Today, Cadets from 471 Squadron came a brilliant second place in the annual inter-squadron swimming competition, which took place at Salt Ayre Sports Centre, in Lancaster, as well as winning eight medals and a trophy!
The day started with the butterfly races, and Corporal Pym took a comfortable second place in his junior boys race, and Cadet Thorp battled to a bronze medal in her junior girls race. Then, Corporal Pym was back up on the blocks, racing in his heat for the junior boys freestyle, along with Corporal Markey in the junior girls heat and Cadet Greenwood J. in the senior boys heat. All three managed to get through to the finals – which would take place in the afternoon.
The next event was the backstroke race – Cadet Harris representing the junior boys, Cadet Holohan representing the junior girls and Cadet Greenwood J. in the senior boys. Again, all three managed to reach the final. The penultimate individual race was the breaststroke, and again, all three of our representatives reached the final – this time it was Cadet Green, Corporal Markey and Sergeant Ball in the junior boys, junior boys and senior boys respectively.
Finally, for the individual races, Corporal Pym raced in the individual medley – and finished fifth, which was good considering the tough opposition. For the junior girls competition, Cadet Thorp raced and finished fourth in her race. We had no competitor for the senior boys event however.
After the inividual heats, there was a twenty minute break, before the races proceeded with the finals. First, it was freestyle, with Corporal Pym taking second in the junior boys by a fraction of a second ahead of third place; then, Corporal Markey had her go at getting a medal, but was unfortunately unsuccessful, before Cadet Greenwood J. also came close but just not close enough in his senior boys final. In the backstoke, Cadet Harris picked up a silver in the junior boys; a feat beaten by Cadet Holohan’s gold in her junior girls event. Cadet Greenwood J. unfortunately was unwell after his freestyle final and didn’t compete. The last final of the day was the breaststroke event – started with the junior boys, which saw Cadet Green take silver, followed by Corporal Markey, who narrowly missed out on a podium finish. Sergeant Ball soon made up for this with a gold medal in his senior boys final.
The last event of the day was the freestyle relay – which was comfortably won by the junior boys team, consisting of Cadets Abram, Harris, Lloyd & Lopez!
Congratulations to all cadets who attending from across Cumbria & Lancashire Wing, and especially to Kendal Squadron, who narrowly beat us to a first place overall! The Junior Girls too missed out on first place overall, as they managed second, but huge congratulations are in order for the Junior Boys who took the first place overall in their category! Well done!