Swimming: Ards put down marker for the season
Saturday, October 13, 2007
By David Kelly
Ards finished off last season in the most dramatic fashion when they claimed
the Belfast Telegraph teletots shield and last weekend they started '07/'08
in top form.
The young guns at the north Down club won the Teletots in the final relay
for one of the most dramatic wins in the competition and it seems they are a
club with great depth.
Matthew Scott is the latest in a conveyor belt of talent and last weekend he
won every individual 10/11 years race at the P&O Larne Sprints to
take the overall award.
Young Scott won the backstroke, butterfly , breaststroke and freestyle over
the 50m distance and there was more gold for the club when Luke Campbell and
Michael Dawson took to the water.
Dawson, who has increased in his training regime, may not have broken Andrew
Bree's junior record but he nevertheless won the 16 years 50m breaststroke
with something to spare. Campbell won the 14-15 years backstroke.
Head coach Nelson Lindsay: "Overall the club is on the up and we have
to be very pleased with the coaches we have - the likes of Tracy
McClenaghan, Nora Munn, Nuala McKibben, Ruth McQuillan and Denis McKeag who
have full-time jobs but give everything."
Meanwhile, top Aussie medley star Brooke Hanson has resumed full training
for a shot at Beijing after overcoming the pain from an electric
shock-induced fall that threatened to end her career when she was
subsequently hospitalised.
"I've been given the all-clear now by the pain specialist and am back
to full training," said Hanson.
"I'm injury free and everything is back to 100 per cent so now I can
focus on building up my training to go to the Olympic trials in March."
It wasn't the electricity that injured Hanson the n most but more so the
damage to her left shoulder from the fall.
"I was unconscious when I landed on it with my body weight and sort of
jammed it all up, so when I went to activate it in swimming it would just
shut down."
