News Archive

Congratulations to Dolphin Swimmers David Callanan, Jennifer Cosgrave and Angus Gill on their recent performances at the Grade C Gala in Fermoy,November 3rd 2007. All 3 swimmers made their Grade B Qualifying times at the meet,and will be competing in the upcoming Grade B gala at the weekend. We wish them the very best of luck!

Further Congratulations to swimmer Tara Desmond who had some fine performances at the recent Munster Schools galaon the 2nd November 2007. Tara made her Grade B qualifying time in the Girls U10 50M Butterfly event in a time of 52.60, having already qualified in the Girls U11 100M Freestyle event. Tara will also be competing in Mallow at the weekend. Well Done Tara!

Dolphin PM Squad Swimmers showed the competition that they are a team to be reckoned with at the recent Grade B gala held in Mallow Pool on the 10th November 2007, capturing no less than 9 individual Gold Medals, 4 Silver Medals,and 4 Bronze Medals. To add to this the team brought home Gold Medals in the Boys Relays as well as a host of Personal Best times and Grade A qualifying times. Dolphin certainly dominated the U13 events, showing consistent performances and improvements across all disciplines.

In the Boys U13 100IM Tadgh Arrigan outswam the competition to grab the top spot in a time of 1.26.70, a PB of over 2 seconds and a Grade A time. He added to this by taking Silver and second place in the Boys U13 100M Freestyle in a time of 1.16.86, again another Grade A time.In the Boys U13 100M Backstroke Alan Collins took first place in a very fast time of 1.26.50,an almost 6 second pb! Alan complemented this by snapping up the Bronze medal in the Boys U13 100IM in a time of 1.28.74, again another almost 6 second PB!

Not to be outdone, Sean Hennessy took the gold in the Boys U13 200M Freestyle in a time of 2.46.20, qualifying for Grade A and also silver in the Boys U13 100M Backstroke in a time of 1.33.74. Angus Gill won third place and the bronze medal in the Boys U11 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1.49.45. This was the first outing in Grade B for Angus who certainly shows promise in this event. In the Boys U11 age category, Ross Kavanagh took home a medal in each colour by winning the Boys 100M Butterfly in a time of 1.37.14, placing second and taking silver in the Boys 100M Freestyle in a time of 1.22.09, and third place and bronze in the Boys 100M IM in a time of 1.33.09.

Colin O’Neil placed just outside the medals in his U11 100M IM and 100M Freestyle, his fast swims earning him 4th place and personal best times of 1.33.10 in his 100M IM, a 2 second PB and a time of 1.29.66 in his 100M Freestyle, again knocking almost a second off his entry time. Dave Harrington scooped up golds in his senior events, taking the top spot on no less than 3 occasions in the 200M Freestyle, 100M Butterfly and 100M Freestyle. Dave now leaves Grade B behind and will be swimming in the upcoming Grade A meet on the 24th & 25th of November in Tralee alongside recent Grade B graduates and club mates Sean Hennessy, Tadgh Arrigan and Laura Desmond.

Laura Desmond took gold in a very fast time of 1.19.84 in the Girls U13 100M Freestyle and complimented this with a silver medal in the Girls U13 100M Fly in a time of 1.43.02. Blathain Lynch at her first ever Grade B meet had some very fast swims, and grabbed the top spot and Gold medal in the Girls 100M U13 Backstroke in a time of 1.31.61. Amy Cunningham certainly enjoyed a very successful meet, capturing third place and bronze medals in the following events: Girls U11 100M Backstroke in a time of 1.33.53, 100IM in a time of 1.33.84, and 100M Freestyle in a time of 1.25.96.

Special Mentions to go out Billy Mulcahy, Tara Desmond, and David Callanan on some superb swims at their first ever Grade B competition. Also a special mention to swimmers Julie Flood, and Darren Twomey whose hard work in training is paying off with several personal best times.

Congratulations to one and all on a fantastic meet, we look forward already to the next Grade B competition and many more fine results like these! We’d also like to wish the best of luck to those swimmers who have qualified for Grade A and will be competing in their first gala towards the end of this month. Go Dolphin!

Guess who made their Grade A?

Congratulations to swimmers Dave Harrington, Tadgh Arrigan, Sean Hennessy and Laura Desmond who made their Grade A qualifying times at the recent Grade B gala in Mallow Pool on the 10th November 2007. Snapping at their heels are swimmers Ross Kavanagh, Blathain Lynch, Amy Cunningham who all had outstanding performances at the meet which gained them a Grade A time. It won’t be long before these swimmers will be joining their fellow club mates at the Grade A Swim Meets.

Dolphin showed once again that they are a team to be reckoned with at the Munster Grade A meet in Tralee at the weekend. Despite some tough competition from their Munster rivals, Dolphin triumphed with a grand total of 12 Gold Medals, 13 Silver Medals, and 5 Bronze Medals. More importantly, swimmers showed overall improvement in their times and several recorded some very fine performances with fantastic PBs.

New to Grade A competition and showing they mean business in the U11 Age Category were Thomas Treacy and Emma Hobbs. Thomas took gold in the 200M Breaststroke in a time of 3:21.66, and the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:37.39. He topped up his haul with 3 outstanding silver medals in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:25.62, 100M Fly in a time of 1:36.27, and the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:14.46. Emma Hobbs showed off her skills once again in the Breaststroke events, taking gold on both occasions. It was her first time competing in the 200M event, doing so in a time of 3:16.75 and in the 100M event, finishing first on a time of 1:32.03 shaving 2.5 seconds off her current PB.

In the U13 Age Category and swimming in their first Grade A competition were Laura Desmond, Grace O’Doherty, Caitlin Desmond, and Mateusz Rudak. All gave strong perforances earning them personal best times with Mateusz recording a fine 4th place finish in the U13 Boys 200M Breaststroke, his first time competing in this event.

Also in the U13 Age Category, Sarah Allen took silver in the 200M Backstroke in a time of 2:45.41, her first time competing in this event. She narrowly missed out on Bronze in the 100M Butterfly, taking a fine 4th place finish in a time of 1:16.12. Daniel Hobbs scooped up 3 silver medals, completing his 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:05.00, his 200M Freestyle in a time of 2:17.48 and his 200M Breaststroke in a time of 3:01.33, a whopping 12 second PB! Cian Mulcahy once again showed his prowess in the 100M Butterfly event taking silver in time of 1:16.19. He also placed 4th in his 200M Backstroke in a time of 2:45.52, a huge PB of 13 seconds! Darren O’Dowling captured the second spot and silver medal in the U13 200M Backstroke, in a time of 2:40.87 and had very fine 4th place finish in the 200M Freestyle event in a time of 2:24.18.

In the U15 Age Category, Simon Treacy and Susan Callanan once again proved peerless, capturing 7 gold, 2 silver and a bronze medal between them. Susan claimed the top spot on no less than 3 occasions, taking gold in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:01.57, 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:09.73, and 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:21.57. To add to this, she took silver in the 200M Freestyle event in a time of 2:17.09 and bronze in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:11.78. Susan won a medal for every event in which she entered and shows huge potential to go further in her swimming career with continued hardwork and dedication to her training.

Simon clearly dominated his events, taking 4 golds and 1 silver medal home as his rewards. He took the top spot in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:04.38, the 100M Freestyle in a very fast time of 57.89, the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:02.97, and the 200M Butterfly in a time of 2:18.92. Simon grabbed the second spot and silver in a time of 1:11.62 in his 100M Breaststroke event.

Also in the U15 Age Category, Alex Rathke had some fine performances, most notably in winning a bronze medal in his 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:08.06 and a bronze medal in his 200M Backstroke in a time of 2.27.06. Alex also placed 4th in his 200M Freestyle event in a time of 2:09.25.

In the U17 Age Category Reggie Murphy swam into the medals with a fine performance in the 100M Backstroke claiming the top spot and gold in a time of 1:08.03. Fellow club mate Kieran Donovan grabbed 4th position in the 200M Backstroke in a time of 2.30.65.

Special Mentions go out to Sarah Hickey, Alysha Hoare, Alex and Ross McNulty, Tim O’Callaghan, Stephen O’Shaughnessy, and Niall Creedon on their outstanding personal best times and to all the swimmers who recorded personal best performances at the swim meet.

Proving that a lot of hard work, dedication and perspiration pays off all of the swimmers certainly deserve congratulations, and every encouragement to continue on their pathway to achieve their personal swimming goals. We look forward to the Grade A on the 9th December and some more exceptional results. Go DOLPHIN!

Coaches and Swimmers alike were delighted with the recent performances at the Wexford Graded Festival Meet held on the 24th November 2007. A team of almost 30 swimmers travelled to the Ferrybank Pool to compete on the first day of the two day gala, against tough competition from such high profile clubs as New Ross SC, Wexford SC and Kilkenny SC. Proving to be the club to beat on the day, Dolphin certainly did not come home empty handed, bringing with them 11 individual Gold medals, 9 individual Silver medals, and 8 individual Bronze medals as well as Medals in the Boys 200M Relays and some Grade B times!

In the U9 Age Category, Niamh kelly showed fantastic form as she dominated her age group and claimed a medal for every event in which she was entered. She captured gold in the 50M Free in a time of 39.87, and gold again in the 50M Breaststroke in a time of 50.49 qualifying her for Grade B in this event as well as Gold in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 49.58 again earning her a Grade B time. To add to her haul she took the silver medal in the 50M Backstroke in a time of 44.47, another Grade B time.

Tara Desmond snapped up the Silver medal in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 53.38 and added to that with a Bronze in the 50M Backstroke in a time of 46.91 and another Bronze in the 50M Freestyle in a time of 41.14. Sinead Mills gave a very fine performance in the girls U9 50M Butterfly earning her a well deserved Bronze medal in a time of 56.62 with a 5 second PB! Snapping at her heels in the same final was Ally Cunningham who narrowly missed out on the Bronze herself but earned a PB with a 56.63 time.

In the Boys U9 Age Category Darren Twomey once again showed his prowess in the events, taking Gold in the 50M Breaststroke in a time of 53.66, Silver in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 56.04 and Silver in the 50M Freestyle in a time of 40.46. He complimented these with a fine third place finish and Bronze medal in the 50M Backstroke in a time of 48.59. Ethan Keane had a very rewarding gala taking home Bronze in the 50M Breaststroke in a time of 53.83 and Bronze in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 57.60. In a very close and exciting 50M Breaststroke final Mark Auf Der Hyde claimed the second spot and Silver medal in a time of 53.75, making it Gold Silver and Bronze for Dolphin in this event! Mark also had some fine performances in the 50M Backstroke and 50M Butterfly taking 4th place in both finals.

In the U10 Age Category Amy Cunningham proved very hard to beat, taking Gold in the 50M Backstroke in 43.98, Gold in the 50M Freestyle in 37.54 and Gold in the 50M Breaststroke in 50.04. She also took home a Silver medal for her performance in the 50M Butterfly with a personal best time of 46.04. Club mate Cliona O’Brien came 4th in the same final of the 50M Butterfly having qualified for Grade B in this event in a time of 53.19 in the heats. Cliona also made the Breaststroke Final where she came 4th in a time of 54.61 Seconds. Yvonne Kelleher also swam in the Butterfly final coming 5th in a time of 54.83 with club mate Emma Richardson as first reserve with an astounding 13 second PB time!

In the Boys U10 Age Category Ross Kavanagh outswam the competition to win Gold in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 41.80, Gold in the 50M Backstroke in a time of 43.59 and Gold again in the 50M Freestyle in a time of 36.47. He took Bronze in the 50M Breaststroke in a time of 51.58 while team mate Angus Gill scooped up the Silver medal in the same event in a time of 51.48. In the 50M Freestyle final Billy Mulcahy nabbed the Silver medal in a time of 38.86 and in the 50M Backstroke Final Robert Twomey took 4th place in a time of 46.68.

In the U12 Age Category Colin O’Neil lead the field to win the 100IM in a time of 1:31.93, and had a fine 4th place finish in the 100M Fly Final in a time of 1:53.61, an over 4 second PB! Club mate Jack O’Brien took the 5th place spot in the same 100M Fly final in a time of 2:00.31, his first time competing in this event. Anthony Creed took the 6th place spot with Adam Fahy taking 7th in the same 100M Butterfly event.

In the U14 Age Category David Callanan won Silver in his 200M IM, his first time competing in this event, with a time of 3:33.48 and added to that a Bronze medal in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1.54.36.

Special mention to swimmer Rory O’Sullivan who attended his first ever competitive competition, swimming the 100IM in the U12 Age Group. Special mentions also to swimmers Rebecca Murphy, Ronan Fahy, Meave Mc Carthy, Jessica Murphy, Jennifer Cosgrave, Ellen O’Brien and Neil O’Brien on their fine performances, with great personal best times and some first time swims.

Congratulations to all swimmers who took part, we wish them every success at their next gala and look forward to more medal winning performances and PBs!

December 2007

Dolphin swimmers proved they could go the distance at the recent Grade A meet held in Mayfield Sports Complex, home of Dolphin Swimming Club on the 9th December 2007. Training right up to the event, the swimmers took the gala in their stride and were rewarded with 5 Gold, 10 Silver, and 3 bronze medals as well as several exceptional personal best swims.

Swimming strongly in the Boys U11 Age Category, Patrick Daly scooped silver in the 400M Freestyle in a time of 5:30.35, an almost whopping 12 second PB! He also captured gold in the 400m IM in a time of 6:33.20, and gold again in the 200m IM in a time of 3:00.19, a 4 second PB time.

In the Boys U13 Age Category, Darren O’Dowling returned to his winning ways by snapping up the Gold medal for the 400m Freestyle in a time of 4:54.76, an enormous 26 second PB! Daniel Hobbs was snapping at his heels in the same event, taking Silver in a time of 4:55.64, a 10 second PB and added to it with as silver medal in the 400m IM in a time of 5:43.09! Tim Daly took top honours in the 200m IM with a time of 2:31.59, a 3 second PB and again in the 400m IM with a time of 5:20.04! Alex Mc Nulty was just outside of medal placing in the 400m Freestyle event, taking the 4th place spot in a time of 5:10.19 with a massive 34 second PB. Team Mate Cian Mulcahy placed 5th in the same event in a time of 5:12.62 with a fantastic 48 second PB!

In the Boys U15 Age Category, Stephen O’Shaughnessy showed his prowess at the longer Freestyle distances taking a well deserved silver medal in the 1500M event in a time of 19:18.69, and capturing silver again in the 800m event in a time of 10:12.79. Team mate Alex Rathke was just pipped into third position with the bronze medal in the same event in a time of 10:13.10. Alex also took silver in the 200IM with an almost 4 second PB in a time of 2:28:48. Ross McNulty was just outside the medals in the 1500M event with a personal best time of 10:06.36.

In the Boys U17 Age Category Kieran Donovan had a tremendous performance in his 400M Freestyle event, taking silver in a time of 4:35.08 with a 15 Second PB!

Showing great potential in the Girls U13 Category Sarah Allen snapped up the second spot and silver medal in her 200m IM event in a time of 2:44.55. In the U15 Age Category, Catherine Noonan had a very successful gala taking silver in the 400m Freestyle in a time of 5:33.93,a 34 second PB and bronze in the 200m IM in a time of 3:03.15s a 29 second PB!

In the Under 17 Age Category Jennifer Callanan did not go home empty handed, taking bronze in the 200m IM in a time of 2:44.35.

Special Mentions go to Jamie Russell O’Donovan, Tim O’Callaghan, Ryan O’Dowling, Laura Desmond, Sarah Hickey and Niamh Corcoran on their outstanding personal best times and to all swimmers who competed and to all coaches and officials involved. We look forward to 2008 being an even more rewarding and successful season for Dolphin Swimming Club. Go DOLPHIN!

Dolphin Swimmers enjoyed fun and fast swims at the recent Chirstmas gala held in Mayfield Sports Complex on the 16th December 2007. Swimmers from the Non Competitive and Pre-Competitive squads right up to the Morning Squads participated, and despite some glitches with the printer, it proved to be an enjoyable experience for all involved.

Everyone who took part was a winner, taking home a selection box for being part of the event! Many thanks to all officials and parents who took part, giving up their time to act as time keepers and officials. It was greatly appreciated by the Swimmers and Club alike. Results from this gala are now available on the Season Results Page.

Guess Who Made their Grade B?

Congratulations are in order for Swimmers Jack O’Brien, Niamh Kelly, Ethan Keane, Rebecca Farrelly, Emma Richardson and Anthony Creed who made their Grade B times at the recent Grade C Gala in Tralee Sports Complex on the 12th January 2008. These successful swimmers will be joining fellow team mates at the Grade B meet which is due to be held on the 26th January in Mallow. We would like to take this opportunity to wish them every success at the next level and will be watching their progress with interest.

Further Congratulations go to swimmers Laura Clifford for achieving her Grade B qualifying time in her 100 Freestyle, and Cliona O’Brien for her 50M Butterfly. We look forward to seeing these swimmers in Grade B shortly.

Dolphin certainly enjoyed a very successful first Grade C gala of the 2008 calendar recently taking home 7 gold medals, 11 silver medals, and 8 bronze medals. A team of almost 30 swimmers and 2 coaches travelled for the meet, held on the 12th January in Tralee Sports Complex. Despite the hiatus from their training over the holiday season, swimmers posted fast times across the board with some making their Grade B qualifying times.

In the Boys U11 Age Category, Ethan Keane dominated his age group events, taking home 3 well deserved gold medals, a silver medal and two Grade B Qualifying times. Ethan swum to victory in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:29.72, with a PB of over a second and a grade B time. He also scooped up his second gold in the 50M Butterfly 50.81, over 3 seconds of a PB and a grade B time. His third gold was won in the hotly contested 50M Breaststroke event,in a time of 52.84 which was a PB of just under a second. Ethan’s only silver of the day came from the fast paced 100M IM event, where he took the second spot in a time of 1:44.08, a PB of just over 5 seconds!

Hot on his heels in all events was John O’Shaughnessy who had some very fine performances and fast swims, taking home silver in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:33.22, a 4 second PB. John also took home silver in the 50M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 53.75, and bronze in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 54.35. His performance of the day however came from his superb swim in the 100M IM, shaving 3 seconds off his old time and taking the top spot in a time of 1:42.93 ahead of team mate Ethan Keane.

