Keynsham Leisure Centre
Feb 2nd
After a few years of not happening in the Bristol South East District we now have a bright shiny new Swimming Gala for the District of Bristol South. Hooray!! After a lot of painstaking planning the great day arrived. The pool had been booked for three hours as we didn't want to run out of time for all the races. It was decided that any 'spare' time after the Gala could be used by the Cubs to have a good splash about.
The Leisure centre staff were marvellous, getting the lanes marked out and bits of merry bunting across the pool to lend a festival air. When it was pointed out that there would be a couple of races across the width of the pool they shrugged their shoulders and started to dismantle the starting blocks, the lane dividers and the bunting. They had expected a 'proper' Gala with rules and seriousness, not what we were interested in. So the pool was made bare, calm and peaceful.
It would appear that a prerequisite for being an ADC Cubs is to have a thing about being near deep water but the microphone could only be used at the deep end so that's where the Master of Ceremonies and the ADC sat. A number of distinguished Scout/Cub Leaders were to act as judges for the races and their decisions were to be final.
Our MC welcomed us all and checked if any Cubs had turned up, each Pack responding to his mention of their Pack number with a lusty shout. We were not worried as Tuesday Cubs had passed on this event so they would not be able to beat us, again. The swimmers in the first heats were called forward.
The first event was for Ten Year Olds, a length of the pool using Freestyle. Ryan was our Cub and after getting away a bit slowly, he had to pause to pull up his trunks , motored up the pool to record a second place and into the finals, what a great start.
Next was Ten Year Olds Breast-Stroke, Sophie our Cub managed to do her first ever racing belly flop and was so surprised that it went as well as it did that she managed to avoid going into the finals by not finishing in the first three.
Nine Year olds Freestyle was swum by Tom who despite trying really hard also managed to avoid the finals.
Euan our Nine Year Old in the Breast-Stroke was magnificent swimming well within himself managed to put in a late surge to win his heat and get into the finals.
We then found that there was an event that no one had been entered for, the back-stroke. Kayleigh volunteered first so was entered, she enjoyed her swim but like some of her friends in the Pack failed to avoid missing the finals.
Perhaps because she had peaked to soon Kayleigh seemed to be a bit tired for the relay as it was the next event and she did not even get a chance to get dry. James and Bradley joined Kayleigh in the relay and sad to relate did not finish in the top three.
Callum was our next hope in the Two Widths of the pool Eight Year Old race and despite having to stop half way to catch his breath finished third and got a place in the final.
Our Non-swimmer Josh was in the 'egg' and spoon race across the pool at the shallow end, tallest Cubs at the deeper end of the line, nobody dropped their 'eggs' and it was a very close finish and Josh was through to the final with a second place.
There was a ten minute break for the Cubs to stuff themselves with chocolate and fizzy drinks before the finals started
10 Year olds 1 length Freestyle:- Ryan again had problems with his trunks when he dived in and could have finished higher than he did but third was brilliant and a really good start for our finals. The next two finals we had no involvement in, the 5th and 107th seemed to do well in them though. Our 8 Year old Euan was a very close second in his Breast-Stroke final being beaten by about half a metre. The Back-Stroke and Relay again did not involve us. Our next final was the Two Widths 8 Year Olds. Callum tried his hardest but was overwhelmed by the bow waves of some of the other, stronger swimmers, he did manage to pick up a couple of points that would be crucial in the final scoring. Josh was our final finalist, the egg and spoon race across the pool for non-swimmers. Despite dropping the egg three quarters of the way across the pool he picked it up and finished a very creditable third.
There was a delay of twenty five minutes while the scores were counted and certificates for the first three in each of the finals were signed. Our proud swimmers went up and received their certificates, Euan's certificate had to go back to have his name spelt correctly, he seemed more upset by this than by being beaten.
The final positions were:-
10th the 21st
9th the 11th
8th the 256th
7th the 82nd
5th= the 60th and 148th(us)
4th the 15th
3rd the 145th
2nd the 107th
1st the 5th
Congratulations to the 5th, and to all the Cubs that took part.
We learned unofficially that we were 1 point ahead of 7th place and 2 points short of being in third place which indicates how close it was amongst the middle field. The top two Packs were a long way clear of the others. As one of our Cubs was asked, when they had come last, what happened? replied with a shrug, a smile and a single word - "Bovvered?" a suitable response from someone that had the correct attitude.
Thanks to all the judges and organisers and our MC Tom's Dad. It is intended that this will become a regular event and from this years experience it deserves to be.