Life Begins @ .......... - A Lesson for all the Young Swimmers - SUCCESS sometimes takes a LONG TIME and comes after lots of WORK

Andy Farrell continues record breaking form

Templeogue swimmer Andy Farrell broke 4 Irish Masters records at the Scottish National Masters Championships in Glasgow last weekend, Farrell's National Masters record tally now stands at 15 records all set within the last 12 months.

Andy started his record breaking weekend in the very first event of the competition, the 800m freestyle, taking 25 seconds off the previous standard with a time of 9m.22s. Andy then found himself immediately back in the water for the 2nd event of the competition, the gruelling 400m Individual Medley. Despite competing in the event for the first time ever in nearly 20 years of competitive swimming Andy successfully negotiated all four strokes to finish in a time of 5m25s a whole 31s under the previous record.

Having taken a well earned rest overnight, Andy return to the pool the following day to continue his record onslaught. Breaking the long standing 200m freestyle record by the narrowest of margins, one one hundredth of a second, Andy won the event in 2m.01.5s. Completed his sweep of records Andy took the 400m freestyle in a time of 4m22.7, shaving 1.3s off the old record.

Not resting on his laurels Andy heads to Manchester to the British Masters Long Course Championships in June where he will be attempting to add the 1500m freestyle record to his roll of honour as well as improve on the 200m freestyle record he already holds.

Fabulous 15; a breakdown of Andy's Irish Masters records

25-29 yrs Age Group
Short Course (25m)
200m freestyle - 2.01.15 - Sept 07, Guildford, UK
Long Course (50m)
200m freestyle - 2.05.99 - June 07, Manchester, UK (British Champs)
400m freestyle - 4.32.45 - Aug 07, Kranj, Slovenia (European Champs)
800m freestyle - 9.27.07 - Aug 07, Kranj, Slovenia (European Champs)
1500m freestyle - 18.12.06 - June 07, Manchester, UK (British Champs)

30-34 yrs Age Group
Short Course (25m)
200m freestyle - 2.01.55 - Apr 08, Glasgow, UK (Scottish Champs)
400m freestyle - 4.22.79 - Apr 08, Glasgow, UK (Scottish Champs)
800m freestyle - 9.22.14 - Apr 08, Glasgow, UK (Scottish Champs)
400m Individual Medley - 5.25.34 - Apr 08, Glasgow, UK (Scottish Champs)
Long Course (50m)
200m freestyle - 2.07.48 - Mar 08, Limerick (Irish Champs)
400m freestyle - 4.34.81 - Feb 08, Crawley, UK
800m freestyle - 9.36.54 - Feb 08 Crawley, UK
200m Butterfly - 2.34.00 - Mar 08, Limerick (Irish Champs)

Relays
Men’s 100-119yr freestyle relay* - set Mar 08, Limerick (Irish Champs)
Men’s 100-119yr medley relay* - set Mar 08, Limerick (Irish Champs)
(*TSC team - Andy Farrell, Ian Thom, Peter Sherry, Brian Lee)

NB to ALL TSC SWIMMERS

ANDY was like most of you as an age group swimmer, a talented and promising athlete who worked solidly and saw reasonable progression in his swimming. No big WOW results but consistently worked in the sport he loved. His dedication to continue training has seen a massive improvment in the last 2 seasons, hopefully some of the improvement he attributes to training in TEAM TSC, with YOU, His TEAM mates and your TEAM mates. In the last year, Andy has had a busy time too, he got married, he runs his own company and manages to successfully commit to training and stay enthusiastic about this wonderful sport. As his coach for the last while, I admire him for his positive outlook, his ability to challenge himself and others and to set some demanding targets. One of his most recent results, which is not listed above is the achievement of what he calls "his Lifetime Ambition" - to break 55 Seconds for a 100FC. Andy has also delivered this target in the last few months. His response to me was "Well that's that one done, Now I just have to go sub 54 and I now know I can go Sub 2.00 for the 200FC, Watch this space !!!"

