On Saturday a number of our swimmer who are signed up for the 2019 Autumn Traning Camp were in Sainsbury's packing busy customer bags to help raise funds for the trip. As always our team represented themselves, their families and our Club magnificently. Sainsbury’s staff and their customers were continuously commenting about how polite and hard working they all were. We gave out over fifty flyers to parents interested in their children and grandchildren joining our club over the next year and we look forward to seeing them at our free trials.
Our swimmers aim was to raise about £150 - £200 but Sainsbury's customers donated £624.32 in return for all the help they got getting through the checkout quickly and smoothly on such a busy day.
Well done to the Training Camp 2019 Swimmers! As always, a great effort and a great result.
The final round of the Arena League saw our team make the journey to Mote Park in Maidstone. We had already improved on last year's result just by competing in the second gala but we still had much to prove. Our swimmers, which included some underage ones, have impressed many with their swims, team spirit and organisation were once again in high spirits.
Throughout the evening our swimmers with juggling between finishing mostly in 2nd and 5th place which lead to Orpington Ojays team finishing joint fourth with Sevenoaks on points but we were awarded the 4th position based on number of first places finishes. This great effort gave our swimmers a well-deserved 10th place overall at the end of the league which is an impressive four places improvement over last year.
Congratulations to everyone for the great results and thanks to swimmers, parents, officials and coaches for the great support shown throughout this gala season.
Kent Junior League Champions
Tuesday 20th November 2018
On Saturday 17th November we went to Tunbridge Wells to compete in the final round of the Kent Junior League. After an excellent night of racing, cheering and determination we won the gala on the night.
With excellent performances in the earlier rounds, this meant our swimmers collected a nice shiny trophy and they have the honour of being League Champions! We last won this league in 2007 and 1998 so it had been a long time coming and was celebrated with swimmers and coach alike launching themselves into the pool.
A great night and a great season in the league.
Well done all and thanks to all the helpers, officials, captains and coaches.
On the evening of Saturday 10th November, our team of excited swimmers made their way to Crook Log for the second round of the Arena League. The competition was fierce but our swimmers dealt with the pressure well, performing to their best. The points remained close between us, Erith, and Bromley B throughout the gala; with all three clubs battling for 3rd place. In the end, we narrowly finished in a respectable 4th place. This puts us in a great position in the league (3 places higher than last year!) going into the final round. Thank you to our swimmers for putting out great performances throughout the night, parents for their support, our coaches and all the officials whom without this gala would not be able to happen.
Winter Regionals
Tuesday 6th November 2018
Well done to 17 of our best swimmers who represented Orpington Ojays at the Winter Regional short course championship held at the London Aquatic Centres. Having only 16 and under and 17 and over this was a tough event with elite swimmers from all London clubs participating. With almost double the number of Orpington Ojays swimmers and swims (from previous years) we had a great time on poolside cheering the great performances shown in all the events the program held with many personal bests in all distances and strokes and a few finals.
Well done to Max Peel, Alethea West, Alice Leng, Ben Langdown, Blythe Jolley-Ellis, Callum Baronti, Clio Bacon, Ellie Harden, Hannah Strover, Jess Herbert, Justin Strover, Matilda Barrett, Michael Phillips, Nam Nguyen, Rachel Langdown, Samantha Jackson and Sophia O’Neill.
Congratulations to our finalists Clio Bacon in 50m free improving her position by 2 places finishing 7th, 200m Individual Medley confirming 7th place and shortly after 100m Freestyle finishing 10th. Callum in the 50m breaststroke coming 8th with two massive P.B.s in the heat and final and also for smashing a long-standing short course club record!
Thanks to swimmers, parents and officials who supported this event.
Kent Development Meet
Wednesday 31st October 2018
Nearly 30 swimmers from Orpington Ojays took part in the Kent Development on the last weekend of October at Medway Park Gillingham. The aim of the event is to encourage more entrants and is a great opportunity for swimmers to get a Kent medal. As the title says, it's a development meet so KCASA 2018 County qualifiers cannot compete in the events they have achieved a consideration time.
Every swimmer competing achieved PB's in many, if not all of the events they entered, with many getting close to both consideration and automatic qualifying times for the KCASA 2019 Championships.
Charlotte Field and Katie Gough won Golds in the girls 200m Breaststroke in the 10 and 14 age groups respectively. In the 50m Butterfly Charlotte Field took Bronze in age 10 Blythe Jolley-Ellis took Gold in at the age 14. Mateo Rodriguez-Aparic won Silver in the boys age 13 100m Fly.
In the girls 100m Freestyle, Lauren Bond took Silver in the age 12 and Eve Peel and Blythe Jolley-Ellis won Gold in the 13 and 14 age groups. In the gruelling 200m Fly, Ava Hickey won Gold, Ellie Brown Bronze and Safiya Ismail Silver in the 10, 13 and 14 age groups.
Our young girls were on form in the 100m Breaststroke with Charlotte Bloodworth winning Silver and Ava Hickey Bronze in the age 10. Another ten year old, Xian Ming Li, won Bronze in the boys 50m Backstroke. In the super competitive girls 50m Freestyle, Lauren Bond won Bronze in the 12 year age group. In the boys 100m IM, Niccolo Cavasino won Gold in the 12 years age group. To round off Saturdays competition, the girls 14 years 200m Freestyle team achieved Bronze.
The Orpington Ojays swimmers returned bright and early on Sunday morning, no doubt benefitting from the clocks going back an hour and an extra hour in bed! In the first event of the day, the girls 200m Backstroke, Ava Hickey won Silver and Charlotte Field Bronze in the 10 year age group and Ellie Blaney won Bronze in age 13. In the girls 50m Breaststroke, Blythe Jolley-Ellis won Gold in the 14 age group.
Niccolò Cavasino won another Gold in the age 12 50m Butterfly, while in the girls 100m Butterfly Charlotte Field won Silver, Grace Tume Gold (despite leaking goggles and being unable to see!) and Blythe Jolley-Ellis won Gold in the age 10, 12 and 14 age groups respectively.
In the Boys 100m Freestyle, Louis Taylor won an impressive Gold in the 11 year old age group. The 200m IM saw more medals for the girls with Silver for Ava Hickey, Bronze for Ellie Blaney and Silver for Blythe Jolley-Ellis.
Eve Peel took Bronze in the 200m Freestyle, and in the Girls 100m Backstroke medals were won by Charlotte Bloodworth (Silver), Ellie Blaney (Bronze) and Blythe Jolley-Ellis (Gold). Ayse Dourmoush won Silver in the girls age 14 50m Backstroke. Annabelle Robinson swam brilliantly to win Gold in the age 10 100m IM, Ellie Blaney won Gold and Ayse Dormouse another Silver.
Special congratulations to our younger swimmers who were competing for the first time.
Arena League
Tuesday 23rd October 2018
For the National Arena League, a team of keen swimmers travelled to Horsham via coach for the first round. This is the most prestigious gala we enter so it was an important fixture. The competition was very tough and throughout the night, there was a battle for third place between us and South Croydon. A series of amazing swims resulted in us leading by a single point before the final relays. This put an even greater significance on the last set of relays and our swimmers stepped up and swam very well rounding off the night with a victory in the men’s 6x50m freestyle relay. We all waited nervously for the final score and then it was announced that we’d finished 3rd by 1 point over South Croydon, a vast improvement from our initial ranking coming into the gala.
Well done to all the swimmers and coaches who put out a great performance and to the parents for their support.
Swim England South East Short Course Masters Champ
Sunday 7th October 2018
A massive congratulations to Gina Charleton from Masters Squad who took all her age group Gold Medals for the freestyle distances at the Swim England South East Short Course Masters Championships in Guildford. Gina is fighting back after illnesses and injuries for the last 3 years so it's wonderful to see her hard work and determination paying off.
