St. Gerald’s Relays Smash Connaught and Irish Schools Records
The St. Gerald’s relay teams were in fine form at the Irish Secondary Schools Championships, which were held in The Grove Leisure Centre, Belfast, on 7th/8th February. The Senior Medley team relay of, Colm Garrick, Darragh Quinn, Cian Holland and Ciaran Garrick took Silver in a dramatic finish, they were touched out by 0.05 of a second by Belvedere College Dublin! Again, the Senior Freestyle Relay team of Jimmy Wiseman, Ciaran Garrick, Cian Holland, Colm Garrick and Michael Walls were pipped by Belvedere College, this time by 0.32 of a second. St Gerald’s broke the Irish Schools Record in the Medley relay and the Connaught Senior Records in both the Medley and the Freestyle Relays! More Medals For Castlebar Swimmers!

The Individual results for a most exciting Secondary Schools competition are as follows; Cian Holland, St Gerald’s Castlebar is still standing at the top of this country’s ranking in 17 yr. 100 m Butterfly as he produced another gold medal performance. He then went on to take Silver in the 200m Ind. Medley. Cian is now the holder of the Senior Boys Irish School Record in 100 M Butterfly and was selected to go forward to the Speedo Schools Swimming International competition to be held in New Ross on Saturday 22nd March.
Colm Garrick, St Geralds, Castlebar qualified for the 17 Years 100M Backstroke Final and finished in 3rd place to take a bronze medal with a new personal best time of 1:04:28. Colm also was reserve finalist in the 100 m Breaststroke and he achieved Nationals qualifying time in 50m Backstroke.
Laura English, swimming for St Joseph’s, Castlebar in the 17 yrs 100m Breaststroke took seconds of per P B and finished 4th in the Final of a very competitive event.
Laura Keaveney, swimming for Sacred Heart, Westport again produced a very fine swim in the Final of the 14 yrs. 100m Butterfly and tied for 5th place with tough opposition from the North and achieved a personal best time of 1:11:07. Laura then went on to swim 100m Freestyle again showing what a fine swimmer she is.
Darragh Quinn, swimming for St. Gerald’s in the 15/16 yr. 100m Breaststroke made the Final and finished in 5th place in what was a very tough final. Darragh competed in Boys 15/16 200m Ind. Medley also.
Jimmy Wiseman, also swimming for St. Gerald’s made the Final in 17 yr. 100m Butterfly and finished with a personal best time of 1:05:17 and went on to swim the 200m Ind. Medley and rounded off a very good weekend by achieving a Nationals qualifying time.
Ciaran Garrick, swimming for St. Gerald’s Castlebar had great swims in the 17 yr. 200m Ind. Medley and 100m Freestyle.
Michael Walls, swimming for St. Gerald’s, Castlebar had a great swim in the 17 yr. 100M Butterfly and achieved a Nationals Qualifying time.
Jill Magee, swimming for St Joseph’s, Castlebar swam an excellent P.B. and made reserve finalist in Girls 17 Years 100m Backstroke and went on to swim another personal best time, 1:03:98, in the 100m Freestyle. Sarah Wiseman, swimming for St. Joseph’s Castlebar did her club and school proud in the15/16yr. 200m Ind. Medley and 100 m Butterfly. Elenor Grier Gavin, swimming for St Joseph’s Castlebar for the first time, did the school proud and achieved a personal best time of 1:28:38, in the 14 years 100m Breaststroke.
Dara Dever, Rice College, Westport swam the 100m Breaststroke and 200m Ind. Medley and once again produced fine performances and achieved a Nationals qualifying time. Brian Moran, swimming for Gortnor Abbey had a great swim in the Boys 15/16 Years 100m Backstroke and achieved a personal best time.
Sarah Caulfield, swimming for St. Patrick’s Islandeady in 14 years 100m Breaststroke, had a great swim and again achieved a personal best time.

Congratulations swimmers and a big Thank You to coaches, Francois Rossi and Marian English.

Leisureland International Gala.
Six of the top swimmers from Castlebar Swimming Club competed in the Swim Ireland International Meet in Leisureland, Galway on 14-16th Feb, 2003, where World Record holders, Olympians and many other International competitors took part.
Cian Holland was in brilliant form and showed Irish swimming at it’s best by reaching 2 ‘A’ Finals to swim alongside swimmers from Venezuela, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. Cian also made the B Final in 50 m Fly and was reserve finalist in 50m Freestyle.
Laura English, another top performer reached an A Final in 200m Breaststroke and a B Final in 100m Breaststroke taking on top class swimmers from around the world. Colm Garrick again showed that commitment, training and dedication has its rewards as he reached a B Final in 50 Breaststroke and achieved another personal best in Backstroke.
Darragh Quinn, competing for the first time at this prestigious event made reserve Finalist in 100m Breaststroke B final and did a personal best time in 200 m Breaststroke.
Jill Magee, swimming the 200m Breaststroke in a personal best time showed that she could hold her own with the best in the country and internationally.
Sara English featured prominently in 100m Individual Medley , 100 m Breaststroke, 50 m Breaststroke and 100m Backstroke. Again the Castlebar Medley Relay team of Ciaran Garrick, Cian Holland, Colm Garrick and Darragh Quinn made an A Final and held their own against some the very best teams around .

The presence of so many international swimmers served as a reminder and a challenge to our swimmers of the standards required to achieve success on a European