Recently the Yorkshire Winter Swimming Championships were held at Ponds Forge International Swimming Pool. Harrogate Grammar School are celebrating success as three of their students; Harris Lister (year 11), Sassy Palfreman (year 10) and Louisa Ibberson (year 9) celebrated the fruition of their intense training schedule.
Harris, 16 years, swims for York City Bath Club, competed in the 800m freestyle event which saw him win silver, he also swam as part of the boys 200m freestyle team to see them collect Silver. Harris says of his achievement, “I train 7 times a week and also spend many weekends away at swimming galas. It was very rewarding to win my first county medals in February, I enjoy being part of a team and training hard to improve my technique and fitness. In the future I would like to go for Nationals, continue swimming with York City and maybe go to a university with a swimming team.”
Sassy, 15 years, took the title Yorkshire Champion in the 200m butterfly, Bronze in 100m butterfly and also achieved 5 other top ten finishes in other events. This was Sassy’s first season competing for City of Leeds Swim Club, where she was also selected to swim for the girls’ medley team which achieved a silver medal. March will see Sassy travel to the Royal Commonwealth Pool to compete in the Edinburgh International meet.
Sassy talks about her success and future plans:
I am extremely happy with my Gold in the 200m butterfly and getting to the finals in almost all of my events at Yorkshire Championships was a fantastic achievement that I’m very proud of. I am hoping to get to the British final at Summer Championships in August this year. I train 8 times a week (20 hours) and started competitive swimming at 9.
Louisa, 14 years, swims for Harrogate District Swim Club and saw her achieve a fantastic personal best time in the 50m freestyle and win the Bronze medal in her age category.
Louisa said:
I joined Harrogate swimming squads when I was 8. Training has gradually increased over the years and I now swim 6 times a week. I was very happy to get my first Yorkshire Championships medal and even happier that our team managed to come third in both relays. I hope that one day I will qualify for the National Championships.
A fantastic achievement for all the Harrogate Grammar School students, whose commitment sees them train at 4.30am before a full school day.