Season Starter
Monday 1st October 2018
On Sunday we held our "Season Starter" Open Meet at Medway Park. This event is one of the most important dates on the club's calendar. With the closure of Medway Tunnel the day got off to slightly delayed start but all the officials and volunteers worked hard and quickly got the proceedings back on track. With 10 clubs fielding swimmers; poolside, the spectator gallery and the kit shop were all busy places.
A fantastic series of great swims resulting in numerous personal bests and medals were swum in this busy event. As always this was accompanied by a friendly poolside atmosphere, a great team spirit, loud parents cheering and sunshine between the sessions.
Thank you to all our swimmers, parents, coaches and officials for an extremely smooth and efficient running of our annual meet. The cherry on top was that we retained the Top Club Trophy. Happy swimmers, happy parents, happy coaches!
The Top Club trophy will be presented at our club training night.
We have a new Judge
Thursday 27th September 2018
Congratulations to Elena Herbert, our Welfare Officer, who has completed her Level 1 Judge course.
The role of a Competitive Swimming Judge 1 is to time swimmers during competitions and observe swimmers at the turn or finish of a race to ensure adherence to the rules of the sport.
England, Scotland and Wales are in alignment over the training of swimming officials. This means training is standardised across the UK. All three Home Countries now use FINA Technical Rules. As such, trained officials are listed as British Swimming Officials.
If you are interested in joining our poolside team please talk to Mandy Baronti.
Erith and District Sprint Meet
Tuesday 25th September 2018
The first Open Meet of the season saw our team travel just up the road to Crook Log, so close that a convoy wasn't needed. As always, a warm welcome was received from our friends and rivals at Erith and District Swimming Club. It was a fast and exciting day with loads of amazing swims this early in the season.
Erith and District added to the fun with a stroke of genius; the winner of every heat won a very cute rubber duck! All the swimmers, male, female from 9 years old up to 17 were extremely keen to get their hands on these sought-after prizes. There was a huge choice of rubber ducks. The swimmers jangled their medals and showed off their ducks with pride.
A great day at the pool was topped off with three of our swimmers being crowned Top Sprinter in their age groups. Special congratulations to Alice Leng, Samantha Jackson and Ellie Blaney.
Well done everyone.
Kent Junior League
Tuesday 11th September 2018
The first competition after the summer break was the second round of the Kent Junior League. Despite being only a week back to full training our young swimmers were terrific in every race, on pb or faster and achieving valuable points. Accoring to the unofficial results we won the round by 35 points.
Congratulations to all our swimmers; now it's back to training for round 3!
Meg joins Lewis Pugh in TheLongSwim
Thursday 30th August 2018
On the last day of the massive swim undertaken by Lewis Pugh, ex Masters squad swimmer Meg Forbes was invited into the English Channel to swim the last kilometre or so by Dave Chisolm from Kingsdown Crawlers.
Lewis has swum 560km (348 miles) along the length of the English Channel from Land's End in Cornwall to Dover in Kent. The swim was broken down into 10-20km swims and took 49 days to complete. Lewis took on the challenge to raise awareness of the threat to UK Coastal waters from plastic pollution, overfishing and climate change.
There are a couple of more photos in the gallery.
Congratulations to Matt from Master Squad who won the 1500m swim / 5k run by almost two and a half minutes at Leybourne Lakes on Wednesday. With a swim time of 19:44 he was out of the water and into transition with enough time to hold off the two faster runners behind. Steve, also from Masters, was out of the water in third place with a time of 21:54 and lapping three swimmers on the 750m swim. His swim was fast enough to give him enough lead to hold off the 7oaks Tri athlete who has always caught him towards the end of the run. Not this time, Steve held on to finish with 1 second to spare.
Great racing guys, always nice to see a swimming club beating the tri clubs.
Well done to Billy who represented Orpington Ojays at The Nationals in Sheffield in the past couple of days. In two days Billy swam in three events, the 200m Freestyle and the 100m Butterfly on the first day and the 100m Backstroke on the second day. Three great swims for Billy got him into the finals for all three events and along with improving his times considerably, Billy finished 9th, 9th and 8th.
Congratulations Billy from us all.
Ben Races at the Open Water Nationals
Monday 30th July 2018
Congratulations to Ben Strover from Top Squad who was in Sheffield racing in the open water 5km event whilst we were enjoying fun night. A fast field at this level and Ben was swimming out of the pack for most of it. With the water temperature at 20.6c it was a no wetsuit event. Ben finished in 26th place in 1 hour 10 minutes and 36 seconds.
At the end of another successful season, the traditional fun night is a great way to go into our summer break. An evening of unusual relays across the squads that are never seen in usual galas. With Sergio away at Nationals with Ben our thanks go to Damian, Rebecca and Daniella for putting big smiles on our swimmers and supporters and filling the pool with cheers and laughter.
Club Captains for 2018/19
Monday 30th July 2018
Congratulations to Rachel Langdown and Nam Nguyen who were announced as Captains and to Ellie Harden and Max Peel who were announced as Vice-Captains at the fun night.
Marlow 3k Open Water
Sunday 29th July 2018
Congratulations to Matt and Niki from Masters Squad who raced in the rain down The Thames at Marlow. Niki finished in 45 minutes and Matt won the event in 33 minutes.
Zoe White from Top Squad was competing in the European Biathle Championship in Weiden, Germany for Team GB on the last Sunday of July. A three day event with an opening ceremony and a closing dinner party Zoe raced in an individual biathle event. Her race was a 1200m run around the perimeter of the lake, then straight into the lake for a 200m open water swim and then running shoes back on for another 1200m run around the lake again. Obviously to keep transition times down the run is done with swimming hat and goggles on and wearing a tri suit. Zoe finished the race in second place picking up a lovely Silver Medal. With the Team GB U17 girls taking the three top spots the girls also got a team Gold Medal to add to the individual.
Congratulations Zoe, not only for making the team but on a fantastic race and your podium finish!
On Sunday 22nd July Zoe White from Top squad competed in the National Biathle Championships in Salford. The event is a 1200m run then into open water for a 200m swim and then another 1200m run.
Zoe ran well and of course, had a fast swim. She finished in 3rd place which qualifies her for the GB Team in the World Biathle championships later in the year.
Congratulations Zoe and good luck at Worlds.
It has been confirmed that the abandoned round 4 will not be rescheduled so the 2018 league will close after three rounds. Congratulations to Barking and Dagenham for winning the league.
Club BBQ
Wednesday 11th July 2018
Our swimmers and their families headed to Pratts Bottom village green for our club BBQ. A lovely friendly social highlight on the calendar, with hot sunshine, hot burgers and cold drinks. Football, sack races, tug of war and the always fun egg throwing competition filled the afternoon with fun and laughter. Thank you very much to Michelle and her volunteers for planning, arranging, cooking, serving and organising a wonderful afternoon.
There are many photos via the Photos menu link.
Better late than never. Congratulations to Tom and Lauren for being receiving the Jack Petchey award for April and May. Tom was nominated for all his effort in training and competitions and Lauren for her enthusiasm and commitment in both training and competitions.
Top Club at Beachfield Open
Wednesday 11th July 2018
Well done to our team of swimmers who travelled to Medway Park for the Beachfield Summer Open. With 240 events and many great swims, PB's and early Kent times our swimmers and our supporters had plenty to cheer about in the hot friendly atmosphere.
Congratulations to all our swimmers who together made Orpington Ojays the top club at the open scoring 883.5 points, just ahead of Black Lion with 869 points. Also congratulations to Clio Bacon for breaking the competition record in the 50m Freestyle. A fantastic day and a great way to conclude the season.
