Sevenoaks-based Aquaoaks Artistic Swimming capped off the competition season with fantastic results at Swim England’s Go Cardless National Combo Cup and Masters Competition at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.
Five teams represented the club in the Combo championship on Saturday, including Mini Performance, who got everyone smiling with their cheeky ‘Monsters’ routine in the Division 2 12&Under category, Junior Development who did an energetic ‘Greatest Show’ routine in the Division 1 13-15, and Junior Performance who scored an impressive 78.85 with their acrobatic ‘Pirates’ routine in Division 2 13-15.
The day ended on a high note as Senior Development performed crowd favourite ‘Grease’ in the Division 1 15-18 category to take home the silver medal. Senior Performance wowed the judges with their ‘Wednesday’ routine which not only earned the team gold in the 13-18 Division 2 category, but achieved the highest score of the day, an amazing 99.64.
Overall, the club placed sixth in the country, out of 33 teams. On Sunday, the club had their first ever entry in the National Masters Champs by way of Francesca Rice’s beautiful 18-24 solo ‘Don’t You Worry Child’.
The weekend was the jewel in the crown of a season of successes for the club. These included the first time the club participated in National ‘Champs’ in Nottingham, the highest level of domestic competition for English artistic swimmers, aged 15 and over.
Aquaoaks’ entry included ‘Dreams and Nightmares’ in the Senior Acrobatic competition, ‘Broken Dolls’, swum by Francesca Rice and Betty Black in the Free Duets, and Mariella Rice and Stanley Stiff, who were awarded gold for their ‘New York’ routine in both the Junior and Senior Mixed Duets, becoming England’s top Mixed Duet.
In addition, three swimmers, Charlotte Ryan, Mariella Rice and Emily Newton, got through a gruelling selection process to represent the South East region, which came second in the National Games in Bristol.
The club also celebrated their third year with a fantastic club Display at Radnor House in May, including all teams, ranging from the smallest swimmers in Aquasquirts to their newly-formed Masters team who had an ecstatic reaction from the crowd. They then moved on to regional competitions, taking three golds and a silver with four Combo teams at the South East Regionals.
At the Kent County Championship, a high number of swimmers took home individual medals in the Figures competition, and the Combo teams achieved an amazing gold and silver in 12&U Division 1, gold in 12&U Division 2, gold in 13-15 Division 1, gold in 13-15 Division 2, gold in 15-18 Division 1 and silver 13-18 Division 2. Mariella Rice took home the silver for her Youth Free Solo.
Lousia Hildenbrandt and Annabelle Denny took gold for their 12&U duet, whilst Zoë Moore, Charlotte Ryan and reserve Polly Shaw won silver in the same category. Betty Black and Francesca Rice won gold for their Junior Free Duet. Poppy Brown also took home the Kent Progression Award for the most improved figures score from 2023.
Aquaoaks also entertained crowds at the Sevenoaks Primary Swimming Gala and the Tunbridge Wells Swimming Gala, introducing young generations of swimmers to the dynamic and artistic sport. They will be running a summer camp for all abilities 19-23 August at Holmewood House School, near Tunbridge Wells. For more information, visit www.aquaoaks.co.uk.