Mount Kelly and Loughborough Uni enjoy relay success at British Summer Champs

Mount Kelly and Loughborough University impressed on the opening day of the Speedo British Summer Championships 2022.

Day one of the championships had a focus on long distance events, with swimmers racing in the 1500m and the 4x200m Freestyle relay heats.

All races on the opening day were ‘heat declared winner’ events, meaning those with the fastest times in the heats earned the medals.

Mount Kelly were awarded a hat-trick of relay medals between their A and B teams – two golds and one silver.

Loughborough University also enjoyed success in the relay events, securing two golds of their own.

Double gold in the 14/16 Years age group

In the Men’s 14/16 Years 4x200m Freestyle relay, Mount Kelly’s Jonathan Turck, Fergus Thomson, Brydan Byrne and Oliver Rowe teamed up to take gold.

The quartet swam in heat three, which came right down to the final 50 metres as Mount Kelly and Millfield went head-to-head for the top spot.

Rowe brought it home for his club as he held on to take the win in 7:55.34.

Millfield School A (7:56.00) were the silver medallists in that age group thanks to Ivan Hart, Lauchlan Parrott, Thomas Duddridge and Reuben Alty.

City of Cardiff A were next to touch in 7:59.58. Their team consisted of Ethan Lee, Tristan Lee, Jacob Barnett and Carwyn Jones.

Mount Kelly later made it a double in the 14/16 Years age group, adding the Women’s 4x200m Freestyle relay gold medal to their collection.

Hollie Widdows stormed home to achieve another victory for her club in 8:32.12. She swam a great anchor leg, following on from her teammates Ruby Griffiths, Leah Bowen and Olivia Martin.

City of Sheffield’s Eve Doherty, Ava Cook, Molly Baker and Erin Tankard (8:35.06) took silver and making up the bronze medal-winning team were Lucy Allman, Evangeline Stacey, Jess Widdowson and Hollie Wilson of City of Leeds A (8:35.83).

Loughborough take 17 Years and over relay titles

Despite the efforts of City of Sheffield’s Thomas Watkin to close the gap down the home straight of the 17 Years and over third heat, Felix Auboeck of Loughborough University secured the win.

He stopped the clock in 7:21.41 to claim the 4x200m Freestyle relay title for his team. Michael Ripper, William Bell and Jakob Goodman swam the earlier legs.

City of Sheffield’s Ben Cope, George Barber, Richard Nagy and Watkin managed a time of 7:23.35.

Following, in third place, was Wyatt Walsh of Millfield School A, clocking a time of 7:29.36. Joining Walsh on the podium were teammates Alexander Sargeant, Alexander Painter and Solomon Williams.

The Women’s event saw Rachel Anderson take the lead with just 100 metres to go after a great battle with Mount Kelly’s Erin Little.

Loughborough’s Anderson began to open up a gap between herself and Little, eventually finishing more than three seconds ahead, with a time of 8:19.15.

Although it wasn’t gold for Mount Kelly this time around, the Devon-based club still earned a podium place, taking silver in 8:21.92.

The bronze medal went to Plymouth Leander A’s team of Sophie Freeman, Amber Downham, Evie Floate and Beatrice Varley.

1500m medal success

Tyler Melbourne-Smith went out strong in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle and continued his impressive display to earn gold in a new personal best time.

Competing in the 17 Years age group, the City of Liverpool swimmer set the fastest time of all the heats as he touched the wall in 15:35.20.

Stockport Metro’s Reece Grady and City of Milton Keynes swimmer Harry Wynne-Jones claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively in that age group.

The fastest in the Women’s 1500m Freestyle was City of Sheffield’s Amber Keegan. Her time of 16:37.19 proved enough to earn gold.

It was a lifetime best performance from the 25-year-old, who finished almost 10 seconds ahead of her nearest rival in the 19 Years and over age group.

Barnet Copthall’s Fleur Lewis was the next to finish, followed by Leah Crisp of Bath National Centre in third.