Robert Twomey took the silver medal in the Boys U11 50M Backstroke in a time of 47.66, and added to it with a fine third place & bronze medal finish in the U11 100M IM in a time of 1:47.53, making it a gold, silver, and bronze for Dolphin in this event. Mark Auf Der Heyde had a fine finish in his 50M Breastroke, taking the bronze medal in a time of 56.59, again making it a gold, silver, and bronze for Dolphin in the Boys U11 50M Breaststroke event.

In the Girls U11 Age Category Rebecca Farrelly showed some gutsy qualities in competition, snatching the gold medal in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 48.44, over 4 seconds of a PB and just ahead of team mate Niamh Kelly. Rebecca also took gold in the 50M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 49.37, and silver in the 100M IM event in a time of 1:40.87, an 8 second PB! Niamh Kelly continued her winning ways by taking silvers in three of her 4 events. Niamh took the second spot and silver in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:30.89, a 6 second PB! She topped that off with a silver in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 49.50, and a silver in the 50M Freestyle in a time of 41.16.

Laura Clifford showed she meant business at her first Grade C outing with Dolphin, taking home bronze for her performance in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:32.06, qualifying her for Grade B in this event. Laura also came third and took bronze in the 50M Freestyle in a time of 42.81. Cliona O’Brien showed further progress in her events, capturing the silver in the 50M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 53.28 and bronze in the 50M Butterfly in a personal best time of 52.97, a grade B time. Ally Cunningham narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in her 50M Backstroke, swimming well in a time of 50.37 and taking a fine 4th place finish. Team mate Emma Richardson recorded a Grade B time in her 100M Freestyle, in a time of 1:32.78, an almost 2 second PB which was enough to earn her a 5th place finish in the event. Emma had already made her 50M backstroke grade B time in the Irish Minor Schools and now joins team mates Rebecca and Niamh in Grade B.

In the Boys U13 Age Group Anthony Creed took home silver for his efforts in the 50M Butterfly swimming well in a time of 48.72, a personal best time of over 7 seconds and qualifying him for Grade B in this event! Anthony also made his grade B time in the 100M Freestyle, coming home in a time of 1.28.72 which was a personal best time of over 5 seconds and placing him 6th overall in his age group.

Jack O’Brien swam very well in what was his first outing in the U13 age category, scooping gold in the 50M Fly in a personal best time of 48.16. He added to this with bronze in the 100M IM event, in a time of 1.41.19 and bronze again in the 50M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 53.75. Jack also made his Grade B time in the 100M Freestyle event, in a time of 1.29.59 placing him 7th overall in this event.Adam Fahy took home the silver medal in the 50M Breaststroke event in a personal best time of 52.98.

In a very close and exciting Cannon Relay race, Dolphin swimmers Emma Richardson, Rebecca Farrelly, Niamh Kelly, Ethan Keane, Jack O’Brien, and Anthony Creed all swam very well helping their team achieve the second place and silver medal.

Special Mentions go to Yvonne Kelleher, Sinead Mills, Jessica Murphy, Rebecca Murphy, Meg Monaghan, Rory O’Sullivan, and Neil O’Brien who all had some fine performances taking home well earned personal best times. Further mentions to all the new comers to Grade C who had a superb first gala and we look forward to seeing them all do very well in the future. Keep up the excellent work, Go Dolphin!

The recent Munster Championships, held in the University of Limerick, yielded some very fast swimming and fine overall performances from the AM squad swimmers who attended. Facing tough competition from the cream of Munsters Elite, and with the added pressure of finals being held close together, Dolphin swimmers certainly did not disappoint, taking home with them a fine yield of 3 Gold, 7 Silver and 3 Bronze medals as well as a plethora of Personal Best Times.

Emma Hobbs, Dolphins youngest swimmer at the meet, had an excellent 200M Breaststroke event, coming in over 5 seconds faster than her previous PB, in a time of 3:10.89 and her fifth place finish secured her a place in the Final, where she came a very respectable sixth. She also had a very fast 100M Breaststroke, placing 13th overall in her age group, in a time of 1:29.99, over 2 seconds of a PB!

Sarah Allen, continuing her winning ways, captured the silver medal in the 50M Freestyle in a time of 29.81, a PB of almost 1 and a half seconds, and a further improvement on her prelimary time. She added to this with a superb 50M Butterfly, taking silver again in a time of 31.37, a PB of over 1 and a half seconds and again an improvement on her prelim time. Her fast 100M Butterfly prelim time meant a PB of over 1 and a half seconds. However She was just placed outside of the medals in her 100M Butterfly Final, taking 4th in an excellent time of 1.11.76. Sarah also had several excellent performances in her other events, with further personal best times.

Sarah Clifford showed great promise, taking Gold in her 100M Butterfly event in a personal best time of 1:11.29. She came 4th in her 50M Freestyle event in a personal best time of 29.78, 4th in her 50M Backstroke in a time of 35.34, and 4th in her 50M Butterfly in a personal best time of 32.55. Her excellent 100M IM time of 1:14.69 was a PB of over 2 seconds and was enough to take her through to the final where she placed a very respectable 5th. She also placed 5th in her 100M Freestyle Final in a time of 1:04.90.

Stephanie Allen enjoyed a very successful meet, taking the top spot in her prelimary 50M Backstroke event in a personal best time of 33.33, and then snatched the top spot and Gold medal in the final of the same event. Adding to that, she took silver in the 100M Backstroke event in a time of 1:11.29, and silver again in the 200M Backstroke in a personal best time of 2:33.42. Her 100M Butterfly prelimary time of 1:12.20 guaranteed her a place in the final where she came a very satisfactory 4th place.

Lynne Donnelly, at home in the Backstroke events, grabbed the Gold in the 200M Backstroke event in a time of 2:30.67 and nabbed the second spot in the 50M Backstroke in a time of 33.71. She also came fourth in her 100M IM Final in a personal best time of 1:14.01, an almost 1 and a half second PB!

Tim Daly, swimming well overall throughout the 2 day event, took on the challenge of the gruelling 400M IM event, finishing in a time of 5:25.45 and taking 5th place. Daniel Hobbs, another promising young swimmer, also took on the 400M IM event, completing it in a personal best time of 5:41.80 taking 8th position. Daniel added to his overall performance with personal best times in the majority of his events. Ross McNulty had a powerful prelimary swim in his 200M Backstroke event in a time of 2:30.41, shaving almost 12 seconds on his previous best time and swimming his way into the Finals, took 8th place overall in the event.

Ryan O’Dowling, recently returned to full fitness after an injury didn’t let that slow him up and secured 7th place in his 400M IM, in a time of 5:36.72, an astonishing almost 19 second PB! Ryan also swam well in all his other events, with personal best times in every event entered. Stephen O’Shaughnessy took the punishing 1500M Freestyle swim in his stride, winning the bronze medal in a time of 18:43.59 and shaving an incredible 34 seconds off his old time for the same event! He also swam strongly in a number of other events, notably his 400M Freestyle where he had a personal best performance of 4:39.45, knocking almost 7 seconds off his old time.

Alex Rathke, whose recent performances show his consistency and dedication to his training and competition, had some spectacular swims over the 2 days gaining him personal best times in both his prelimaries and finals. His 200M IM time of 2:27.79 earned him the bronze medal, having already taken over a second off his personal best time for the 200M IM Heat. In addition to his win, he placed 4th in his 200M Backstroke event, and 7th in his 50M Backstroke, 100M Freestyle and 400M Freestyle.

Simon Treacy showing Juniors and Seniors alike that he meant business, took silver in the 50M Butterfly in a personal best time of 28.17, his heat time gained him an almost 3 second PB. Adding to that, he swam into the medals again, this time in the 100M Butterfly, grabbing up the second place and silver medal in a personal best time of 1:01.66. His final medal of the championships came from the 100M IM event, where he took the bronze medal in a personal best time of 1:03.98. He also had some notable performances in his other events, such as the 50M Freestyle coming 7th in the Final in a time of 26.89, enough to earn him a PB of 3 seconds and in the 100M Breaststroke where he placed 5th in a time of 1:14.58.

Reggie Murphy, swimming strongly at the Championships, had personal best times in all of his events. He had a very successful 100M IM event, his prelim time of 1:06.82 was a PB of almost 3 seconds guaranteed him a place in the final where he came 8th overall. In his 100M Backstroke final, Reggie powered home in a time of 1:04.55, a personal best time of almost 3 and a half seconds and placing him a very respectable 7th overall.

Kieran Donovan, not long recovered from injury, swam exceptionally well with some fantastic performances in his age group, notably his 200M Backstroke final, taking 7th in a time of 2:31.29. In the 400M Freestyle event, he came home in a personal best time of 4:34.80 taking 8th position.

Dolphins Mens and Womens 4 x 100 Relay Teams were just pipped into fourth place in their hotly contested relay events, just a fraction of a second behind their third place rivals.

Special Mentions go to Darren O’Dowling, Dave Harrington, Cian Mulcahy, Alysha Hoare, Sarah Hickey, Niamh Corcoran and Niall Creedon on their performances, which earned them personal best times and very respectable placings in their age categories. Keep up the excellent work! Best Wishes for a speedy recovery go out to Susan Callanan, who unfortunately due to an injury was unable to travel to the UL swim meet.

Subject to confirmation (post Munster Championships), Dolphin will now have over 12 swimmers on the Munster squad, probably the single best representation from any Munster Club. This only confirms the dedication, commitment, and the wealth of talent Dolphin swimmers have always displayed and we are sure to see more of their fellow team mates on the squad in the coming seasons.

Congratulations to all swimmers and coaches involved in the Munster Championships, we wish them continued success and look forward to the next competition. Go DOLPHIN!

Alongside Coach Paddy Power, a 16 strong squad of Dolphin Swimmers travelled to Mallow last weekend to compete at the first Grade B meet of the 2008 Season. A competitive start to the year, with clubs from all over Munster attending such as Waterford Crystal, Splashword Sharks and Sundays Well, Dolphin certainly enjoyed the spoils of their training, scooping up 2 Individual Gold, 9 Individual Silver and 4 Individual Bronze Medals to take home with them as well as Gold in the Boys U14 Medley Relay, Silver in the Girls U14 Medley Relay, Silver in the Boys U12 Freestyle Relay and Silver in the Boys U12 Medley Relay.

In the Boys U11 Age Category, Ross Kavanagh continued to make a big impression taking no less than 2 Silver medals, for his 100M IM in a personal best time of 1:32.72, and in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:44.94. He completed his haul of medals with a Bronze medal performance in the 100M Backstroke, in a time of 1:35.88. He was just outside of the medals taking 4th place for the 200M Freestyle in a time of 2:56.87. Team Mate Angus Gill was just outside the medals in his favourite event, the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:49.91 taking the 4th place spot. Billy Mulcahy had a storming backstroke performance in a time of 1:47.27, placing him 5th overall in the event.

In the Girls U11 Age Category, Niamh Kelly in her first Grade B outing swam strongly, taking home a well earned Silver medal in the 100M Butterfly in a time of 2:05.03. Team mate Tara Desmond had a powerful swim in her hotly contested 100M Backstroke event, taking 4th Place overall in a time of 1:39.24 and getting her another step closer towards the Grade A time for this event.

In the Boys U13 Age Category, Jerry Clifford had a very successful first Grade B meet, taking home 2 Silver medals. He earned his first in his 200M Freestyle event, in a time of 2:53.16, and again in the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:40.50, earning him a Grade A Qualifying time. Colin O’Neill had a phenomenal meet, swimming into the medals no less than 3 times! He earned a Bronze medal for his outstanding 200M Freestyle in a time of 2:55.10, shaving over 7 seconds off his PB. He took Silver then in his 100M IM in a personal best time of 1:30.77, over a second off his old PB, and added to that another Silver in his 100M Freestyle in a personal best of 1:21.69, again shaving 7 seconds off his old time.

In the Girls U13 Age Category, Louise Coleman enjoyed her return to form taking a silver in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:39.23, a Grade A Qualifying time and Bronze in the 100M IM in a personal best time of 1:31.50. shaving 7 seconds off her old PB and just a half a second off the Grade A qualifying time.

In the Boys U15 Age Category, David Callanan showed his prowess in the 100M Butterfly event, taking the second spot and Silver Medal in a time of 1:42.22. Alan Collins had an exceptional meet, winning Gold in the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:42.00, a PB of over 8 seconds! His second Gold of the day came from his winning performance in the 100M IM, in a time of 1:24.42 which again was a PB of over 4 seconds and a Grade A time. Alan, having made his full Grade A times at the gala, now joins the rest of the AM Squad as they train for their next competition.

In the Girls U15 Age Category, Ellen O’Brien had some exceptional swims, taking 4th place in her 200M Freestyle in a time of 2:58.80, almost 7 seconds of a PB and only just over a fraction of a second outside of the Grade A Qualifying time! She also placed 4th in her 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:44.37. Team mate Julie Flood took 5th place in her 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:50.34, a PB of almost 2 seconds!

Special mentions go to Emma Richardson on her first Grade B outing, with a personal best performance in her 100M IM event, and to swimmers Darren Twomey and Blathain Lynch on their swims at the meet. Overall a very successful gala, showing considerable improvements in times. We as a club wish them the very best for 2008, and look forward to seeing them all do well at their next swim meet. Go DOLPHIN!

The Gerry Ryan Memorial gala held on the 9th & 10th February 2008 at the University of Limerick Sports Arena showcased the wealth of Irish Swimming talent today. Run with exceptional proficiency by Limerick Swimmng Club, and with the elite stars from the clubs of Lisburn, Trojan, Limerick, Sundays Well, Dolphin, New Ross and Waterford Crystal it made for a memorable and highly competitive meet. A squad of over 30 Dolphin swimmers took to the pool over the 2 day competition, and certainly cemented their standing as one of the top clubs of the Munster region, and within Irish swimming itself taking home an incredible haul of 2 individual Golds, 9 individual Silver and 8 Individual Bronze Medals as well as a Silver and a Bronze in the relays and a Bronze in the Mixed Cannon Relay.

Young rising star Thomas Treacy certainly made a name for himself with some superb swimming over the 2 day meet, with wins in the 50M Backstroke in a personal best time of 39.30 and the 50M Freestyle in a personal best time of 32.11. He added to this with a fine Silver medal performance in the Final of the 50M Butterfly in a very fast time of 38.99, shaving over 2 seconds off his previous best and 1 second off his heat time. He also swam strongly in his other events, finishing in the top ten in the 13 & Under 100M Freestyle event in a 1:12.12, taking 4 seconds off his seed time.

In a weekend that saw fast times being posted in this age group, Patrick Daly didn’t disappoint with an outstanding performance in the Boys 12-13 50M Butterfly capturing the Silver medal in a personal best time of 36.87, a 2 second PB and then went on to capture the Bronze medal in the 50M Breastroke in a time of 42.23, a 3 second PB! Patrick also swam well in all his other events, making the final in both the 50M Freestyle and 50M Backstroke events. New recruits to this level of competition Colin O’Neill and Jerry Clifford showed promise in their events, with personal best times in the 13 & Under 100M Freestyle, and in the 12 – 13 50M Backstroke. Colin also had a fast swim in his 50M Butterfly event, coming home strongly in a time of 39.57, a PB of 2 seconds and gaining him a reserve spot for the Final. Jerry also had a very promising swim in his 50M Butterfly again shaving seconds off his seed time.

Taking on the competition in the Boys 14-15 age highly competitive age category, Tim Daly took Bronze in the 50M Backstroke event, in a personal best time of 33:83 and then snapped up the third place and Bronze medal in the 50M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 35.61. He also had some very good swims in the Mens 200M IM placing 11th, and placing 5th overall in the 14 & Over 100 Breaststroke in a time of 1:18.30, and 4th in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 31.39.

In what proved to be an exceptionally close, fast paced 50M Backstroke Final, team mate Niall Creedon was just pipped into a very respective 4th position in a personal best time of 33.84 with Tim O’Callaghan taking the 6th place finish with a time of 34.88. Niall also had some fine swims, notably his performance in the 50M Freestyle prelim shaving almost 2 seconds off his old PB with a time of 28.80, gaining him a spot in the Final. Niall continued to show impressive form, with a personal best time in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:02.83, and a strong performance in the Mens 800M Freestyle event.

Tim O’Callaghan had several impressive swims, placing 6th in the Mens 200M Backstroke event in a time of 2:42.48 and in the 50M Butterfly event took more than 3 seconds off his previous best time. He also had a PB swim in his 100M Freestyle event coming home in a time of 1:04.31. Cian Mulcahy demonstrated his skills in the 50M Butterfly event, scooping up a fine 6th place position in the final lineup and taking home a well deserved PB! He also swam strongly in his other events, taking almost 2 seconds off his 100M Freestyle time and gaining a personal best in his 50M Freestyle event.

In the hotly contested Mens Open Events, and in the 16 & Over events, Dolphin impressed most with the talents of Simon Treacy, Alex Rathke, Kieran Donovan, and Reggie Murphy who kept the competition on their toes over the weekend. Simon Treacy had an impressive weekend, taking medal honours in 3 of his events. He took Silver in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:14.46, and added to that a Bronze in the 50M Backstroke in a time of 31.15, and Bronze again in the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:02.94, a personal best. He also was no stranger to the other Finals, placing 5th in the 50M Free in a time of 26.77, 4th in the gruelling 200M Butterfly in a time of 2:20.03 with another personal best, 5th in the 50M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 34.76, and 6th in the 50M Butterfly event in a time of 28.96.

Alex Rathke had some notable events, performing strongly in the 100M Freestyle in a personal best time of 59.64 and in the 400M IM he swam into 6th place, completing the event in a time of 5:30.30 with a 10 second PB! In his 200M Freestyle event, he took 5th place in a time of 2:11.31, again a PB! Kieran Donovan took on the challenge of the punishing 1500M Freestyle event, the only Dolphin Swimmer to do so at the gala, and mastered it a Bronze medal and a time of 18:52.06, a whopping 36 second PB! He also had memorable swims in the 100M Freestyle in a personal best of 1:02.07, and in the 50M Freestyle in a personal best time of 28.43. Reggie Murphy certainly deserved his win in the 200M Backstroke event, taking the Bronze medal in a time of2:25.87 and knocking almost 8 seconds off his entry time. He also had a strong swim in the 100M Backstroke event, taking the 4th place position in a time of 1:07.64.

