After another evening of close fought action, the results are in! This time, the two Essex Swimming League divisions divided into separate pools for their respective contests. At the Becontree pool, League newcomers Barking & Dagenham and Newham, newly promoted after round one, found the competition a little stronger in the upper division. Those clubs secured creditable mid-place finishes for this round but failed to unseat the current top two teams, Basildon & Phoenix and Romford, who fought out another round with the Romford team eventually finishing on top with a 7.5 point victory. A solid set of results saw Witham Dolphins finish in 5th place out of the relegation zone. Sadly, despite no less than 17 first place finishes on the night, Brentwood were unable to find enough other points to keep their place in Division One and will join with 6th placed Runnymede in competing in Division Two for the next round.
In the second division gala held at the new Harrow Lodge pool, there was a comfortable 67 point victory for the Chelmsford team over Halstead in second place. Both will be promoted to compete in Division One for the next round. At their home pool, host club Hornchurch secured a solid mid-table finish in 4th but didn’t have enough pace to beat the Harwich team who finished in 3rd. Woodham Ferrers and Dunmow staged a fascinating ‘one-way then another’ tussle over the course of the gala. Dunmow took an early 7 point lead in the first quarter, which was overturned to a 1 point deficit by Woodham Ferrers at the half way point and then a 7 point deficit at the end of the third quarter. In the final quarter Dunmow clawed back all the difference to lead by just one point with only the eight-swimmer Squadron Relay to go. A tight battle in this final four minute event resulted in the Woodham Ferrers squad managing to steal back a crucial one last point by finishing just one place ahead of Dunmow by 44 hundredths of a second and causing both teams to end up in equal 5th place with 153 points. Exciting stuff!
There’s now a bit of a wait for the third round which is scheduled for Saturday 15th June. Division One will be at Chelmsford Riverside pool, Division Two at Becontree Leisure Centre. Both galas have a Warm Up starting at 6pm with the galas planned to start at 6:30pm. Please come along to see the action!
Full Results and overall league positions are available on the League Tables page.
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