OUT of 20 possible time-lane slots, 19 are now booked by teams of up to six swimmers, for the fourth Thame Swimathon at Thame Leisure Centre on Sunday, February 28, between 11am and 3pm.
The event is organised by the Rotary Club of Thame with generous support from local businesses and organisations, Thame Leisure Centre, Park Street Dental Clinic, Abbotts Office Solutions, Vale Life Magazine, Haddenham Beer Festival, Booker Tate, Ignite Sport, and Silent View Windows.
Over 40 volunteers from the Rotary Club of Thame, Thame Inner Wheel and their families and friends, will support the event by counting the lengths swum by the teams, and by stewarding. Each participant will receive a medal and a certificate of participation from Nichola Dixon, the Mayor of Thame, and Linda Emery, Deputy Mayor and former President of the Rotary Club of Thame.
A team from Booker Tate will again take on the Thame Swimathon challenge as they did in October 2014
Marius Ciortan, Chairman of the Thame Swimathon Steering group, said: “Thame Swimming Club has tripled their number of teams – six teams now versus two in the previous years. Booker Tate and Racquets are among the local businesses who will participate once again this year. We have a team of schoolchildren from Thame’s John Hampden School as well as other teams from families and groups of friends. We expect there will be a fierce competition among the teams on how many lengths each group will swim and how much money will be raised towards good causes.”
He added: “It is now time to give a hand to the teams by donating to the charities supported which include Citizens Advice Bureau, Medical Detection Dogs and lots of local good causes chosen by teams. You can find My Donate links to support teams like EYAI, Thame Swimming Club, Richards Family and Weights Fitness on our www.thame.rotary1090.org website or www.facebook.com/thamerotary”
CHINNOR RFC travelled to Taunton with the same victorious team from the previous weekend, knowing that no team had won there in the last 18 months.
Chinnor played with a strong wind in the first half and it only took 5 minutes for their forwards to drive a maul towards the Taunton line enabling Ben Manning to force himself over for the opening try, well converted by Sam Angell from the touchline.
Taunton’s counter attacks were well contained by the Chinnor defence and Angell’s boot regularly returned play into the Taunton half. Another Chinnor driving maul from a line out sucked in the opposition allowing Junior Fatialofa to dance through a gap and crash over under the posts for Chinnor’s second try converted by Angell.
Just before half time Taunton pressure caused them to charge down a Chinnor kick and boot it to the Chinnor try line. Centre Freddie Fraser won the foot race to score Taunton’s first try bringing the half time score to 5 – 14 in Chinnor’s favour.
Taunton started the second half much as Chinnor did using the wind and driving mauls to good effect. Full back Kingdom soon reduced their arrears to 8-14 with a penalty. A Chinnor blind side break eased the pressure when winger Henry Lamont sprinted 50 metres only to be taken out by a high tackle, resulting in a yellow card for Taunton and the loss of a certain score to Chinnor.
Taunton maintained their pressure and a quickly taken penalty caught Chinnor’s defence unprepared allowing No 8 Sam Prior to charge over the line to score a try converted by Kingdom giving Taunton a one point lead, 15-14.
Chinnor forwards rose to the challenge and rampaged into the Taunton half with driving runs from the back row led by George Messum, ably supported by James Tyas and Alex Waddingham. Another blind side break and swift handling, particularly by Frank Jones, put winger Heath away to score an unconverted try in the corner to return the lead to Chinnor 19-15.
Five minutes later, the forwards again drove deep into Taunton’s territory with replacement Jamie Townsend foraging and finally driving over for Chinnor’s 4th, bonus point try converted by Angell. With 15 minutes left Taunton tried every tactic to score but Chinnor’s defence stood resolute with continuous tackling by the three quarters and a set of forwards who refused to capitulate in the face of the Taunton Titans’ onslaught
Chinnor’s 26 – 15 victory caused a silent Taunton crowd to reflect on the loss of their 18 month home record while the few Chinnor supporters were loudly ecstatic with their team’s performance – which lifts them well out of the relegation zone.
THAME Tennis Club received not one, but two huge accolades from the Oxfordshire Lawn Tennis Association (OLTA) at the association’s awards ceremony on February 8.
A proud Mark Wilkins with his two certificates
Thame Tennis Club beat off 40 other tennis clubs in the county to win the prestigious Aegon Oxfordshire County Club of the Year 2015 award. It was also an important evening for Thame tennis coach, Mark Wilkins, who was born and bred in the town, as he won Aegon Oxfordshire County Coach of the Year 2015. Mark, who studied sports science at University is due to take over as Head Coach later in 2016, having started as a junior player and later joined the coaching staff.