In the Girls 11 & Under age category, another young swimmer brimming with promise is Amy Cunningham and she took the gala in her stride taking home a Bronze medal in the 50M Breaststroke in a time of 49.20, and placed 4th in the 50M Freestyle final in a personal best time of 36.14. She also had another PB swim, this time in the Final of the 50M Butterfly placing 6th in a time of 44.53. She also swam strongly when swimming outside of her age category, in the 13 & Under 100M Freestyle with a 6 second personal best of 1:20.63 and in the 100M Backstroke in a personal best time of 1:31.61! She didn’t shy away from competing in the Womens events either, and took part in the 200M IM with a time of 3:20.17, her first time competing in this event long course.

In the Girls 12 – 13 Age group, Caitlin Desmond had a well rounded performance with personal best times in all events, most notably in her 100M Freestyle, 50M Backstroke, and in the Womens 400M Freestyle event, shaving a huge 29 seconds off her seeded time! In the 12 -13 50M Butterfly her performance guaranteed her a reserve place for the final, and a personal best time of 39.16. Caitlin also competed in the Womens 200M IM, taking almost 5 seconds off her seeded entry in a time of 3:11.91. Louise Coleman had an outstanding swim in the 50M Breaststroke, completing it in a time of 45.69, almost 7 seconds better than her seed time.

In the 14 – 15 Susan Callanan, only recently returned from injury, was enjoying a return to form with a Silver in the 50M Backstroke event in a time of 34.10. She added to that win with a Silver medal in the 50M Freestyle with a time of 29.02 and a silver in the 14 & Over 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:12.35. Making a mark for herself in other events as well, Susan took 4th place in the 50M Breaststroke in a time of 39.84, 5th in the Womens 200IM in a time of 2:39.24, 10th in the 14 & Over 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:15.88, 5th in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 32.34 and 5th in the 14 & over 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:03.36.

Sarah Allen, no stranger to the winners podium, took home the second spot and Silver medal in the 50M Butterfly in a personal best time of 31.63. She made reserve for the 50M Freestyle Final, in a time of 30.33 and 6th in the 14 & over 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:13.91. Team mate Sarah Clifford swam into several finals, taking 8th in the 50M Breaststroke, and made reserve for the 50M Backstroke in a time of 36.74. She also made the final of the 50M Freestyle, taking 8th position in a time of 30.74 and the final of the 50M Butterfly where she took the 6th place position in a personal best time of 32.59. Her performance of the day however came from the Womens 400M Freestyle event, where she took 5th place in a time of 4:59.42, a 15 second PB!

Niamh Corcoran, Catherine Noonan, Laura Desmond, Blathain Lynch, Ellen O’Brien and Julie Flood all swam very well in the 14 & Over 100M Freestyle event, with Ellen taking almost 8 seconds off her seed time and Julie almost 10 seconds! Aoibheann Murphy enjoyed a very successful Womens 200M Freestyle, taking over 9 seconds off her seed time with a swim of 2:50.54 and in the 50M Breastroke she took 6 seconds off her seed time to finish with a 46.79. She also dropped almost 7 seconds in the 50M Backstroke event to finish in a 40.18 time.

Stephanie Allen, Dolphin’s solo senior female Swimmer at the meet, took home the Silver medal for her 200M Backstroke in a time of 2:37.52 and then took Silver again in the 16 & Over 50M Backstroke in a time of 34.89. She placed 5th in the 14 & Over 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:13.38. She made first reserve for the final of the 16 & Over 50M Butterfly in a time of 33.47. She also made the final of the 50M Freestyle, swimming faster than the heat and placing 4th in a time of 30.49.

Dolphins original 39 member squad was depleted through illness to 33 swimmers travelling, and we do hope that Grace O Doherty, Alysha Hoare, David Harrington, Ross Kavanagh and Stephen and his brother John O Shaughnessy have made a full recovery from their various ailments and we hope to see them in the training pool soon, and in competition shortly.

Congratulations to Blathin Lynch, Ellen O Brien, Julie Flood, Louise Coleman, Laura Desmond, Colin O Neill, & Jerry Clifford who had their 1st away meet at such a large gala, and coped very well with a very extensive and tiring programme of events. Well done to swimmers Jamie Russell O’Donovan, Ross McNulty, Sean Hennessy, Ryan O’Dowling on some outstanding swims with personal best times recorded. Keep up the hard work as it is certainly paying off!

Special mentions go to Alex Rathke, Daniel Hobbs, Tim O Callaghan , Alex McNulty, Niamh Corcoran, Catherine Noonan, Caitlin Desmond, Aoibheann Murphy, Laura Desmond, Ellen O Brien and Julie Flood, who all drew on their reserves of energy to compete in the final event of the meet the 300M Freestyle Mixed Cannon Relay with the Dolphin ‘A team taking home a Bronze medal each. A daunting event after such a long programme but all swimmers swam very strongly emphasizing the fact that regular attendance, and consistant training pays dividends when you need it the most!

A special thank you goes out to the Coaches, Team Managers and Parents who travelled and helped out at the gala, especially Mary Higgins and Joe Mulcahy for their efforts over the 2 days. Without their tireless and continued support and the support of those of the other Club members officials and helpers, we as a club would not be in a position to be able to attend these away events.

Well done to all swimmers, we look forward to the next competition of the season. Go Dolphin!

A 36 Strong Dolphin Squad took part in the Grade A 100′s & 200′s Meet at Douglas Pool on Saturday 1st March & Sunday 2nd March 2008, once again proving the team to beat at the competition, with a grand total of 22 Individual Gold, 18 Silver and 15 Bronze awarded as well as Personal Best times across the board in all age categories.

In the Under 11 Age Group representing Dolphin were Amy Cunningham and Thomas Treacy. Amy swimming strongly throughout the two day event had a very successful meet, with a podium finish in all her events. She captured the Silver medal in her 200M IM in a time of 3:12.99 and went on to take the silver in the 200M Backstroke in a time of 3:09.18. She also took the Silver in the 100M Backstroke in a personal best time of 1:30.13, shaving over 3 seconds off her previous best. Her Bronze performances came from the 200M Freestyle, finishing third in a time of 2:57.23 and again in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:18.17, a personal best of over 7 seconds! Her final Bronze medal came from the 100M Breaststroke event, where she took the third place podium finish with a time of 1:46.37. Thomas swam to victory in the 100M Backstroke, taking the gold medal in a personal best time of 1:22.66, an almost 3 second PB. Adding to that he took Gold again in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:33.99, another personal best time of over 3 seconds.

In the Under 13 Girls Age Category the trio of Caitlin Desmond, Grace O’Doherty and Emma Hobbs had several very fine performances and secured personal best times as well as 2 Golds and 2 Bronze Medals between them. Caitlin swam strongly in her 100M Butterfly event, knocking almost 2 seconds off her previous time and securing the Bronze medal for her effort in a time of 1:30.33. She then went on to take Bronze again in the 200M Freestyle in a time of 2:39.28, knocking a further 7 seconds off her previous best. She placed 4th in her 200M IM with a PB of 12 seconds, and 100M Freestyle in a PB of almost a second. Her final placing of the competition came from the 100M Breaststroke where she placed a very respectable 5th. Grace O’Doherty continues to show improvement particularly in the backstroke events, placing 5th in her 200M Backstroke in a time of 3:08.46. She shaved almost 8 seconds off her PB in the 200M Freestyle event placing 7th in a time of 2.46.98. She also placed 6th in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:33.79. Emma Hobbs once again displayed her prowess at the Breaststroke events, managing to secure the top spot and Gold medal for the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:27.78, a 2 second PB. She also took the Gold in the 200M Breaststroke in a time of 3:05.38, an almost 6 second PB! She also placed 5th in the 200M IM in a personal best time of 3:06.33, taking almost 10 seconds off her previous best.

In the Under 13 Boys Age Category Patrick Daly made his presence felt by taking top honours in the 200M Breaststroke event in a personal best time of 3:13.96, knocking a whopping 14 seconds off his previous PB! He took another Gold in the 200M Butterfly event in a personal best time of 3:04.55, again knocking a massive 13 seconds off his previous best. His final Gold of the meet came from the 100M Butterfly event, where he powered home in a time of 1:23.11, taking over 2 and a half seconds off his previous time. To the 3 Gold he added a fine Silver medal winning performance in the 200M IM, in a 5 second PB of 2:54.53, and a Bronze medal in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:31.29. He also placed 6th in his 100M Freestyle in a 2 second PB of 1:12.92. Mateusz Rudak took home medals in each colour taking Gold in the 100M Breaststroke with a 3 second PB in a time of 1:27.84, Silver in the 200M Freestyle in a time of 2:37.97, and Bronze in the 200M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 3:16.17. He also placed a very respectable 4th in the 100M Freestyle event in a time of 1:11.39, and 6th in the 200M IM event in a personal best time of 3:05.91, taking 6 seconds off his previous best swim.

Darren O’Dowling secured the Gold Medal in the fast paced 100M Freestyle with a personal best and very fast time of 1:03.23, and added to that with another Gold, this time in the 200M Backstroke event with another personal best time of 2:35.59. Raymond Watkins showed fantastic form at the meet, capturing the Bronze medal in the 200M IM in a personal best time of 3:01.44, shaving an incredible almost 16 and a half seconds off his previous best. He continued to impress with a 5th place finish in the 200M Freestyle in a time of 2:39.63, again with a PB of almost 8 seconds and placed 9th in the 100M Breaststroke with a 13 second PB of 1:40.34.

In the Under 15 Girls Age Group Sarah Allen dominated her swims taking home no less than 5 Gold and 1 Silver Medals at the gala. She took Gold in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:15.73, then Gold again in the 200M Backstroke in a personal best time of 2:38.21, taking over 7 seconds off her previous best. Her next Gold came from the 100M Butterfly where she captured the top spot in a personal best of 1:09.20, and then took Gold in the 200M Butterfly in a personal best time of 2:39.42, knocking over 6 seconds off her previous time. She also captured the Gold in the 200M Freestyle with a personal best of 2:21.36, taking over 5 and a half seconds off her time. Her only Silver of the day came from the 100M Freestyle event, with a personal best time of 1:05.22, over 1 and a half seconds off her old time.

Sarah Clifford had some powerful performances, notably the hotly contested 200M Freestyle event coming in a close second to team mate Sarah Allen, and taking the Silver medal in a personal best of 2:21.86. She also took home the Bronze medal for her efforts in the 100M Butterfly event with a time of 1:11.19 and placed a very respectable 4th in her 100M Backstroke, 100M Breaststroke, 100M Freestyle and 200M Backstroke events. Despite still recovering from her recent injury, Susan Callanan showed great form and took the Silver medal in the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:10.44. Alysha Hoare had a particularly good swim in her 200M Breaststroke event, coming in just outside of the medals with a fine 4th place finish in a time of 3:22.81. Aoibheann Murphy took the 6th place finish in her 200M Backstroke event in a time of 2:52.22.

In the Under 15 Boys Age Category Tim Daly enjoyed a very successful gala taking home all Silver medals for each one of his swims. He took second in the 200M IM in a time of 2:28.95, Second in the 100M Backstroke in a personal best of 1:09.40, Second in the 200M Breaststroke in a time of 2:55.01, Second in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:16.29 and Second in the 200M Backstroke in a personal best time of 2:30.21, shaving over 10 seconds off his previous best. Cian Mulcahy took over 2 and a half seconds off his personal best time for the 100M Butterfly, completing it in a very quick 1:10.41 and capturing the Silver medal. He also placed 6th in his 100M Backstroke event in a personal best time of 1:13.70, and shows consistent improvement in all swims over the two day meet. Tim O’Callaghan excelled at the 200M events, taking Bronze in the 200M Freestyle with a personal best time of 2:15.50, an improvement of almost 3 seconds on his original time. He also took Bronze in the 200M Backstroke event in a time of 2:39.76. He placed 5th in the 100M Backstroke event in a personal best time of 1:12.42 and also recorded a 4 second PB in his 200IM event in a time of 2:36.88.

Ryan O’Dowling had his most successful meet so far this season, showing his skills in the 200M events. He recorded an incredible 18 second PB in the 200M Breaststroke, to place third and take the Bronze medal in a time of 2:56.91. He then went on to win Bronze in the 200M Butterfly event, knocking a further 2 seconds off his best in a time of 2:53.04. He also featured strongly in his other swims and recorded a PB in all events entered.

Stephen O’Shaughnessy had a strong performance in his 100M Butterfly event, taking over 2 seconds off his personal best and placing a fine 4th place in a time of 1:13.46. He also featured strongly in his other two events, the 200M Freestyle and 100M Freestyle placing 6th in both. Daniel Hobbs scooped up the Silver medal in the hotly contested 200M Freestyle event, in a personal best of 2:15.08 taking almost 2 and a half seconds off his previous best time. Danny also clocked personal bests in his 200M Breaststroke event taking 4th place, and in the 100M Breaststroke event taking 6th place. Niall Creedon showed good form in his 200M IM event, taking almost 2 seconds off his previous best to take 4th place in a time of 2:36.03.

In the U17 Boys Age Group Reggie Murphy dominated his 200M Backstroke event, taking a massive 9 seconds off his PB to take Gold in a time of 2:21.71. He also took the Silver medal in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:06.06. He went on to place 4th in his other swims, the 200M Freestyle and 100M Freestyle and recorded personal best times in both. Simon Treacy took home Gold in the 100M Butterfly event in a personal best time of 1:01.62 and went on to win another Gold in the 100M Freestyle event in a personal best time of 56.90. Alex Rathke had a very strong performance in his 200M IM, and went on to win the Silver medal in a personal best of 2:24.97. He captured the Bronze medal in the 200M Freestyle in 2:09.67 and went on to win Bronze again, this time in the 100M Freestyle in a personal best of 58.08. Ross McNulty showed great improvement in his events, taking the 4th spot in the 100M Backstroke in a personal best of 1:09.10. He also recorded PBs in his 200M Freestyle and 100M Freestyle events, taking off over 4 seconds in his 100M to record a time of 59.03 placing him in 6th position. Kieran Donovan took 5th place in both his 100M Backstroke and 200M Freestyle events.

In the Senior Age Category 18 & Over, Stephanie Allen and Dave Harrington featured strongly for the club with Stephanie securing 4 Gold medals, one for each event entered and Dave taking home Silver. Stephanie clearly favouring the Backstroke events, dominated her 200M Backstroke swim with an almost 9 second PB to take the Gold in a time of 2:24.99 and she added to it with a win in the 100M Backstroke event in a time of 1:11.72. She also took home Gold in the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:13.02 and in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:05.09. Dave came into his own in the 100M Backstroke event, taking home a well earned Silver medal for his performance and a personal best time of 1:19.74, over 1 and a half seconds faster than his previous best. He also placed 4th in his 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:05.00.

Special mentions go to swimmers Jamie O’Donovan Russell, Laura Desmond, Sean Hennessy, Sarah Hickey, Alex McNulty, Tadgh Arrigan, Niamh Corcoran, and Catherine Noonan for consistently improving their times across the board in all their events and for their dedication to their training.

The large number of personal best times recorded by the 36 swimmers only serves to emphasize how important solid, consistent training is to a swimmers performance in competition, and to their overall fitness. Every encouragement needs to be given to all these swimmers competing at this level to allow them to make as many sessions as their schedule allows for, enabling them to make their personal best times and ultimately achieving their goals of podium finishes, Division 2 and Division 1 Qualifying times, and Munster and Irish Team Qualifying Standards. Looking forward to the next series of competitive events encompassing the Dave McCullagh Memorial Gala in UL on the 28th – 30th March and the Munster Age Groups on the 10th & 11 May we wish the swimmers the best of luck with their preparations. Go Dolphin!

A very competitive Grade C meet was held on the 8th March in Fermoy Pool with a total of 86 Boys and 108 girls entered on the day, from such Munster clubs as Sundays Well, Dolphin, Fermoy, Mallow and Kingdom it made for a highly enjoyable meet for the competitors and spectators alike, with fast times posted across the board in all events. Dolphin’s squad of 29 swimmers kept the flag flying for the club, with some spectacular swimming resulting in 4 Individual Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze Medals as well as Grade B times and Personal bests.

In the Under 11 Boys Age Category, despite some stiff competition from competing clubs, Robert Twomey and Mark Auf Der Heyde enjoyed considerable success in their events. In the hotly contested 50M Backstroke event, Robert Twomey captured the Gold Medal in a Personal best and Grade B qualifying time of 45.46 shaving over a second off his previous best and went on to take the Bronze Medal in the 50M Butterfly event in a time of 58.78. He followed that up with a third place finish and Bronze medal in the fast paced 100M IM event in a personal best time of 1:44.57, and placed 5th overall in the 100M Freestyle event in a time of 1:33.06. Mark Auf Der Heyde scooped the Silver medal in the 50M Breaststroke event in a time of 55.37, and placed 11th in the 100M IM in a personal best time of 1:54.40, taking over 2 seconds off his previous time. Mark placed 16th overall in the 100M Freestyle event, taking over 3 seconds off his previous time with a personal best of 1:40.47 and placed 14th in his 50M Backstroke event.

Neil O’Brien showed considerable improvement in all events, taking over 7 seconds off his 100M Freestyle time to earn himself 9th place overall in a personal best time of 1:35.28. Neil took 11 seconds off his 100M IM time, finishing 7th overall in a personal best time of 1:50.94. He also had a very strong performance in his 50M Backstroke event, taking 3 seconds off his time and posting a personal best of 50.03 to take the 9th place spot. Nathan Manson Browne competed at his first graded event, and certainly made the other swimmers sit up and take notice, posting a very fast 1:34.94 in his 100M Freestyle event placing him 8th overall, and in his 100M IM event in a time of 1:53.47 placing him 8th Overall. He placed 5th in his 50M Breaststroke in a time of 59.04, and 7th in his 50M Backstroke in a time of 49.58.

In the Under 11 Girls Age Category, Ally Cunningham, Yvonne Kelleher and Maeve McCarthy were the big winners on the day, bringing home an impressive 2 Gold, 2 silver and 1 Bronze between them. Ally cruised home to take Gold in the 50M Freestyle event, with a personal best time of 42.14 and just narrowly missed out on Grade B with an impressive swim in her 100M Freestyle event, finishing 8th overall in a personal best of 1:33.37 and taking a whopping 7 seconds off her previous best. She also featured strongly in her 50M Backstroke event, posting a personal best of 48.69 just outside Grade B qualifying and earning her the 5th place overall. Yvonner Kelleher took silver in the 50M Backstroke event in a personal best and Grade B time of 46.68, taking over 4 and a half seconds off her previous best. She went on to take Bronze in the 100M IM event in a Grade B and Personal best time of 1:43.74, taking an incredible 7 seconds off her previous best time. She also placed strongly in her 50M Breaststroke event, taking 6th overall.

