Scarborough's Kingfishers Flying After October to Remember

A Scarborough swimming club has had their best ever month, including a league victory and officiating at a Special Olympics meet.

It has been a successful month for Kingfishers Swimming Club.

A fantastic team effort on Saturday 5th October saw the club's team win the Scarborough District Swimming Association 2024 Ridings League.

Club Chair Kath Minghella hailed this a fantastic achievement:

“Kingfishers is a family friendly club that not only develops skills in the pool but personal skills that our members can use anywhere. This result epitomizes the great team ethos we have.”

For the second time, Sunday 6th October saw Kingfishers volunteers officiating at the Special Olympics gala held by Scarborough Disabled Swimming Group and Everyone Active

This was followed by two successful competition weekends starting with a brilliant weekend in Leeds at the Yorkshire Championships with the aged 13+ swimmers. There were 10 swimmers gained personal best times, and some top ten finishes.

After attending the meet, Head Coach Zoe Naylor said:

“I was super impressed by our team's maturity and approach to their races - focused, mentally ready and so supportive of each other which built confidence across the team with hurdles overcome together. Swimming, as with life, has its ups and downs but when you know you have a team of friends and family supporting you it makes the tough times so much easier.”

The success at the Yorkshire's came after coach and Kingfishers Masters swimmer Aaron, had competed in Luxembourg at the Lux Masters Open with a pretty impressive medal haul; a gold in his 100 breaststroke, and a bronze in his 100 free. Exciting times seeing a Kingfisher swimming on the world stage and coming home with some metal.

Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th October saw Kingfishers SC travel to Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield for the Yorkshire Swimming Association lower age group Winter Meet [age 9-12].

Kingfishers had 19 swimmers qualified for the meet, taking their total number of Yorkshire qualifiers to 29 including the upper age [13+] swimmers who had competed earlier in the month.

Many of the Kingfishers swimmers took part in the County Championships for the first time, and the sense of focus, determination and above all team spirit really shone through.

Coach Tom Wilkinson says he's proud of the club's achievements:

Across the weekend the Kingfishers swimmers achieved some simply fantastic results;

- 29 top 20 finishes

- 6 of these were top 10's

- an absolutely brilliant swim from George Bisby-Owen earning him a 2nd place and silver medal in the 10years 100m backstroke.

Kingfishers presently boast 47 qualifying times for the North Eastern region meets across 14 swimmers starting 2nd November.

Back in their home pool at Scarborough Sports Village, Wednesday 23rd October, saw 72 swimmers from entry development to performance potential taking part in a badge night. Longstanding club volunteers Paula Ambury and Nicola Bailey organised the successful evening during which an unprecedented number of swimmers took part.

Kingfishers Swimming Club is a registered charity run entirely by volunteers.

Anyone interested in joining as a swimmer or volunteer should contact the club via: secretary@kingfishersswimmingclub.org.uk