20120216 Aquae Sulis Hub Network Coaches Event

Aquae Sulis Hub Network Coaches Event - 16th February 2012

25 coaches from across Wilts and BANES attended the inaugural coach's learning session organised by Aquae Sulis at the Bath Sports Village on 16th Feb.

Graeme Entwhistle, who coached UK swimmers at the Bejing Olympic games and is currently part of the ASA Intensive Training Centre based in Bath, presented his ideas on improving swimmers butterfly stroke and then led a coaching session with 8 Corsham swimmers.

Chippenham coaches Stephen Miller and Tony Wright attended the 2hr learning event and hope to bring some of the things they learned into regular Chippenham training sessions. This was the first such learning event organised by Aquae Sulis and it is planned that further events cover other strokes and other training that can aid the development of our swimmers. As Graeme is poolside at Bath with the ITC on a daily basis, he offered the opportunity for coaches to come and watch how he trains his elite athletes.

20120129 Wiltshire County Championships - Distance

Wiltshire Long Distance Swimming Championships 2012

Chippenham swimmers started off the 2012 Wiltshire County Championships at the long distance events held at Bath University on Sunday 29th January.

In the girls 800 metre races, Tegan Cairns swam 11min 49.25s for 5th in her age group. Older sister Bryony swam 11min 22.15s for 8th in her age. Sapphire Randerson put in a good effort in swimming 11min 58.36s finishing 4th in her age group.

For the boys Matt Hare swam his 1,500 metre race in 19min 42.10s for 4th in his (14yr old) age group and 8th overall in the Junior Championships (15 and under). Peter Holden was second in his (15yr old) age group in 20min 10.02s.

20120118 Disability Update & SW Open Assessment Day

Chippenham Swimming Club – Disability Update and South West Open Assessment day

Update on Chippenham ASC involvement in disability swimming.  The club currently have a number of specifically trained coaches and teachers including Nigel and Heather Butler and Lynn Denning.  In 2011 the club supported the Wilts County assessment day for disability swimmers and currently provides support to the Wilts Academy with Stephen Miller helping out every 4 weeks at Devizes.

Wilts Academy: A Wiltshire based Swimming Academy launched in September 2011 and targets young people with a disability that show an interest and some ability in swimming. The academy is for children aged 8 years and above with sessions running until April 2012. Sessions are delivered on a monthly basis at Devizes Leisure Centre and operate in accordance with the Playground2Podium elite talent pathway. Members of the academy receive technical coaching and any young people who demonstrate further talent will be signposted to the Regional Development Centre at Bristol.

Negotiations are underway to extend funding for the Wilts Academy beyond April .

South West Open Assessment day - To celebrate 200 days to go until the start of the Paralympic Games,   the South West Disability Swimming Squad are hosting an Open Assessment Day designed to get more people with a disability involved in swimming.

Date: Saturday 11th February 2012

Venue: Horfield Leisure Centre, Bristol, BS7 0XW

Time: 5:00PM-6:00PM

Swimmers will need to register for the event by contacting Gavin Phillips, Chair of South West Disability Swimming Squad on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 07899 665828

This is a fantastic opportunity to use the power of the London 2012 Paralympic Games to get more children and young people involved in sport.

20120117 Volunteers Coaching Success

10 Volunteers from Chippenham Swimming Club have been awarded their certificates in Level 1 coaching.

The volunteers completed their training over a number of Sundays and Tuesday evenings at the Olympiad pool in Chippenham during November and December.  This included planning and delivering coaching sessions to Chippenham club swimmers on Tuesday nights.  The club funded the cost of this training which enables the club to continue to provide high quality and safe training under the supervision of Head Coach Nigel Butler.

The newly qualified L1 coaches are Chris Hardick, Marianna Hare, Gary Brown, Mark Olgivie, Stephen and Evie Preece, Kim Branston, Ruth Powell, Tony Wright and Stephen Miller.

20120114 2011/12 Winter League R2

Chippenham Swimming Club 2nd in Winter League.