Maeve McCarthy had an outstanding swim in the 100M IM event, powering home in a Grade B and 11 second personal best time of 1:42.97 to take the Silver medal. She also had very fine performance in the 50M Butterfly event, where she took 15 seconds off her previous best to capture the Gold medal in a Grade B and personal best of 49.78. She also placed 5th overall in the 50M Freestyle event in a personal best of 44.27. Swimming strongly for the club was swimmer Sinead Mills, who consistently posted fast times and improvement across the board in all her events, particularly the 100M Freestyle event where she took a massive 6 seconds off her previous time to post a personal best of 1:36.37. She also had a fine performance in her 50M Butterfly event, taking over 2 seconds off her previous time to place 6th overall in a time of 54.44. Cliona O’Brien and Aoife O’Connell had some powerful swims, namely in the 100M Freestyle and 100M IM event with both swimmers posting personal best times.

In the Under 13 Boys Age Group, Adam Fahy dominated the Butterfly event taking home the Gold medal in a Grade B and Personal best time of 50.16, taking almost a second off his previous best. He went on to take the Silver medal in the 50M Breaststroke event in a personal best time of 52.58. Adam also placed strongly in 5th position overall in his 100M IM event, in a time of 1:44.62. Rory O’Sullivan had a fantastic meet, managing to improve in all his events with strong finishes in the 100M Freestyle in a personal best of 1:37.58, taking over 2 seconds off his previous best. His best performance of the day however came from the 100M IM event, where he took over 4 seconds off his previous best time to record a new personal best time of 1:57.12. His strong swim in the 50M Breaststroke event earned him 8th place overall in a personal best time of 56.02, taking almost 5 seconds off his old time.

In the Under 13 Age Group Megan McAuliffe and Chloe Desmond both had tremendous swims, with Megan shaving over 7 and a half seconds off her time in the 100M IM event to record a new personal best time of 1:46.50 and placing 10th Overall. Megan also had a fine performance in her 50M Breaststroke swim taking 12th place in an almost 3 second PB of 54.58! This was Chloe Desmond’s second competitive gala and she stepped up to the challenge with personal bests in every event in which she entered. Chloe’s performances of the day came from the 50M Backstroke where she took over 3 and a half seconds off her old time for a new personal best time of 59.55 and in the 50M Breaststroke where she took over 5 seconds off her previous time to record a new personal best of 1:03.62.

Swimmers John O’Shaughnessy and Laura Clifford were unable to compete at the gala due to illness, we wish the two a speedy recovery and look forward to having them back in the squad at the next Grade C meet in May.

Congratulations go to Swimmers Yvonne Kelleher and Maeve McCarthy on making their Grade B times at the meet. We wish them the very best of luck at the upcoming Grade B gala to be held at Mayfield Sports Complex on the 16th March, and every success in the future.

Special Mentions go out to swimmers Ronan Fahy, Jessica and Rebecca Murphy, Fiona and Mary Richardson, Jessica Farrelly, Ruth O’Neill and Meg Monaghan who all give 100% in training, which resulted in personal best times for all on the day of the meet.

Well done to all our newcomers to Grade C competition – Nathan Manson Browne, Ross McAuliffe, Ciara Scanlon, Niamh Moloney, Victoria Grace, Lauren Cummins, Lauren Graham, Abbie McNulty who impressed with their swims at the meet. Keep up the excellent work and we look forward to seeing you all do even better at the next Graded meet in May 2008. Go Dolphin!

Dolphins squad of 17 swimmers took part in the recent Grade B gala held at the Mayfield Sports Complex on the 16th March 2008, and enjoyed a very successful home meet with a medal haul of 7 Individual Gold, 5 Silver and 6 Bronze Medals as well as 2 Swimmers making their full qualification times for Grade A and all swimmers achieving a share of excellent personal best times.

In the Under 11 Boys Age Group, Ross Kavanagh yet again showed his prowess at the Butterfly event, capturing the Gold medal in a personal best time and Grade A time of 1:33.25, shaving over 2 and a half seconds off his previous best. A strong performance in the 100M Freestyle event guaranteed him a Silver medal in a time of 1:22.40. He then went on to take the Bronze medal in the 100M IM in a time of 1:31.78, taking almost a second off his previous best. Ross also scooped the third place spot and Bronze medal in the 200M Freestyle in a personal best of 2:56.22, over a half a second faster than his previous time.

Angus Gill taking the 100M Breaststroke in his stride, had a powerful swim to take the third spot and Bronze medal in a time of 1:53.41. He also placed strongly in the 100M Backstroke event with an impressive PB of almost 8 and a half seconds, taking the 4th place finish behind team mate Darren in a time of 1:39.00. Darren Twomey deservedly took the Bronze medal with a very strong performance in the 100M Backstroke event, knocking an incredible 9 seconds off his previous best to finish in a time of 1:36.09. He also had a fine 4th place finish in the 100M Breaststroke event, in a time of 1:55.75.

Ethan Keane, a Grade B Novice, placed 5th in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:56.25 and went on to place 6th in the 100M Backstroke in a fast time of 1:42.87. Billy Mulcahy took the 7th place position in the 100M Backstroke event in a personal best time of 1:43.65, over 3 and a half seconds of a PB with Dolphin taking 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th place in the 100M Backstroke Boys Under 11 event! Billy also swam strongly in his 200M Freestyle event, taking almost 10 and a half seconds off his old time to place 6th overall in a time of 3:02.41. He also place 6th in his 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:59.31.

In the Under 11 Girls age group, Niamh Kelly powered home to take victory in the 100M Butterfly event, knocking an astonishing 12 seconds off her previous best to take the Gold in a time of 1:52.91. She also went on to win the Bronze medal in the 100M Breaststroke swim in a time of 1:51.91, her first time competing in this event. Team mate Rebecca Farrelly snapped up the Silver medal in the 100M Breaststroke, in a time of 1:51.50, her first time competing in this event also. She also placed strongly in her 100M IM event, taking the 5th place overall in a time of 1:41.16.

Tara Desmond had some remarkable swims, notably her 200M Freestyle event where she placed 4th overall in a personal best of 3:07.50, taking over 4 and a half seconds off her old time. She also placed 4th in the 100M IM after taking over a second and a half off her previous best to finish with a new PB of 1:40.47, and again placed 4th in the 100M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 1:56.97, shaving almost 5 seconds off her seed time. Emma Richardson placed 5th overall in the 100M Breaststroke swim, in a time of 2:06.88 and also had strong finishes in the 100M Backstroke and 100M IM events placing 6th and 7th respectively. Yvonne Kelleher, attending her first Grade B meet, placed 6th in the 100M Freestyle event in a personal best time of 1:38.47, shaving over 1 and a half seconds off her previous best. Dolphins Under 11 girls had a record showing in the 100M Breaststroke taking the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place positions.

In the Boys Under 13 age category, Jerry Clifford beat off his competitors to capture the Gold in the 100M Butterfly in a fast time of 1:45.56. Team mate Colin O’Neill enjoyed a very successful gala, achieving a Grade A qualifying time with some tremendous swimming in his 100M IM event, taking the silver medal in a personal best of 1:28.00, over 2 and a half seconds faster than his previous best. He also took the silver medal in the 100M Freestyle event in a personal best time of 1:21.65, and placed 4th in the 100M Backstroke event in a personal best of 1:34.15, knocking an outstanding 7 seconds off his old time. Jack O’Brien displayed his talent at the 100M Butterfly, taking the 4th place spot in a personal best time of 1:54.09, a full 6 seconds faster than his previous time. He also swam strongly in his other events, with personal best times achieved in all races.

In the Girls Under 13 age category, Louise Coleman proved the one to beat taking no less than 3 Gold medals home on the day alongside her Grade A qualification. Louise successfully beat off rivals to claim Gold in the 100M IM event in a personal best and Grade A time of 1:28.62, almost 3 seconds faster than her previous best. She then went on to take Gold in the 100M Backstroke, her first time competing in this event, with a very fast Grade A qualifying time of 1:31.25. She then added to that her last win of the day, Gold in the 100M Breaststroke event, with a personal best and Grade A time of 1:36.91, almost 2 and a half seconds faster than her entry time. Louise also placed strongly in her 200M Freestyle, taking 8th overall in a personal best of 2:59.12, a 6 second PB!

With no boys competing in the Under 15 age category, Dolphin had a strong showing in the Girls Under 15 age group with Julie Flood, Ellen O’Brien and Blathain Lynch all swimming spectacularly on the day. Julie Flood powered home in the 100M Backstroke to take the Silver medal in a Grade A and Personal best time of 1:31.90, taking over 5 seconds off her previous best time and went on to place 4th in the 200M Freestyle in a Grade A and personal best time of 2:56.25, an incredible 13 second PB! Julie also performed well in her other events placing 6th in her 100M IM, and 8th in her 100M Breaststroke. Ellen O’Brien had a superb 200M Freestyle swim, taking the Bronze Medal in a Grade A and personal best time of 2:55.53 and went on to place strongly in her 100M Backstroke event taking the 5th overall place in a personal best time of 1:41.66, over a second and a half faster than her previous best. Blathain Lynch had a phenomenal swim in her 100M Backstroke, taking the Gold medal with a Grade A and Personal best time of 1:30.81.

Congratulations to all swimmers who took part especially those competing at this level for the first time – Ethan Keane and Yvonne Kelleher, and to all Coaches and Officials who helped make the meet an exceptional gala. A Special mention must go to the Grade A qualifiers Louise Coleman and Julie Flood. We wish them every success as they move forward in their swimming career and we look forward to seeing many more of their club mates achieving the standards in the coming months.

With no shortage of Irish swimming talent on display, the 3 day Dave McCullaugh Memorial Meet held on the 28th, 29th, and 30th March 2008 saw Irish Junior and Senior records being smashed and qualifying times being made for the World Youth Games, the European Juniors as well as qualifying times being met for the 2012 Olympic Squad.

Dolphins swimmers Sarah Allen, Sarah Clifford, Susan Callanan, Stephanie Allen, Simon Treacy, Alex Rathke, Reggie Murphy, and Kieran Donovan joined the ranks of the Irish Swimming Elite by qualifying for this prestigous national event, and impressed with their performances with several swimmers achieving the standards for the Finals, numerous Personal Best times being recorded, and club records broken.

Stephanie Allen, Sarah Allen and Sarah Clifford all gave strong performances in all their events, most notably Sarah Allens powerful swim in the 200M Backstroke recording a personal best time of 2:42.38, breaking Aisling Byrnes club record by almost 10 seconds and Sarah Cliffords outstanding 200M Butterfly swim where she managed to take over 10 seconds off her previous best to set the club record in the U13, U14, U15, U16, and Senior age groups in a time of 2:45.24.

Susan Callanan stormed home in the 100M Freestyle event, making the ‘A’ Final and placing 7th overall which is an exceptional achievement considering the standard of competition in her age group. She also had a very successful 50M Freestyle swim with a personal best time of 28.51 breaking the club record in the U14, U15, U16, and Senior Categories, and made the ‘B’ Final. She added to this with a further ‘B’ final in the 100m Butterfly event, and a club record and personal best in the 200M IM, her time of 2:37.55 knocked over 3 seconds off the previous record in the U14, U15, and U16 age groups also held by Susan. She also recorded a personal best time of 2:18.62, and a club record in the U14, U15, U16, and Senior Age Categories for her tremendous 200M Freestyle performance.

Kieran Donovan and Alex Rathke enjoyed a highly rewarding meet, with Kieran recording a staggering 26 second pb in his 200M Freestyle with a time of 2:10.26 and shaving over 6 seconds off his previous best in the 400M Freestyle swim for a new personal best time of 4:37.28. Alex Rathke broke the 400M Freestyle club Record with a personal best time of 4:41.08, breaking his old record by 5 seconds!

Reggie Murphy secured a place in the ‘B’ final of the 100M Backstroke with a Personal best time of 1.06.76, placing 12th overall in his event and breaking the exiting club record in the U16 Junior and Senior age groups.

Simon Treacy proved a strong presence in the Butterfly events, making the ‘A’ final in the 200M Butterfly with his personal best time of 2:18.30, an extremely impressive 5th place finish overall in his age group and snagging the 200M Butterfly club record in the process, in the U15, U16 Junior and Senior categories by taking almost 6 seconds off his previous U15 record. He also managed to secure himeself a place in the ‘B’ final of the 100M Butterfly, again with a personal best time of 1:02.49 setting the club record for this event by taking 3 seconds off his previous record.

Simon also made the ‘B’ final in the 100M Freestyle event, his new personal best time of 57.63 was enough to break the existing record held by team mate Alex Rathke by over 4 seconds. He also broke club record in the U15 50M Butterfly, which had been held by Keith McKenzie since 2005, in a time of 28.30, the U16 record which had previously been held by Ryan Kavanagh since 2006, and the Senior Record which had been held by Eoin Donovan since 2005! Simon also shatterd the club record in the 50M Freestyle in a time of 26.43, breaking the U15 and U16 record previously held by team mate Reggie Murphy, and the Senior Record held by Kieran Cashell, which had stood since 2006.

Congratulations to all the swimmers involved, we wish them all the very best as they prepare for the Irish Long Course Championships to be held in the National Aquatic Centre this coming May. It is an achievement in itself just to qualify for these national events, as the standards are set extremely high, and several of our top Irish swimmers competing at the upcoming championships will be hoping to qualify for the Bejing Olympics this coming Summer.

A 39 Strong Squad of Dolphin Swimmers took on the ‘Small Frys’ from the top Leinster and Munster Clubs recently at the Wexford Small Fry gala in Ferrybank, Wexford on the 6th April. Ranging in ages from 7 to 12 years the Swimmers, parents, and Coach Paddy Power travelled by bus in the early hours to take in session one and two of a 3 session meet. Despite the early Start, and very long day the club swimmers returned victorious yet again after winning 2 Individual Gold Medals, 3 Silver Medals and 8 Bronze medals as well as numerous Relay Medals. Added to that were the top notch performances of the swimmers who pushed themselves to achieve fantastic personal best times.

In the Boys Under 9 age Group were Sam Cunningham, Ross Mc Auliffe, and Ronan Fahy. Sam who attended his first gala swam very well in all 3 events in which he was entered, especially his 50M Butterfly where he placed 6th overall in his age group in a time of 1:18.33. Ross impressed greatly with his strong performances, notably his 50M Breaststroke where he took over 3 seconds off his previous best to make the Final in a time of 1:02.65, and then went on to take a very respectable 4th place finish with another personal best time of 1:01.71, and his 50M Backstroke where he took almost 4 seconds off his previous best in the Heat to make the Final and win the Bronze medal in a further PB of 53.28, over 3 seconds faster than his heat time. Ronan featured strongly in the 50M Butterfly Final where he placed 4th in a personal best of 1:06.07, a pb of almost 2 seconds! He also swam well in his 50M Backstroke and 50M Breastroke events, placing 6th and 7th respectively.

In the Girls Under 9 age group were Ally Cunningham, Jessica Farrelly, Lauren Graham, Fiona Richardson and Mary Richardson. Ally had a very successful meet, which saw her make all 3 Finals! She took almost 3 seconds off her previous time in her 50M Breaststroke in a 59.09 to make the final, where she took 5th place overall. In the 50M Butterfly event, she took almost 2 seconds off her entry time to make the fastest qualifier for the final in a time of 54.68 which saw her take the Gold medal. In the 50M Backstroke, She took the Bronze medal in a time of 48.69.

Jessica had a strong performance in both her 50M Butterfly which saw her take 9th place overall in a time of 1:09.64 and her 50M Backstroke, where she took over 2 and a half seconds off her previous best to finish in a time of 58.32 for 12th. Lauren had a powerful 50M Butterfly performance which saw her make the Final in a time of 1:05.67, and take 4th place overall. Fiona Richardson recorded personal best times in her 50M Breastroke and 50M Backstroke, taking almost a second off her Breaststroke time to finish in 1:10.20 and over 2 seconds off her Backstroke time to finish in 56.41. Her sister Mary showed her skills at the 50M Breaststroke swim, taking over 3 and a half seconds off her time to finish in 1:09.44.

Swimming in the Under 10 Boys age group were Mark Auf Der Heyde, Ethan Keane, John O’Shaughnessy and Darren Twomey. Mark swam well in his 50M Butterfly event, taking over 1 and a half seconds off his previous PB in a time of 1:03.67 to place him in the Finals where he took 4th place overall. Ethan showed his skills in the 50M Breaststroke, taking the Silver medal in the Final in a time of 53.04. He also took Bronze in the Final of the 50M Butterfly event, having recorded a personal best time in the heat of 50.59. He went on to take over 2 seconds off his old time in the 50M Backstroke to finish 5th in a time of 51.56.

John gave a strong performance in his all of events, recording personal bests in his 50M Butterfly Heat in a time of 53.54, and his 50M Backstroke Heat in a time of 47.49, where he went on to place 4th overall in this event in the Final. He also made the final of the 50M Breaststroke where he took 4th in a time of 54.48. Darren had a strong showing in all 3 events, taking over 2 seconds off his 50M Butterfly in the Heat to record a person best of 46.69 and went on to take the Silver medal in this event in the Finals. He also made the Final of the 50m Breaststroke where he took the Bronze medal in a time of 53.94, and went on to take the Bronze in the Final of the 50M Backstroke in a time of 47.93.

In the Girls Under 10 age group were swimmers Laura Clifford, Tara Desmond, Niamh Kelly, Sinead Mills, Rebecca Murphy, Amy Hennessy, Meg Monaghan and Lauren Cummins. Laura recorded a personal best time for each event entered, with over 5 seconds being taken off her 50M Butterfly for a new personal best time of 53.97 which placed her 6th overall. She also took over 2 seconds off her backstroke time for a new PB of 55.88, and almost 1 second off her breaststroke time for a new pb of 1:04.50. Tara made all 3 finals of her events, taking over 4 seconds off her Butterfly PB in the heat for a time of 48.29 and went on to take 5th place overall in that event. She also placed 5th in her Breaststroke event in a time of 56.07, and 5th in her 50M Backstroke in a time of 47.61.

