Strong team performance at open championships

After a long, hard season of early morning training and up to 25-30,000m a week in the pool, grinding out length upon length, the top senior swimmers from Ennis Swimming and Life Saving Club successfully competed at the Swim Ireland National Junior, Youth and Senior Open Long Course Championships at the National Aquatics Centre Dublin, winning three gold, six silver and two bronze in individual and two silver and one bronze relay medals.
It was one of the biggest squads to represent the club in recent years, with the women’s team of Ashling Wolf, Ciara Gleason, Siobhán McGrath and Emma Sheehy and a strong men’s team made up of Colm Fitzgerald, Theodore Pender, Darragh Glavin, Conor Rooney, Bernard Cahill, Patrick ­Pender, Colm McNamara, Niall Broderick, Patrick Hogan, Adam McEvoy, Dylan Barrett, Dylan Ryan and Michael Moriarty.
There was strong competition not only from fellow Irish ­competitors but also from swimmers in teams from France, Holland, Egypt and Great Britain among others, some of whom were hoping to make the London 2012 Olympic qualifying times.
Emma Sheehy performed best in the women’s team, reaching a semi-final in the 50m backstroke, where she attained a PB of 33.54. Emma also achieved a PB of 1.12.20 in the A final of the 100m backstroke, finishing outside the medals.
Her best performance was saved for the A final of the 200m backstroke, where she won the bronze medal, finishing in a PB of 2.31.50.
In the men’s competitions, Colm Fitzgerald reached the A final of the men’s 19 and over 50m breastroke but finished outside the medals. Bernard Cahill won the silver medal to finish second in the men’s 17-18 200m freestyle in a time of 1.57.55. Conor Rooney, competing in the same A final, narrowly missed out on the bronze medal, finishing fourth in a new PB of 2.00.69.
In the men’s 16 and under 100m backstroke, Theodore Pender collected a silver medal in a time of 1.02.22 while Adam McEvoy finished just outside the medals in a time of 1.06.41.
The Ennis men’s relay team consisting of Bernard Cahill, Conor Rooney, Dylan Barrett and Theodore Pender, competing in the 17-18 age group of the 400m freestyle relay A final, achieved an impressive 3.42.11 to finish second and win silver.
In the 100m freestyle A final, Theodore Pender finished second in the 16 and under age group in a time of 54.72.
In the men’s 100 backstroke A final, Pender finished fifth in a time of 1.12.72 (men’s 16 and under), Dylan Barrett finished fifth with a 1.11.98 (men’s 17-18) and in the A final of the men’s 19 and over category, Colm Fitzgerald finished fifth in a time of 1.09.41.
In the 400 IM A final, Bernard Cahill won the first of his gold medals, with Conor Rooney following close behind to claim the silver medal in second.
A strong Ennis men’s relay team consisting of Bernard Cahill, Conor Rooney, Dylan Barrett and Theodore Pender competing in the 17-18 age group of the 800m freestyle relay A final were narrowly beaten by Bangor to finish second in a time of 8.04.66.
In the longer distance freestyle events, Bernard Cahill won his second gold medal in a time of 4.06.34, with Conor Rooney laying claim to the silver medal, finishing second in 4.14.24 and Rooney finished third in the men’s 17-18 1,500m freestyle in a time of 17.16.35, to lay claim to the bronze medal.
There was a strong Ennis presence in the final of the men’s 16 and under 200m Backstroke A final where Theodore Pender collected the silver medal in a time of 2.17.28, Adam McEvoy finished fourth in 2.21.41 with Patrick Pender finishing eighth in 2.27.38.
Bernard Cahill won his third gold medal of the championships in the 200IM in a time of 2.11.69.
In the last of the relay competitions, the men’s team of Bernard Cahill, Conor Rooney, Dylan Barrett and Theodore Pender, competing in the 17-18 age group of the 400m medley relay A final, collected a bronze medal in time of 4.12.19.
Brothers prominent
in Lee Swim
Two brothers, Conor and Stephen Rooney, competing in the non-wetsuit category, finished second and third overall, and first and second in their age category out of 281 swimmers in this year’s Lee swim, which is one of the top open water swim events in Ireland. Conor finished second behind Seamus Stacey (Cork) in a time of 25.35, with his younger brother Stephen completing the distance in 26.16, to claim third place.
First held in 1914, in the slightly chilly waters of the River Lee, the race starts from a specially erected platform at the entrance to the old distillery premises on North Mall, swimming under all the bridges of the North Channel of the river to round the Port of Cork Customs House Quay. Competitors continue swimming against the flow of the river as far as the Clarion Hotel and the finishing pontoon, a 2km swim, as close to high tide as possible.