No rest for the competitors and supporters as the swimming events kicked off nice and early on the Saturday morning of Roses weekend. With the positive atmosphere that Lancaster could only dream of, it is not surprising that they took an early lead, winning six out of the first seven races between their A and B string swimmers. These included men’s 50m freestyle and women’s 100m breast stroke.
However, following such a reign of success so far, it became clear that York were really starting to up their game and were not going to let go of either title without a fight. They started taking first place in races such as women’s 50m butterfly, women’s 100m medley and men’s 100m medley. As the events continued, the competitors maintained incredible motivation despite taking part in several races in quite a short space of time, an impressive amount of energy.
Although the supporters were cheering for their lives, it was blatant that the overall results were becoming increasingly tough to call. Coming towards the end, however, with the 100m and 4x50m freestyle races, Lancaster were quietly confident that they had this in the bag. Previous announcements that Lancaster were in the lead with only a few races to go supplied an extra boost which led them to win the men’s 100m and 4x50m freestyle, and also the women’s relay freestyle.
It was a slightly nervous wait for the final results, but it was soon announced that Lancaster had indeed won overall for both the men’s and women’s swimming events! It is fair to say that York still provided some healthy competition for Lancaster, winning nine out of the twenty four races in total, but they were not to beat Lancaster’s excellent performance.
Although exhausted, women’s freestyle swimmer Maisie Furneaux described herself and the rest of the team to be ‘ecstatic’ as they all leapt into the pool to enjoy a well-deserved celebration. Supporter and fellow Lancaster University Swimming and Water Polo Club member Rachael Melvin was absolutely amazed with the swimming performances that took place, admitting that Lancaster ‘smashed it’. In addition, Melvin was thoroughly pleased with the sheer improvement that has taken place throughout the year for the team. It is fair to say that such efforts could not have been rewarded any more appropriately than Lancaster’s brilliant win at Roses 2016, in the very place that they have worked so hard for so long whilst building up to this victorious event.
