The 28th annual Ulster Schools Swimming trip to Tenerife took place over Hallowe’en with twenty four of the top swimmers attending the training camp from all over the province. The qualification event for this fantastic opportunity took place back in March in Ballymena and saw four Enniskillen Lakelanders qualify for the week long journey when the points from the Schools gala were accumulated. Three of the swimmers represented Enniskillen Royal Grammar School; Ellie McCartney (12) qualified as the youngest swimmer with wins in the 100m Breaststroke and the 100m Individual Medley in the 11-14 age group. Kealan McShea (15) and Lewis McCartney (15) competed in the 15-16 age group with Kealan finishing 1st in 100m Backcrawl and 3rd in 100m Individual Medley. Lewis swam to 2nd place in the 100m Freestyle and 4th in the 100m Breaststroke. The Lakelanders swimming coach, Rob Eynon, also travelled with the group as one of three coaches as well as four mentors.
The group had an early flight on Saturday Morning and arrived in Tenerife full of enthusiasm for the daily routine with a two hour training session in the morning and again in the evening. Outside of these sessions there were lots of activities planned with a fancy dress evening and a trip to the waterpark on the itinerary. During the week Kealan McShea was named one of the four team captains for the camp.
The Ulster Schools Swimming Association put together a well organised week long trip which was thoroughly enjoyed by all the swimmers attending and sets them up ready for the season ahead.
