York City Baths Club swimmers shine on the national stage

The summer months saw a host of national swimming championships take place, with swimmers from York City Baths Club (YCBC) excelling across the board.

YCBC was well represented at July’s Aquatics GB Summer Championships, with Zachary Fidan, Raya Harrand, Megan Mills and Eve Parkin competing in individual events, and Raya and Megan joined by Emmie Horwell, Chloe MacDonald in the 4 x 100 IM relay team.

Amongst a host of personal bests, Raya and Megan swam brilliantly to make the finals. The Swim England National Summer Meet followed, where Callum Aitken, Millie Darrand, Annabel Edwards, Zachary Fidan, Raya Harrand, Emmie Horwell, Philip Suddes, Samantha
Taylor, Alex Tew, Charles Tremayne, Ava Turner, Emma Wills and Isla Yates all took to the
starting blocks.

Across five finals, the team came away with five medals – a hat-trick of golds for Alex Tew in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m Freestyle, and bronze medals for Raya Harrand in the 200m Backstroke and Samantha Taylor in the 100m Butterfly.
Away from the pool, YCBC club colours were also on show at the Swim England National Open Water Championships, with Alex Tew finishing 6th in the 5 km event, and Ellie Rowson claiming 18th in the 7.5 km swim.

YCBC Head Coach, Josh Spencer, said of the team’s performance, “It was a strong end to a wonderful season, with the most national qualifiers the club has had in over ten years. We have some very talented, enthusiastic swimmers who already have their ambitions set on
the major championships in 2025 and they’re back in training, working hard towards their goals.”