Castlebar Swimming Club’s Sinead Mylette and Ambre Fadden, who came first and third in the 100 meter IM at the Connacht Championships in Galway recently.

Castlebar's Sinead Mylett continued her impressive season with some spectacular swims at last weekend's Connacht Championships in Galway, taking gold medals in the 800 meter freestyle and the 100 meter individual medley, silver in the 50 meter fly and bronze in the 50 meter backstroke. Two days of intense competition in Leisureland saw 22 young Castlebar competitors perform very well in a variety of strokes and races.

Castlebar Swimming Club’s Eoghan Grady, who had a very successful outing at the Connacht Championships in Galway.

Another strong performance came from Eoghan Grady, who knocked almost three seconds off his 200 IM time to take second place; he also placed third in the 50 freestyle and in the 50 fly, second in the 50 meter backstroke and in the 100 IM. For his final outing of the last day of competition, Eoghan swam an excellent 800 meter freestyle and scooped the gold, with another Castlebar swimmer - Con Doherty - taking bronze in the same challenging race, and in the 200 meter freestyle.

Other medal winners on the day included Ambre Fadden (bronze in the 50 meter breaststroke and the 100 IM), Patrick Livingstone (bronze in the 200 IM and the 50 meter freestyle; silver in the 200 meter breaststroke), Chloe Sheridan (gold in the 400 IM), Aisling Grady (bronze in the 400 IM), Cillian Melly (bronze in the 50 meter fly and gold in the 800 meter freestyle) and Caoimhe Hennigan (bronze in the 800 meter freestyle).

Castlebar Swimming Club’s Patrick Livingstone, who took silver in the 200 meter breaststroke at the Connacht Championships in Galway recently.

Also swimming very well for Castlebar over the two days, and continuing to improve on their personal best times, were Conor Melly, Jamie Murphy, Edel Egan, Paula McDonagh, Siofra Horan, Laura Fahy, Aoibheann Hennigan, Louise Dervan, Mark Dervan, Niamh Heneghan, Siofra McHale, Ellen Murphy and Sara English.

Meanwhile, those who wish it could be Christmas every day got their way for at least a little while recently, when the swimming squad got to let their (dry) hair down for a change at their annual holiday celebration. The evening kicked off with a fun gala, followed by presentation of awards, and culminated in a very lively and enjoyable festive disco at the Celtic club hall.

The club captains for the upcoming season were appointed on the night and they are Sara English and Killian Dervan. Awards presented included senior boy swimmer (Eoghan Grady), senior girl swimmer (Sinead Mylett), junior boy swimmer (Mark Dervan), junior girl swimmer (Edel Egan), most dedicated swimmer (jointly awarded to Patrick Livingstone and Aisling Grady) and best newcomer (Siofra McHale). Much credit for the success of the evening goes to the committee, and of course to coaches Marian English and Joe Moran, and the rest of the teaching team who are responsible for the ongoing buoyancy of Castlebar Swimming Club.