The third round of Isle of Man Swimming’s Utmost Wealth League Match Series continued at the National Sports Centre recently.

The island’s swimmers are fortunate enough to continue competing while their UK counterparts are struggling with closed facilities as a result of the ongoing Covid restrictions.

Three competitors have already achieved consideration times for the Commonwealth Games which are due to be held in Birmingham in 2022.

Laura Kinley added the 50m and 200m breaststroke to the 100m breaststroke she already had, as well as Emma Hodgson in the 50m backstroke and Joel Watterson in the 50m butterfly.

Chairman of Isle of Man Swimming, Marcus Cooil, congratulated these swimmers on their fantastic achievement and head coach Lee Holland looks forward to building a strong team to compete in the Games.

The latest league match started with arguably the toughest swim event there is, the 400m individual medley, which comprises four lengths of each stroke and requires stamina and strength.

Harvey Lowe and Kiera Prentice took the wins in the male and female category and notched up full points for Douglas Swimming Club.

This was followed by the extremely popular 50m freestyle where 71 male and 91 female swimmers contested the sprint distance.

The 10-years-and-under boys event saw Peel’s Caleb Crowe secure the win ahead of Southern’s Jamie Farnan and Teddy Peel’s Thompson in third. In winning what is already becoming his signature event, Caleb has taken the top spot in the British rankings.

In the 11-year-old category, Oliver Dowty took the win ahead of Louis Piggin and Elliot Reynolds and the 12-year-old group was topped by Charlie Foster, Dylan Larrosa and Harry Lee.

Zack Bellhouse swam a personal best to go sub-30 seconds for the first time, chased by Eryk Jurasz and Ethan Butler.

Benny Ellison, Connor Mealin and Thomas Caine all swam well to take the top three places in the 14-year-old category and then the times dropped considerably in the open men’s event which saw Southern’s Joel Watterson take the top spot in just under 23 seconds ahead of Douglas swimmers Euan MacMurchie and Lowe.

In the girls event the 10-year-old category was topped by Lettie Hyett, Aoife Hughes and Beth Christian, while Ramsey’s Aoibh Nash was top of the 11-year-olds with Southern’s Libbie Curphey and Faye Mayers coming in second and third.

Chloe Batty took the top spot in the 12-year-old group followed by Molly Bevan and Ellie Cowin and the 13-year-old class was won by Freyja Kelly closely followed by Izzy Craig and Bethany Turner-Priest.

Immy Cooper and Leah Mellor both swam personal bests in the 14-year-old girls with Martha Broderick taking the final podium place. The open age group saw Laura Kinley win the 15-years-and-over event followed by Emma Hodgson and Aimee Myers.

The next event was the 50m breaststroke which saw Farnan take the win from Crowe, with Fletcher Gell coming third.

In the 11-year-olds, Dowty looked strong again while Reynolds and Piggin reversed their placings from the freestyle. The 12 years saw Foster, Larrosa and Josh Hollamby all swim well to fill the top three places and in the 13-year-olds race Jurasz took the win from Bellhouse and Matthew Buxton.

Mealin swam an incredible personal best to win the 14-year-old category with Ellison and Adam Shuttleworth second and third, while in the open men’s event MacMurchie finished ahead of Alexander Turnbull and Jacob Brookes.

Douglas swimmer Zoe Neuwit took the top spot in the 10-years-and under with Hyett and Hughes not far behind.

Nash and Isla Mealin made it a Ramsey one-two and Southern’s Kaya Reynolds completed the placings in the 11-year-old age group and Batty had a comfortable win in the 12s ahead of Tegan Thompson and Sophie Christian.

Kelly was strong again in the breaststroke with Turner-Priest and Kiera Leece finishing second and third respectively, while in the next age category Martha Broderick took the win from Cooper followed by Molly Storrie.

In the open female race Laura Kinley was a class apart from the rest of the field, with her sister Emily taking third and Anna Marcantoni separating them making it a clean sweep for Douglas club.

With no chance to rest, the 100m butterfly was next. In the boys event the same names continued to dominate, with Crowe again taking the youngest age group win, Jack Marshall the 11s, Foster in the 12-year-olds and Buxton the 13s category.

Ellison topped the 14-year-old age group and Watterson swam the four lengths in a personal best time of just over 57 seconds.

In the girls event the age groups were won by Hughes, Reynolds, Matilda Bird, Craig, Mellor and Blae Richardson in the open, with some fantastic swims and personal bests.

The next event was the 100m backstroke and the positions from the freestyle was replicated in the younger boys category, with Crowe, Farnan and Thompson again taking the top three. The next age groups saw some changes in the placings, with Dowty, Chadwick and Marshall in the top spots in the 11 year olds and Foster, Larrosa and Lee led the way in the 12s.

It was a Southern triple at the top of the 13-year-old category, with Bellhouse, Buxton and Kian Johnson this time and Shuttleworth, Ellison and Caine in the 14-year-olds.

The open male event saw the Douglas trio of Lowe, Jack Burgess and Jim Dudley grab the points for the home club.

In the girls event Evelyn King took her first win of the night in a personal best time, with Beth Christian and Neuwit close on her heels.

Cooper had a comfortable win over Mellow and Aalin Foster and in the open category Emma Hodgson swimming somewhat of a personal triumph bettering her own pb time that has stood since 2017, with Prentice and Madeline Hemuss swimming pbs to fill the top three.

A field of 13 men contested the open 200m breaststroke event, with Turnbull, Connor Mealin and Ellison placed for the boys and Kinley leading the way again in the female race challenged by Prentice and Myers in the eight-length race.

The evening was rounded off with the cannon relay, with Douglas entering an ambitious three teams, Southern two and Ramsey and Peel one each. The relay followed a similar pattern to the two previous league matches, with Southern, Peel and Ramsey all starting strongly and Douglas playing catch up.

Southern again took the win from Douglas with Ramsey close behind for third.

In addition to the Commonwealth Games consideration times, the following swimmers all achieved Island Games consideration times:

Kiera Prentice in the 400m individual medley, Joel Watterson in the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly, Euan MacMurchie in the 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, Emma Hodgson in the 50m freestyle and 100m backstroke and Laura Kinley in the 50m freestyle and 50m and 200m breaststroke.

Isle of Man Swimming would like to express its continued thanks to Utmost Wealth Solutions without whom opportunities for the swimmers would not be as plentiful.