Phoenix Aquathlon
Wednesday 11th July 2018
Congratulations to the Gould sisters who competed in the swim and run Triathlon England sanctioned event at Guildford Lido. Amie competed in Tristar 2 swimming 200m in 3:27 followed by a 2km run and finished 1st. Cara was in Tristar 3 swimming 300m in 5:21, a PB, followed by a 3k run and finished 3rd.
Officially an Official
Wednesday 11th July 2018
Congratulations to our latest Level 1 Judge Roxana Cioran. The role of a Competitive Swimming Judge 1 is to time swimmers during competitions and observe swimmers at the turn or finish of a race to ensure adherence to the rules of the sport. Our sport cannot operate without officials so thank you from all the swimmers to all our officials who enable us to compete.
London Youth Games
Wednesday 11th July 2018
Sunday was the final day of the year-long swim and run London Youth Games competition. Team manager Jess Sellar led a fantastic Bromley Aquathlon team to the Gold medal position. Zoe White, Justin & Hannah Strover had great races, collecting lots of valuable points for the team and each earned a shiny bronze medal in their age groups. Tom Barrett was also in action for Bromley; he finished 4th with a PB in the 50m Freestyle and won Gold in the Freestyle and IM Relays with swimmers from Bromley and Beckenham.
Ellie Harden and Jess Herbert were both swimming for Bromley and both swam the 50m Back, 200m IM relay and 200m Freestyle Relay but in different age categories. Ellie's relay team took Silver in the Individual Medley and finished 4th in the Freestyle. Both Ellie and Jess finished 7th in their individual event.
Ben Strover was a volunteer official assisting at the finish line throughout the day.
Congratulations to you all on a fantastic day and to Bromley who won overall.
Congratulations to Dennis for receiving the March Jack Petchey Award. Dennis has done really well with the transition to Gold Squad. He is committed to training and never complains. He has a great attitude overall and is a pleasure to coach.
Jack Petchey - June
Thursday 5th July 2018
Congratulations to Ellie for receiving the June Jack Petchey Award. Ellie has recently shown a huge improvement with regards to her commitment to training. She takes on board everything her coach says, is starting to lead the fast lane and is setting an excellent example.
Bewl Water
Sunday 1st July 2018
Congratulations to Matt and Gina who competed in the Open Water event at Bewl Water at the weekend. A slightly different approach for this event with each swimmer having to exit the water after each 1km lap. Matt swam the 5k race taking the Gold medal and Gina swam in the 2k race and won the Silver medal. Excellent swimming from our Masters.
2 Kent Golds and a National Qualification
Sunday 1st July 2018
Congratulations to the Strover brothers, Ben and Justin, who on Saturday raced at the London Regionals Open Water event at Surrey Quays Docks.
Ben was first in after the thorough safety briefing for his 10 laps 5k race. With all ages groups swimming together it was a very exciting 1 hour 13 minutes and 22 seconds of racing with the top four positions in Ben's age group changing each lap. Ben needed a top 3 finish to make Nationals. With a handful of laps to go the winner was clear which made it two spots for three boys. A tough battle but with one lap to go fatigue started to set in for one swimmer so Ben and rival Harry raced the last lap in the knowledge that they would both be in Sheffield. A fantastic close race with Ben taking 3rd place.
Justin was in the water after lunch for his 6 lap 3k race, his first proper race in open water. Very different from pool swimming Justin stayed strong in the starting pack heading out to the first turn buoy. As in the other races, all the age groups raced at the same time so after the first lap most of the swimmers had a nice space to race in. Justin stayed strong for the entire 47 minutes and 26 seconds of racing finishing 6th in his age group and securing that shiny gold Kent Medal.
A massive well done to both the lads and a big thanks to the entire Strover family for all the support.
Last weekend our young team of swimmers travelled to Sevenoaks to participate in the Maritime Gala. This was a great opportunity for our young swimmers to gain some competitive experience and for some to initiate their competitive swimming career.
Our swimmers performed well during the whole event in the water as well as on poolside with loud cheering. After many great swims and pbs we finished 4th overall with official results to follow.
Thanks to Sevenoaks for organising this event and to all the teams competing for the friendly atmosphere present throughout the event.
A big well done to all swimmers, parents officials and team managers for helping in making this an enjoyable evening.
Kent Sprint Champs
Monday 25th June 2018
Congratulations to Tracy van Rooyen of Masters who was our sole representative at the Kent Sprint Championships. Tracy put in a great performance earning some valuable points for Orpington Ojays with 4 Golds in the 50m Fly, 50m and 100m Back and the 100m IM. Tracy also won a Silver in the 50m Free, just missing gold by 4 milliseconds.
Tracy now has 6 Golds in total for the Championship and the Kent Record in the 200IM.
Gina goes Olympic
Monday 25th June 2018
Congratulations to Gina Charleton of Masters squad who competed in her first Olympic distance triathlon at Leeds Castle.
Gina completed the 1.5km swim in the moat in 27 minutes 25 seconds. Then onto the bike for 40k and finishing up with a 10km run. 2 hours 58 minutes and 46 seconds secured Gina 10th place in her age group. Fantastic achievement!
The Tudor Cup
Monday 25th June 2018
With the Tudor League complete our attention turned to the Tudor Cup. This is a bi-annual event and there wasn’t a better venue than Charlton Lido on one of the hottest days of the year.
After a quick warm-up the teams were ready to start. The sun was out and the atmosphere was great and the swimmers ready to start. 48 events plus skins and all our swimmers were on the verge of breaking the speed limit and achieving great swims, pbs and points for the club. Due to the location of our team on poolside nobody knew anything about points, nonetheless, our team was having fun cheering and chanting with the help of parents watching and screaming from every angle of the pool. As always the skins events didn't disappoint, consisting in 4x50 where in each one the last two swimmers drop out and Alice Leng just missed out at the last round of the freestyle finishing second.
After all the excitement of the gala, Orpington Ojays were handed the cup as proud winners. Congratulations to everyone and also to Billy Birchmore, a T21 swimmer, who made the team for the first time.
Thank you to all swimmers, parents, team managers, officials and coaches who once again contributed to make this event a great success.
In preparation for the Open Water Regionals event at the end of the month, Ben Strover attended an Open Water Talent Camp at the weekend. The camp started at Charlton Lido for some close quarters swimming practice, swimming 3 across a lane and therefore having to exit tumble turns deep enough to be below incoming swimmers. The camp then moved to the West Reservoir Centre on Sunday for some proper action. After practice swims and classroom talks, the only way to truly find out what open water is about is to race. Under a cloudy sky, Justin joined Ben and they took part in a 2k practice race. Ben led the race out, having already gained experience from last year but just got out-touched at the end. For Justin, this was all about gaining that first experience of racing in chilly murky waters and trying to sight whilst in close proximity to others. It is quite a different skill to pool racing which was evident in that three swimmers retired from the race early. The first race can be a bit of a shock. Both finished the race with new knowledge and a better understanding of this variation of swimming and ready for Regionals.
Our volunteers attended the Kent County ASA Annual Dinner on Friday. The dinner was hosted by the Kent Chairman John Burdett at Birchwood Park and Country Club. A lovely evening and great to hear how well Kent is doing; not only in swimming but all the water-based disciplines, such as synchro, water polo, diving etc.
Para Swimming
Monday 18th June 2018
Orpington Ojays SC is very pleased to have been named Kent Para Swimming Club 2018 at the recent Kent Swimming Annual Council Meeting. Here is Chair, Helen Magee-Brown, receiving the award from President John Burdett. We are delighted to have received this award in its inaugural year and thanks to the coaching team for their work in supporting disability swimmers.