Niamh was a winner in the 50M Butterfly with a new PB of 48.58 giving her the Bronze Medal in the event. She then went on to take the Bronze medal in the 50M Breaststroke swim in a time of 51.78. Sinead also recorded personal best times in all 3 events, which saw her take over 1 second off her 50M Breaststroke for a time of 55.46 placing her 7th and a half a second off her 50M Butterfly for a time of 53.88 also placing her 7th. She also recorded almost a 1 second pb of 51.86 in her 50M Backstroke event.

Rebecca Murphy knocked almost a second off her previous time in her 50M Breaststroke for a new PB of 1:02.24. Amy took over 4 seconds off her previous best in her 50M Breaststroke for a new PB of 1:03.54 and also recorded a personal best in her 50M Backstroke swim of 1:01.94. Meg swam very well at the meet, taking over 5 seconds off her time in the 50M Breaststroke to touch in a 1:12.05 and almost 6 and a half seconds off her 50M Backstroke time to record a new PB of 58.76. Lauren competed in just one swim on the day, the 50M Breaststroke, which saw her take over a second and a half off her time for a new personal best of 1:10.75.

In the Boys Under 11 age group were Angus Gill, Billy Mulcahy, Neil O’Brien and Robert Twomey. Angus snapped up the Silver medal in the Final of the 50M Breaststroke event, in a time of 50.27 and placed 9th in the 50M Freestyle in a 43.84. Billy also made the final of the 50M Breaststroke after swimming a 52.95 in the Heat, and went on to take 5th place overall. He also made the Final of the 50M Freestyle where he took 4th place in a fast 38.01 time. Neil took almost 3 seconds off his 50M Freestyle time to record a new personal best time of 44.29 giving him 10th Position overall with Robert taking 8th overall in the 50M Freestyle in a time of 43.24.

In the Girls Under 11 age group were Rebecca Farrelly, Maeve McCarthy, Cliona O’Brien, Emma Richardson, Jessica Murphy, Ciara Scanlan, Victoria Grace and Abbie McNulty. Rebecca lead the field in the 50M Breaststroke event, taking over 2 seconds off her previous time to take the Gold medal in a time of 47.27. She took over 6 seconds off her 50M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 41.33, placing her 10th overall. Maeve took over 3 seconds off her breaststroke time for a new personal best of 53.74 placing 6th overall.

Cliona placed 7th overall in the 50M Breaststroke in a time of 53.88 and then took almost 1 second off her 50M Freestyle for a new personal best of 42.66. Emma Richardson and Jessica Murphy both swam well in their events, with Jessica taking over a second off her old time for the 50M Breaststroke for a new personal best of 58.49. Ciara took almost 2 seconds off her PB for her 50M Breaststroke for a new time of 58.91 and gave an impressive performance in her 50M Freestyle with a time of 45.98. Victoria took over 4 seconds off her Breaststroke time for a new personal best of 55.86 and went on to knock 10 seconds off her 50M Freestyle with a new PB of 46.77. Abbie took 8 seconds off her time for the 50M Freestyle for a new personal best of 54.14.

Swimming in the Under 12 Boys age group were Jerry Clifford, Adam Fahy, Jack O’Brien and Rory O’Sullivan. Jerry scooped the Bronze medal for his fast 50M Backstroke event where he took over a second off his time to finish in 45.10. He also took over 3 seconds off his 50M Butterfly time with a 45.91 and a fine performance in the Final which saw him place 4th overall. Adam took over 2 seconds off his 50M Backstroke time for a new personal best of 48.86. Jack made the final of the 50M Butterfly and took the 5th place position overall in a time of 49.96. Rory took over 4 seconds off his 50M Backstroke time for a new personal best of 55.84.

In the Girls Under 12 age group were Jennifer Cosgrave, Megan Mc Auliffe, and Chloe Desmond. Jennifer took over 6 seconds off her 50M Backstroke time to place 6th overall in a time of 46.22 and took over 3 seconds off her Butterfly time to record a new personal best of 45.20 placing her 8th. Megan and Chloe both have good performances with Chloe competing in the 50M Butterfly for the first time with a very respectable 1:04.98 time.

Well done to all the swimmers who took part, and we look forward to seeing them compete again shortly in the Grade C and Dolphin Minnows. Go Dolphin!

12 Dolphin Swimmers had a very successful competition at the Grade A Distance Meet in St. Enda’s in Limerick on Saturday 19th April. In spite of being in the middle of preparations for the Munster Age Groups, the Swimmers and Coaches took time out to attend the competition that saw 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze Medals being won as well as numerous personal best times being recorded.

In the U11 Girls Age Group and the youngest of the Dolphin swimmers competing, Amy Cunningham placed just outside of a podium finish in the 200M IM taking 4th overall in a time of 3:15.60. She also took part in the 400M Freestyle race, her first time competing at this distance coming home in a very respectable 4th place finish and time of 6:15.74.

In the U13 Boys Age Group, Patrick Daly had an outstanding performance in his 200M IM, scooping the Gold Medal and highest ranking in a time of 2:53.47 giving him a PB of over 1 second. He added to his medal tally with a fine 400M Freestyle swim, knocking over 9 seconds off his previous time to take the Bronze medal in a time of 5:21.22.

In the U13 Girls Age Group, Caitlin Desmond rocketed home in her 200M IM to shave 5 seconds off her previous best to take the Silver medal in a time of 2:56.26. She narrowly missed out on 3rd place in the 400M Freestyle event, with an outstanding swim which saw her taking almost 28 seconds off her seed time to take 4th overall in a time of 5:44.50. Louise Coleman, at her first Grade A distance event, swam strongly in her 200M IM event, taking 6th overall in a time of 3:03.15 and 9th overall in the 400M Freestyle in a time of 5:56.47. Grace O’Doherty had an excellent meet which saw her taking strides forward in her times in both her events. Taking an astounding 36 seconds off her old time, she powered home to take 8th place overall in the 400M Freestyle in a time of 5:54.40. She added to this with another fine performance in her 200M IM, again with a 16 second PB of 3:17.86 and a 12th place overall.

In the Boys U15 Age Group, Alex McNulty took on the challenge of the 800M Freestyle, and succeeded in shaving an enormous 29 seconds off his previous best to take the Bronze medal in a time of 10:31.99. He also had an excellent 400M Freestyle event, placing 5th overall with a 4 second PB of 5:05.49. Tim O’Callaghan and Stephen O’Shaughnessy both braved the daunting 1500M Freestyle swim, with Stephen showing prowess at this distance with a 17 second personal best of 18:26.03 giving him the Silver medal. Tim recorded a fast 19:06.54 swim, his first time competing at this distance and took the Bronze Medal. Stephen also had success in the 800M Freestyle event, recording another personal best, this time a 25 second PB of 9:47.07 again gaining him the Silver medal. He was just outside of a podium finish on the 400M Freestyle, settling for a very respectable 4th place finish overall in a time of 4:52.56. Jamie O’Donovan Russell had a strong swim in his 200M IM event, taking over 2 and a half seconds off his previous time to finish in a 3:06.17.

In the Girls U15 Age Group, Julie Flood knocked over 8 seconds off her old time in the 200M IM, finishing in a 3:14.80. She also had an excellent time for her first 400M Freestyle swim, 6:13.17. Sarah Hickey took almost 5 seconds off her time for the 200M IM, with a 3:01.70 time which saw her take 9th overall in her age group. Catherine Noonan performed well in both her 200Im and 400 Freestyle, taking 12th and 11th place respectively.

Well done to all swimmers and coaches involved, and we look forward to seeing the swimmers in action at Munster Age Groups. Go Dolphin!

The Munster Age Groups took place at the University of Limerick Sports Arena at the weekend, with yet again the cream of Munsters crop taking part in the two day gala, making it as usual a highly competitive and entertaining event for spectators and swimmers alike. In what was undoubtably the club performance of the Season, Dolphin swept the boards with 20 Individual Gold Medals, 15 Individual Silver Medals and 14 Individual Bronze Medals as well as outstanding season best performances across all the age categories and several short course club records were broken.

Amy Cunningham, Ross Kavanagh and Thomas Treacy were the youngest of the Dolphin Swimmers at the meet all swimming in the 11-12 Age Category, and certainly did not let that phase them in any way. Amy was outstanding in her swims, knocking almost 14 seconds off her 400M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 6:29.71 placing her 9th overall. She took almost 4 seconds off her 200M IM time for a new PB of 3:10.45 and almost over a second off her 100M Backstroke time to place 10th overall in a personal best of 1:29.35. She also placed 10th in her 100M Freestyle in a personal best time of 1:16.87, knocking almost a second and a half off her previous best.

Ross Kavanagh took on the challenge of the 400M Freestyle for the first time with a very respectable 5:57.35 time which saw him take the 7th place overall in the age group, and went on to have a very successful meet that saw him knock over 5 seconds off his previous best for his 100M Backstroke, over 3 seconds off his 100M Breastroke and over 12 seconds off his 200M Freestyle time to record a 2:43.75 to place 10th overall in this event. Thomas Treacy made his presence felt in the age group, taking the silver medal in the 100M Butterfly in a personal best of 1:28.44, a 6 second PB! He added to his medal haul with a Bronze in the 100M Breaststroke, having recorded a personal best of 1:31.94 in the heat and a Bronze in the 200M IM in a time of 3:01.73. He also placed just outside the medals in the 400M Freestyle with an excellent swim of 5:43.80, placing him 4th overall in the age group.

Emma Hobbs, Colin O’Neil, Patrick Daly all had exceptional races in their 11-12 age group with Emma taking the Gold in the 100M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 1:26.34, taking over a second off her previous time. She added to that with another Podium finish, this time a Bronze in the 200M Freestyle taking over 5 seconds off her previous time for a new personal best of 2:42.66. She placed just outside the medals in the 400M Freestyle to take 4th overall in a time of 5:39.20, shaving an incredible 58 seconds off her previous time and went on to take 4th overall in the 200M IM in a personal best of 3:03.19, over 3 seconds faster than her previous best.

Colin swam well in all his events, most notably his 100M Breaststroke where he took over 6 seconds off his previous time for a new PB of 1:39.58 and went on to qualify for the Final where he placed 8th overall. He also swam strongly in his 200M IM event, placing 10th in a time of 3:11.81. Patrick enjoyed success in his 200M IM, knocking almost 2 seconds off for a new PB of 2:51.52 which secured him the top spot and Gold medal. He went on to take top spot and Gold again in the 100M Breaststroke in a 1:29.65, having attained a new PB of 1:29.38 in the heat. He claimed Silver in the 100M Backstroke in a tremendous personal best of 1:20.71, taking over 12 seconds off his old time and won a further Silver in the 100M Freestyle in a personal best of 1:08.92, a 4 second PB. His final medal of the championship came from the 200M Freestyle swim, where he took Bronze in a time of 2:32.94, knocking over 8 seconds off his previous best.

In the U13 age group Grace O’Doherty, Louise Coleman, Caitlin Desmond, and Darren O’Dowling all swam incredibly well, with Grace recording personal best times for every event entered. She had some very strong performances, notably her 100M Butterfly where she took over 11 seconds off her old time for a new personal best of 1:40.70. She took almost 7 seconds off her 400M Freestyle to place 5th overall in a personal best time of 5:47.47. She also had a powerful swim in her 200M Freestyle, taking over 5 seconds off her previous best to place 6th overall in a time of 2:41.49. Louise made the final of the 100M Breastroke with a superb personal best swim of 1:32.88 placing her 5th overall. She also placed strongly in the 200M IM with a time of 3:04.85, placing her 6th. She took over 8 seconds off her 200M Freestyle time to record a new PB of 2:50.29, placing her 12th overall.

Caitlin was another swimmer who recorded personal best times in the bulk of her events. She took the Bronze medal for the 400M Freestyle in a 15 second PB of 5:29.37, and placed just outside the medals in 4th place overall in the 200IM in a time of 2:58.86, and in the 200M Freestyle in a 4 second PB of 2:35.00. She also made the final of the 100M Butterfly, knocking 8 seconds off her previous best to place 4th in a time of 1:21.67. She also made the final of the 100M Freestyle placing 5th in a personal best time of 1:13.08, and the final of the 100M Breaststroke in a 2 second personal best time of 1:36.94 to place 7th.

Darren O’Dowling however was peerless in his events, capturing no less than 6 Gold medals for his efforts at the meet. He took almost 6 seconds off his 100M Backstroke time for a new PB of 1:10.72, and went on to take 3 and a half seconds off his 200M IM time for Gold in a 2:37.00. He also recorded a new personal best time of 1:15.65 in the 100M Butterfly and took over 6 seconds off his 100M Breaststroke time for a new personal best of 1:26.11. In his Distance events, he took Gold in the 200M Freestyle in a 4 second PB of 2:15.11 and over 5 seconds off his previous best in the 400M Freestyle for a new personal best time of 4:51.67.

Laura Desmond, Sarah Hickey, Shaun Hennessy, Tadgh Arrigan, Alex McNulty, Daniel Hobbs, Cian Mulcahy, Tim Daly, Sarah Clifford, and Sarah Allen all took part in the U14 age group events. Laura placed 10th in her 400M Freestyle, taking over 10 seconds off her previous time for a new personal best of 6:09.17. She also had a strong swim in her 200M IM event placing 17th in an 11 second personal best time of 3:13.19. Sarah Hickey took over 3 seconds off her previous best in the 200M Freestyle event to place 11th in a time of 2:38.55. She also swam well in the 200M IM with a 12th overall place and time of 3:01.80. Shaun Hennessy gave a fantastic performance in the 400M Freestyle event, knocking an incredible 35 seconds off his old time for a new personal best of 5:39.38, placing him 13th overall.

Tadgh took 32 seconds off his 400M Freestyle for a new personal best of 5:39.27 placing him 12th overall. He then went on to take over 10 seconds off his 200M Freestyle time for a new Personal best of 2:28.78, again placing him 12th overall. Taking over 5 seconds off his previous best, he stormed home in the 100M Backstroke final to place 7th in a new PB of 1:19.27 and followed that up with another grand performance in the 100M Butterfly final, taking 10 seconds off his old time for a 6th place finish and new personal best time of 1:20.88. Alex placed 5th in the 400M Freestyle in a time of 5:06.22. He swam strongly in his 200M Freetyle event to take 7th in a personal best time of 2:23.90, and took 7th again in the final of the 100M Butterfly in a personal best time of 1:24.77, taking over 4 seconds off his previous best.

Danny Hobbs swam into the medals with a commanding performance in the 400M Freestyle where he took the Silver medal in an 8 second personal best time of 4:35.82. He added to that with another Silver medal win in the 200M Freestyle, taking over 4 seconds off his old time for a new personal best of 2:10.19. He was just outside a podium finish in the 100M Freestyle, he finished 4th in the Final in a personal best of 1:01.91, and 4th again in the final of the 100M Breaststroke in a personal best of 1:22.06. He also had a 4th overall placing in the 200M IM in a personal best of 2:37.76 and placed 5th in the final of the 100M Butterfly in a personal best of 1:19.61, taking over 4 seconds off his previous best in the heat to record a PB of 1:19.10.

Cian Mulcahy was very successful in both the Butterfly and the Backstroke events, taking a Bronze medal for his efforts in both. After recording a new personal best time of 1:10.15 in the heat of the 100M Butterfly he went on to place 3rd in the fast paced final which saw him again place under his seed time. In the 100M Backstroke event, he took over 2 seconds off his previous best for a new PB of 1:11.85. Cian also had a strong swim in his 100M Freestyle event, taking almost half a second off his previous best to place 7th in the final in a new personal best time of 1:04.62. Having taken almost 3 seconds off his 200M Freestyle time, he placed 9th in a new personal best of 2:25.68.

Tim Daly dominated the 100M Butterfly event, taking over a second and a half off his previous best for the Gold Medal in a new PB of 1:09.04. He also captured Gold in the 200M IM with a 2 second personal best of 2:26.60. He went on to take Silver in the 100M Backstroke final in a personal best time of 1:07.89 taking over a second off his old time, Silver in the 100M Freestyle final in a 2 second personal best time of 59.70, and silver in the 100M Breaststroke final in a personal best of 1:14.83. He also placed 5th in the 200M Freestyle in a time of 2:15.13, knocking 13 seconds off his old time.

Sarah Clifford powered home in the 400M Freestyle to take the Bronze medal in a new personal best time of 4:54.16, taking over 14 seconds off her previous time. She then went on to take another Bronze in the 100M Backstroke in a 2 second personal best of 1:14.30, and a Bronze in the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:11.17. She went one better in the 200M Freestyle event, taking the Silver medal in a time of 2:24.09. She also made the final of the 100M Freestyle and the 100M Breaststroke placing 6th in both events.

Sarah Allen took the Silver medal in the 100M Butterfly final in a time of 1:10.56, and went on to take Bronze in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:03.61, knocking over a second off her old time. After recording a personal best of 1:14.77 in the heats of the 100M Backstroke, she went on to place 4th overall in the final of the same event. She also placed 4th in the final of the 100M Breaststroke in a 5 second PB of 1:27.42, and 4th overall in the 400M Freestyle in a 4 second personal best of 5:05.11.

The U15 age group saw Aoibheann Murphy, Catherine Noonan, Alysha Hoare, Jamie O’Donovan Russell, Ryan O’Dowling, Tim o’Callaghan, and Susan Callanan all competing for the top spots. Aoibheann made the final of the 100M Backstroke where she placed 8th in a time of 1:22.71. Catherine placed 10th in the 200M IM in a time of 3:03.51 and 11th in the 200M Freestyle in a time of 2:40.66.

Alysha made the final of the 100M Breaststroke where her strong swimming placed her 7th overall in a time of 1:30.73. She took over 4 seconds off her 200M IM time to place 11th in a new personal best of 3:04.28, and over 4 seconds off her 200M Freestyle time to place 12th in a time of 2:49.67. Jamie placed well in his 200M IM event in a time of 3:07.43, and took almost a second and a half off his 200M Freestyle for a new personal best of 2:41.41.

