Well, where do I start??? Perhaps that for the first time the Mid Sussex Marlins are the Sussex County Relay Champions!!!!! Oh yes, this amazing team keeps going from strength to strength.
It really was a tightly fought event with some top quality teams taking part. The final top 6 teams were:
1st: Mid Sussex Marlins – 84 points
2nd: Crawley – 75 points
3rd: Shiverers – 75 points
4th: Hailsham – 71 points
5th: Hastings – 67 points
6th: Atlantis – 58 points
We ended up having 17 teams reach 16 finals and we picked up 5 Gold Medals and 2 bronzes. But more than that it was our constant high placing across all age groups and all teams that put us top of the overall rankings.
I have been talking tonight to both Steve Murphy and Nic Piper and they both wanted me to pass on how proud they are of our Marlins team and how far you have come. This is the first time as a club we have won the County Relays so you should each be very proud of the part you have played.
Days like today don’t happen without a lot of people putting in a lot of hard work.
Of course this starts with the Swimmers, each and every one of you did team Marlins proud today. Really well done. You swam as a team and so won as a team. Also we must say a huge thank you to Steve Murphy, Nic Piper, Dave Wood, Mike Russell, Louise Gale, Miles Denyer and Simon King. Without their excellent work with our competitive squads, led by Steve and Nic, the Marlins would not be the club we are today.
I would also like to thank Justine Benstead, Graham Edwards, Louise Richardson, Jenny Robinson, Sarah Maguire, Sarah Cummins, Diane Chalmers and Sarah Johnson who gave up their time to volunteer/officiate at today’s Gala. Galas can’t run without Officials and Volunteers so thank you for giving up your Sunday to help.
Can I also say a huge thank you to our parents for all the sacrifices you make to give our team the best chance of success and also for your passionate cheering of each and every one of our teams.
Finally can I say a big thank you to all those swimmers and parents who were on standby today and also those who didn’t get a swim as we weren’t able to run all the teams we wanted. We always aim to give as many swimmers as possible the chance to swim however It’s not always possible to give everyone a swim. Thank you for your understanding and for your continued support.
I have attached a few photos from today including a few of our Junior Team Captions, Jason Hawkey and Sophie Shaw, receiving the Sussex County Relay Trophy.
Our Team Calendar now takes a break for the County Championships. For those competing in the County Champs may I wish you every success.
Until our next team event #GoMarlins
Dan