White Oak Tri
Monday 11th June 2018
Congratulations to Gina from Masters squad who competed in the White Oak Tri at the weekend. A pool-based event consisting of a 400m swim, 22k cycle and a 5k run. Gina finished the swim in age group first place in 7:34, the cycle in 44:14 and the run in 26:00. A great effort which landed her the trophy for the 1st female in her age group and the 4th female overall.
Kent Junior League
Sunday 10th June 2018
Saturday night saw our young swimmers heading to Strood for the next round of the Kent Junior League. Strood is a cosy pool with the spectators really close to the action that makes for a great atmosphere.
Eve Peel set the tone for the evening with a win in the first race, the 100m IM. The rest of the team followed her lead and all raced incredibly well. The KJL is an excellent event and it's always nice to see our younger swimmers getting over their nerves, learning about competitions and making swim buddies for years to come. Sam Ryan, Louis Taylor, Ava Hickey, Charlotte Field and Lilia Fornasier all swam up an age group whilst also swimming their own age group!
The swimmers finished the evening exhausted on the Orpington Ojays cheer and a fabulous win with 284 points, 44 in front of second place. Congratulations to the entire team and thank you to all the parents, swimmers, coaches, team managers and officials on the night.
OLT Aquathlon 2
Wednesday 6th June 2018
Congratulations to our Masters squad Open Water swimmers Gina Charleton, Charlotte Fisher, Steve Morris and Matt Steere who competed in the second Ocean Lake Tri Aquathlon of the season. Gina swam the 750m course in 13:39 and then completed the 5k run 23:09 placing her 8th overall. Steve and Charlotte both opted for the 1500m swim with Charlotte leading Steve out and finishing the swim in 22:15 with Steve close behind in 22:40. Steve caught Charlotte on the run and finished the 5k in 22:15 placing him 3rd overall and Charlotte's 23:26 run brought her home in 4th overall. Matt pulled out of the event after the swim, as he has a race at the weekend, and so sadly didn't get a recorded time.
Special congratulations to Myra Brown on becoming a full fledge J1. Competitive swimming relies on many volunteer roles to be filled in order for all the swimmers from all the clubs to enjoy training and competition.
Judge Level 1 is the first level of British qualification. It encompasses the role and duties of a Timekeeper, Chief Timekeeper and Inspector of Turns. The minimum age to start training is 15 years. Candidates will be required to undertake some formal theory instruction and gain practical experience working on the poolside with a mentor.
Well done Myra and great news for the club.
For round three the team travelled to Dagenham arriving promptly in team colours, looking professional and ready to go. The swimmers wanted to do well and were determined to win back second place. After the first round of relays we were sat in 4th place but the team hungered for more. The energy on poolside was exciting with the swimmers supporting each other at the end of the lane and at the side of the pool. In the spectator galley were our parents and supporters cheering them on. The evening was full of great racing, with many great performances and an all-round superb team effort. There were some incredibly tight races and some sheer class.
Our night ended with a very loud team cheer, with exhausted but pleased swimmers, with overheated coaches, officials, team managers and supporters. The efforts of everyone ensured a very nice SECOND PLACE overall to take us into the final round.
Congratulations everyone for a great evening of sport.
Golds Galore for Billy
Sunday 27th May 2018
Billy flew out to Kosovo last week to compete in their first Down Syndrome European Open Swimming Competition. After missing Regionals due to injury, Billy was back on top form and came home with seven gold medals.
The 50m, 100m and 200m Free. The 50m and 100m Back. The 50 Fly and a relay.
Congratulations Billy on another brilliant meet.
Regionals Last Weekend
Wednesday 23rd May 2018
For the last weekend of Regionals the action moved to Crystal Palace and once again our team put out 100% effort.
Sophia started us off with a PB in the 100m Back and finished as the first reserve for the final. Hannah Strover also swam a massive PB in the 100m Back that put her in the final where she finished 7th in her age group. Amie Lawrence and Sophia O’Neill both made the final in the 200m Freestyle finishing 4th and 7th respectively. We also had great swims around PB's for Jess Herbert in the 100m Back, 400m Freestyle, 200m Back and 200m Freestyle; Matilda Barrett in the 400m Freestyle, 200m IM and 200m Freestyle; Samantha Jackson in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke and 200m IM; Sophia O’Neill in the 200m IM; Sam Ryan in the 50m Fly and 100m Back; and, Ben Langdown in the 100m Back.
A great weekend and great regionals for both youths and age group. Many good swims loud cheering and fun on poolside. As always thanks to the swimmers, parents and officials who once again have been great supporters.
Five Gold Medals at EDSC Open Masters Meet
Monday 21st May 2018
At the EDSC Open Masters Meet, Crook Log was like a furnace with the water temperature up to 30 degree Celsius. Tracy van Rooyen meet up with ex Masters swimmer Kayleigh Knocker and managed to escape the heat of the centre on chilling on an exterior fire escape platform and a lovely grassy embankment. After a great catch up it was time for the girls to race
Kayleigh won age group Gold in the 50m back and Silvers in the 50m free and 100m IM. Tracey won a fantastic 4 Golds - the 200IM to go with the full house of 50m, 100m and 200m back. The 200m events were also recorded as 2 golds for Kent County Champs 2018 and Tracey smashed the 200IM Kent County record by 23 seconds!
Congratulation ladies on a very successful day of racing!
Another great success for Orpington Ojays in the last round of the Tudor League held at Eltham Pools where our swimmers showed great support and great effort in their swims. There were many good swims with lots of PBs throughout the evening. Our chant concluded the gala and we came 5th in the event and 6th overall. Enthusiasm and improvements have been shown throughout the 4 of the 5 galas we participated in, improving one position per gala. Many new swimmers were introduced to competitive swimming making parents and coaches proud more and more at each gala. Team spirit driven by our captains was great and so loud it made Damian sound quiet!
A great thank you goes to officials, parents and organisers who help in making these events so enjoyable.
Regionals weekend 2 – Age Group
Tuesday 15th May 2018
Another great weekend once again at the Olympic Park in Stratford for the second weekend of regionals and the first for age group swimmers. Orpington Ojays was well represented by our swimmers with great swims, pb's, finals and cake too!
Well done to Amie Lawrence, Samantha Jackson, Jess Herbert, Sam Ryan, Ben Langdown, Sophia O’Neill and Matilda Barrett for their great performance. Congratulations for making the finals to Jess Herbert achieving Bronze in the 200m Backstroke and 10th in the 200m Fly; Sam Ryan who was 5th in the 200m Back and 6th in the 50m Back; Sophia O’Neill who was 9th in the 200m Back, and 10th in the 50m Back; and Samantha Jackson in the 200m Breaststroke.
A great day of competitions accompanied by great team spirit and loud parents cheering as usual and not forgetting Matilda’s cake!
Ocean Lake Tri Aquathlon
Thursday 10th May 2018
On Wednesday evening Matt Steere and Charlotte Fisher from Masters squad competed in the first of four Ocean Lake Tri Aquathlons at Leybourne Lakes. Matt was first out of the water from the 1500m swim in 19 minutes 14 seconds; Charlotte was second out in 21 minutes 19 seconds. Matt held the lead through the 5k run to win the event overall and Charlotte was the first female home and 5th overall. Matt's run time was 19 minutes 40 seconds and Charlotte's was 22 minutes 54 seconds. Charlotte did beat Matt in transition though removing her wetsuit and putting on shoes in 51 seconds compared to Matt's 56 seconds.
Congratulations and well done to you both.
Tonbridge Sprint Triathlon
Monday 7th May 2018
Congratulations to Gina from Masters squad who competed in the Tonbridge Sprint Triathlon on the Bank Holiday. Gina beat all her targets, knocking nearly 10mins off of last yrs times and came away with the fastest 750m swim time overall in 5 mins 48 seconds, 5th female overall and 2nd place in her age category out of 28.