Ryan O’Dowling knocked 6 seconds off his 400M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 4:51.67 giving him 4th place overall. He made the final of the 100M Breaststroke taking over a second off his old time for a new PB of 1:22.65 placing him 7th. He also took over 5 seconds off his 200M Freestyle time to place 6th in a time of 2:16.02 and in the 200M IM event he placed 8th in a 2 second personal best of 2:34.41.

Tim took 5 seconds off his 400M Freestyle for a new personal best of 4:38.93 which afforded him the Silver medal in the event. He then went on to take Bronze in the final of the 100M Backstroke in a personal best of 1:10.55, taking almost 2 seconds off his previous time. He was just outside of the medals in the 200M Freestyle with his 2 second personal best swim of 2:12.94 which placed him 4th overall. He also had a tremendous swim in the 100M Butterfly heat with a PB of over 11 seconds, his time of 1:11.52 was only just outside of the qualification for the finals in this event.

Susan was clearly on form and completely dominated her age group, taking Gold for all 5 events in which she entered. Her excellent performance in the 100M Freestyle heat saw her break the minute mark in a personal best of 59.87, and she went on to beat this in the final with a 59.49 time. Her 200M Freestyle time saw her take over 3 seconds off her old best to record a 2:11.20. She also recorded personal bests in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:10.27, the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:06.79, and the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:20.94.

In the U16 age group Ross McNulty, Alex Rathke, Simon Treacy battled it out against the best in Munster and certainly held their own. Ross narrowly missed out on the Bronze in the final of the 100M Backstroke event, taking 4th in a time of 1:10.99. He had an outstanding swim in his 400M Freestyle which saw him shave 55 seconds off his previous best for a new time of 5:02.64 placing him 7th overall.

Alex scooped up the Silver medal for his 100M Backstroke final with a personal best time of 1:06.82, over a second faster than his previous time. He also went on to win a Bronze medal in the 200M Freestyle with a 3 second personal best time of 2:05.56. He took over 3 seconds off his time in the 100M Butterfly to place 5th in the Final in a new PB of 1:06.13. Making it to the final of the 100M Freestyle he placed 5th in a time of 58.18.

Simon took Gold in all 4 of his events, with a personal best of 55.03 in his 100M Freestyle taking almost 2 seconds off his old time. He took the top spot in the 100M Breaststroke in a pb of almost a second, a 1:10.90 time and went on to drop over a second off his 100M Butterfly time for a new personal best of 1:00.37. Taking almost half a second off his old time, he took the touch in the 200M IM in a new personal best time of 2:18.67.

In the Senior Age Category 17-18 group were swimmers Kieran Donovan and Stephanie Allen. Kieran took Bronze in the 100M Backstroke final in a 2 second personal best of 1:07.86. He placed just outside of the medals with a 4th overall placing in the 400M Freestyle, where his time of 4:28.35 was almost a 6 and a half second PB! He also placed 5th in the final of the 100M Butterfly in a 2 second PB of 1:06.12. Stephanie took Silver in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:12.14, and went on to take Silver in the 100M Butterfly in a personal best time of 1:11.56 and Silver in the 200M Freestyle event in a time of 2:21.52.

Well done to all swimmers and coaches on their hard work and dedication, they are now reaping the rewards. Congratulations to swimmers who made their Division times from the meet, we look forward to their continued success and wish them all the best for the coming weeks. Go Dolphin!

The Dolphin Minnows Gala took place at Mayfield Sports Complex at the weekend, 17th & 18th May with Galway Swimming Club, New Ross, Waterford, Clonakility and the home team Dolphin taking part, with over 80 swimmers competing at various age levels. It was a resounding success for Dolphin at club level with over 40 swimmers from various PM and AM squads making a splash at this popular annual event, showcasing the up and coming talent with some exceptional swimming in the U9 and U10 age groups. In total the team came away with 12 Gold, 10 Silver and 18 Bronze Individual Medals as well as numerous medals of all three colours for the exciting relay events

Setting the bar high for the other age groupers were the Under 9′s who had some exceptional performances over the 2 day meet. Making their competitive debut in this category were swimmers Andrew Treacy, and Alexander Black. Andrew placed 8th in the 50M Freestyle in a time of 1:03.00 and 8th in the 50M Backstroke in a time of 1:18.72. Alexander enjoyed success in his first meet with a Bronze medal in the final of the under 9 Breaststroke where he tied for third place with fellow Club Mate Ross Mc Auliffe in a time of 52.80. He also placed 7th in his 50M Freestyle in a fast time of 48.84.

Also swimming in the U9′s were Sam Cunningham, Ronan Fahy, Ross Mc Auliffe, and Nathan Manson Browne. Sam gave a tremendous performance in his 50M Breaststroke knocking almost 6 seconds off his previous time for a new personal best of 1:13.43 and powered his way through the 50M Butterfly taking a further 8 seconds off his old time for a new personal best of 1:09.59. Sam also picked up a medal as part of the U9 200M Freestyle United Nations Relay team with one swimmer from Dolphin, New Ross, Waterford and Galway taking part.

Ronan had a spectacular meet with his best performance coming from the Under 10 100M IM where he shaved a huge 12 seconds off his previous best for a new personal best time of 1:51.85. He dominated the 50M Backstroke event and took Gold with a personal best of 50.63 having been achieved earlier in the heats. He also nabbed a Silver medal in the highly contested 50M Freestyle swim with a personal best of 42.00 achieved in the earlier heats. In a close 50M Butterfly final he narrowly missed out on the medals to take a very respectable 4th place in a new personal best of 1:02.69, a 4 second PB!

Ross Mc Auliffe showed great form in all his swims particularly in the 50M Backstroke, taking almost a second off his previous best in the heat with a time of 52.31 to make the final and take the Bronze medal. He went on to take the Bronze medal in the 50M Butterfly final, his first time competing in this event. He placed joint 3rd in the final of the 50M Breaststroke with an excellent 3 second PB of 58.72 in the heats.

In the Girls U9 age group were swimmers Ruth O’Neill, Lauren Graham, and Ally Cunningham. Ruth gave a great performance in her 50M Freestyle, taking an incredible 14 seconds off her previous best in the heat for a new personal best of 45.45 and went on to take the Bronze medal in the Final. She also made the Final of the 50M Breaststroke, having taken over 9 seconds off her old time in the heats for a new personal best of 1:01.93. She also took part in the Final of the 50M Butterfly, her first time swimming this event and completed it in a very respectable 1:14.44. Ruth also took over 8 seconds off in the Under 10′s 100M IM time for a new personal best of 2:15.03.

Lauren was just outside the medals in the Final of the U9 50M Butterfly with a time of 1:06.43 which saw her take 4th place overall. She also had a PB in her 50M Breaststroke event, taking over 2 and a half seconds off her old time for a new best time of 1:10.84. Ally stormed home in the U9 Butterfly snapping up the Gold Medal in a 2 second PB of 52.00, qualifying her in this event for Grade B. She went on to take the Bronze medal in her 50M Breaststroke Final in 1:00.37.

In the Boys Under 10 age group were Swimmers Cian O’Connor, Conor King, Mark Auf Der Heyde, Ethan Keane, John O’Shaughnessy and Darren Twomey. Cian made his competitive debut and placed 7th in his 50M Freestyle in a time of 1:00.09 and 9th overall in his 50M Breaststroke in a time of 1:26.60. Conor King, also a first time competitor, recorded very fast times all round with his 43.85 in the 50M Freestyle securing him a place in the fast paced final where he took 5th overall.

Mark shaved over 4 seconds off his previous backstroke time for a new personal best of 47.82, bringing him closer to qualifying for Grade B in this event. He also took almost a second off his 100M IM time with a personal best of 1:53.69, and knocked over 2 seconds off his 100M Freestyle time as part of the Time Trial on the Sunday morning for a new personal best of 1:37.75.

Ethan pushed hard to take the Silver medal in the 50M Freestyle Final in a personal best of 38.44, taking almost 2 seconds off his old time. He took 5 seconds off his 50M Backstroke time for a new personal best of 45.63 in the heats and made the final where he placed 5th. He also placed 4th in the final of the 50M Butterfly in a time of 50.90, and 4th in the 100M IM Final in a personal best of 1:43.83.

John took the Bronze medal in the 50M Freestyle with a 2 second personal best time of 39.70, and went on to place 5th in the Final of the 50M Butterfly and 5th in the Final of the 100M IM, having taken over a second off his previous best to record a new personal best of 1:41.85 in the heats. John also placed 5th in the Final of the 50M Breaststroke in a time of 54.96. Though outside of the qualifying time for Final of the 50M Backstroke, his outstanding swim in the heats secured him a new personal best and B qualifying time of 45.08 – over a 2 second PB!

Darren secured the Silver medal in the Final of the 50M Backstroke in a personal best of 42.62 and went on to take silver in the Final of the 100M IM in a personal best of 1:34.22, knocking over 3 seconds off his old time. He also took silver in the hotly contested 50M Butterfly Final, knocking 4 seconds off his previous time for a new personal best of 42.69. His Bronze medal of the meet came from the Final of the 50M Breaststroke with a 2 second personal best time recorded in the heats of 49.28.

Competing in the U10 Girls Category were Meg Monaghan, Ruth Moynihan, Rebecca Murphy, Sinead Mills, Niamh Moloney, Laura Clifford, Tara Desmond, and Niamh Kelly. Meg had personal bests in both her events, the 50M Backstroke in a time of 58.38 and 50M Freestyle in a time of 55.19. Ruth competed for the first time and performed very well, with a 51.50 in her 50M Backstroke, 43.09 in her 50M Freestyle, 1:02.59 in her 50M Breaststroke and 2:01.22 in her 100M IM.

Rebecca had personal bests in every event in which she entered, her best performances came from the 50M Freestyle where she took 4 seconds off her previous time for a new personal best of 50.13 and her 50M Breaststroke where she also took 4 seconds off for a new personal best of 58.06. She took 3 and a half seconds off her 100M IM for a PB of 2:05.47, and took over 2 seconds off her 50M Backstroke time for a new PB of 57.77. Depsite being under the weather Sinead competed in the 50M Butterfly and 50M Freestyle events, her 2 second personal best of 42.44 in the heats of the 50M Freestyle securing her a place for the Final where she placed 5th overall.

Niamh Moloney had some strong swims at the meet, notably her 50M Breaststroke where she took the joint top spot and Gold medal in the Finals with a fast time of 50.00, qualifying her in this event for Grade B. She added to that with another medal win, this time in the 50M Freestyle where she took the Bronze medal in a time of 42.41. She took over 9 seconds off her 100M IM for a new personal best of 1:52.63, and competed in the 50M Butterfly event for the first time with a 57.01 time.

Laura powered home in the 50M Freestyle final in spite of stiff competition, taking the Gold in a new personal best time of 38.80, over 2 and a half seconds faster than her previous time and faster again that the time posted in the heats. She also made the Final of the 50M Butterfly placing 5th and her 7 second personal best of 48.41 in the 50M Backstroke heat assured her a place in the Final where she placed 5th overall. She also had a very strong swim in the 100M IM where she took over 8 seconds off her time for a 1:50.55 personal best.

Tara dominated her 50M Backstroke heat, her 44.84 time was over a second and a half faster than her previous best and secured her the fastest spot going into the Final where she scooped up the Gold medal for her efforts. She added to that with a Silver medal in the Final of the 50M Butterfly, her heat time of 45.12 being 3 seconds faster than her previous best. Her final medal of the meet, a Bronze, came from the Final of the 100M IM, her time of 1:38.44 was a 2 second personal best.

Niamh enjoyed several podium finishes, leading the way in the highly contested 50M Butterfly Final to take Gold in a 4 second personal best of 44.19 and adding to that with a further joint first place Gold medal win in the 50M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 50.00. Her Silver medal came from an excellant 100M IM where she knocked 6 and a half seconds off her time for a new personal best of 1:36.90.

In the Boys Under 11 age group were swimmers Neil O’Brien, Billy Mulcahy, Robert Twomey, Angus Gill and Ross Kavanagh. Neil swam well over the 2 day meet, his strongest performance coming from the 50M Freestyle where he recorded a new personal best time of 43.53. Billy pushed hard in the Final of the 50M Backstroke, his time of 46.03 was a personal best of almost 2 seconds and placed him 4th overall. He also made the final of the 50M Breaststroke where he placed 5th in a time of 51.50. His best swim of the meet came from the 100M IM where he took over 2 and a half seconds off his previous best for a new PB of 1:42.44.

Robert had a very strong 50M Butterfly heat where his time of 52.12 was a 4 and a half second personal best, giving him a place in the Final where he went on to take the Bronze medal in a time of 48.97, a further personal best of 3 seconds and a Grade B qualifying time. He added to that with a Bronze medal in the 50M Backstroke in a personal best time of 44.87. Swimming hard in the heats of the 100M IM, his time of 1:41.02 was a personal best of over 3 and a half seconds and gave him a place in the Final where he took 5th overall. He also secured a personal best in his 50M Freestyle heat in a time of 41.41, and went on to place 5th in the Final.

Angus had an incredible 50M Breaststroke heat, his time of 46.03 was almost a 4 second personal best and he was pipped at the death by fellow club mate Ross for the top spot and went on to take the Silver Medal in the 50M Breatstroke Final. He also gave a strong performance in his 50M Butterfly Final, his time of 51.60 was a personal best of almost 2 seconds securing him 4th place. His 40.06 time in the heats of the 50M Freestyle was a personal best of almost 2 seconds, placing him in the final where he took 4th place overall. Ross had a superb race in the 50M Breaststroke final, getting the touch for Gold in a personal best of 46.03 a PB of 3 seconds! He added to his medal haul with further Golds in the 100M IM, in a 4 second PB of 1:27.79 and in the 50M Backstroke with a 2 second personal best of 41.19.

In the Girls Under 11 age group were Abbie McNulty, Ciara Scanlon, Aoife O’Connell, Victoria Grace, Jessica Murphy, Yvonne Kelleher and Cliona O’Brien. Abbie swam well in the 50M Freestyle event, with a new personal best of 54.06. Ciara knocked over 4 seconds off her 100M Freestyle in the time trial for a new personal best of 1:36.52, and went on to take over 3 and a half seconds off her 50M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 42.31. She also had a personal best swim in the 50M Backstroke with a time of 52.47.

Aoife knocked 4 seconds off her old time in the 50M Breaststroke for a new personal best of 57.01, and went on to take over 9 seconds off her 100M IM time for a new personal best of 1:51.97. She also recorded personal bests in the 50M Freestyle of 43.94 and in the 50M Backstroke of 53.22. She also took on the 50M Butterfly for the firs time in a very respectable 1:01.40 time.

Victoria had personal bests in every event in which she entered, her best performance came from the 50M Backstroke event where she took almost 16 seconds off her old time for a new PB of 54.75. She took 8 seconds off her 100M IM time for a new PB of 1:55.19 and 2 seconds off her 50M Butterfly for a new PB of 1:00.41. She also took 2 seconds off her old 50M Breaststroke time for a new PB of 53.97, and over 2 and a half seconds off her time for the 50M Freestyle for a new PB of 44.00.

Jessica despite picking up a shoulder injury had a very successful meet, taking 7 seconds off her 100M IM time for a new personal best of 1:57.10. She also swam strongly in her 50M Backstroke with a new 4 second PB of 52.68 and again a 2 second personal best in the 50M Breaststroke in a time of 56.50. Yvonne had some outstanding swims, particularly her 50M Butterfly heat time of 47.94 which was a personal best by over 6 and a half seconds and guaranteed her a spot in the Finals where she went on to take 4th place. Her time of 42.28 in the 50M Freestyle was also a personal best by almost a second.

Cliona O’Brien made her presence felt in the U11 events, her 100M IM heat time of 1:33.56 was a Grade B qualifying time and personal best by over 11 seconds and secured her a Finals place where she went on to win the Bronze medal. She also took Bronze in the Final of the 50M Butterfly, her time of 47.93 was a personal best by over 5 seconds and a Grade B qualifying time. She also knocked 3 seconds off her 50M Breaststroke time in the Final for a new personal best of 50.13, a Grade B qualifying time taking 4th place. She also made the Finals of the 50M Backstroke taking 4th place in a personal best of 45.82, a PB by over 6 seconds and a further Grade B qualifying time.

The Under 12 Boys were represented by Swimmers Adam Fahy, Rory O’Sullivan, Jack O’Brien, Jerry Clifford, and Colin O’Neil. Adam had a strong 50M Freestyle swim with a personal best time of 42.25. Rory took over a second and a half off his time for the 50M Butterfly for a new personal best of 51.02, qualifying him in this event for Grade B. He also took over a second and a half off his 50M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 44.60, and took over 4 seconds off his 100M IM time for a new personal best of 1:53.06.

Jack took over a second and a half off his 50M Butterfly time for a new personal best of 46.38, and went on to take 5th place in the Final. He also had a personal best in his 50M Freestyle heat of 39.41, giving him a place in the Final where he placed 5th. His 50M Backstroke heat time of 46.42 was a PB of over a second and a half and secured him a Finals spot where he took 4th place overall.

Jerry took over 5 seconds off his 50M Butterfly time with an outstanding performance in the Final giving him the Silver medal in a 40.78 time. He went on to win Bronze in the 50 Backstroke, his time of 42.97 in the heats giving him a 2 second PB and won another Bronze in the 50M Freestyle Final with a personal best of 35.72 recorded in the heats. He also made the Finals of the 100M IM where he placed 5th, his heat time of 1:32.44 was a personal best by over 2 and a half seconds.

Colin rocketed home in the Final of the 50M Backstroke taking the Gold medal, his heat time of 39.84 secured him a personal best of over 3 seconds. He went on to take Silver in the Final of the 100M IM, his time of 1:26.87 a Grade A qualifying time and personal best of over a second. His final medal of the meet was a Bronze in the Final of the 50 Breaststroke, his heat time of 45.51 was a personal best of almost 2 seconds.

Representing the U12 Girls were Megan Mc Auliffe and Jennifer Cosgrave. Megan took over a second off her 100M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 1:35.19, and deserved every praise for completing the time trial dispite picking up an injury during the swim. She also had a personal best time in her 50M Breaststroke, taking almost a second off her old time for a new PB of 53.91.

Jennifer had an exceptional race in the Final of the 50M Butterfly, taking over a second and a half off her old time for a new personal best of 43.44 and the Gold medal. She knocked almost 5 seconds off her time in the heats of the 50M Freestyle for a new personal best of 37.01 but an unfortunate misadventure with goggles on the dive saw her take 5th in the Final. She came back to win Bronze in the 50M Backstroke however, with a personal best of 38.80 taking over 2 and a half seconds off her old time.

