Preparatory swimmers Anokhi, Aanya and Hiru (Year 5) and Tamalia (Year 6) took part in the annual English Schools Primary Relay regional rounds on Wednesday 3rd May.
The event was held at JAGS Sports Centre in Dulwich, with local teams and many from further afield competing. The Medley Relay was the first event with Old Palace racing in the small schools category. Medley Relays started with Backstroke, swum by Hiru, followed by Aanya on the Breaststroke leg. This was followed by Tamalia, Freestyle and Anokhi bringing the team home on the fourth and final Frontcrawl length.
Traditionally, the third swimmer swims Butterfly; however, we found out on the day that it had been listed as Freestyle, which means any stroke. As this was the case, Tamalia took the opportunity to swim Frontcrawl, as it is the fastest stroke. Old Palace finished fourth in their heat.
The Freestyle Relay followed with all students swimming Frontcrawl. Old Palace came fourth in that heat too with a slight change in order: Tamalia, Aanya, Hiru and Anokhi. The first and third swimmers are able to dive using the starting blocks, with the second and fourth swimmers starting from a push start in the water at the shallow end of the pool. The team swam really well with Anokhi swimming a great final length.
We are now looking forward to the London Schools Individual Championship heats at JAGS next Wednesday.