Sunderland Aquatic Centre once again hosted the North-East Regional Short Course Championships for the BAGCAT and Senior/Junior age groups. As the first major championship of the season many of the north east’s best swimmers were in action over two thrilling days of competition. Sunderland’s flagship  pool was split into two 25m pools enabling the simultaneous staging of the BAGCAT and Senior/junior events.
The fourteen Senior and Junior swimmers (girls aged 14+ and boys 15+) from the City of Sunderland’s Performance Squads were in tremendous form and bagged an outstanding total of seventeen individual medals and one relay medal and a host of club records.
Adam Taylor, 16, swam brilliantly to win a hat trick of gold medals in the 50m and 100m backstroke events and the 50m butterfly, completing the latter in a new club record time. His achievements were all the more remarkable as this is only his first full year of competing in the Senior Age Group. Adam also finished 4th in the 200m backstroke, 5th in the 100m butterfly ( a new club record time) and 6th in the 100m freestyle.
Swimming in the S9 Disability Category, Matt Wylie, 16, swam some impressive races setting personal best times in the 100m freestyle and 1500m freestyle. His finishing time of 19:08.51 for the 1500m was so fast that he set a new Short Course British record in the  ’S9’ disability category. He was also able to claim a second British record as at the 800m point his cracking pace put him more than 9 seconds inside the ‘S9’ 800m British record with a time of 9:40.34. Significantly his 1500m swim was inside the official International Paralympic Committee record for the ‘S9’ short course category which must put him in good stead for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio!
James Burns, 15, too was in good form, winning gold in his favourite event, the 1500m freestyle. He finished more than 15 seconds ahead of his nearest rival in a time of 16:45.11. James also won a silver medal in the Junior 100m freestyle event.
The youngest member of the team, Freya Rayner, 14, had a very successful weekend winning two individual medals. Freya topped the podium in the open 50m backstroke, finishing ahead of both the Junior and Senior Age Group swimmers. Her time of 30.00 seconds was not only a 14 year old Club Record but also an All Time Club Record. In the 50m butterfly, Freya came third in the Junior event and just missed out on another medal by finishing 4th in the 100m backstroke.  Her times in these races were also All Time Club Records.
Winning more medals than any other City of Sunderland swimmer, Lucy Ellis, 15, came home with an exceptional haul of five medals. Her best result came in the 800m freestyle where she won silver setting a club record in the process. Lucy also won bronze medals in the 200m and 400m freestyle and the 200m and 400m I/M, setting a new club record in the 200m freestyle.
Fifteen year old Lucy Walton finished in medal positions in three events.  She won silver medals in the 200m backstroke and 400 I/M events and won a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly event. Lucy’s time for the 400 I/M was a new Club Record.
Once again demonstrating her excellence in the butterfly events, Emma Sinclair, 16, was second in the 100m butterfly and was third in the 200m butterfly. Emma also finished 8th in the 50m butterfly and 5th in the 200 I/M. Her times in all four events were club records and her butterfly times were also All Time records.
Alex Robinson, 18, showed her strength in the distance events by winning gold in the 800m freestyle. She also just missed out on further medals, finishing 4th and 5th in the 400 I/M and 400m freestyle events.
In the team events, Sunderland’s girls 400m medley team finished in second place. The team comprised Freya Rayner, Alex Robinson, Emma Sinclair and Lucy Ellis.
Whilst the Senior/Junior swimmers were in action at one end of the pool, a team of twelve swimmers represented City of Sunderland club in the BAGCAT championships. These swimmers were boys aged 10 to 14 and girls aged 10 to 13 from the Performance and Age Group Development Squads. The team swam really well to record twenty nine personal bests and were unlucky to finish just outside of the medals in several cases.   This event provided valuable experience of competing at a major championship, particularly for the younger swimmers. The skills demonstrated and the times achieved at this early stage in the competitive season puts the swimmers in a great position to build on for the rest of the season.