London Regionals - Day 2
Monday 7th May 2018
It was another hot one at the London Aquatic Centre and the morning session was just the Strover boys. Ben going in the 400IM and Justin in the new boy's event - the 800m free. In the afternoon there was the men’s 100m fly, 50m back, 50m free, men’s 200m IM and 100m breaststroke.
The 50m back was a fabulous race with 3 of our boys in same heat; always a great sight to see lots of purple hats. Congratulations to Callum for taking the spoils.
Congratulations also to from Ben, Justin, Callum and Max for achieving Personal Best times and also to Ellie Michael, Clio, Abi, Alethea and Alice who were on or around their best.
Great swims were rewarded with more finalists; Ellie and Callum in 50m Back, Clio in the 50m Free and Alice in the 100m Breaststroke.
Well done swimmers, supporters and of course coaches; great job!
London Regionals - Day 3
Monday 7th May 2018
Bank Holiday Monday was the final day of the youth London Regionals. Our swimmers once again showed what all the hard training they do with Justin, Max, Alice, Callum, Ellie, Micheal, Ben, Clio, and Rachel all swimming personal best times.
The girls relay teams were in action this morning in the 400m medley. A very exciting race with great sportsmanship and team rivalry between team A and B with team A just pinching the win. We had swimmers in then men’s 400m free, 200m back, 50m breaststroke and the 100m free. Success was shown with 6 of our swimmers making a final, Alice in the 50m Breaststroke and 200m backstroke and Ellie, Rachel, Max, Ben and Clio in 100m Freestyle with Rachel, Clio and Ben improving their times from the heat.
All in all a successful Bank Holiday weekend Regionals with some great swims plus a supportive and inclusive team spirit to be proud of. Well done and thanks to swimmers, coaches and the hot parents and supporters in the gallery. Thanks to Matilda once again for the photo.
The next two weekends move onto the age group regionals. Good luck to all who are racing and good luck to the youth with their GCSEs and A levels.
London Regionals - Day 1
Saturday 5th May 2018
It's one of those rare Bank Holiday weekends with sunshine and clear blue skies. For some of our 15 and over swimmers though it's the clear blue waters of the London Aquatic Centre for this weekend. Today we had the Men’s 1500m, 14-16 Women Freestyle Relay - 2 teams, 100m Back, 200m Breaststroke, 50m Fly & Men’s 200m Free. The fantastic feeling of swimming in this amazing pool always inspires some impressive swims. We had a great battle in the girl's relay with team A just getting the win. Big PBs from Justin Strover & Max Peel, Alice Leng & Ben Strover making the final in 200m Breaststroke and 200m Freestyle ensuring our team stayed for the full programme!
Well done to all the swimmers, and as always a massive thank you to the supporters and all who make these events possible and to Matilda for the photo.
Two more days of racing to come.
London Mini Marathon
Thursday 3rd May 2018
Zoe White, Olivia Magee Brown, Cara Gould and Justin Strover all represented Bromley in the London Mini Marathon. An exciting day running the last 3 miles of the London marathon course against the best from around the country, finishing on the flag-lined Mall.
Well done to you all.
Race Night
Thursday 3rd May 2018
On Sunday our youngest swimmers came together at Eltham Eric Liddell centre to experience, for some, their first gala. The programme of events included all four strokes and they were swum over 25m and 50m distances. Many of our young swimmers were nervous (as were the parents and supporters) but under the guidance of our older swimmers and our coaches, they took to the pool to race. The swimmers had some great swims, made lots of new memories and realised it’s not too scary. They left the pool with smiles on their faces and a little more relaxed having learnt lots more about how a gala works.
Well done to all the swimmers and thank you to all the volunteers, coaches and parents. We look forward to seeing you all at the next event with your supporters and hopefully some poolside volunteering.
T21 200m Backstroke World Record
Wednesday 25th April 2018
Congratulations to Billy Birchmore who has put his name to another World Record in the Down Syndrome Swimming Federation’s European Open. Billy won four Golds along with the World Record in the 200m Backstroke in 2:45.23 and the European Record in the 100m Individual Medley in 1:19.20. His other two Gold medals came in the 50m Backstroke and the 50m Freestlye.
Amazing swims once again Billy!
Amie Wins Schools Aquathlon Championships
Wednesday 25th April 2018
Congratulations to Silver Squad swimmer Amie Gould who on Tuesday 24th April competed in the Schools Aquathlon Championships. This event consisted of a 200m swim followed by a 1200m run. Year 6 Amie won the event in 9 minutes 52 seconds, just 4 seconds in front of second place.
White Horse League Rnd 2
Wednesday 25th April 2018
On Saturday 21st of April our team made its way to Becontree Heath Leisure Centre for the second round of the White Horse League.
The evening open with some exciting relays and our 12-13 year old boys, James Somerville-Cotton, Harvery Bushby-Knight, Niccolo Cavasino and Maxwell Baker finished 3rd in the medley as did Jessica Herbert, Anna Hawkins, Abby Leeves and Matilda Barret in the 14-15 years freestyle relay. Our 14-15 years boys, Justin Strover, Ben Langdown, Max Peel and Callum Baronti went one better finishing 2nd in the freestyle relay. However, leading the way were the 16 and over medley girls, Ellie Harden, Alice Leng, Lilli Cutajar and Althea West who took the top spot with a two second clear win.
Individually we had many successes as well. Thomas Barret, Abby Leeves, Callum Baronti, Louis Taylor all finished in 1st place achieving maximum points.
The evening finished as it started with more exciting relays. Eve Peel, Ellie Brown, Hannah Strover and Samantha Jackson matched the older boys finishing 2nd in the 12-13 years freestyle relay. Matilda Barrett, Anna Hawkins, Abby Leeves and Jessica Herbert finished 3rd in the 14-15 medley. Ben Langdown, Callum Baronti, Justin Strover and Max Peel brought home another 2nd this time for the medley and the 16 & over girls, Ellie Harden, Alethea West, Rachel Langdown and Jessica Herbert won their freestyle relay.
A great fun night with excellent swims and support from our team. Combined Team Scores through to event 48 are as follows:
1. Barking & Dagenham Aquatics 313
2. Erith & District SC 265
3. Orpington Ojays SC 241
4. Bromley SC 229
5. Southwark Aquatics SC 182
6. White Oak SC 161
7. Gravesend & Northfleet SC 155
8. Saxon Crown (Lewisham) SC 153
London Region Open Water Development Camp
Saturday 21st April 2018
Congratulations to Ben Strover for being selected to attend the London Region Open Water Development Camp in June. This event forms part of the overall approach to the development of the Open Water swimmer pathway in England, working with the Swim England Talent Team. Over two days the swimmers will take part in a number of sessions; pool/open water/classroom, which aims to assist the development of skill and knowledge which is critical to open water swimming.
Medals, Regionals Times and Pbs at Black Lion Open
Monday 16th April 2018
On April 7th we sent a large team of over 40 swimmers to the Black Lion Level 3 Open Meet at Medway Park. With Regional qualifying times up for grabs, it was time for all the hard training to pay dividends.
Many of our swimmers swam personal best times taking medals of all colours and achieving automatic Regional qualifying times and consideration times.
Congratulations to our Gold medal winners Sophia O’Neill, Samantha Jackson, Cristy Baker, Alice Leng, Samuel Ryan, Maria Phillips, Abigal Leeves, Max Peel, Ellie Harden, Thomas Barrett, Ben Langdown, Adam Tang, Justin Strover, Callum Baronti, Matilda Barrett, Nam Nguyen, Anna Cvjetan, Michael Phillips, Abigal Leeves, Hannah Strover, Blythe Jolley-Ellis and Althea West.
