Portsmouth Northsea take top club award at National Age Group Championships

Portsmouth Northsea came away with the top club award as the GoCardless Swim England Open Water National Age Group Championships came to a close at Rother Valley Country Park.

They took away Wycombe District’s grasp on the award that they’ve held since 2018 to stop them making it five years on the bounce.

Portsmouth picked up two golds and two silvers with Darcey Smith and Makar Yakhno taking gold whilst Jemima Swale and Jack Booth Rudd won silver in the 7.5km races in the morning session.

Speaking on the victory, the clubs director of swimming Amanda Booth shared her pride of both her swimmers and coaching staff.

She said: “We are delighted, because I think we were second last year.

“This year we have had more swimmers qualified than previously with 13 swimmers, so we are absolutely delighted.

“I’m sure it was a really close but we’re over the moon because we’ve had the best British nationals that we’ve ever had this week so this is the icing on the cake for us.

“This award goes down to our coaching team, particularly our open water and distance coach, Richard Poin and our head coach Lee Baldwin.

“And of course the team. They’ve been training together and I think even those swimmers that didn’t get on the podium today.

“We had a lot of newcomers that did really well to come and finish in the top 10 so I’m really proud of them.”

Booth also wanted to share a special shout out to the Royal Navy who have been supporting the club with their open water training throughout the season.

She added: “We have to thank the Royal Navy in Portsmouth is because they provide us the lake and with open water training.

“So we’ve had a group of 15 swimmers that have been able to practice every Sunday as a result, all because of them.

“We really want to thank them for their continuous support so that we can actually bring more open water swimmers forward.”

Rickels and Shipley on top in final two races

There were no more medals for Portsmouth in the final races of the Championships as Thomas Rickels and Lydia Shipley took home the golds.

Rickels of Altrincham Swimming Club was the first winner in the 13 Years 3km race.

In a thrilling finish, he crossed the line nine seconds ahead of silver medallist Archie Ainslie with Zachary Maiden taking the bronze.

It was neck and neck as all three swimmers approached the finishing line, but Rickels just had enough to get over the line to the delight of his friends, family, and club.

Ainslee and Maiden both chased him all the way but Rickels’ approached from the left to reach the pontoon in a time of 41:33 which was just too strong for the chasing duo.

City of Sheffield once again hit the podium with second through Ainslee with Beau Sejour Barracudas’ on the podium through Maiden.

The battle for gold in the female race was even closer with Shipley taking the gold by just seven seconds.

She set a stunning time of 40:49 as the Middlesbrough swimmer stretched away from the pack alongside Summer Smith.

Romford Town’s Smith kept with her right until the line but couldn’t surpass her and had to settle for silver with Viyana Seifi 53 seconds further back.

Shipley, who also swims in the pool, took the gold in her first year of open water swimming and enjoyed the challenge at Rother Valley.

She said: “I think it’s harder in open water because of the waves but I had a really good race.

“It was really hard, harder than any of the open water races that I have done before but I really enjoyed it!”

You can find all the results from the GoCardless Swim England Open Water National Age Group Championships here.

Images: Will Johnston Photography