Nicky Maskens, Chair of the Oxfordshire LTA and main board member, selected the winners and now both Thame Tennis Club and Mark Wilkins go forward to the regional awards.
Daniel Morris, Vice Chancellor of Thame Tennis Club, said: “For Thame Tennis Club this is amazing recognition and we are so proud to be a growing club with home grown coaching talent.
During 2015, Thame Tennis Club re-laid four of our courts with the latest in artificial clay technology, and a member of the LTA joined us from London for the official opening of the new courts.”
IAN Carter, of Thame, has won his second British Championship in just a few months, at the recent WKC (World Kickboxing Council) held in Manchester, the oldest running competition of its kind.
Ian Carter with his Gold medal
Ian said: “The competition was packed with all the sections full of fighters. It was a hard and long day, but I managed to win my second British Championship in a few months and two second places.”
You can see the full list of winners here: SEE LINK
Ian trains both children and adults Karate at Thame Leisure centre. Call him for more information about lessons: 07867330440
CHINNOR overcame Canterbury 39-26 scoring five tries for a valuable bonus point, in dank conditions on Saturday, February 13.
Chinnor dominated the first half, scoring 27 unanswered points. Their first score came after 10 minutes when Henry Lamont scorched through a midfield hole created by clever dummy running by Junior Fatialofa. Sam Angell converted and increased the Chinnor lead to 10-0 with a penalty goal. Canterbury, with one of their few forays into the Chinnor half, looked destined for a score but a last second and now trademark interception by Oscar Heath saw him gallop 80 metres for Chinnor’s second. Angell added the extras and another penalty goal for a 20-0 lead. Fatialofa, on half time, danced in and out of the Canterbury defence from 35 metres to record a dazzlingly impressive try. Angell again did the necessary for a Chinnor 27-0 half time lead.
Second half honours went to Canterbury who outscored the home side by 14 points. Canterbury came out of the blocks quickly in the second half with Courtney Horey scoring an identical interception try to Heath’s in the first half, just two minutes in. Three minutes later, Canterbury again scored with Ollie Best going in after good driving work from the Canterbury pack on the opposite side of the pitch. Chinnor stopped the Kentish momentum with a try by Angell off a collapsed maul . Chinnor then patiently worked their way up field and, after a series of pick and drives, the ball was released to the backs and Jack Adams found a hole to the line. Heath took the conversion for a 39-14 lead. Canterbury refused to lie down and scored two tries late in the game from Tom Best and Harry Sayers but it was insufficient to overcome Chinnor’s lead and the game finished 39-26 to the Oxfordshire boys.
Chinnor had probably their most impressive half of the season for the first part of this match. They succumbed to another mad ten minutes after half time, conceding two tries. However, their good work of the first half was enough to deflect Canterbury’s second half revival, particularly by the Kent side’s backs.
The forwards were the mainstay of this win, with a dominant scrum (except once) with a rampaging and hard working back row. The highlight of the match was Junior snake hips Fatialofa’s bamboozlement of the Canterbury defence as he swayed, slowed and accelerated from 35 metres out for a spectacular try. All of the back row caught the eye but Joe Vandermolen’s non stop workrate gains him this week’s laurels.
Interchanges: Jamie Townsend, Mark Darlington, Justin Allen, Frank Jones, Salva Lloret
Canterbury
Ollie Best, Harry Sayers, Courtney Horey, Tom Best, Mason Rosvall, Martyn Beaumont (c), Dan Smart, Jim Green, Tom Rogers, Alex Wake-Smith, Royce Cadman, Tyler Edwards, Max Cantwell, Sam Rogers, George Micans
Interchanges: Dan Winchester, Neil Wakefield, Tom Burns, Cameron Townley, Sean Nixon
OLD Albanian, who have been top of the table for most of the season, suffered at the hands of lowly Chinnor who produced their best tactical performance of the season on Saturday.
Chinnor, playing with a gale force wind in their favour for the first half, gave Old Albanian little choice but to run the ball out of defence as kicking into the strong wind was not an option.
Consequently most of the initial play was in the Albanian half with lock, Daz Oliver leading the charge followed by occasional counter attacks into Chinnor territory. The Chinnor defence rallied to prevent any score and fly half Angell’s kicking relieved any pressure and pinned Albanian back into their own half.
After 30 minutes, Chinnor opened the score when wing, Oscar Heath intercepted an Albanian pass to run 30 metres unopposed to score a try which was converted by Angell. Chinnor desperately tried to get another score before half time while they had the wind advantage but the Albanian defence stood firm.