Chippenham ASC finished 2nd to Swindon Tigersharks in the 2nd round of the Wilts Winter League held at the Link Centre, Swindon on Saturday night (14th Jan).

Chippenham won 11 races of 39 (all relays):  U13 boys breast stroke, over 17 boys medley, U15 girls free, U17 girls breast stroke, U17 boys breast stroke, over 17 boys free, squadron (one from each age group) boys breast stroke, U13 girls free, U13 boys free, over 17 boys back, U15 boys breast stroke.

Scores on the night were Tigersharks 221, Chippenham 173, Corsham A 132, Trowbridge B 109, Wroughton 91, Swindon Dolphins B 85.

The 3rd round of the Winter League will be held on 10th March with Chippenham hosting a gala at Corsham swimming pool.

The full Chippenham squad included:

Lucy Featherston, Tegan Cairns, Abbie Cross, Natalie Pidgeon, Puruvi Ruparel, Bryony Cairns, Chloe May, Harriet Ogilvie, Emily Daulby, Sapphire Randerson, Charity Moore, Chelsea Chard, Katie Smith, Evie Preece, Beatrice Moore, Emma Holloway

John Davies, Luke Brown, Andrew Hare, Henry Gaunt, Thomas Tennant, James Tucker, Nathan Coupland, Sam Miller, George Claverley, Daniel Branston, Matthew Hare, Peter Holden, Henry Moore, Joe Bailey, Jack Crow

20111218 Club Champs (200m Freestyle)

Chippenham swimming club held its last championship event of 2011 on Sunday Night (18th Dec) with swimmers tackling the 200 metre freestyle race.

Age group winners for the boys were Luke Brown, Andrew Hare, Matt Hare, Peter Holden and Henry Moore.  Girl age group winners were Tegan Cairns, Lucy Featherston, Chloe May, Chelsea Chard and Emma Holloway.

Fastest times on the night came from Moore – 2 minutes 10.31 seconds and Holloway – 2.23.82

There were 44 swimmers.

20111211 Club Champs (Sprints 2 & 200m IM)

Chippenham Swimming club held its second sprint night and 200 Individual medley races on the weekend of 10/11th December.

Highlight of the sprints night was an exciting “skins” contest.  The top 6 swimmers go head to head over 50 meters until only one swimmer is left standing.  Peter Holden held off Andrew Hare in the B final and Henry Moore beat Matt Hare in the A final.  Chelsea Chard won the B final from Katie Smith, and in the A final Emma Holloway touched first just ahead of Evie Preece.

Age group winners of the sprint races - 25m freestyle (FS), 25 m breast stroke (BS),  50m butterfly (BF), 50m backstroke (BC), 100m breast stroke, 100m freestyle included:

Andrew Hare 100m FS, 50 BC, 100m BS, 50m BF,          Matt Hare 100m FS, 50m BC, 100m BS, 50m BF,          John Branston 100m FS, 50m BC, 50m BF,            Jack Cook 100m FS, 50m BF,          Lucy Featherston 100m FS,          Chloe May 100m FS, 50m BC,          Charity Moore 100m FS,          Emma Holloway 100m FS,          Matthew Hardick  50m BC, 25m BS, 25m FS,          Henry Moore  50m BC,          Tegan Cairns  50m BC, 50m BF,          Puruvi Ruparel  50m BC, 50m BF,          Chelsea Chard  50m BC, 50m BF,          Evie Preece 50m BC, 100m BS,          Joshua Dreelan 25m BS, 25m FS,          Megan Wright 25m BS,          Ellis Bailey 25m BS, 25 m FS,          Gordon Elliot 25m BS, 25m FS,          Jessica Bullock 25m BS,          Chloe Makepeace 25m BS, 25m FS,          Richard Waterfield 25m BS,          Natalie Jones 25m BS, 25m FS,          Peter Holden 100m BS,          Matt Cruse 100m BS,          Natalie Pidgeon 100m BS,          Emily Daulby 100m BS,          Katie Smith 100m BS,          Jess Smith 25m FS,          Luke Brown 50m BF,          Jess Stafford 50m BF,          Beatrice Moore 50m BF,          Leona Lovegrove 25m FS,          Shaun Cairns 25m FS

Age group winners of the 200 IM were: Luke Brown, Andrew Hare, Matt Hare, Peter Holden, Henry Moore, Natalie Pidgeon, Chloe May, Chelsea Chard and Evie Preece.