Congratulations go to Swimmers Ally Cunningham and John O’Shaughnessy for making their Grade B time for the 100M Freestyle while taking part in Sundays Mornings Mixed Open 100M Freestyle Time Trial. Ally took 3 seconds off her previous best to record a B time and new Personal best of 1:30.35. John took an incredible 7 seconds off his previous time for a B time and new personal best of 1:25.87.

Congratulations go also to Cliona O’Brien who was well inside the B qualifying time with a terrifc swim in the 100M IM event, recording a 1:33.56 time which was over 11 seconds faster than her previous best! She also made Grade B qualifying times in her 50M Butterfly, 50M Breaststroke, and 50M Backstroke events at the Minnows meet. We wish these swimmers the very best of luck at the Grade B Gala in Mayfield on the 8th June and every success in their future competitions.

A very special thank you goes to all the coaches, parents, and supporters who without their tireless contributions to timekeeping, officialling, stroke judging, team managing and marshalling the gala would not have been such a success. We would like to mention especially parents who generously supported our shop by contributing sweets, cakes and other goodies to help feed the hungry Hordes, and also to those who helped run the shop so successfully over the weekend – namely Karen Kelly, Caitlin Desmond, and Ellen O’Brien.

Again well done to all our swimmers on their achievements and we look forward to seeing them all do very well in the near future. Go Dolphin!

Saturday 24th May 2008 – Fun and fast times as the Saturday morning non competitive squads took to the water under the guidance of head coaches Brenda O’Dowling, Berna Donovan and Joe Mulcahy to enjoy a taste of competition as they took part in the end of season squads gala at the Mayfield pool.

With Swimmers in the younger and older categories performing well with outstanding personal bests and first times, it marked the end of the Lane Training for the 2007/2008 Season. Well done to all the swimmers who took part, especially the younger swimmers who braved the 50M events!

We look forward to seeing them all back in the water in their squads in September. For all those interested in the times and places achieved, the results are now available for download on the Season Results page. Go Dolphin!>br>

4 Dolphin Swimmers made the trek to the University of Limerick at the weekend, 24th & 25th May, for the Munster/Connaught Long Course Meet. With Clubs such as Kingdom, Waterford Crystal, Galway, Ennis and Limerick in attendance it made for a highly exciting and competitive gala with the Dolphin team taking home 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze Medal between them as well as numerous outstanding personal best long course times.

Representing the Under 12′s was Emma Hobbs, who enjoyed a particularly successful meet. Emma gave a top notch performance in her 50M Breaststroke, taking the Gold medal in a personal best time of 39.88, over 7 and a half seconds off her previous long course time. She then went on to win Gold again this time in the 100M Breaststroke taking a staggering 11 seconds off her old mark for a new long course personal best of 1:28.15. She complemented this with another win, this time Gold for the 200M Breaststroke in a personal best time of 3:07.64. Her time of 1:15.76 in the 100M Freestyle was enough to place her a very respectable 11th overall, and was a personal best of over 16 seconds! Well done Emma!

Not to be outdone, her brother Daniel Hobbs took Silver in the U14 200M Breaststroke in a very fast time of 3:02.45, a personal best of over 6 seconds. Danny also competed in the 50M Freestyle, taking over a second and a half off his previous time for a new personal best of 29.87 to place 5th overall. Sarah Allen also was competing in the Under 14 age group and managed to outswim rivals for the top spot and Gold medal in the 100M Butterfly in a personal best time of 1:12.77. She added to this with a Silver medal win in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:05.03, taking almost a second and a half off her old time.

Stephen O’Shaughnessy was competing in the U16 age group and certainly did not disappoint with a very convincing 3rd place win in the 800M Freestyle event, taking the Bronze in an outstanding personal best time of 9:51.22, almost 19 seconds faster than his previous best. He also placed 4th overall in the 1500M Freestyle with a time of 19:46.79 and 5th in the 200M Freestyle in a personal best time of 2:21.23. He took over 3 and a half seconds off his 100M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 1:03.30 to place 11th and took over 3 seconds off his old time in the 50M Freestyle to place 11th overall in a time of 29.61.

Well done to all the swimmers on their success, and we wish them best of luck with preparations for the rest of the end of Season competitions. Go Dolphin!

Dolphin Swimmers certainly showed off their talents at the recent Grade B Meet in Mayfield Sports Complex, held on Sunday 8th June, with an abundance of personal best times so late in the season and took home a very successful haul of 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 4 Bronze Individual medals to boot!

Never failing to impress are the Under 11′s, who pull out all the stops at each gala, constantly striving to improve on their times and performances. Making their Grade B competitive debut at this meet were Maeve McCarthy, Laura Clifford, Cliona O’Brien and Ally Cunningham. Maeve knocked almost 2 seconds off her 100M IM time for a new personal best of 1:41.03 and swam strongly in the 100 Backstroke for a time of 1:48.13 and in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:53.40. Laura set a new personal best in her 100M Freestyle for a time of 1:32.02, and in the 200M Freestyle she finished strongly in a time of 3:15.15.

Cliona had an excellent swim in the 100M IM, placing 5th in a time of 1:38.44 and added to that with fast swims in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:53.63 and the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:44.74. Ally also swam well in her 200M Freestyle, with a 3:20.44 time and went on to have a very powerful 100M Backstroke swim with a 1:44.48 time.

Emma Richardson knocked over 6 seconds off her 200M Freestyle time, bringing it down to a 3:13.76 and went on to take over 4 seconds off her 100M Backstroke time for 4th place and a new personal best of 1:37.42, edging her closer to the Grade A qualifying time of under 1:35. Rebecca Farrelly shaved 5 seconds off her 200M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 3:13.93, and went on to take over 4 seconds off her 100M IM time for a Silver Medal and new personal best time of 1:36.69.

Niamh Kelly took over 5 seconds off her 200M Freestyle for a new personal best of 3:17.84 and went on then to take the Silver Medal in the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:59.41. Her team mate Tara Desmond clocked up a personal best in the 200M Freestyle of 3:06.89 placing her in 6th position in the event and she then went on to take the Gold Medal in the 100M Butterfly in a fast 1:57.59.

Making his Grade B debut in the Under 11 Boys was John O’Shaughnessy with an impressive 200M Freestyle time of 3:13.50 which placed him 8th overall. He also had a strong swim in his 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:41.19, again placing him 8th. He went on to place 6th overall in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:56.82.Ethan Keane placed 7th in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:58.57 and went on to take over 2 seconds off his 100M IM time for a new personal best time of 1:41.50, placing him 9th overall.

Billy Mulcahy stormed home in the Freestyle events, narrowly missing out on a podium spot in the 200M Freestyle with an excellent 2 second personal best of 3:00.82 for a 4th place finish, and topped that with a 3rd place and Bronze Medal in the 100M Freestyle where he took over 6 seconds off his old time for a new personal best of 1:22.59, again edging closer to the Grade A qualifying time of 1:19. He also took over a second and a half off his 100M IM time for a new personal best of 1:40.81.

Darren Twomey dropped almost 4 seconds in the 100M Breaststroke for a new personal best time of 1:48.72 and a Bronze Medal. He placed just outside of the medals in the 100M Backstroke, his time of 1:36.81 giving him 4th place overall. Angus Gill once again showed his talent for the Breaststroke event with a medal winning performance in the 100M, his time of 1:43.62 was over a 5 and a half second personal best and he is now closer than ever to the Grade A qualifying time of under 1:42. Angus also had a notable 100M IM with a personal best time of 1:40.31 which placed him 6th overall.

In the Under 13 Girls age Category Jennifer Cosgrave represented Dolphin with striking swims, her 100M Freestyle time of 1:24.01 was a personal best of over 8 seconds and very close to the 1:23 Grade A qualifying time. She went on however to make a Grade A qualifying time in her 100M Breaststroke with a powerful swim of 1:43.66. She also took over 8 seconds off her previous best in the 100M IM, for a new personal best of 1:34.06.

In the Boys Under 13 age group, Anthony Creed took over 2 and a half seconds off his best in the 100M Butterfly for a new personal best of 2:05.53, and went on to take a further 4 seconds off his 100M IM for a new personal best time of 1:41.63. Jack O’Brien took a whopping 8 seconds off his 200M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 3:08.15, and went on to place 8th overall in the 100M Butterfly in another personal best of 1:53.65.

Jerry Clifford improved his 200M Freestyle with a personal best of over 2 and a half seconds, his time of 2:50.44 taking him one step closer to the Grade A qualifying time of Under 2:48 and placing him 3rd overall with the Bronze Medal in the event. He also went on to claim a new personal best in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:23.75 which was enough to see him take a respectable 7th place overall. He also had a fast first time swim in the 100M Backstroke event with a 1:35.15 time.

In the Under 15 age group representing the club were Ellen O’Brien and Blathain Lynch. Ellen had a spectacular 200M Freestyle swim, with an almost 5 second personal best. Her time of 2:50.70 well inside the Grade A qualifying time and placed her 3rd overall with the Bronze medal in this event. She also had a fine 100M Backstroke performance, finishing strongly to place 5th overall with a new 4 second PB of 1:37.44, again getting her closer to achieving her Grade A in this event. She added to that with an excellent 100M Breaststroke where she took 8 and a half seconds off her old time for a new personal best of 1:46.28, again getting her closer to the Grade A qualifying standard of 1:44.

Blathain Lynch shaved over 4 seconds off her 200M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 3:07.71, and went on to take over a second and a half off her personal best in the 100M Backstroke for the Gold Medal, Grade A Qualifying time and new PB time of 1:29.34. She added to that with a Silver Medal and Grade A qualifing time in the 100M Breaststroke, her time of 1:41.88 was over 6 and a half seconds faster than her previous best. Her final Silver Medal and Grade A Qualifying time came from the 100M IM, her time of 1:30.22 was a 5 second personal best.

Special thanks to all the Dolphin Officials, parents and supporters for giving of their time so generously over the weekend to help organise and run the event. Without this, we would be unable to host competitions with such an enviable track record as we have done in the past and hope to do so again in the future. A sincere thank you to the parents who supplied the delicious goodies for the officials, especially to Helen Desmond and Marie O’Brien for keeping the tea/coffee and Sandwiches coming!

Congratulations to all the swimmers who made it a very memorable event, well done on all your outstanding achievements this season. As the 2007/2008 Season draws to a close we congratulate the swimmers who have secured a place at the Graded Finals which are due to take place in Mallow on Saturday 14th June. We wish them all the very best of luck in their events, and we continue to wish all the swimmers in the squad every success in future seasons. For those swimmers whose training will be at an end this week, enjoy your summer break and we look forward to seeing you in the pool again at the start of the ’08/’09 Season in September. Go Dolphin!

Dolphin had a strong respresentation this year at the Graded Finals held at Mallow Pool on Saturday 14th June, which saw teams from all over the Munster region take part in what is usually regarded as the final chance to make Grade A and B qualifying times within the current competitive Season. With a team of 27 Swimmers competing, Dolphin swam into the medals with 7 Individual Golds, 12 Silver Medals and 6 Bronze Medals.

In the U11 Girls Grade C, Swimmers Sinead Mills, Niamh Moloney, Cliona O’Brien, Laura Clifford, and Ally Cunningham all had very impressive swims. Sinead competed in two events, and secured a top 5 placing in both taking almost a second off her best time in the 50M Butterfly for a new personal best of 53.10, and taking over 3 and a half seconds off her 50M Breaststroke time for a new personal best of 51.89, coming in under the Grade B qualifying time of 52.00.

Niamh lead the field in the 50M Breaststroke, securing the top podium spot with a time of 51.09. Cliona proved hard to beat in the 100M IM, taking the Gold medal in a time of 1:39.90. She went on to take the silver medal in the 50M Breaststroke behind team mate Niamh in a time of 51.25, and also took Silver in the 50M Butterfly in a time of 49.69.

Laura Clifford snapped up the Gold Medal in the 50M Freestyle with an excellent time of 39.16. She also took Bronze in the 100M Freestyle, taking over 5 seconds off her old personal best in the process for a new PB of 1:26.97. She also recorded a PB in her 50M Butterfly with a time of 53.34. Ally powered home in the 50M Backstroke to take second place and Silver medal in a new personal best time of 45.80, almost 3 seconds faster than her old time. She went on to take Bronze in the 50M Freestyle event, again with a personal best time of 40.25, knocking almost 2 seconds off her previous best.

In the Boys Under 11 Grade C, Dolphin was represented by Ronan Fahy, Neil O’Brien, Mark Auf Der Heyde, Nathan Manson Browne, Robert Twomey and John O’Shaughnessy. Ronan took to the water for two events, the 50M Butterfly where he placed 5th overall in a time of 1:06.26 and the 50M Breaststroke where his time of 1:06.45 placed him 13th. Neil also took part in the 50M Butterfly and stormed home in a personal best of over 4 seconds, his time of 56:56 just outside podium placings giving him a very fine 4th overall. Neil also competed in the 50M Breaststroke, his time of 54.50 was over a second and a half faster than his previous best and placed him 6th overall.

Mark Auf Der Heyde competed in the 50M Breaststroke, and managed a very respectable 8th overall place with a time of 55.37 in what was a highly contested event. Nathan powered home in the same event, the 50M Breaststroke, to take the Silver Medal in a time of 53.38, over 5 seconds faster than his previous best.

Robert pushed hard in the 50M Backstroke to take the Silver medal in a time of 44.97, just fractionally outside of his current PB and went on to take the Bronze Medal in the 100M IM in a time of 1:39.63, almost a second and a half faster than his previous best and qualifying him for Grade B. He also took over 2 seconds off his 100M Freestyle to record a new personal best of 1:30.4, just outside of the Grade B time in this event.

John O’Shaughnessy continued his successful season with more wins, this time in the 50M Butterfly where he took the Silver medal in a time of 50.06, a personal best of almost 3 and a half seconds! He added to this with a Silver Medal in the 100M IM, his time of 1:38.14 was a personal best of over 3 and a half seconds. His final medal of the meet, a Bronze, came from the 50M Breaststroke swim where he took 3rd in a time of 53.43.

In the Boys Under 13 Grade C, Adam Fahy had a tremendous 100M IM swim recording a personal best of over 2 and a half seconds. His time of 1:41.70 sees him moving closer to the Grade B qualifying time and was enough to secure him a very respectable 4th overall position in this competitive age group.

In the Girls Under 11 Grade B, Tara Desmond, Emma Richardson, Yvonne Kelleher, Niamh Kelly, Rebecca Farrelly all impressed with their tremendous swimming. Tara, though swimming slightly outside of her personal best, pushed hard in all 4 of her events and placed within the top ten in what was a very competitive age group. Emma had an excellent 100M Backstroke event, her time of 1:35.70 close to the Grade A qualifying time of 1:35.00 and was a personal best of over 1 and a half seconds placing her 5th overall.

Yvonne Kelleher competed in one event, the 100M Freestyle, and took over 2 seconds off her previous best for a new time of 1:36.25 which saw her place 8th overall. Niamh Kelly was unbeatable in the 100M Butterfly, taking the Gold in a time of 1:53.98. Her time of 1:54.16 in the 100M Breaststroke was enough to see her place 5th overall in the event. Rebecca managed to knock over 3 seconds off her 100M Breaststroke time for a new personal best of 1:47.59 which saw her take the Silver Medal. She also took over a second off her 100M IM time for a new personal best of 1:35.42 and saw her place 4th overall.

In the Boys Under 11 Grade B, Darren Twomey, Angus Gill, Billy Mulcahy and Ross Kavanagh all had success in their events. Darren took Bronze in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:37.00 and placed 5th in the 100M IM and 100M Breaststroke. Angus swam strongly in the 100M Breaststroke to take the Bronze medal in a time of 1:44.21. He also placed 4th in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:39.40. Billy took to the pool for his 200M Freestyle event and easily took Bronze in a time of 3:02.81.

Ross Kavanagh took the top spot and Gold medal in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:32.91, and went on to take the Silver Medal in the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:35.16, and Silver again in the 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:18.69, a personal best of over 3 seconds. He also placed 4th in the 100M IM and 100M Breaststroke.

In the Girls Under 13 Grade B, Louise Coleman was the sole representative in this age group and secured the top spot and Gold Medal in her 100M IM with a time of 1:26.78, a personal best of over 1 and a half seconds. She also took Gold in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:33.63.

In the Boys Under 13 Grade B, Jack O’Brien, Colin O’Neil and Jerry Clifford all took part with Jack competing in the 100M Butterfly. His time of 1:55.44 was enough to see him place 7th overall. Colin powered home in the 200M Freestyle with a personal best of almost 5 and a half seconds, his time of 2:49.63 placed him 6th overall. He also had a tremendous swim in the 100M Backstroke, his time of 1:32.19 saw him shave almost 2 seconds off his old time for a new personal best and 5th place spot.

Jerry Clifford was just outside of the medals in the 100M Butterfly, his time of 1:37.37 was a personal best of over 3 seconds and saw him take a very respectable 4th place position. He also had an excellent swim in his 200M Freestyle, taking over a second and a half off his time for a new personal best of 2:48.84 and bringing him closer to qualifying for Grade A. His 100M Freestyle swim gave him his final PB of the meet, his time of 1:23.27 saw him place 9th overall.

In the Girls Under 15 Grade B, Ellen O’Brien and Julie Flood both had fantastic swims with Ellen recording another personal best in her 100M Backstroke event with a time of 1:37.28. Julie took a whopping 6 and a half seconds off her personal best in the 200M Freestyle, her time of 2:49.53 gave her the Silver Medal in the event. She won again, another Silver this time in the 100M Backstroke with a time of 1:30.81, a PB of over a second. In her 100M Breaststroke event, she took over 4 seconds off to place 6th in a time of 1:45.47.

Well done to all swimmers who took part, their outstanding performances reflected the hard work they have put in this season and we wish them continued success in future competition. We wish them all the best for their Summer hiatus and look forward to seeing them all back in the squad sessions in September. Go Dolphin!

A Gauntlet had been thrown down – who would be brave enough to challenge themselves in an 800M or 1500M time trial? The chosen few arrived on Saturday evening to the pool and took part in what was a very successful event.

