GALLERY: Swimmers from all around the country take part in Plymouth Leander national qualifier

SWIMMERS from around the country descended on the Life Centre over the Bank Holiday weekend as Plymouth Leander hosted a three-day national qualifying meet.

The event, which was part of the Leiden Cup Series, attracted more than 800 entries from 120 clubs.

Many swimmers were trying to secure qualifying times for the British, English and Welsh National Summer Championships.

Clubs from as far afield as Newcastle, Edinburgh, Stockport, Northampton, Liverpool, Crewe, Guernsey, Sussex, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Loughborough and St Albans sent competitors, while nearly all the South West sides were represented.

Leander were able to welcome back Great Britain international Tom Fannon, who is now at Loughborough University. He made a brief appearance in the 50m freestyle heats, clocking 22.97 seconds.

He didn’t swim the final, which was won by Royal Wolverhampton School’s Matt Richards, who enjoyed an impressive weekend. The Great Britain junior international also won the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly events and came second in the 50m butterfly.

However, there was plenty of success for swimmers from the region.

Plymouth Leander’s Adam Chillingworth claimed a 100m and 200m breaststroke double. He clocked 1:03.80 to win the 100m and 2:17.47 to triumph in the 200m. His club colleague Filippo Coacci was second in the 100m and third in 200m. Coacci was also third in the 200m IM.

Leander’s Lana Broekhoven won the women’s 50m breaststroke in 33.68 seconds, with team-mate Cheuk Ying Cheng third.

Freddy Clampett was another home winner. He took the honours in the 200m butterfly in 2:05.34. He was also second in the 100m butterfly and third in the 50m butterfly.

Duru Tanir was first in the women’s 50m butterfly (28.56) and 200m butterfly (2:22.51). She was also second in the 100m distance.

Team-mate Oriana Noel was second overall in the 200m butterfly and also first in her age category in the 50m and 100m butterfly.

Leander actually filled the top three positions in the women’s 200m butterfly as Aimee Brownridge was third.

There was also a silver for Laura Copping in the women’s 200m breaststroke, while James Hart was first in his age category in the 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 200m butterfly.

Dartmoor Darts’ British age group record holder Cameron Williams produced the quickest 50m breaststroke swim of the meet in the heats with a 29.54 second time. However, he was marginally slower in the final, clocking 29.73 seconds for second overall and first junior. Guernsey’s Charles Hallett was quickest in the finals with 29.57.

On the final day, Williams showed his form over the 200m breaststroke distance, winning his age category with a 2:30.44 swim.

Mount Kelly’s Sam van der Stroom was also first in his age group in that event with 2:29.01.

Dartmoor Darts’ Emily Morgan-Hughes was third overall and first in her age in the women’s 200m breaststroke.

Mount Kelly’s Robbie Jones was second in the 200m backstroke in 2:08.55, while team-mate Georgina Dennis was second in the women’s 200m freestyle and Molly Francis was third in the women’s 400m IM.

Newport’s Megan Allison impressed in the women’s freestyle events, winning the 50m, 100m and 200m titles. She also triumphed in the 100m butterfly.