ROYAL AIR FORCE INTER-REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 23-24 APR 09

1. The RAFSA Inter-Regional Swimming, Diving and Water Polo Championships were held at RAF Cranwell on 23-24 Apr 09. This year’s competition was lower on numbers than in previous years. However 3 teams were almost fully represented, with the Northern Region represented only in swimming. The competition standard was as always very high with 2 new individual swimming records from Fg Off Phippen (Western) and Cpl Norris (Central) and 2 new relay event records. In addition the diving competition saw its highest attendance ever, particularly in the women’s event.

Water Polo

2. The first discipline to be decided upon was the water polo. The 3 competing regions played each other in a round robin tournament. The first match saw the South & East take on the Western team. South & East fielded the stronger side with a number of the male RAF Water Polo Squad players compared with a predominantly female team from the West. Despite the score being 20 – 2, this did not truly reflect the standard of play. It was a similar story in the second match when a fresh Central team played a tired Western Team. However despite the score, Western Region put up a brave fight with each player giving their all to the very end. The third and final match between South & East and Central looked on paper to be the more even of the three matches. Each side fought hard but once again the depth and experience of the South & East made them the resounding winners, taking them to overall victory. It was a great competition and despite the outcome, and it was excellent to see so many female players becoming involved, which is testament to the hard work and dedication of the female Water Polo Captain, Flt Lt Broomhead. A summary of the results is found over; the full results are included in Annex A.

Diving

3. The second discipline to be decided upon was the diving. Although the male competition was represented by the Central region only, the female event had its highest representation ever and was closely contested. At her debut championships, SAC A Newton stole the show, with a set of neat dives that won both the springboard and firm board events. The remaining places were fought hard for by the other 4 divers, with second and third places being split in the firm board event by just 0.65. Special mention should be given to Cpl Kelly Precious from South & East region. Kelly arrived at RAF Cranwell willing to have a go, and after an hour of tuition managed to put together a set of four dives on both springboard and firm board. In the men’s competition Sgt Nev Davies demonstrated that he had not lost any of his talent and illustrated his continual promise, winning both the firm board and springboard events in the men’s competition which was heavily contested with Central Team divers. With the excellent leadership of Chf Tech Kev Davidson, the Central diving team presented an unstoppable force leading up to the Inter Services Championships in July. The full results can be found at Annex A, with the overall results shown below.

Swimming

4. The third and final competition decided upon was the swimming competition. Each region was invited to enter 2 swimmers in each event, potentially resulting in 2-heat events. However, with the small size of the Northern team and without full teams from the other 3 regions all of the races were straight finals. The standard of competition however did not fall and there were some great swims and closely fought competitions, with some new swimmers racing for the first time. Although the Central team had many of the RAF squad swimmers and therefore had a clear advantage in the male competition, the South & East team challenged them to closely take the lead in the female competition. With only 3 competitors in their team, Cpl Johnson, Cpl Jones and Cpl Freer did the Northern Region proud, and collected 2 silvers and a bronze between them. Although this year’s Championships did not quite reach the 7 records as set last year, record breaking swims came in the form of Cpl Ryan Norris (Central) in the 100m Breastroke and Fg Off Aly Phippen (Western) breaking her own record from last year in the 200m Breastroke. The high standard of competition across the board was further emphasized by record breaking relay swims from the Western Women’s and Central Men’s Freeestyle Relay (4x25m) and (4x50m) respectively. Second place was closely fought for, with the Western region just losing out by a single point to the South & East; however the Central region took the top place convincingly. The results from the swimming are summarised below, and the full results can be found at Annex A.

Overall

5. The 2009 Inter-Regional Swimming, Diving and Water Polo Championships were won overall by the Central Region, with the South & East in 2nd, the Western Region in 3rd and the North Region in 4th place. The breakdown of the weighted scores is included below.

6. The Championships were a great success overall, and enjoyed thoroughly by all and as with previous years, resulted in the discovery of new up and coming talent. Many thanks must be given to the 4 Regional Development Officers (North – Cpl Keith Johnson (RAF Boulmer), South & East – Flt Lt Steve Brassington (RAF Northolt), Central – Fg Off Ben Durham (RAF Coningsby), Western - Sqn Ldr Ian Chesworth (Corsham) for their hard work and dedication to find willing competitors and new talent to make the competition as competitive as possible. There are many more people who have given their time to ensure this year’s event ran as smoothly as possible, and special thanks goes to:

     a. Flt Lt Lorna Searle who provided support and guidance leading up to the event and was key to the successful running on the day.

     b. FS Paul Kendall who co-ordinated the Service and Civilian Officials assisting in all 3 disciplines; a full list of officials can be found at Annex B.

     c. Chf Tech Kev Davidson for co-ordinating the diving event making it the most successful and well attended event of the championships so far.

     d. Sgt Mick Whitley for his continuing support at co-ordinating the water polo competition and referees.

     e. Gp Capt Aitkinson (RAF Sports Board) and Mr Dave Duxford (BAE Systems RAF Coningsby) for presenting the medals and trophies.

     f. Fg Off Gwen Harris (RAF Lyneham) for her hard work and calm manner whilst running the results desk for the swimming competition.

     g. Finally to RAF Coningsby Photographic Section for allowing SAC Sally Monk to take a photographic record of the event in between competing herself.

7. Many thanks must be given once again to RAF Cranwell for their continued support to RAFSA; Jude Shave in the PEd Section, Paul Mumby the Accommodation manager for his continued tolerance to the many changes we ask of him, RAF Cranwell Graphics Office for prompt production of the certificates and programmes and finally to Nick Dagley in the Sgt’s Mess for a lovely officials lunch and a great lasagne and curry at the presentation ceremony.

Annexes:

A.     Full Inter-Regional Results.
B.     List of Officials.