The final round of the Thames League was held at Godalming last weekend. We had two teams in the gala and were up against Godalming, Feltham and two teams from the IOW. After round one in January Wey Valley Black were in first place, Godalming second and Wey Valley Red were in third place. This is a development gala and swimmers score no points for their team if they swim too fast. In the first gala we had 8 swims that were too fast across the two teams, in round two Wey Valley Black had 9 swims that were too fast, which shows how much the swimmers have improved over the last 6 weeks or so. Across the two teams we also only had one DQ all night.

With Godalming only having one speeder in each round their consistency meant that they won the Thames League for 2009 with Wey Valley Black in 2nd place and Wey Valley Red in 3rd place.

Despite losing our trophy it was a excellent gala as always and a good introduction to competitive swimmers for many children. For those that swam too fast, don't worry, it proves you are going in the right direction and getting better.

During the evening swimming James Osbourne was taken to hospital as a precaution after suffering pains in his chest whilst swimming. I am delighted to be able to report that he was home by 11.30pm and has nothing more serious than a repeat of an old muscle injury.

Sharon Gourlay incorporated the results into the club database and below is a short report from Sharon.

"Of the individual swims around 3/4 of WV Black(25/32) and 1/2 of WV Red(15/32) got a PB. For some of the older ones the PBs were updating old times, however, good swims nonetheless. There were no CRs but, in the U16 boy category, Calum Toone came within just over a second or two of Jon Brayne's records from '94 (50m free and 50m back) and Alex Tanner came within the same margin of the 50m fly. Worth watching out for at the summer sprints."

The PBs of note were (old times in brackets):
WV Red

• Connor Laing 50m back 47.38 (56.56)
• Victoria Molter 50m fly 41.63 (49.65)
• Chloe Walter 50m free 34.60 (38.76)
• Zak Rapley 50m free 46.94 (53.60)

• Alex Taylor-Rose 50m fly 36.78 (40.21)
• Imogen Wilkinson 50m breast 52.72 (55.12)
• Connor Wallis 25m fly 22.76 (26.70)
• Honor Hodgson 50m free 35.32 (40.04)

This weekend Wey Valley are competing in Round One of the Premier League at the Hart Leisure Centre in Fleet. Several people have asked me for directions, here is a link to the pool's website, it is a 6.30pm meet for a 7pm start. Good luck to all.

Attached to the latest email was an offer from buy.at with offers that can be had if you visit retailers via the club shop. So if you want 50% off at M&S, click on the link in the email and earn money for the club without it costing you a penny.

Just a reminder for anyone who wants to go on this trip on the Sunday morning to contact myself, Suzanne Hoslett or Michele Keasey ASAP.

Andy is always working on updates to the website, one that is almost done is the new volunteers page. Check out /info/personnel.pl to see what a good looking bunch we are!

Possibly the funniest swimming video ever.

Chris Michael