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Swansea take hat-trick in 5km races

Swansea Aquatics took a 5km hat-trick in the final session of the 2016 ASA Open Water Festival, taking three out of four titles in this event.

The event was split into three waves, the Boys 17/18yrs, Girls 17/18yrs and then the Boys and Girls 19+ went out in the final wave.

There were some great performances by English swimmers, but Swansea stole the limelight with the triple gold, and also received the trophy for being the most successful club overall at the 2016 National Age Group Open Water Championships.

19+yrs 5km results

City of Birmingham’s Abby Smith managed to take a convincing win in the girls 19+yrs age group, after swimming almost two seconds faster than Emily Clarke from Poole, who followed up for silver. Smith swam 1:05:04 to take gold.

While Swansea’s Thomas Allen was a clear victor in the boys 19+yrs event, finishing with a time of 59:18, second and third place were a battle to the very last stroke. Three swimmers were in contention, Thomas Nelson of Wirral Metro, Patrick Meggitt of Hereford and Ben Roberts from Wolverhampton.

Roberts was the second swimmer to touch, clinching the silver medal with 1:01:08, and Nelson was just 12 seconds behind, swimming 1:01.20 to take the final position on the podium.

17/18yrs 5km results

There was almost nothing to separate the girls in the 17/18yrs age group, and there was even a whistle blown by the referee in the final straight to tell the girls to move apart, as they were furiously matching one another stroke for stroke.

Sophie Evans managed to break away from the small pack to take the second gold for Swansea Aquatics in a time of 1:03.56. Rose Foden of Northampton and Sophie Millen of Wycombe district took the final places on the podium, both girls swimming 1:04:07.

Cameron Croot of Swansea was the third swimmer to claim a title for the Welsh club, finishing well over a minute ahead of the rest of the field.

Thomas Millburn of Cockermouth, Gordon Mason of Ellesmere College and Thomas Smith of Northampton were less than a stroke apart in the closing section of the race. Millburn managed to win the silver with 59:41 and Mason took bronze with 59.44.

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