What I'd like you all to learn from Andy is how to, even with a busy schedule, a family, a business to run and a hectic and full daily routine, Andy has set himself some challenging goals, surrounded himself with positive people (i.e. YOU and all of YOU in TEAM TSC) to help him work towards his targets and he stays motivated on his goals and focused on them daily. Well done ANDY on your well deserved results and thank you for your ongoing support of OUR TEAM, YOUR TEAM in IRELAND.

All the best and we'll see you at Irish LC Nationals during the summer back swimming for TEAM TSC.

BRIAN S :)

KICK CLUB !!!! - The BEGINNING !!!

ARE YOU in KICK CLUB ????

MENS

Liam is the LEADER @ 1850

WOMENS

Dayna is the LEADER @ 1762

WHERE are YOU !!!!

CAN YOU HANDLE IT !!!!!

TEAM TSC PB's @ David Mc Cullagh Memorial Gala

Two weeks ago the TEAM travelled to the first of the IRISH selection meets of the year, the David McCullagh Memorial Meet in UL in Limerick. This meet has important significance for the team and for the Templeogue Swim Club as Dave McCullagh was the Head coach in TEAM TSC for over 20yrs and the first Swim Ireland Director of Swimming and an inspirational and visionary figure in Irish swimming.

The club was delighted to send it's largest team in a few years to this meet with 17 swimmers competing and also one of the youngest teams in the last few years on show as the clubs developing Age Group athletes teamed up with the older members of the squad who have kept on training hard to qualify for this level of competition.

Day one of the meet saw Shane Faul (left)return from Coventry rested and tapered to deliver his best results of the season so far. The team were not disappointed as Shane raced the 400IM the first Heat declared winner event of the weekend in a new 9second PB in a time of 4:44.11 to deliver himself a bronze medal. Followed closely in the next event our girls continued to show how well the team is swimming with Dayna Clegg delivering a 17 second PB to finish in 11th place in a time of 9:52.24, the fastest time for a 13yr old in the competition. Not to be outdone Grace Branagan also delivered a new 6second PB of 10:10.62 and Anne Marie Finn finished a trio of PB's for the TEAM with a 21 second PB in a time of 10:36.45. The Friday session finished with the mens and womens 50BC with Finbar McTeirnan and Dylan Farrell competing with the team in the mens and Grace Branagan swimming for the girls. With strong swims but only McTeirnan qualifying for the semi finals.

Saturday morning dawned and saw another strong day for the team as event 1 saw the PB's continue as Grace Branagan swama 3 Second PB (2:36.21) to qualify for the B Final and, Dayna Clegg was (left) fractionally outside her best with a time of 2:37. Finbar McTeirnan carried the TEAM hopes in the mens event but was quite a bit off his best in the heats. Niamh Murphy was next to the blocks in one of her favoured events but finished a little outside her best int he 200BS. Shane Faul took to the start again and delivered himself a new PB in the heats (2:16.) and a better resul in the final to earn himself a 5th place result and taking over 4 seconds off his previous best time. Niamh Murphy swam strongly inside her PB in the womens 50FC to qualify for the B final and further improve on her best time to finish the meet in a new PB time of 28.79. Grace Branagan also delivered a strong sprint swim with a time of 30.12 and Emma Crossan swam to a super new PB of 30.47. AnneMarie Finn also showed her pace with over half a second improvement on her best to finish in 31.31. A large compliment of the boys made the mens Sprint event very competitive for the TEAM TSC men and after the event Dylan Farrell finished top of the pile with a new PB of 27.52, closlely followed by Daire O'Driscoll in a 27.55. After demonstrating his rapid improvement this year John Martin produced a blistering pace swim to take 0.89 off his best in a new PB time of 27.95 to edge out the older boys of Finbarr McTeirnan (28.20) and Cian Murphy (28.26) who wil take note of the young pretender's aspirations as one of the fastest men in the TEAM.