In the second half, Chinnor now had the task of driving against the elements and they certainly rose to the occasion with scrum after scrum being pushed forward by their pack to release the back row of Manning and Messum to lead driving mauls while Waddingham tackled anything that moved. It didn’t take long for Heath to intercept yet another Albanian pass on the half way line then hand off the Albanian fly half to complete a 50 metre sprint to the line to score an unconverted try.
Then scrum half Greg Goodfellow stepped up to take centre stage. The frustrated Albanian pack began giving away penalties, one of which Greg took quickly from his own 22 metre area and ended up jinking into the Albanian half allowing lock Vandermolen to join in the driving run. Goodfellow then took a second quick penalty on the half way and sprinted through the Albanian defence only to be brought down short of the line. A quick flick to supporting Sam Angell put him over in the corner for an unconverted try and a surprising 0-17 point lead with 20 minutes remaining.
Old Albanian maintained their pressure but excellent defence by centres Beer and Fatialofa prevented any penetration of the three quarter line and attacking runs by ‘Fats’ often crossed the gain line and put Albanian on the back foot. With five minutes to go, Albanian kicked a penalty deep into Chinnor’s half and from the resulting line out the ball was fed quickly along the line for full back Foster to join in and score an unconverted try.
An exhausted and exhilarated Chinnor stuck consistently to their game plan to earn this well-deserved 17-5 victory.
THAME’s swimming talent was celebrated in style, when Thame Swimming Club (TSC) held its annual Presentation Evening at its new home of Lord Williams’s School recently, highlighting the clubs achievements throughout the previous year.
Image Iain Phillips. Relay winners: Emily Evans, George Pearson, Lucy Block, Sam White, Zoe Cooke, Elliot Riley-Brown, Ellen Ludlow, Will Simpkins, Lily Hawkes and George Finch
Organised by Rachel Humphreys and supported by the TCS Committee members and parents too, the evening saw 180 people all enjoying delicious food (who knew that school dinners had become quite so tasty!) before Simon Haarburger took to the stage to compere the rest of the evening.
The Key highlights are detailed below:
· County Championships: with over 32 ‘Top 8’ plaques being awarded
· South East Regional Championships (Summer): well done to Marcus Birmingham, Jo Hewett & Ben Williams for their
achievements
· Smurfs @The Carnival: over 30 participants supporting the Club at the Thame Carnival
· Fundraising Cake Stall: £188 raised
· Welsh Nationals: Hallam Cozier for achieving two finals places; Ben Williams for winning the first National medal for
TSC and Josh Williams for PB’ing in all his races.
· British Learning Disability Swimming Championships: Jo Hewett for coming home with 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze
medal.
· Aquathlon: over 62 participants, with Ella Simms and Marcus Birmingham winning overall.
· BBAT: great achievement by 73 swimmers for Thame, coming 3rd overall.
· Swim Camp, Spain: inaugural camp seeing the swimmers do 65 kilometres of swimming over 22 hours of swimming!
· South East Regional Championships (Winter): Marcus Birmingham & Ben Williams for qualifying and representing the
Club
· Club Championships: 85% of the Club took part with fantastic swimming evidenced throughout.
Marcus Birmingham presented the Tom Birmingham Skins awards, in memory of coach Tom Birmingham, to Ella Simms and Harry Block.
Team USA were then celebrated and presented their awards by David & Caroline Finch, as the winners of the Will Finch Breaststroke Canon Relay in memory of Thame Swimming Club swimmer, Will Finch, who tragically passed away last year: Emily Evans, George Pearson, Lucy Block, Sam White, Zoe Cooke, Elliot Riley-Brown, Ellen Ludlow, Will Simpkins, Lily Hawkes and George Finch.
The coaches then presented the swimmers with their achievement plates from Club Champs. Three more awards then followed:
Rob Brookes ‘Most Improved Swimmer’: awarded to Ben Williams with a 17% improvement, followed by Josh Williams and Rory Pridmore, who were also studying for their GCSEs too!
Simon Burnett’s ‘Most Competitive Swimmer’: a highly fought competition with Josh Williams taking the top spot, followed by Ben Williams and Harry Block.
UCare ‘Most Committed Award’: awarded to Holly Revill for her dedication to both swimming and coaching and for always having a smile on her face.
Wendy Randall thanked all of the officials who give up their time to support the Club, saying: “We cannot attend galas without this support and we really do need more people to get involved so please do volunteer, it’s fun and rewarding too!”
Brian Pridmore, the Club’s Vice Chairman, also took to the stage (with the help of Mark Simms and Sherri Cozier) to inspire more parents to get involved with other aspects of the Club such as coaching, becoming a committee member and team managing.
