Saxon Crown Autumn Showdown - 15th & 16th October 2022
15 Oct 2022
3.45pm on Sunday 16th October was a significant time for Saxon Crown. Why? Because the club’s first home gala for several years – Saxon Crown’s Autumn Showdown - had successfully concluded after two days of brilliant competition. And what a tremendous success it was, confirmed most emphatically by the compliments received from the visiting coaches, swimmers and spectators.
The lead up was very nervy. New laptops, new printers and a new Hytek system for recording times and results and most significantly a new set of people running the show for whom this was a first. Only Brennan, a dab hand at installing the touch pads and starter’s equipment, had been here before; and Lorraine with lots of successful Gala Secretary experience, but not the huge and demanding task she took on here of hosting a gala. And to crown it all, Beckenham Swimming Club decided to run their own gala with matching events over the very same weekend.
Thankfully, we received a good response from other clubs wishing to come to our gala and have made some new friends along the way who, without prompting, have expressed a strong wish to come again. Brompton SC in particular, who came with over 70 swimmers; our good friends from Bexley with more than 50 swimmers; significant numbers from Southwark Aquatics and Woodside and Thornton Heath; and individual entries from White Oak, Greenwich Royals, Sevenoaks, Bromley and Beckenham. And as the home club, Saxon Crown provided 81 competitors racing against the formidable entrants from these nine other clubs.
The fact that the event ran so smoothly is down to a whole number of people who worked so hard before and during the competition. Lewisham Council supported us in holding the event at Glass Mill; Ashley, our main contact at GLL (Better), was brilliantly supportive and helpful beforehand as were his colleague Murray and the other staff who were on duty over the weekend. What impressed our visitors most was the fantastic work of our 25 volunteers who looked after swimmers, coaches, spectators and officials so well. Crucially Lorraine and the team operating the new recording system made a dream debut. And no competition can function without the referees and officials who give their time and expertise voluntarily for the benefit of the young swimmers.
So what about the performance of our swimmers? The full results are on the website under Events/Results. Suffice it to say that PBs were in abundance and special mention should be made of our multiple gold medal winners headed by Abdul-Aziz Bakar with an incredible 9 followed by: Ayotunde Dauda and Maisie van der Ploeg both with 5; Harry Gibb with 4; Erin O’Hara and Andre Nimoh both with 3; and Timi Adelowo and Thomas Armstrong with 2 each.
Other Saxon medal winners were:
Gold: Abigail Kenton; Alfie Horbacki; Temir Tengayev; Fiachra Brady; and James Sugrue.
Silver: Freya Sheard and Ellie Harden with 3 each; Matthew Shirley, Alfie Horbacki, Andre Nimoh, Amelie Fairhurst, Molly Ferrigan, Fiachra Brady, Anyka Lin and Erin O’Hara with 2 each; and Kerem Kucukkaramuklu, Orla Renny, Darragh Brady, Antonina Wieczorek, Cian Richardson, Timi Adelowo, Max Wainwright, Ailish O’Hara, Lenny Lewis, Alex Lin, Alejandro Martinez, Paris Fairhurst, Harry Gibb, Marlena van der Ploeg, Ayotunde Dauda and Lyla Gibb all picking up a silver.
Bronze: Lydia Glossop, Paris Fairhurst and James Sugrue top the bronze medallists with 3 each: Ruby Gold, Florence de Veras, Mateo Mathers, Orla Renny, Alexandria Forsyth, Madison Williams and Harry Gibb each grabbed 2; and Cian Richardson, Matthew Shirley, Rose Brooking, Honor Griffiths, Roman Munroe, Dana Andagoya, Elle Harden, Harry Armstrong, Florence Glossop, Freya Sheard, Timi Adelowo, Erin O’Hara, Ayotunde Dauda, Darragh Brady, Sapphire Jordan, Polly Lyon, Charlotte Redman and Andre Nimoh all earned themselves a bronze.
- 22 Mar 2026Fantastic Day for Saxon Crown Yesterday
Our young swimmers came a very impressive 2nd in R1 of this year's Kent Junior League and Ella S took gold in the 1500m at LAC - 20 Feb 2026AP Race - Breaststroke Clinic
A fantastic opportunity for Alex J this week at the AP Race Breaststroke Clinic — learning from some of the very best in elite performance and race preparation! - 06 Feb 2026John Eady RIP
It is with great sadness, that we report the passing of John Eady, the father of Matt Eady, a long time head coach at Saxon Crown. John himself coached the Masters' squad and is fondly remembered by our longer serving members. John's funeral is on 26th February and the club can put anyone wishing to attend, in touch with Matt, to obtain the details. - 15 Mar 2025Saxon Crown win Round 1 at the White Horse League
Saxon Crown lead the way at the White Horse League after round 1. We managed to squeeze our way past Bexley by 3 points. There were some great swims, pbs, regional times and amazing camaraderie. Keep it up team! - 14 Mar 2025Lewisham Primary Schools Gala 2025
On Friday 14th March over 270 swimmers from twenty-seven of the Borough’s primary schools arrive at Glass Mill Leisure Centre to compete in this year’s Lewisham Primary School Gala. The event was organised by Saxon Crown Swimming Club, supported by Lewisham Council and GLL, who provided pool space and staff free of charge. Photo of Jessica MIllot from Saxon Crown and Kilmorie Year 5. See below for the full report. - 01 Mar 2025Tunde, Kerem and Freya at last day of the Kents
Tunde 6th, Kerem 8th and Freya 3rd in the 1500m finals of the last day of the Kents. Well done. - 01 Mar 2025Successful Kents 2025, Summary from Sergio, Head Coach
For a few years now Team Saxon made a presence at Kent County competitions. Going from strength to strength even in 2025 it was great to see many more swimmers fast enough to participate in this tough event. And we did not disappoint.40 of our fastest athletes amongst which some new qualifiers competed in 214 events performing incredibly well swimming many pbs and regional times and making 88 top 10 finals in all stroke and distances, achieving 6 bronze, 10 silver and 3 gold medals making us top 8/9(points not updated after 1500 event yet) club in Kent compared to 14th last year. Moreover swimmers showed great determination, team sprint and commeraderie cheering at every event as well as competing at their best.
It is a joy to see so many happy and succesful swimmers wearing the colors of Saxon Crown and making coaches proud!
Go Saxons! - 02 Feb 2025Deji giving it large at the Kents
With just one more event to go Saxon Crown are on course to achieving their best medals tally and points scored in the Kents for some time.
Look out for the final scores after the 1500m the final event on 1 March. Well done swimmers!! - 25 Jan 2025Gold and Silver medals for Saxon Crown Swimmers at the Kents
What a fantastic second weekend at the Kents for Saxon Crown swimmers winning medals and impressive PBs aplenty. Ruth Allen won Gold and Freya Sheard won Silver in the 13yr 200m butterfly. Well done Swimmers, bring on week 3!!!! - 11 Jan 2025A great start to the Kent Championships for Saxon Crown swimmers
Saxon Crown had a fabulous start to the Kents in the 800m at Crawley. Freya Sheard won bronze and James Sugrue and Kerem shaved seconds off their PBs. Marvelous!!!
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