Fastest swims in the 200 IM were 2 mins 28.11 secs by Matt Hare and 2.42.85 by Chelsea Chard.

20111126 2011/12 Winter League R1

Chippenham swimming club were 4th at the first Winter league race of the 2011/12 season on Saturday 26th November.

Chippenham's young squad performed well against strong squads from Swindon Tigersharks, Trowbridge A and B, host club Salisbury, Wroughton, Wootton Basset and Bradford on Avon winning 3races on the night

Each gala involves 39 relays at U13, U15, U17 and over 17.  Many of Chippenham's swimmer had to swim up an age group so coming 4th on the night was an encouraging result.

Overall League positions have yet to be determined with points awarded for the fastest times across the whole league of 28 teams.

Chippenhams girls were - Abbie Cross, Amy Hall, Beatrice Moore, Bryony and Tegan Cairns, Charlotte Myers, Chelsea Chard, Chloe May, Emma Holloway, Harriet Olgivie, Jess Stafford, Katie Smith, Natalie Pidgeon, Puruvi Ruparel, Sapphire Randerson

The boys were - Andrew and Matt Hare, George Claverley, Henry Gaunt, Henry Moore, Jack Cook, Jack Crow, James Tucker, Joe Bailey, John Branston, Luke Brown, Nathan Coupland, Peter Holden, Sam Miller, Tom Tennant

20111113 Club Champs (200m Breaststroke)

Chippenham ASC club Championships – 200 metres breast stroke

Chippenham swimming club held its club championship 200m breast stroke races on Sunday night (13th Nov) at Corsham.

Boys age group winners were Luke Brown, Andrew Hare, George Claverley, Peter Holden and Matt Cruse.

Girls age group winners were Tegan Cairns, Natalie Pidgeon, Bryony Cairns, Katie Smith  and Evie Preece.

Fastest swimmers on the night were Holden in 2 mins 56.80 secs and Smith in 3 mins 1.80 secs.

56 swimmers competed in 14 heats.

20111029 Club Champs (400IM)

Chippenham Swimming Club 2011 Club Championships – 400 metres Individual Medley

Chippenham ASC held its 400 metres IM championships on Saturday night (29th Oct) at the St Marys pool in Calne

Swimmers had to race 400 metres using all four strokes in order, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and front crawl.

Age group winners were Andrew Hare, Matt Hare, Peter Holden, Henry Moore, Puruvi Ruparel, Jessica Stafford, Chelsea Chard and Evie Preece.

Fastest swims of the night were Moore in 5 minutes 17.28 seconds and for the girls Preece in 5.47.14.

20111018 International Success for Branwen

Chippenham swimmer Branwen Harris has recently returned from representing England at the Commonwealth Lifesaving Championships in Durban, South Africa following an invitation to an England trial - after doing well at the University Championships (BUCS) and the nationals earlier in the season. Despite being an accomplished swimmer this was a remarkable achievement having only taking up the lifesaving discipline during the previous year.

