ASA National Youth and Welsh Summer National successes
8th August 2008
Last weekend saw the end of the club's swimming competition year conclude with the National Youth Championships in Sheffield and Welsh Summer Nationals in Swansea.
Last week I mentioned Liesje Van Der Velde hit Gold in an impressive PB of 57.08 in the 16/17yrs 100m Freestyle. Not content with that Liesje then made it a double in the short sprint 50m in a time of 26.52 and also made the final of the 200m Free finishing 8th in a time of 2:06.32.
For Liesje, it capped an impressive year in addition to being selected for the GB team for the World Youth Championships in Mexico last month.
This followed yet another successful sprint freestyle performance from Steph Denny, who in the 14/15yr event secured a bronze in 27.50. This is a great achievement from Steph who has had to battle a tough year with injury.
Steph King, who recently joined the club, also successfully made two finals in the 14/15 Backstroke events finishing 4th in the 200m in 2:23.08 and 5th in the 100m in 1:06.63.
Overall the girl's team finished 11th (10th if you remove Team Ireland!) and Beckenham finished 23rd.
Well done to Tony and everyone who competed in Sheffield!


(Left: Tony Beckley with Liesje Van der Velde and Steph Denny. Right Liesje with Trophies from both sprint freestyle events)
Click here for the ASA Youth Results
Many then travelled from Sheffield to Swansea for the Welsh Summer Nationals too supported by the club for the first time. There were a number of good swims. Star of the show was Georgia Phillips who won two Golds in the 14/15yrs 100 Free and 50 Free.
Georgia won the 100 in 1:02.40 just pipping Katie Irving who finished in a time of 1:02.69. Katie went on to win further medals, along with Jack Regan, Olivia Handley, Jack Brown and Louis Phillips, as well as numerous other finalists.
Well done to everyone in Swansea and click here for all the Welsh Summer Nationals Results.
Some farewells
For Liesje, competing in Sheffield was her last swim in Beckenham colours, as next year she will be completing her A-Levels and swimming at Millfield School . In a personal message to the whole club Liesje said…
"Dear All… Sadly I have now swum my last race for Beckenham and it is time to move on to pastures new. I will miss the club, I will miss Tony Beckley, and I will miss all my friends tremendously. Although I have already told some of you, I just wanted to state for the record, that my reason for leaving is purely because I couldn't continue with the 24 hours a week travelling time given that I had A levels looming. Beckenham is a fantastic club and Tony Beckley is a fantastic coach. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him publicly for all that he has done for me and for helping me to achieve what I have achieved. If I can leave one piece of advice then this would be to put your faith in Tony and if you work hard for him he will bring success for you. I would like to wish all of you, the coaches, the parents, those that do so much for the club behind the scenes and mostly my friends, a very fond farewell and I wish you every success in your swimming careers… Liesje van der Velde"
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