Ulster Schools Gala 17th & 18th October 2015. Banbridge Academy sent a team of nineteen swimmers to Bangor Aurora Pool to compete in this inaugural event.

First up were Susannah Black and Finlay Wright who chose to swim the 50m events.  Susannah competed in the 50 breaststroke heats and qualified in seventh place for the finals later that day and finished seventh out of 43 swimmers.  Finlay competed in the 50 back crawl finishing 19th and had a personal best time in the 100 Medley event just missing out on the finals coming 11th.

Sundays events got underway with the Junior section, year 8, 9 and 10 all competing together.  Medals were awarded to overall winners as well as best in their year groups.  Ruby McNiff just missed out on a place in the final with a time of 1:15.28 for the 100 back crawl, Rachel Blemmings swam a 1:19.69 and gained a gold medal in her year group.  Kathryn McGrath had a 4.78 second pb to finish with a 1:21.40 and Aidin Quinn recorded a best time and also gained a bronze year group medal.  Lucy Hanna also competed for the first time in this event and set herself a new standard to beat.

In the Junior boys back crawl Banbridge was represented by Declan McGeown swimming a 5.87 sec pb.

The Breaststroke event saw Jessica Robinson make the final and finish in 8th place.  In the boys breaststroke event Ryan Bigley dropped 14 seconds and earned himself a place in the finals and a silver year group medal.  Adam Wilson also had a 6 second pb and gained a year group gold medal for year 8.  Declan McGeown swam a 2 second best time in this event.

Next event was 100m fly Julia Knox secured a place in the final and managed to grab a bronze medal in the overall junior section and a gold medal in her age group.

In the 100 freestyle Ruby McNiff made the final and secured 8th place, close on her heels was Ellie Wright in 11th place.  Kathryn McGrath had another 5 second best time.  Jessica Robinson and Lucy Hanna also competed in this event.  In the boys section Ryan Bigley dropped 5 seconds of his best time to finish 13th.

Last in this section was the 200 IM, Julia Knox came second in the junior section and won gold in her year group, Rachel Blemmings also gained a silver year group medal and knocked 2 seconds off her best time.  Ellie Wright finished off a fine morning’s work with another impressive time in this event.  On to the boys 200 IM Adam Wilson had a great pb and came 14th overall and secured his second year group gold medal.

The last events of the session were relays with the girls junior relay (R McNiff, J Robinson, J Knox, E Wright) winning a bronze medal beating their entry time by 17 seconds.  The girls freestyle relay came 4th.  The boys medley relay came 10th as did their freestyle relay. Swim Ulster awarded Cups for the best school in each section, our junior girls managed to come second to a very strong Methody team, well done to them.

Julia Knox has been selected to represent Ulster Schools at the Irish Interpro Schools event in May 2016.