BOROUGH of Barnsley Swimming Club’s George Garside had a weekend to remember at the 2006 Yorkshire ASA Winter Championships at Sheffield's Ponds Forge. With all the top age group swimmers from Yorkshire attending this short course (25m) meet, nine-year-old George from Locke Park finished an amazing first, second, third and fourth from his events. His highlight came in the 50m backstroke, winning gold, after he had already claimed a silver in the heat declared individual medley and bronze in the 50m butterfly. He was just pipped into fourth place in the 50m freestyle despite a personal best swim. Thirteen-year-old Ben Bainbridge from Bolton-upon-Dearne completed a hat-trick of final placings with convincing personal bests in the 100m butterfly, 100m breaststroke and the heat declared 200m individual medley. Completing the tally of finalists, 11-year-old Brindley Turner secured sixth place in the 100m backstroke and twelve-year-old Adam Schofield finished 10th in the 100m backstroke. With the majority of the 21 strong squad achieving personal bests, the meet provided swimmers with a good opportunity to secure additional qualifying times for next month’s North East Regional Winter Championship.
