COMMONWEALTH SPOT AWAITS NATIONAL WINNER
Synchronised swimmers will have one eye on selection to next
year's Commonwealth Games when they compete this weekend at
the British Championships in Leicester.
The standard of competition will be the highest seen in this
country in a number of years as the bar has been raised to
ensure Britain continues to develop the sport with Melbourne
2006 just around the corner and the London 2012 Olympics in
the not too distant future.
Teams from all over the country will converge at the new
Braunstone Leisure Centre on the outskirts of the city and
will compete for solo, duet and team titles.
The solo competition promises to be eagerly contested with
the national title at stake as well as the opportunity to
represent England at the Commonwealth Games in April.
Three synchronised swimmers have already been pre-selected
to contest the duet competition in Melbourne.
Rushmoor dominated the selection in August with two of the
three athletes, Jenna Randall and Olivia Allison, coming from
the Surrey-based club. Completing the trio is Bristol Central's
Hannah Massey.
Rushmoor and Bristol Central will again prove to be strong
contenders for the team title with good track records over
recent years.
Event Director Anne Clark expects an exciting championships.
"All of the leading girls will be there competing for
a place in the solo event at the Melbourne Games," said
Mrs Clark.
"Numbers are slightly down as the bar has been raised
standard-wise but we'll be looking at a good competition for
a place in Melbourne.
"England medalled at the Manchester games in 2002 when
Gayle Adamson of Gateshead won silver in the solo event before
partnering Katie Hooper of Reading Royals to silver in the
duet. This is going to provide the right incentive to this
weekend's competitors."
The championships will be held on Saturday (5th) and Sunday
(6th) in the state-of-the-art £10m Braunstone Leisure
Centre.
Leicester City Council has invested more than £6million
in the leisure centre with Braunstone Community Association
contributing £1million and Sport England allocated a
further £2 million of Lottery funds.
The British Championships also coincide with National Lottery
Day on Saturday which celebrates many Lottery funded projects
such as the leisure centre.
Venues and organisations across the UK to have benefited
from Lottery cash will be holding special events and promotions
on National Lottery Day to celebrate the £17 billion
that has been raised for over 200,000 projects across the
UK.
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