Swimming By Lieutenant Ellen Suddes
On 7th December 2022, the AGC Swimming Team competed in the Inter Corps Swimming Championships at Aldershot Garrison Sports Centre. To start the pretraining before the competition, most received new kit a week beforehand. Given the creation of the new cypher we looked like an SPS detachment, but we were highly anticipating our first sessions in the pool and looked like a co-ordinated team.
The basis of our success came from the week and a half training under the watchful eyes of the coaches, Maj Roland Lee and Capt Lawrence Oxborough. From new water starters to the seasoned swimmers, both the AGC men’s and women’s teams succeeded in coming in 2nd for the first Inter Corps fixtures. With springs in our steps, we wondered just what had been put into the pool (or the coaching) to make us race like we did. The biggest question on our minds; ‘was it to continue?’
As the week progressed, the AGC team fluctuated between 4 lanes worth of swimmers and 1.5 lanes of swimmers. Work commitments and tiredness from hard effort all round had taken their toll because pool swimming isn’t that calm if the coaches don’t want to make it so. Sadly, the second Inter Corps fixture of relays were not going to give us the same results as the first fixture. We decided that our strength was in the individual events. However, that did not stop the AGC swim team from smiling as the final race of the fixture was the tandem race. Between the red faces of working hard and confidently knowing a lot about the person in front’s feet, our team had successfully bonded.
A couple of days of easy sessions eased the team into the big event. Nerves were bubbling but that didn’t stop us from posing for our team photo in anticipation for our success. Swimmers were allowed
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to enter two individual events and three relays. Whilst this sounds simple enough, factor in coaches and managers trying to get the best results, team members contracting Covid and swimmers just wanting to swim in everything, it’s harder than it sounds. Nevertheless, the AGC team prevailed, and we walked on to poolside ready to compete.
Our first competitors were Maj Roland Lee and SSgt Alex Millard in the Men’s 50m Freestyle Masters, followed in quick succession by Capt Katie Allen and Cpl Jemma Haywood in the Women’s 50m Freestyle. Our first medal came from Lt Ellen Suddes, who came Runner Up in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke, with Pte Rebecca Alliston coming in just half a second slower and settling for third in the Women’s 50m Backstroke. Two more medals came from Capt Lawrence Oxborough; his performance in the Men’s 50m Butterfly and 200m Freestyle won team AGC well deserved gold medals. Ellen missed out on a medal in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke by 1 second. Maj Noel Gurr competed in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke as well as Capt Victoria Reed in the Women’s 200m Freestyle, Pte Katie Adair in the Women’s 100m Freestyle and Sgt Kamal Gurung in the Men’s 100m Freestyle.
After one and a half weeks of training and hard work, I present to you the AGC Swimming Team for the Army Inter Unit Swimming Championships 2022.
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