The swimmers who attended the BAT Swim Camp also provided an overview of their time in Spain, coming stronger, fitter and closer as a team … with their results showing the benefits of the Camp too!
Helen Williams, Communications Manager for Thame Swimming Club, summed up the evening: “A wonderful evening celebrating so many fabulous achievements and thanks to everyone who came and made it such fun!”
CHINNOR started brightly with Heath opening the home account for 5-0, cutting through the Redruth defence easily after five minutes. Shortly afterwards, Cargill put the home side further ahead with a penalty goal for a 8-0 lead. A neat offload in midfield led to lock Marriot going over for Redruth’s first try. Rule converted to close the gap to 1 point. Redruth then took the lead, Richard Brown scoring from a rolling maul from a penalty, a tactic that served them well throughout the match. Rule’s conversion saw the visitors ahead 14-8 at the break.
A Redruth rolling maul from a penalty earned their next score with hooker Brown again touching down for a 19-8 lead to the Cornishmen. Shortly afterwards, Chinnor attacked down the right but moved the ball rapidly across the field for Lamont to touch down in the opposite corner for Chinnor’s second try. A rolling maul from Redruth saw the Chinnor defence sucked in and a neat inside pass saw Redruth’s Sam Parsons go in for the bonus point try. Rule’s conversion put the visitors ahead 26-13. Chinnor attacked with zeal for the last quarter but coughed up the ball at critical times to make the final score 26-13 to Redruth.
Teams
Chinnor
Oscar Heath, Scott Gibson, Jack Adams, Junior Fatialofa, Henry Lamont, Will Cargill, Frank Jones, Santiago Sodini, Mark Darlington, Andy Darlington, Darren Oliver, Tom Burns, George Messum, Alex Waddingham, Matt Bolwell
Interchanges: Jamie Townsend, Jonathan Phipps, Ben Manning, Greg Goodfellow, Marcus Beer
Redruth
Brett Rule, Lewis Vinnicombe, Nielson Webber, Sam Parsons, Matthew Bowden, David Mankee, Damien Cook, William Keast, Tom Cowan-Dickie, Peter Joyce, Ed Pascoe, Luke Hattam, Chris Fuca, Ben Priddey, Kyle Marriott
Interchanges: John Stevens, Richard Brown, Matt Gidlow, Craig Williams, Rhodri McAtee
A budding Thame squash player has proved that applying yourself to one sport for just a year and studying the professionals, can produce great results.
The squash tournement entrants relaxing after the competition – James Portsmouth is second from the left, front row
James Portsmouth’s well-earned success came last Saturday, January 30, when Racquets Squash Academy in Thame held its January, One-Day Junior squash tournament. “There as a smaller entry than previous tournaments,” said squash coach, Sue Martin Downhill,” but by no means a less competitive one.
“We had new young players enter from Henley and Abingdon as well as home-grown players from Racquets, making up a tournament of a huge variety of standards. The ages in the tournament ranged from nine through to 14. We handicapped the tournament so that the better players had to secure more points than the others giving everyone the chance to take first place.”
Sue’s fellow Racquets coach, Will John, said: “For the better players this requires a lot of concentration as the loss of any points can prove disastrous with some of the newest players, only needing three points for a win!”
The results were sixth place – Elio Babb (Henley), fifth place – Matt Harper (LWS year 7), fourth place – Sam Crowley (Abingdon), third place – Joey Monti (Barley Hill year 5).
The final was between Luke Hayes (Barley Hill year 5) and James Portsmouth (LWS year 7) with Luke starting on zero and James starting on -8. “Luke is a strong competitor as we have seen in the last few months, with his recent great tournament results, “explained Sue, “but James has improved his game markedly in the past month, taking first prize in a display of controlled, quality squash with great technique and touch.
“James has been dedicated to squash for a year now watching PSA events on Youtube and SquashTV for hours every day, taking note of racket technique and movement on court by the professionals. This is showing in his improvement and I expect to see him challenging higher up the leagues and ladders and hopefully we will be able to arrange for him to attend some local national ranking tournaments in the coming year.”
To start playing squash or for more informatin, give Simon Martin or Sue a call at Racquets Fitness Centre on 01844 261754. The club is particularly keen to encourage ladies and juniors who have never played before as they have new groups who have started learning this year, and they are very keen to have more players.
THAME Cycling Club presented awards to winners in Senior and Veteran categories for Time-Trial series last Saturday. January 23.
From the left -Andrew Payne—Organiser, Matthew Walsh – Senior, Ana Legin – Vet, Diane Curtis-Preston – Best Improvement, Jane Hunt –Senior, Sherinne Birnie—Track Trophy and Alasdair MacVarish –Vet.
