Enniskillen’s Lakeland Forum was the venue for a nail-biting competition against visitors Limavady in the second of the Provincial Towns’ League series for the 2018/2019 season.

The Lakelanders had began the league with a win over Strule Dolphins in Omagh recently and they backed it up with a further victory last Saturday to make it two wins out of two.

A closing score of Enniskillen 582 to Limavady’s 559 left the Lakelanders sleeping easy last Saturday night.

Proceedings got off to an exciting start with some very close races in the Medley relay, the Lakelanders girls winning three out of the four with the tiniest of margins letting us know that this was not going to be an easy victory. A notable performance from Cora Cassidy on the final leg of the Group B relay, got the crowd to their feet with a photo finish ultimately awarded to the Lakelanders.

The group A Girls and Boys all acquitted themselves very well in the Backstroke, with Ellie Dunlop, Darcy Balfour, Sarah Speer, Jamie Lannon, Tom Buchanan and Shay McCarney all recording PB’s.

In Group B Backstroke, Anna McDade, Alisha Farry and Ruairi O’Connor all took time off, Ruairi taking an impressive 5.5 seconds off his previous best time.

The Group C Boys and Girls didn’t disappoint in this stroke either, with PB’s from Ellie McCartney, Clare Hyde, Luke Aiken and Owen O’Donnell.

Group D Backstroke saw a time improvement from Kealan McShea, Ben Lynch and an impressive first time from newcomer Daria Fidgeon.

The Breaststroke races once again saw valuable seconds being shaved off PB’s.

Ellie Dunlop, Niamh O’Donnell, Sarah Speer, Austin Cassidy, Ellie McCartney, Georgia Maravelakis, Luke Aiken, Owen O’Donnell and Kealan McShea all taking time off their previous best times.

The Butterfly races saw great improvement in times with the group A Girls, Ellie Dunlop, Hannah Lynch, Darcy Balfour and Anna Hyde all recording PB’s on this difficult stroke.

In the Freestyle individual races, the Lakelanders girls scored very well, taking three first place finishes. The girls completed the competition in an impressive fashion with four first place finishes in the Individual Medley and three first places finishes in the Freestyle relays.

The boys also did their bit for the scoreboard, with Kealan McShea and Jamie Lannon taking first place in their respective groups and Frank Buchanan placing second in his, in the Freestyle races. Jamie and Kealan took first place once again in the Individual Medley races. The final races of the night were the Freestyle Relays with the boys taking two first place finishes and two second places finishes, sealing the victory for their team.

Most Valuable swimmer prize was jointly awarded to Isobel Lannon and Rachel Evans who swam unbeaten in both the individual and team events. Their contribution was critical in such a closely fought competition.Special mention also to Mannix Moore, Hayden James and Maria Kelly-Neil who swam up from their age groups to assist their team displaying excellent team spirit.

The Lakelanders swam under the watchful eye of volunteer coach, Clare Morris, without whom such a victory would not have been possible. Clare’s on-going dedication and commitment, alongside Tara Breen, Chelsey Wilson and Grace Hopper have been invaluable whilst the club await the arrival of their newly appointed head coach, Aaron Rickhuss.

Finally, well done to Anna Hyde, Patrick Toal, Ryan Mongan, Daria Fidgeon, Adam Forster and Kiril Chursin competing for the first time for their clubs. They swam fantastically and seemed to really enjoy the experience.