The sight of Keri-Anne Payne and James Goddard waiting behind the blocks for events one and two of the National Speedo League Cup final was not only a mouth-watering prospect but an unspoken message to everyone watching.

If anyone doubted, after their relative trouncing of the Cities of Salford and Liverpool in December's North West final, that Stockport Metro meant business, those doubts were now dispelled.

For the women's 200m IM, Payne found herself in the next lane to her Stockport training partner Cassie Patten, whose temporary return to the Plymouth Leander fold was itself a tribute to a commendable aspect of the Stockport philosophy.

“We didn’t allow Cassie, Joe Gannon and Michael Rock to swim for us,” said head coach Sean Kelly. “I think it’s really important that they swim for their local clubs. If we are going to come forward in 50m pools and centres around the country, we have to do that.”

Patten may have the edge on her friend when it comes to fighting off jellyfish and other creatures of the deep but the world 10km silver medallist was no match for Payne in the four-length medley, clocking 2:21.96 to the Stockport representative’s 2:17.28.

Payne’s performance would have been a league record had not Fran Halsall already covered that territory in the B final earlier in the day.

Millfield’s Euan Dale ­ fourth in the British all-time list with a recent PB of 2:01.40 ­ headed Goddard¹s opponents in the men¹s IM but the world and Olympic backstroke finalist was about to remind us that he is also no mean medley man. In fact, Goddard holds European junior gold and Commonwealth bronze medals for this event.

With splits of 26.43 on fly and 30.17 on backstroke, he had pretty well done the job by halfway and went on to stop the clock at 2:01.68. This not only slashed three seconds off Michael Rock’s league record from the B final but was almost a second quicker than the time which won Goddard a bronze medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. It also takes him within 0.9sec of the British record, which took Gregor Tait to Commonwealth gold in Melbourne last year.

OTHER PRIORITIES
With two races gone, Stockport already had maximum points and held a lead that they were never to lose, thanks to a record of results that included 18 wins and 15 second places from the 50 events.

Payne and Goddard provided two more of the individual wins, in the women¹s 100m butterfly (1:02.73) and the men¹s 100m breaststroke (1:04.26). Ambah Simpson was also a double winner for Stockport, taking the 10-11yrs 50m backstroke (32.71) and freestyle (29.25) and the award for the most improved girl in her age group.

Team-mate Luke Woolstencroft won the equivalent boys' award after his winning time of 34.20 in the 50m backstroke. Also contributing to Stockport¹s tally of victories were Simon Birch in the men’s 100m backstroke (58.12), Nick Burrell in the 10-11yrs 50m freestyle (28.40), Jessica Powell in the 13 and under 100m backstroke (34.48) and 15 and under swimmers Dale Curtis (100m freestyle 55.57) and Russell Smith (100m breaststroke 1:07.50).

Stockport became the fourth winners of the trophy in as many years following the successes of City of Leeds in 2004, Millfield in 2005 and Hatfield last year. They have won the title only once before in the league’s 38-year history ­ in 1986. They have not even appeared in the finals since 1988, although that has more to do with club strategy than any sudden improvement in their standards.

Head coach Sean Kelly explained: ”We have had other priorities in previous years. We have always used the league as a development meet. This year, with the world championships out of the way already, we thought we would have a go. We’ve had a great competition all year and it has been great for team spirit.”

Kelly said he was confident beforehand that Stockport would win the final and praised age group head coach Richard Blackshaw for a “tremendous job” in leading the junior team. But whether Stockport will be back next year to defend their title is doubtful.

”If the calendar suits, we will,” said Kelly. “But it’s Olympic year and I don't want any  distractions. We will probably enter it as a development meet.”

The West, which provided five of the 20 teams for the A and B finals, fared ell with last year’s B final winners Plymouth Leander coming second and 2005 A final champions and 2006 runners-up Millfield third.

In the regional final in December, Plymouth had to rely on a countback of race wins after tying with Millfield on points, but this time they were closer to Stockport (409 points to 385) than their South West rivals (349) were to them.

Their 11 winners included 13 and under swimmers Joe Parker and Laura Froshaug, whose performances in the 100m breaststroke (1:12.75) and 100m freestyle (1:01.29) won them the awards for the most improved boy and girl in the age group.

Plymouth also won the relay challenge after completing their 16 team races just 1.25 seconds quicker than Stockport ­ 33min 31.76sec to the North West champions’ 33:33.01!

