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This weekend, Matt Wright and Mark Crook Rumsey travelled all the way to Leeds to be part of a high level meet run by City of Leeds Swimming Club. Swimming amongst the likes of Liam Tancock and David Davies, Matt and Mark both swam brilliantly, achieving lifetime best swims in all events! They both left Shepshed at 6am on Saturday to travel up north, and begun the meet with 100m fly. Mark was up first, and caught the attention of the commentator (coaching legend Terry Denison who coached the likes of Adrian Moorehouse and James Hickman), by winning his heat, and setting a new personal best time of 1.03.23, over 2seconds quicker than his previous best set in the age groups earlier this year. Matt followed suit shortly after, looking in good form after some great PB’s last weekend at the Leicester League final, and didn’t fail to impress, swimming a fantastic PB of 1.01.39! Both boys then had the rest of the morning off, and Matt came back to swim in the afternoon. He started with the 50m Backstroke, again taking a second off his PB, which was only set in August swimming in 30.88. To finish the day off, Matt had 200IM, and what a way to finish! Having entered with PB time of 2.29.18, he smashed this, taking a huge 7 seconds off of his PB set in March this year. He started very strong, missing his 50m fly PB on the first length of the race by just 0.09, and went on to complete the 200 in 2.22.90!
Mark was back early on Sunday morning, ready for his token events, the 50m fly and 100m FC. Living up to his reputation, Mark swam a great 50m Fly, just missing getting down to 26seconds, but still taking 3/4 a second off his PB, finishing in 27.23! With just a couple of races to rest before his 100m FC, Mark set a target of breaking into 58secs, having gone 57 short course in Leicester League, and that he did! He brought down his PB from 1.07.01 (which he hasn’t swam since 2006), down to 58.57!
Matt joined Mark for the last session of the weekend. First up was 50m FC, Marks last race. Matt was up first, with Mark following in the same lane of the next heat. Having entered a time of 27.22, Matt had a great dive and came up in the lead. For someone who’s stroke always looks so relaxed and comfortable, Matt actually looked like his arms were going round fast this time, and boy they were! Matt fswam his 50m FC in 26.60. As MArk stepped up to the block after Matt, Matt gave him a target to beat for his last race of the weekend. With a PB of 27.21 set at the district championships in May, Mark took another second from that to finish his race in 26.23.
With Mark finished for the day, Matt had his final race; 200m butterfly. Earlier in the year at the county championships, this hadn’t gone so well for Matt swimming a few seconds away from his PB, so Matt went into the race determined not to let it get the better of him again. The attention of the commentator was caught by Shepshed again as Matt went out very fast, a whole body length ahead of his competitors, and turning at the 100m mark, he wasonly 2 seconds off his 100m PB set the morning before! Digging in deep, Matt finished very strong, again showing his strength over 200m, taking a massive 5 seconds off his time which he hadn’t been able to touch since March 07 to finish in 2.21.65.
Both lads were great ambassadors for Shepshed ASC this weekend, despite probably training less than half the amount of all other swimmers at the meet! Swimming amongst Olympians, including double gold medalist Rebecca Adlington, it was also a great experience for them both. Their great PB’s are as a result of huge commitment and effort that both boys put into training, what a fantastic way to finish off the year, well done boys!
Have a great xmas everyone
Suzi 
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