Branwen represented England in the following events:

• 4 x 50m Obstacle Relay - Finished with silver medal in a time of 2:00:15 LC (British record) - 1 metre fences placed 12.5 metres from each end of the pool - so there are 2 for each relay swimmer.
• 4 x 25m manikin relay - Finished with bronze medal in a time of 1:39:52 LC (British record) - Have to pass the manikin within a 5m allotted space, and the manikin's head can't go under.
• 4 x 50m medley relay - Performed the third leg which used a thorpe buoy and finished with a bronze medal in a time of 1:52:00 LC (British record) - 1st swimmer = 50m freestyle, 2nd swimmer = 50m freestyle with fins, 3rd swimmer = 50m with thorpe buoy, 4th swimmer = 50m with fins and towing the thorpe buoy with the 3rd swimmer holding on to it
• 50m manikin carry (Individual) - Ranked 6th and finished 4th with a new personal best time of 39:00 LC - 25m freestyle, dive down 1.8m pick up the 7.5 stone manikin pull to the surface then tow the manikin on your back to the end (25m).

Branwen competed in the England national team which finished 3rd overall behind Australia and South Africa national teams respectively.

20111016 National County Team Championships

Chippenham ASC Support the British Gas ASA National County Team Championships

The British Gas ASA National County Team Championships took place at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield on the 16th October 2011. The event is based around the 33 English Counties from the 8 ASA Regions, the 4 Administrative Districts of Scotland and 2 of Wales making a total of 39 'Counties' competing across two divisions. Individual selection for each County Team is based on National Rankings calculated after the regional competitions held earlier in the summer.

Matt Hare was Chippenham ASC's only representative on the Wiltshire County Team this year and competed in the Individual 100m Fly and 4x50m Medley Team (50m Fly).  Matt won his 100m Fly heat finishing 11th in the division and 28th fastest in Great Britain for his age group on the day. His medley team finished 6th in the division and 19th fastest in Great Britain - Matt's Fly time was 24th fastest across all Division 1 & 2 Teams.

Wiltshire put in a strong performance leading division 2 for the first few races finishing 10th in division 2 at the end of the Championships. Selection for the 2012 Championships will take place next summer based on National Rankings at that time. Chippenham ASC looks forward to supporting the County Team again next year.

20111010 Club Champs (400m Freestyle)

Chippenham Swimming Club 2011 Championships – 400m Freestyle

A good turn out of 43 Chippenham Swimming Club swimmers competed over 400 metres at its 2nd 2011 club championship event held at St Marys in Calne on Saturday night.

Age group winners for the boys were Luke Brown, Andrew Hare, Matthew Hare, Peter Holden and Henry Moore.  Moore swam the fastest time of the night with 4 minutes 37.45 seconds.

Age group winners for the girls were Tegan Cairns, Puruvi Ruparel, Jessica Stafford, Chelsea Chard and Evie Preece.  Preece was fastest woman on the night in 4.57.37.

20111010 Synchro Update

Last week six Chippenham Synchro swimmers attended the Selection day for the South West Training Squads.    All six were selected.

2012 Squads will have the following Chippenham Swimmers:

Talent ID squad (for 12 and under synchro swimmers):

Jessica Smith, Natalie Dodd, Madeleine Bright, Lauren Makepeace, Soraya Chesworth

Academy Development squad (13 plus - Skill 1)

Liberty Moore, Marsha Burgess (pre selected), Ciara Irwin (pre selected)

Academy Squad (13 plus - Skill 2)

Rachael Lawrence (pre selected)

Elite Squad

Isobel Collings, Emma Holloway (both pre selected)

20111001 Club Champs (Distance)

Chippenham Swimming club held its first 2011 club championship event with the distance swims on Saturday night (1st Oct)

Swimmers competed over 800m and 1500m at the St Marys pool in Calne.

Age group winners in the Girls 800m were Natalie Pidegon, Chloe May, Katie Smith and Evie Preece.  Andrew Hare won the boys 11/12 years 800m.

1500 metre age group winners were George Claverley, Peter Holden and Henry Moore.

In all 39 swimmers took part.

20110922 Head Coach Award Nomination

Head Coach Nigel Butler shortlisted for sports award.

Head Coach Nigel Butler took a well earned rest from taking training on Thursday ( 22nd Sept) when he attended the 2011 Wilshire Sports Awards.