Shane Faul retuend to the block with a strong heat swim to allow him place the final of the 100BS in a time of 1:11.76 to place him a little outside his best but pleased with his efforts. Dayna Clegg, Niamh Murphy & Grace Branagan (below right)also delivered three super new PB's with 2:19..92, 2:20.58 and 2:21.68 to deliver 2 and 3 second PB's for each of them. AnneMarie Finn (right, on left) & Emma Crossan also delivered best times with 2:26.0 and 2:27.50 respectively whilst Laura Martin finished just off her best time with her effort. In the mens 50BF, Cian Murphy took a well earned best in TEAM place with a new PB of 29.32 PB almost 1 second inside his previous best and ahead of Finbarr McTeirnan, Daire O'Driscoll and John MArtin with McTeirnan and Martin also delivering PB's in their respective swims.

Faul's good form continued as he swam to a NEW PB of 4:13.95 to claim 6th place in the 400FC some 14 seconds inside his previous best time. Daire O'Driscoll was just outside his best with his effort and Brian Feighan delivered another fine PB swim fort the TEAM with a 3 second improvement in 4:43.85 and Dylan Farrell also delivering a strong effort in a relatively new event for him the 400FC. O'Driscoll and Feighan teamed up again in the distance event with Feighan delivering a massive improvement with a 13 second PB proving lucky for him.

Grace Branagan teamed up with her team mates Dayna Clegg and Amy McSherry again in the 100BC with Branagan progressing to the B Final and posting some strong swims. In the mens event McTeirnan, although not feeling well, swam strongly to qualify for the B Final but had to withdraw due to not feeling well. Dylan Farrell & Liam O'Neill both swam new best times in their respective efforts.

Dayna Clegg and Niamh Murphy (right) continued to race hard with their efforts in the 200IM outside their previous best times. While Shane Faul made the final of the 200BS he swam a steady effort in the final to keep himself focused on his efforts in the 200FC event. Murphy showed a return to best form with a PB swim and a time that qualified her in top 8 position for the Womens 100FC. Her new PB of 1:02.33, a fracrtion inside her previous best. Grace Branagan, Helen Kelly and Amy MCSherry also raced but were a little shy of their PB's in the heats and didn;t progress to finals. Emma Crossan was well inside her PB with a 0.7 second improvement while Anne Marie Finn and Laura Martin too finished their weekend efforts with another solid swim in the 100FC.

The boys again went head to head in the Sprint 100FC with Dylan Farrell being the one who's new PB of 59.94 winning the TEAM's fastest result at the meet. John Martin, again with a massive 2 second best time to finish just outside the 1 minute barrier in a time of 1:00.05, O'Driscoll next in 1:00.13, Liam O'Neill with a PB of 1:00.35 and Cian Murphy well inside his PB with a 1:01.47. Finbarr McTeirnan also swam but being sick registered a result off his best.

The TEAM'S final medal of the weekend saw Shane Faul deliver a superb 1:58.95 effort in the 200FC to deliver another big PB with over 3 seconds inside his best time. The other Boys also saw strong results with O'Driscoll (2:12.84), O'Neill (2:14.01), Feighan (2:16.8), Farrell (2:16.9) and Martin (2:19.8) all a little further outside their best.

Niamh Murphy made another B Final having finished her weekend with a solid swim in the 100 BS, one of her better events. The womens events were finsihed with Dayna Clegg delivering another strong PB of 4:50.59, almost 2 seconds inside her best. Grace Branagan (5:01), Anne Marie, Emma Crossan and LAura Martin also delivered solid swims in their respective swims.

All in all the meet was a great benchmark of where the team is in their preparations for the Irish National LC championships in the MAy BH Weekend.

Well done TEAM and keep up the good work.

DaveMcCullagh Gala pics