Matthew Bradley, aged 17 from Bishop Auckland, qualified for six swims at this year’s ASA National Summer championships and travelled to compete at the Ponds Forge International Pool at Sheffield with Sedgefield 75 ASC Head Coach John Moore.
Matthew’s first swim was the 50 metre breaststroke heat, where he swam a personal best time of 31.16 seconds and qualified in joint 7th position for the evening final.
Matthew then swam in the 200 metres freestyle, achieving a time of 1.59.52, before achieving an unbelievable personal best time in the final of the 50 metre breaststroke of 30.20 seconds, finishing in second place and taking a hard earned silver medal.
On Thursday Matthew competed in the 200 metres individual medley, achieving a season’s personal best time again of 2.13.67 and qualifying for the evenings final in 5th position.
Matthew swam the swim of a lifetime on the evening in the final of this event and took a full four seconds off his original entry time to finish in 2nd place, taking the silver medal in a time of 2.10.80.
Friday saw Matthew in the pool again. First in the 100 metres freestyle where he swam a time of 54.42 and finished in a respectable 12th place.
He then competed in the 100 metres breaststroke and qualified in 9th place for the evening final with a time of 1.08.73. Matthew pulled it out of the bag again for the evening final, achieving a season’s personal best time of 1.07.17 and finishing in 6th position.
John Moore, Sedgefield 75 Head Coach, was overwhelmed with the week’s swims and stressed again how commitment to training and determination pays off. Matthew was very happy with the week’s swims and stated that it was a good end to the 2015 season.
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
