Sutton and Cheam Swimming and Water Polo Club have made their best start to the Surrey Age Group swimming championship winning 5 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze medals over the first weekend of competition. Nine year old Michael Rees, in his debut championships, took the first honours in the 200 metre Breaststroke in a personal best of 3mins.27.86 secs. Minutes later William Ward cruised home to win the 10 years group in another personal best time of 3mins 16.41 secs, finishing an astonishing 14 secs ahead of the second place swimmer. Team Captain Ace Taylor (15) then contributed a silver medal in his age group in the same event. (pictured) In the evening Jacob Tidy (15) and James DeBrunner(14) took Silver and Bronze respectively in the toughest event of the day, the 200m Butterfly.

On Sunday Michael Rees swam into the limelight once again as he won 2 more Gold Medals in the 200m Backstroke and the 100m Individual Medley in the 9 yrs age group. William Ward picked up another Gold medal in the 10 yr group in the same event with George Brown fighting his way through the field to claim late Silver as well.

With personal bests being broken in most races Sutton’s swimmers can’t wait for the 50m sprint events to start in 3 weeks time at Crystal Palace.

In all, Sutton and Cheam have 32 swimmers entered in a record 175 events over the course of the Championships which run over several weekends until March 28th. With several genuine gold medal hopes across the age groups and with 10 medals won already it will be the club’s best ever showing in the Championships. More details are available on the club web-site www.suttonandcheam.org.uk.

The Club’s winter season is getting better by the week. At the recent club championships there were an encouraging number of different winners (pictured) so the future of the swimming section under Head Coach Jim Walker and Junior Coach Helen Andrews looks very exciting, especially as the club are expected to formally announce a new and valued sponsorship deal very soon.

In water polo, the 1st team gained promotion to the top division of the National League and head coach Dave Andrews was not only awarded the London coach of the year by the Regional ASA but was also elected Chairman of the National League, a justified honour for someone who has put so much into the sport over a number of years.

14 year old Brooke Tafazolli (pictured) was deservedly selected for the GB women’s youth squad, the first girl in the club’s history to gain representative honours and the hot news is that Eve tidy will not be far behind in representing her country. Jacob Tidy, Jack Miller, James Debrunner and James McFarlane have all had trials for the GB men’s youth squad and Matt Holland added to his long list of success by being awarded Athlete of the Year at the London ASA awards.

All of the club teams featured strongly in their respective leagues with the ladies U21 team retaining their London Championships title.

The club are one of only 3 combined swimming and water polo clubs in the London region to be awarded the coveted Swim 21 accreditation which covers Swimming, Teaching and Skill Development, Water Polo and Teaching. This award, coupled with their Club Mark status of being a safe environment for children to learn strengthens their position as the leading light among water sports clubs in the Borough.