Congratulations also to Justin Strover and Callum Baronti who both joined the sub 60 club for the 100m freestyle.
It was a great day and a well-run meet where our swimmers showed great team spirit, collaboration and support and helped Abigal with her birthday cake. Thanks of course to our parents, helpers, officials and the organisers.
The Dartford spring meet was very well supported by Orpington Ojays swimmers. We began with Justin Strover winning the 400 F/c with a 12sec PB. We then followed that up with 22 1st places from Alice Leng 100Breaststroke, Nam Nguyen 200IM, 100Back, 50Back and 200Back, Ellie Harden 50Back, 100Back and 200Back, Ben Langdown 50Back, 100Back and 50 Fly, Alethea West 100F/c, 50Fly and 50F/c, Ben Strover 400IM, Samantha Jackson 200IM and 50 Breaststroke, Matilda Barrett 400F/c, Samuel Ryan 50Fly and 50Back, Lilia Fornasier 100Back and Tom Magee-Brown 200Breaststroke.
We also had 16 2nd Places by Ellie Harden, Ellie Brown, Amelia Frisby, Alice Leng, Matilda Barrett, Nam Nguyen, Alethea West, Hannah Strover, Anna Cvjetan, Samuel Ryan, Billy Birchmore and William Magee-Brown. We had 13 3rd places by Safiyah Ismail, Ben Langdown, Radha Gollapudy, Alethea West, Billy Birchmore, Olivia Cioran, Justin Strover, Ellie Brown, Nam Nguyen, Amelia Frisby and Christy Barker. Other Medallists who got places 4-6th were Mateo Rodriguez-Aparicio, Alexandra Cioran, Matilda Barrett, Ben Langdown, Ellie Brown, Niccolo Cavasino, Lilia Fornasier, Ava Hickey, Charlotte Field, Charlotte Bloodworth, Amelia Frisby and Trisha Parthasarathy.
We had a Grand total of 131 PBs over the whole weekend which is a massive achievement from all the swimmers that swam. The other people we had swimming who swam well are Alice Brown, Agata Kuszneruk, Olivia Magee-Brown, Grace Tume, Lucy Glossop, Olivia Cenac, Lauren Bond, Joseph Buckley, Pranav Garg, Sheena Akende and Ayse Dourmoush.
Thank you to all the parents for the support that was given to all our swimmers also to Damian Edmonds, Dave Langdown, Sam Gaster, William Magee-Brown and Steve Birchmore for all the help on poolside.
Platinum Reach for the stars
Tuesday 27th March 2018
On Sunday, Eve used her Jack Petchey money to take Platinum Squad to The Reach climbing centre in Woolwich. Swapping swimming hats for hard hats and goggles for harness the squad had a fantastic time challenging themselves and braving the heights on all the different walls.
Thanks to Jack Petchey, Eve and Wendy for all the photos.
Our jointly hosted charity open was another great fundraising success. The chosen charity was Cancer Research and the money raised has now been handed over. Together we raised a total of £519.00. Thank you so much to all who helped run this event, to those who supported it and of course to those who got in the pool and raced.
The Kent Standard
Wednesday 21st March 2018
Kent is one of the largest counties in the UK, so proportionally there are more swimmers aiming to qualify for the championships. This creates some of the toughest county QT's in the country. It's a great achievement, to gain a consideration time for Kents. It means you are at the top end of your age group in the whole of Kent, a population of nearly 2 million.
If you have then made the cut and are accepted for the championships, that then puts you in the top 10/16/24/28 (depending on the event). If that was a Kent age group sports(football or netball) team, you would likely be in the team or the squad.
If you then make the top 8 and win a medal, that puts you at a very high level.
Top 3 will likely put you in a strong position in the south-east,
Many winners can achieve national standard. Some of our Kent champions have gone on to represent their countries.
Please bear the above in mind if you travel all the way to Crystal Palace or London Aquatic Centre, and are one of the majority that doesn't take a medal home in their event.
On Saturday 10th March our team travelled to Dagenham in the first of the four rounds of the White Horse League. From the start, the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement and our team didn’t waste any time to start stacking up the points with relays as part of the first set of events. The great start kept improving with the many personal bests swam in individual events and the points achieved helping us battle for second. With the volume of cheering increasing each event the final set of relays was a great excitement with positions changing at every take over. Swimmers gave their best and results paid off. It was a great evening with great team spirit and excellent individual swims from our younger swimmers to our masters which resulted in Orpington Ojays scoring 9 first places, 14 second places and 10 third places giving a total of 282 points and finishing second overall.
Congratulations to all swimmers competing:
Ellie Brown, Adrian Tand, Amie Gould, Anna Hawkins, Ben Langdown, Ben Strover, Callum Baronti, Ellie Harden, Ellie Blanney, Emily Boyd, Emily Serafini, Eve Peel, Grace O’Gorman, Hannah Strover, Harvey Bushby-Knight, Honor Kingsley-Smith, James Somerville-Cotton, Jess Herbert, Justin Strover, Katie Napier, Lilli Cutajar, Louis Taylor, Mateo Rodriguez, Matilda Barrett, Matt Steere, Max Peel, Maxwell Baker, Michael Phillips, Nam Nguyen, Rachel Langdown, Rebecca Shipley, Sam Gaster, Samantha Jackson, Sam Ryan, Thomas Herbert, Thomas Whatling.
Thank you also to parents and officials who supported this event and contributed to make it a fantastic evening.
OOJSC & EDSC Spring Charity Meet
Wednesday 14th March 2018
On the 3rd of March great weekend of competition took place at Crook Log. This annual joint effort with Erith Swimming Club to raise funds for charity. Great support was shown by our swimmers with a record-breaking attendance of 59 athletes and 299 entries.
With fantastic officials and poolside helpers the meet ran smoothly and we had some solid swims helped by the poolside cheering. Crook Log was busy and loud so it was a great team effort led by our captains and older swimmers looking after the less experienced swimmers during the warm-up and competition. Many great races were swum resulting in many personal bests some of which were up to 15 seconds. Lots of medal clinking and happy faces around poolside concluded this successful event.
Well done to all swimmers who participated in this event and thanks to coaches, officials and poolside helpers who contributed to this great weekend.
Jack Petchey - February 2018
Wednesday 14th March 2018
Congratulations to Adam who was nominated for his commitment to swimming. He always works hard in training, never complains and has made excellent progress.
Kent Relays
Wednesday 14th March 2018
On Sunday 11th was the final event of the Kent Championship and what better way to finish the championship than with the best swimmers of the county competing in relay events. A team of 32 swimmers represented Orpington Ojays at this event that was held at the London Aquatic Centre which made the atmosphere of this event even more competitive.
The morning session opened with the Open heat declared winner 4x100 freestyle for the Men and Medley for The Ladies. Both of them exciting races with our teams swimming fast, producing personal bests and finishing 5 overall. Well done to Nam Nguyen, Sam Gaster, Joe Gaster and Ben Strover, and Ellie Harden, Honor Kingsley-Smith, Lilli Cutajar and Clio Bacon.
Louis Taylor, Niccolo Cavasino, Sam Ryan and Thomas Barrett were next on the blocks for the Boys 12 4x50 free finishing in 8th place in the heat and 7th in the final. The medley event of the same age group had our girls Sophia O’Neill, Olivia Maggee-Brown, Olivia Cenac and Amy Lawrence secured and confirmed their 6th place in the final.
