It will come as no surprise to readers that articles on this page praise the endeavours of Monnow swimmers ; they participate in many events throughout the year and always give a good account of themselves and the club. On Saturday 13th October the Monmouthshire Challenge, a gala between the 4 swimming clubs of Monmouthshire, was restarted after a 7 year break. Monnow fielded a team of 46 swimmers covering the age groups from 8 to 15.
Each age group swam individual events along with Freestyle and Medley relays, and the event was topped off with an 8 length kick relay. From the off the Monnow team were dominant, setting an impressive standard for the team and their supporters to get behind; in fact the support from the Gallery and poolside for all the teams was, at times, deafening, as everyone cheered on their team.
There were some startling individual performances from many swimmers, some of them competing for the first time and some in races for older age groups. The team relays were fantastic, with great attention paid to the handovers and turns, a testament to the hard work of both the swimmers and the coaches; one of the judges even commented that the Monnow swimmers were picking up a couple of meters on each turn.
After just over 2 hours of extreme noise and excitement it was all over and Monnow were victorious. At the award ceremony Hanna Guise from Swim Wales and Natalie Parfitt from Monmouthshire Council thanks the swimmers and their parents for making the event such a huge success and looked forward to next year’s gala. The George Haines shield was received by Joe from Monnow.
The Monnow team, the swimmers, the coaches and the parents who assisted on poolside with timing, running and keeping everyone comfortable in the searing heat, worked together like a well oiled machine; well done everybody, this bodes very well for the Wyvern League which starts in January.