m free. The under 13 boys also achieved 1st place in the Medley relay. 

This was Isabella Fabri’s first time at Peanuts, swimming in the free relay. As ever, swimming only one event is just as important as multiple events as it enables the club to field its strongest available team.

It was very pleasing to see Luca Fabri achieve a PB in the under 13’s 50m back event after struggling with an injury for many month- it just proves that if you take care of injuries, eventually you’ll be back on top form. Also, both our Junior Captains lead by example, both achieving PB’s in their individual events. 

During the gala, we went from 4th to 3rd place and retained this position until the last sets of relays, where we were beaten into 5th place by just six and a half points. Hopefully, if we can field our strongest team for the last round on 7th July, we have a good chance of staying in the top division.

Overall, there were 19 PB’s on the night but unfortunately, due to a problem with the stop watch, a number of relays swims were not recorded. As ever, there were lots of great swims and all the swimmers should be proud of their achievements. 

It was decided to award Ellie Sopala the Hertford Teddy due to her superb 2nd place in the 9 year old 25m backstroke, knocking over 3 seconds off her PB along with 3rdplace in the  9 year old 25m breaststroke alongside a good second leg in the medley relay.

Lee Ransome