Great effort from James Somerville-Cotton, Adam Tang, Sahib Sandhu and Ben Langdown for competing in the boys 13/14 freestyle relay swimming faster than their personal bests. Matilda Barrett, Samantha Jackson, Jess Herbert and Bythe Jolley-Ellis competed in the same age group of the girls medley event coming 7th in the heat and 8th in the finals.
Well done to Justin Strover, Max Peel, Callum Baronti and Michael Phillips who swam faster than ever in the Junior boys 4x50 free just missing the final while Ellie Harden, Alice Leng, Lilli Cutajar and Rachel Langdown finished 5 in the heat and final.
A great performance from Louis Taylor, Amie Lawrence, Thomas Barrett and Sophia O’Neill swam next in the12 Mixed freestyle relay coming 6th in the heat and final. Another great performance in this competitive age group for Ben Langdown, Samantha Jackson and Sahib Sandhu in the 14 years old mixed medley relay.
Well done to the Junior mixed freestyle team. Lilli Cutajar, Rachel Langdown, Callum Baronti and Michael Phillips who gave their best in the heat, however an unfortunate take over excluded the great swimmers effort from a place in the final.
The Open Mixed Medley relay concluded the series of heat and finals of the morning session and Orpington Ojays was represented by Ben Strover, Honor Kingsley-Smith, Joe Gaster and Clio Bacon. Their great effort gave them a sixth place in the heat, improved to fifth in the final.
The second session of the started with the Men 4x100 Medley. Ben Strover, Joe Gaster, Sam Gaster and Nam Nguyen swam pb and finished sixth overall. Ladies 4x100 free swam next with Ellie Harden, Rachel Langdown, Honor Kingsley-Smith and Clio Bacon. Well done for the great effort and 5th place achievement.
Sam Ryan, Louis Taylor, Niccolo Cavasino and Thomas Barrett performed superbly next in the boys 12 and under 4x50 Medley relay. The team achieved fast splits finishing 7th in heat and final.
More pbs for Sophia O’Neill, Olivia Magge-Brown, Olivia Cenac and Amie Lawrence who managed a sixth place in heat and finals and same for Matilda Barrett, Samantha Jackson, Blythe Jolley-Ellis and Jess Herbert who qualified 6th for the heat and improved to fifth in the final.
Well done to Justin Strover, Max Peel, Callum Baronti and Michael Phillips who just missed a place in the final in the junior medley event. Our junior girls Rachel Langdown, Alice Leng, Lilli Cutajar and Ellie Harden managed to swim fast in the heat and faster in the final of their freestyle relay improving their final position to 5th.
Well done to Sophia O’Neill, Louis Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Thomas Barrett who managed more pbs in the 12 Mixed medley relay finishing eight. In the Mixed Boys freestyle relay Ben Langdown, Blythe Jolley-Ellis, Sahib Sandhu and Jess Herbert had a great improvement from heat to final improving 2 places and finishing 6th.
Another great effort for was put in by Michael, Alice, Callum and Rachel in the junior mixed medley relay who gave everything they had left into their last event preceding the Open Mixed freestyle relay represented by Clio Bacon, Honor Kingsley-Smith, Joe Gaster and Ben Strover and concluded the set of heats qualifying 4th and gave the last hit of excitement finishing 4th in the final.
Well done to all our swimmers who proudly represented our Club and gave everything in the water and on poolside with great team spirit which accompanied every race of the day. Thanks also to parents with their loud cheers and officials who supported the event.
Jack Petchey - January 2018
Wednesday 14th March 2018
Congratulations to Matilda who was nominated for her enthusiasm and commitment to training. Her hard work has paid off and shows with her improvements at competitions.
Tudor League Round 2
Monday 5th March 2018
The last Saturday evening of February was the second of six rounds of the Tudor League. Thirty swimmers travelled to Eltham pool to represent their team, many of which at their first competitive experience.
The evening ran smoothly and great effort was shown by coaches and team managers in directing our young team and all our swimmers put in their best effort not to disappoint. Many great swims were swum and new personal bests were set throughout the evening while the rest of the team was busy supporting and cheering their fellow swimmers.
Our usual loud chant concluded the joyful evening where we came 7th overall. It was a great and friendly opportunity to ‘initiate’ many of our young swimmers to competitive swimming. Four more rounds to go to see improvement from training.
Thanks to coaches, parents, officials and poolside helpers who made this joyful evening possible.
The Kents Weekend 4 - The 50s
Monday 5th March 2018
The last weekend of Kent’s, om the 10th Feb at the London Aquatic Centre., was the busiest as it had in schedule 200 IM and the 50m sprints in all of the strokes.
The boys 200 IM started the session and our boys were ready to perform at their best. We had great swims from Callum Baronti who with a 2 seconds pb on his converted time just missed 8th place, Ben Strover coming 5th with a pb and Billy Birchmore finishing 1st with a pb and a world record. Well done to our girls who followed in the 50 Backstroke. Great swims and pb's from Emily Serafini, Amie Lawrence, Hannah Strover, Sophia O’Neill, Rachel Langdown, Jess Herbert, Ellie Harden and Clio Bacon. Congratulations to Sophia O’Neill, Jess Herbert and Clio Bacon for swimming the event again in the finals placing 7th, 6th and 8th respectively. The mens 50 Fly concluded the morning session and we never stopped cheering Louis Taylor and Callum Baronti who swam their races well achieving pbs.
After a short break it was the start of the second session. And our swimmers were ready to cheer and congratulate Thomas Barrett, Louis Taylor, Ben Langdown, Michael Phillips and Callum Baronti for achieving pbs. The Girls 50 Freestyle followed up where Emily Serafini, Hannah Strover, Samantha Jackson, Sophia O’Neill, Amie Lawrence, Lilli Cutajar, Honor Kingsley Smith, Jess Herbert, Ellie Harden and Clio Bacon swam great performances and pbs. Congratulations to Amie Lawrence coming 8th in the heat and finishing 4th in the final. Also well done to Clio Bacon finishing 3rd in 17/under final and 6th in the Open final.
After a good night's rest, we were ready to start the last day of the championship. Inverted schedule of events compared to the previous day starting with Girls 200 IM. Emily Serafini, Sophia O’Neill, Amie Lawrence and Samantha Jackson competed in this event with a great pace resulting in new personal bests. Well done to Samantha for coming 5th in her age group. Many more pbs followed up in the Men 50 backstroke. Well done for their performance to Thomas Barrett, Sam Ryan, Justin Strover, Ben Langdown, Callum Baronti, Max Peel, Michael Phillips and Ben Strover. Congratulations to Ben for improving his time in the final finishing 8th. Ladies 50 fly concluded the morning session and Amie Gould, Emily Serafini, Sophia O’Neill, Amie Lawrence, Samantha Jackson, Lilli Cutajar, and Jess Herbert all setting new pbs.
After a short break swimmers were back in the pool to warm up for the last session. Girls 50 breaststroke first and for the girls we had Sophia O’Neill, Samantha Jackson, Abigail Leeves, Honor Kingsley Smith, Alice Leng, and Clio Bacon going faster than ever. Clio and Honor manage to swim even faster in their final finishing 5th and 7 respectively. The last event was the Men 50 free. We had Louis Taylor, Thomas Barrett, Callum Baronti, Michael Phillips, Ben Strover and Billy Birchmore who could not finish it better with all pbs, with an 8th place from Michael in the final and a new world record for Billy Birchmore.
It has been a long but great and cheerful championship with lots of laughter, team spirit and many great swims. Improvemnts have been shown throughout the championship resulting in the team finishing 10th overall. A great effort resulting in great improvement. The Kent Relays are next.
Presentation Evening
Saturday 24th February 2018
On Friday evening the club held it's presentation evening at the Crofton Halls in Orpington. Plenty of trophies were handed out to the swimmers and also to some of our wonderful parents; who, in their precious spare time, help to run our club so well.