From the Am Squad, Alex Rathke, and Ellen O’Brien took on the daunting 1500M with ease and Caitlin Desmond the 800M.

From the PM Squad Billy Mulcahy completed the gruelling 1500M, with team mates Jack O’Brien, John O’Shaughnessy and Robert Twomey taking on the challenging 800M swim.

From the Masters Squad, Carol Cashell and Maeve Mulcahy completed their 1500M swims in impressive style with Carol Cashell coming in at the 800M 2 seconds faster than the current U34 Irish Masters Record for a time of 10:36.20 and an over a full minute faster at the 1500M than the current Irish Masters Record with a time of 20:21.74.

Congratulations go to Billy Mulcahy on setting the 1500M Boys 10 Years Club Record with an impressive 26:31.59 time, and to Robert Twomey for setting the 800M Boys 10 Years Club Record with a time of 14:06.53. The full set of times are now available to download from the Seasons Results page!

Meanwhile Dolphin Swimmers were selected to represent their province at the upcoming interpros. Congratulations and Well Done to Emma Hobbs, Sarah Allen, Sarah Hickey and Susan Callanan, Thomas Treacy, Patrick Daly, Darren O Dowling, Cian Mulcahy, Tim Daly and Simon Treacy on their selection to the Munster Interprovincial Swim Team that will represent Munster at the NAC on Sunday 22nd June.

The honour of representing Munster at the Interprovincials 2008 was afforded to some of Dolphins most promising young swimmers. The Championships were held at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin on the 22nd June 2008, showcasing the swimming talent of each of the provinces. Thomas and Simon Treacy, Patrick Daly, Emma Hobbs, Darren O’Dowling, Sarah Clifford, Sarah Allen, Tim Daly, Cian Mulcahy and Alex Rathke all gave gutsy performances on the day, with several personal best times being recorded.

Patrick Daly took over 2 and a half seconds off his best in the 100M Breaststroke to record a new personal best time of 1:26.79, placing him 3rd overall in the event. Emma Hobbs knocked almost a second off her 100M Breaststroke time for a new personal best of 1:25.64 placing her just outside out of a podium finish with 4th place overall in her age group.

Darren O’Dowling scored points for Munster in his 100M Butterfly with a time of 1:18.93, placing him 7th overall. Sarah Allen powered home in the 100M Butterfly to take second place in a time of 1:09.58 with team mate Sarah Clifford taking the 5th place in the same event in a time of 1:12.47.

Cian Mulcahy knocked over 2 and a half seconds off his 100M Butterfly time for a new personal best time of 1:07.60, giving him 2nd place overall in his age group in the event. Team mate Tim Daly in the same age group pushed hard in the 100M Backstroke to take 2nd place with a personal best time of 1:06.52, almost a second and a half quicker than previous swims. He added to that with a 3rd place finish in the 100M Breaststroke in a time of 1:16.36 and a 7th place in the 100M Freestyle.

Alex Rathke had a fine 3rd place finish in the 200M Freestyle with a time of 2:06.51, and went on to place 5th in the 100M Backstoke in a time of 1:07.63. Team mate Simon took the top spot in the 100M Butterfly in a fast time of 1:01.07 and added to it with a second place finish in the 200M IM in a personal best time of 2:17.89. His final swim afforded him a respectable 3rd place finish in the 100M Backstroke in a time of 1:03.00, almost a second and a half faster than his previous best.

Well done to the Dolphin Swimmers, and to all the swimmers from Munster taking part. We look forward to seeing more of their club mates competing at this level in the near future. Go Dolphin!

The recent Irish Age Group Division 2 Championships showed that while the qualifying standards get tougher each year, so do the competitors. Again competing with the best Irish Swimmers at this level, Dolphin’s squad of 10 Swimmers held their own time and time again over the tough 3 day championships held at the 50M UL Arena on the 27th, 28th and 29th June 2008, bringing home 3 indiviudal Gold, 1 Silver and capturing Gold medals in the U14 Boys Medley and Freestyle relay events.

This year competing in the 11-12 age group were Amy Cunningham, and Thomas Treacy. Placing exceptionally well in her age group overall, Amy managed to drop 3.5 seconds in the 100M Backstroke event for a new personal best time of 1:25.84 and added to that with an incredible 4 and a half second personal best in the 200M Freestyle for a time of 2:52.58.

Thomas pulled out all the stops in his events, placing an exceptional 6th overall in the Final of the 100M Butterfly event, with a personal best time of 1:27.36, faster again than the personal best recorded in the heat. He also made the final of the 100M Freestyle, and placed 8th in a time of 1:12.96. He placed 8th overall in the 200M IM in a personal best time of 3:01.16. However his swim of the meet came from the 200M Freestyle event where he took over 15 seconds off his previous best to record a new time of 2:37.20.

In the 13-14 age group were Louise Coleman, Grace O’Doherty, Caitlin Desmond, Sarah Hickey, Mateusz Rudak, Alex McNulty and Cian Mulcahy. Louise placed well in all her events, particularly the 100M Breaststroke where she took 9th place in her heat. Grace pushed hard in all her events, giving a gutsy performance which earned her personal bests and very respectable placings in what is a highly contested age group. She took over 3 seconds off her previous best in the 100M Backstroke with a time of 1:24.92, then took almost 2 and a half seconds off her 100M Freestyle for a time of 1:14.86 and took over 3 seconds off her 200M Freestyle for a time of 2:38.55. She also shaved 2.5 seconds off her 100M Butterfly for a new personal best of 1:38.12 and almost 2.5 seconds off her 200M IM for a time of 3:14.20.

Caitlin Desmond had an exceptional meet, with personal bests in her 200M Freestyle, 100M Freestyle, and 100M Backstroke events. She took over a second off her previous best in the 200M Freestyle to record a time of 2:33.93 and 8th place overall. She went on to take almost a second off her 100M Freestyle with a new personal best time of 1:12.27 and in the 100M Backstroke took half a second off for a new PB of 1:23.33.

Sarah took a whopping 10 seconds off her previous best for the 100M Butterfly, recording a personal best of 1:36.66. She also had an excellent 200M IM swim which saw her take almost 5 seconds off her old time for a new personal best of 2:56.89. She also took over 1.5 seconds off her 100M Freestyle swim for a new personal best time of 1:15.17.

Mateusz was just outside of a podium finish in the hotly contested 100M Breaststroke event, but finished a very respectable 4th overall with a personal best time of 1:24.95, almost 3 seconds faster than his previous best. He also had an exceptional swim in his 200M IM with a 12 second personal best of 2:53.19 placing him 11th overall, and in his 100M Backstroke where he took over 4 and a half seconds off his old time for a new personal best time of 1:23.00. He had a further personal best in the 100M Freestyle, taking almost 2.5 seconds off for a time of 1:08.43.

Alex McNulty pulled out a 13 second personal best in the 200M IM with a 2:55.73 swim and took almost 2 seconds off his 200M Freestyle with a personal best of 2:22.16. He also swam strongly in his 100M Backstroke event, recording another personal best time of 1:20.67.

Cian Mulcahy had a sensational Division 2 meet, leading the field in his 100M Butterfly final to take the title and Gold Medal in a personal best time of 1:07.12. He outswam his rivals in the final of the 100M Backstroke event to take the Gold Medal and top spot, powering home in a personal best time of 1:09.25 which was over a second faster again that the personal best he recorded in the heats of the same event.

He added to that with an outstanding performance in the 200M IM, clearly dominating the event and taking the Gold again in a fast 2:33.73, almost 8 seconds faster than his previous best time. In a hotly contested 100M Freestyle event that went down to the wire Cian got the touch for second and the Silver medal in an excellent 1:02.78, again pulling out a further personal best to the one he recorded in the earlier heat. He also made 8th overall in the competitive 200M Freestyle event, with a 4 second personal best time of 2:21.78.

In the 15-16 age category Alysha Hoare held her own despite facing stiff competition in her age group placing well in all her events, especially in the 200M Freestyle event and pulling out a personal best in the 100M Backstroke event, taking over 2 seconds off her previous best time for a new personal best of 1:34.03.

The Boys 13-14 age group relay made up of Alex McNulty, Mateusz Rudak, Thomas Treacy and Cian Mulcahy took to the pool in spectacular fashion, beating off stiff competition to take Gold in both the 4 x 50M Medley and Freestyle events. In the Girls 13-14 4 x 50M Medley relay, made up of Caitlin Desmond, Amy Cunningham, Sarah Hickey and Louise Coleman, the girls placed well in the heats making the Finals where they pushed hard to take the 7th position overall. In the 13-14 4 x 50M Freestyle relay made up of Grace O’Doherty, Louise Coleman, Sarah Hickey and Caitlin Desmond the girls placed a very respectable 6th overall.

Congratulations to all the swimmers who worked so hard over the past few weeks and months to train for this important event, we wish them every success in next seasons competitions. A special thank you goes to all the officials, and especially the parents who travelled to the Championships with the swimmers, offering them support and encouragement during the warm ups and Finals.

We would like to wish those swimmers still preparing for the Irish Age Groups Division 1 & Youth and Seniors all the very best with their continued training schedule, and the very best of luck at the meets themselves. Go Dolphin!

With a wealth of Irish Junior Swimming Talent on display, Dolphin’s squad of 4 held their own over the 3 day event at the National Aquatic Centre, Dublin. With over 200 swimmers from 54 clubs competing in this prestigous event, Dolphin Swimmers Patrick Daly, Emma Hobbs, Daniel Hobbs and Tim Daly brought home a plethora of Personal Best Times as well as a National Silver and National Bronze Medal from the championships.

In the competitive 11-12 age category were swimmers Patrick Daly and Emma Hobbs. Patrick took over 18 seconds off his long course time in the 200M IM with a new personal best of 2:48.89, qualifying for the final where he placed 8th overall. He took over 11 seconds off his 200 Freestyle time, setting a new PB of 2:35.47. In the 100M Freestyle, he took almost 4 seconds off his long course time with a new personal best of 1:12.95. Patrick also competed in the 200M Breaststroke, setting a time of 3:15.40 in the heats which qualified him for a fast paced final where he placed a very respectable 4th in a new personal best of 3:13.03.

Emma pushed hard in her breaststroke events, her 100M Breaststroke heat saw her qualify for the final where she just placed outside the medals in a time of 1:27.91, a personal best. In her 200M Breaststroke Emma held her own the entire race, finishing 3rd and taking the Bronze medal with a time of 3:08.40, 10 seconds faster than her nearest rival. She also took part in the 100M Freestyle event, swimming just outside her PB with a time of 1:15.81.

In the fiercely competitive Boys Under 14 age group, swimmers Daniel Hobbs and Tim Daly proved their mettle with some outstanding performances. Daniel knocked over 3 and a half seconds off his old time in the 200M Breaststroke event, with a new personal best of 2:58.81 it was enough to see him into the Final where he placed 8th overall.

Swimming also in the Freestyle events, he took almost 8 seconds off his 400M Freestyle with a new personal best of 4:46.42, placing him 11th overall in the age group. In the 200 Freestyle, he took almost 2 seconds off his previous time for a new personal best of 2:16.40. He also completed the 100M Freestyle prelims in a time of 1:04.57.

Tim Daly powered his way through his 100M Butterfly heat taking an incredible 22 seconds off his previous long course time, for a new personal best of 1:07.00 easily qualifying for the fast paced Final where he took a very respectable 6th place position overall. He was equally impressive in his 100M Backstroke, taking over 5 seconds off in the heats for a new personal best of 1:10.30 and went on in the Final to improve his time further with another personal best time, 1:09.88 and 7th place overall.

Tim’s new personal best time of 1:18.11 in the 100M Breaststroke heat was enough to see him into the final where he placed just outside the medals in 4th with again a personal best time of 1:16.61, over a second and a half faster than his entry time. His swim of the championships came from the 200M IM, he took over 3 and a half seconds off his old time in the heats with a personal best of 2:28.51. Qualifying fastest going into the Finals, he held on at the finish to take the Silver medal in a new personal best time of 2:26.57.

It is an achievement in itself to make the qualifying standards for this National event, and we would like to congratulate the swimmers on their exceptional performances. We look forward to seeing many of our other young swimmers stepping up to the challenge of making the qualifying times for next years event and we wish them all the very best of luck for the new Season starting in September. Go Dolphin!

Sometimes it can be hard to stand out at National level amongst the star studded Dublin and Belfast clubs but not so for the members of the Dolphin Team attending this years Irish Age Group Youth & Open Championships in the National Aquatic Centre, Dublin. With an eventful week at the Venue, which had just successfully hosted the Irish Age Group Division 1 championships which saw Dolphin’s Junior Team bring home a National Silver and National Bronze medal, it was the turn of the Dolphin Elite to take center stage and bring home titles of their own, with one National Gold, 2 National Silver and 3 National Bronze medals returning to Cork.

Swimming in the competitive Girls Under 14 age group were Sarah Clifford and Sarah Allen. Sarah Clifford had a heavy schedule of events, taking it in her stride with some outstanding performances which earned her a place in the Final of the 100M Butterfly where she placed 5th overall in a time of 1:13.07, and just placed outside of the medals in the Final of the 200M Butterfly with a time of 2:50.66. She had a powerful swim in her 50M Butterfly, clocking a new personal best time of 32.15.

Sarah Allen featured in a number of Finals, having given powerful performances in the heats of her events. Placing 5th in the final of the 200M Backstroke she took over 3 and a half seconds off her old time for a new personal best of 2:38.62. She also featured in the 100M Butterfly final alongside team mate Sarah Clifford, and took the Bronze medal in a 2 and a half second personal best time of 1:10.27. In the Final of the 100M Backstroke, Sarah took over 4 and a half seconds off her previous best for 5th place and a new PB of 1:14.10. She swam into the medals in the final of the 200M Butterfly taking an exceptional 18 and a half seconds off her old time for a new personal best and Bronze medal winning time of 2:44.09.

In the Under 15 Boys Age group, Tim O’Callaghan and Stephen O’Shaughnessy battled it out for places in the Finals of their events. Tim had an outstanding meet, with personal best times in all his events including an excellent first time swim of 19:15.16 in the challenging 1500M Long course Freestyle event which saw him place 6th overall. Tim took over 9 seconds off his 400M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 4:47.07, and took almost 6 seconds off his 200M Freestyle previous best with a new personal best swim of 2:15.68. He topped it all off with a personal best of over 2 and a half seconds in his 100M Freestyle, with a time of 1:01.72.

Stephen O’Shaughnessy showed his prowess at the distance Freestyle events with a superb 1500M Swim which saw him shave over 57 seconds off his previous best for a new PB time of 18:41.11 and capture the Silver medal for the event. He added to that with a powerful performance in his 400M Freestyle event, taking over 10 seconds off his time for a new personal best of 4:48.84 and then went on to take over 3 seconds off his 200M Freestyle time with a new personal best of 2:18.09.

Standing alone in the Girls Under 15 age group was Susan Callanan and she proved more than a match for her rivals, taking the Gold medal in spectacular style in the 100M Freestyle final with a new personal best long course time of 1:00.53. Susan went on to take Silver in the 200M IM with a 3 second personal best time of 2:34.48 and then added to that with a Bronze winning performance in the 100M Butterfly in a time of 1:09.48, again setting a new personal best. Competing in the 50M Freestyle event, she set a time of 29.35 in the heats and in the heat of the 50M Butterfly set a new personal best time of 31.59. She also took part in the 200M Freestyle, setting a time of 2:20.69.

In the highly competitive Boys under 16 age group, Ross McNulty, Alex Rathke and Simon Treacy all had extraordinary swims with Personal Best times recorded all round. Ross took an impressive 20 seconds off his 200M Freestyle time for a new personal best of 2:21.75 and also recorded a personal best in the 50M Freestyle with a time of 27.98. Alex knocked over 5 seconds off his previous time in the 200M Backstroke heats with a time of 2:29.24, making the Final where he placed 7th overall.

He then went on to take over 5 seconds off his 400M Freestyle time, recording a new personal best of 4:35.97 and qualifying for a final placing where he took 7th overall. In the 200M Freestyle, he took over a second and a half off for a new personal best of 2:09.77, and in the 100M Freestyle he again recorded a new personal best of 59.60. His time of 27.57 in the heats of the 50M Freestyle was half a second faster than his previous best.

Simon knocked over half a second off his 50M Butterfly time with a new personal best of 27.73, and took almost half a second off his 50M Breaststroke time for a new personal best of 34.40. His personal best of 57.33 in the heats of the 100M Freestyle was enough to see him into the fast paced final where he placed 8th overall.

Unfortunately a disqualification in the 100M Butterfly for supposedly remaining under water past the 15M water at the race start, after putting in an incredible performance which saw him touch home first in a time of 61.0, saw Simon out of medals in that event but he bounced back with an outstanding 200M Butterfly Final which saw him snap up the Silver medal in the event with a 2:18.42 time. He recorded another personal best, this time in the heats of the 200M IM with a time of 2:22.72 taking him into the Final where he placed 6th overall. He also made the final of the 100M Breaststroke taking the 5th overall position.

In the 17 & Over Womens age group was swimmer Stephanie Allen who though swimming outside her best times put in some great performances that saw her rank highly in the Backstroke events. Her time of 2:41.56 saw her take 11th overall in the Open 200M Backstroke and her time of 1:14.69 saw her place 10th overall in the Open 100M Backstroke.

In the 17-18 Mens Age Group, Kieran Donovan and Reggie Murphy turned on the style with Kieran setting the pace with a fast lead off in the Mens 4×100 Freestyle relay with a time of 1:00.68 which was another personal best, having already performed strongly in his individual 100M Freestyle event with a personal best of 1:01.03. He also took part in the 400M Freestyle event, clocking up a 4:38.00 time which was close to his personal best.

Reggie easily made the Final of the 200M Backstroke where he placed 5th overall in a time of 2:25.77, a new personal best. He also performed well in his 100M Backstroke event, taking over a second off his old time for a new personal best of 1:05.70. He also recorded a new personal best time in the heats of the 50M freestyle, with a 27.88 and placed well in his 100M Freestyle in a time of 1:01.28.

Many thanks to the officials and parents who made the trip up to Dublin for the championships, their help as always was greatly appreciated. Well done to all the swimmers on their achievements, we hope they enjoy their summer vacation and look forward to seeing them in action in the pool in September when the new Season kicks off. Go Dolphin!