The Awards ceremony held in Salisbury City Hall was hosted by former England and Bath rugby captain Phil de Glanville with prizes handed out by Danny Crates the 2004 Paralympics gold medallist in the 800 metres.

Nigel was nominated by the club for the High Performance Coach of the year award and although unsuccessful on the night reached the top 3 in his category.

Nigel was accompanied to the awards evening by Heather and Catherine Butler, Ruth Holden and Mike  Lewis.

For a full report on the awards winners see http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/sport/generalsport/9269118.WILTSHIRE_SPORTS_AWARDS__Francesca_lands_big_prize/

20110917 Bristol North Junior Open Meet

On Saturday 17th September four Chippenham swimmers travelled to Weston Super Mare for the B.N.J. Championships. The swimmers were Bryony and Tegan Cairns, Ethan Butterfield and John Davies. All four swimmers did very well with all of them achieving at least one final, three set new P.B's as well as Tegan bringing home a bronze medal for the 50 freestyle and John a silver for the 50 breaststroke. Well done to all swimmers, this weekend we return for the next set of events, let's hope all do as well if not better! Watch this space.....

2012 County Championships

Information relevant to the 2012 County Championships will be provided below as soon as it is available - PLEASE CHECK THIS WEBSITE REGULARLY. Alternatively please use the County Website directly. For specific enquiries please contact Tracey Crow using the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it link above (mark your E-Mail as URGENT and FAO: Tracey Crow) although please note that it is no longer possible to request changes be made as the deadline has passed (County Rules).

Please note new Sprints date of 24-Jun-12 - following cancellation in February due to snow.

20110914 CASC Sign Performance Hub MoU

Chippenham ASC sign Memorandum of Understanding with Aquae Sulis Performance Swimming Club

Chippenham ASC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bath University based Aquae Sulis Performance Swimming Club (ASPSC). ASPSC are one of the ASA South West’s performance club hubs formed from clubs who fall within a broad geographical proximity to the hub club.

What does this mean for Chippenham Swimming club?

The club will work with representatives from local swimming clubs including Corsham, Melksham, BoA, Bath Dolphins, Frome, Keynsham, Norton Radstock, Trowbridge, and Warminster on development projects around swimmers, workforces and clubs. The first task will be to identity priorities on which to work together with the network receiving ASA funding to enhance swimming opportunities.

Swimmer Pathways.

The network hub will also ensure that Chippenham ASC has the correct swimmer pathways in place (an essential requirement of CASC’s Swim 21 accreditation) in that it provides opportunities to develop talented swimmers further in consultation with and partnership of Chippenham’s Head Coach Nigel Butler.

Representation.

Chippenham ASC will be represented on the ASPSC Committee by Stephen Miller.

Further information on ASPSC can be found at http://www.aquaesulisswimming.co.uk/

20110910 2011 Summer League R4

Chippenham Swimming Club promoted in Summer league

Chippenham ASC have won promotion from Division 2 of the Wilts Summer league, after winning all four rounds of the 2011 competition.

On Saturday night Chippenham won the final round of the season at Corsham.  Chippenham won 22 of the 50 events scoring 164 points to Bradford on Avon's 131, Corsham 115 and Warminster 77.

Chippenham will now concentrate on its club championships which begin with the long distance events in October,   before turning its attention to the Winter league relay competition starting in November.

Chippenham's squad were Abby Cross, Benjamin Birkett, John Davies, Lucy Featherston, Bradley Coupland, Luke Brown, Natalie Pidgeon, Andrew Hare, Bryony Cairns, Harriet Olgivie, James Tucker, Sapphire Randerson, Tegan Cairns, Nathan Coupland, Sam Miller, Charity Moore, Chloe May, George Claverley, Jess Stafford, Katie Smith, Matt Hare, Beatrice Moore, Charlotte Myers, Chelsea Chard, Jack Cook, Matt Cruse, Peter Holden, Joe Bailey, Henry Moore, Evie Preece and Ollie, Maddie and Bronwyn Harris