Thank you so much to Michelle O'Neill for organising such an enjoyable evening and congratulations to our lucky winners in the raffle and the game of heads and tails.
There are numerous photos of everyone receiving their awards in the Photos section and if you have any photos you would like to share please email steve@orpingtonojays.com with them or for a link where you can copy them to for inclusion.
Weekend 3 of The Kents
Monday 19th February 2018
The third weekend of the Kents started with the girls 100 butterfly. Well done to Emily Serafini, Amie Gould, Sophia O’Neill, Samantha Jackson, Amie Lawrence, Jess Herbert and Lilli Cutajar for their great performances and personal bests in this tough event. We had great performances from the boys too in the Mens 200 backstroke with Michael Phillips, Max Peel Justin Strover and Ben Strover who all swam pbs. Michael came 5th, Max 8th and Ben came 3rd in his age group and 4th overall.
After a short break and warm up it was time for the Mens 100 backstroke. Thomas Barrett, Sam Ryan, Ben Langdown, Callum Baronti, Justin Strover, Max Peel, Billy Birchmore, Michael Phillips and Ben Strover took part with great improvements. Michael Phillips, and Ben Strover had the chance to better their pbs in the finals with Michael improving his position to 7th, Ben finishing 6th in his age group and 8th overall and to top it up Billy Birchmore came 2nd by points achieving an improvement to his DSISO world record.
There were also three top 8 positions and personal bests for the girls with Amie Lawrence finishing 6th, Lilli Cutajar 8th and Jess Herbert 6th in the ladies 200 Fly which concluded a great day.
The next day of events had the Ladies 100 Breaststroke. Sophia O’Neill, Abigail Leeves, Samantha Jackson, Anna Hawkins and Honor Kingsley-Smith again swum numerous pbs. Well done also to Alice Leng for improving her time and position in the final finishing 7th and Clio Bacon finishing 5th.
Well done to Callum Baronti who suffering with a bad cold did not pull out of the 200 free. Congratulations to Ben for his pb and 5th place in his age group and 7th in the open and Billy Birchmore on his 1st place.
Well done to Thomas Barrett, Callum Baronti, Michael Phillips, Ben Strover for improving their times in one of the most competitive events of the championship; the Men’s 100 freestyle. Well done to Billy Birchmore for setting a new DSISO world record in the same event.
The last event of the weekend was the ladies 200 breaststroke. We had some great performances from Alice Leng, Samantha Jacskon with a pb and 6th place and Honor Kingsley-Smith also with a pb and 5th place.
Another great weekend with the many great swims and points placing Orpington Ojays 12th for the boys, 8th for the girls and 1st for Multiclassifications - one weekend away from the end of the Championship.
Kents Long Distance
Thursday 1st February 2018
A great start of the Kent County Championship with the middle and long distance events. We fielded eight swimmers in twelve events throughout the whole weekend. First in line for the boys 400 free were Billy Birchmore, Max Peel, Justin Strover and Benjamin Strover who exceeded expectations achieving new long course pbs. Well done to Ben Strover for finishing 4th in his age group.
In the 400 IM were Callum Baronti and Ben Strover. Great swims for both achieving long course pbs. Congratulations to Ben Strover for achieving more points for Orpington Ojays with another 4th place.
We also had three girls racing in the 400m Freestyle. Well done to Sophia O’Neill, Matilda Barrett and Jess Herbert for their long course pbs and a 6th place for Jess.
After a long first day Max Peel, Justin Strover and Ben Strover were back for the 1500 free. It is a hard race and the boys gave their best with Max and Justin achieving long course pbs and Ben another fourth place.
The last event of the weekend is the girls 800m Freestyle and for this event we had one swimmer. Congratulations to Honor Kingsley-Smith who finished 6th in her age group.
A great first weekend of competitions with many good swims, pbs and happy simmers and coaches.
Weekend 2 of The Kents
Thursday 1st February 2018
The second weekend of Kent Championship was a much busier meet with fly and breaststroke for the boys and girls back and freestyle on the schedule. Soon after the warm up we were ready to cheer Billy Birchmore, Ben Langdown, Callum Baronti and Ben Strover racing in the Men 100 Fly. All the boys achieved new long course pbs and well done to Billy who finished in 2nd place.
There was long continuous cheering also for our seven girls competing in 200 Backstroke. Well done for their great performances to Emily Serafini, Sophia O’Neill, Hannah Strover, Matilda Barrett, Rachel Langdown, Ellie Harden and Jess Herbert. Congratulations to Sophia O’Neill achieving 8th place, Hannah Strover achieving 6th and Jess Herbert achieving 3rd place in their age groups.
Another popular event is the girls 100 Back. Great performances were swam by our swimmers in this event. Well done to Emily Serafini, Samantha Jackson, Sophia O’Neill, Hannah Strover, Matilda Barrett, Rachel Langdown, Jess Herbert and Ellie Harden for their great swims. Well done to Jess Herbert who finished 3rd in the heat and final. Callum concluded the day with a very well paced swim in the boys 200 fly finishing with a new pb and in 6th place.
On the Sunday Thomas Barrett, Michael Phillips and Callum Baronti exceeded expectations with their performances all topped up by Billy Birchmore’s 10 seconds pb and a Gold medal in the Mens 100 Breaststroke. The girls replied well in their next event, the 200 free. Emily Serafini, Sophia O’Neill, Samantha Jackson, Amie Lawrence, Ellie Harden, Matilda Barrett, Honor Kingsley Smith and Jess Herbert didn’t disappoint with their swims and pbs. Well done to Sophia O’Neill finishing 8th, Samantha Jacskon and Jess Herbert 7th and Amie Lawrence 5th.
After a short lunch break the last session of the weekend started with Emily Serafini, Amie Lawrence, Sophia O’Neill, Honor Kingsley-Smith, Jess Herbert and Clio Bacon achieving pbs in the Girls 100 free. Congratulations to Sophia O’Neill who managed 8th place in the final and finishing 7th with a double pb and to Clio Bacon qualifying 4th in heat and final and getting closer and closer to the sub minute mark. Callum Baronti rounded off the weekend finsihing a fantastic 7th in the Mens 200 Breastroke.
Another great weekend with many great swims and pbs.
New Year Ice Breaker
Thursday 11th January 2018
On the first weekend of 2018 more than 40 swimmers travelled to Canterbury for the Ice Breaker open meet. This was the last chance to achieve qualifying times for the Kent County competitions. Once again our swimmers performed brilliantly and showed great support and team spirit towards their fellow swimmers competing. It was a busy event which saw numerous pbs, many medals and Kent qualifying times all accompanied by our parent's loud support cheering in each of the many races. It was a great event which couldn’t have been possible without the help of parents and officials.
Well done!
Max Peel – Gold in 100m and 200m Backstroke; Silver in 400m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke
Samantha Jackson – Gold in 200m and 100m Breaststroke; Silver in 50m Breaststroke; Bronze in the 50m Butterfly
Ellie Harden – Gold in 100m Backstroke; Silver in 50m Backstroke; Bronze in 200m Backstroke
Alice Leng – Gold in 50m Breaststroke; Silver in 200m Breaststroke
Thomas Barrett – Silver in 50m Breaststroke; 200m Backstroke and 50m Freestyle
Matilda Barrett – Silver in 400m IM and 100m Freestyle; Bronze in 200m and 400m Freestyle
Charlotte Field – Silver in 100m Breaststroke; Bronze in 50m and 200m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle
Lilli Cutajar – Bronze in 100m Butterfly
Anna Hawkins – Bronze in 100m Breaststroke
Ava Hickey – Bronze in 200m Freestyle