Plymouth coach Jon Rudd said: ”Somewhere along the line it’s going to be our day! The last time we were in the A final it was Millfield that beat us. This time we managed to beat them but there was a new group in town. Stockport were very strong and exceeded our expectations. A lot of their swimmers swam faster than their times on the British Swimming rankings said they would. They were immaculate in the last five metres. If there was a 50-50 finish, it was theirs. That doesn’t come about by chance and it was a sharp lesson for our swimmers. We were beaten by a better team.”

He added: “I would quite like Stockport to be there next year because I would like to beat them! But if they are not, I won’t be crying!”

First-time finalists Bracknell and Wokingham had a dream debut, defeating the champions of four regional leagues and two other teams to secure fourth place, 56 points behind Millfield and 25 ahead of last year’s national champions, Hatfield, who were fifth. “It was one of the proudest moments of my life,” said Bracknell coach Rosa Gallop. ”To come fourth in this company is an astonishing achievement. It was a great team effort and to me that’s what swimming is all about. We also had more than 100 spectators including many parents who didn’t have anybody swimming.” Bracknell¹s results included a league record time of 2:16.22 from the 11/u girls’ medley team of Celeste Linquist (back), Annabel Humphries (breast), Ellie Walton (fly) and Alex Shields (free).

Sixth-placed City of Salford’s efforts included a competition record-breaking 59.62 by Luke Wood in the boys’ 15/u 100m backstroke. Wood and Amanda Nugent took the awards for that age group.

Karen Pickering opted to cheer on Ipswich from the grandstand but they still had the oldest swimmer in the finals in 33-year-old Zoe Cray. The former British record-holder in the 50m backstroke helped the London league champions to seventh place overall with second in the women’s 100m backstroke and third in the freestyle.

Guildford City, who beat Bracknell in the South final, and fellow regional champions Lincoln Vulcans (East Midlands) and City of Coventry (West Midlands) occupied the last three places in the A final.

B FINAL
Fran Halsall gave not only City of Liverpool but the entire finals day a flying start with a swim that was well worthy of her status as a European junior champion and world championship finalist.

The 17-year-old from City of Liverpool slashed almost three seconds off Sophie Caul’s league finals record as she finished 8.5 seconds ahead of the field in the 200m individual medley.

Her winning time of 2:15.89 was not only a personal best but moved her to third behind Sue Rolph and Terri Dunning in the British all-time list and brought her within 1.3sec of Rolph’s British record. She later became only the fifth British woman to swim a long course 100m butterfly in under a minute, recording another competition record of 59.88 to win the women’s
event by five seconds.

Michael Rock virtually matched his team-mate with wins in the equivalent men’s events and a league record in the IM. His time of 2:04.64 lowered Euan Dale’s mark by 0.19sec but the new record was to last barely four hours thanks to James Goddard’s A final assault. Rock also made it a double in the butterfly, clocking 54.48 to leave world and Olympic 1500m freestyle medallist David Davies (City of Cardiff) almost two seconds adrift in second place.  Davies also had to settle for second in the men’s 100m freestyle behind Ealing’s Charles Turner (51.49 and 52.22).

Like Stockport in the A final, Liverpool led from start to finish and took the trophy with 344 points to runners-up Ealing’s 318. Liverpool’s achievers also included Craig Langley, whose winning 57.18 in the 13/u 100m freestyle won him the age group award.

Third place went to a Leatherhead team whose men’s relay teams included Matt Kidd, best remembered as the first Briton to go under 50 seconds for the 100m freestyle, though that was a few years ago now! Fourth-placed Northampton’s cause was boosted by the return from Loughborough of world medallist and Commonwealth double champion Caitlin McClatchey, who won the women’s 100m freestyle in 56.96.

Bournemouth Dolphins were the best of the four first-time finalists, holding second place for most of the first 25 events before slipping back to fifth. The West’s two remaining teams, Cardiff and Taunton Deane, tied on points with the Welsh team taking sixth place on countback. Taunton’s Libby Mitchell claimed the 13/u girls’ award after winning the 13/u 100m butterfly in 1:08.42 and freestyle in 1:02.21.

Preston achieved a similar advantage after tying with a Nottingham Leander team which included Rebecca Adlington, though such was the competition that the 2006 European 800m freestyle silver medallist had to settle for third places in both her individual events. Three of the six age group awards went to Preston swimmers, Tom Booth and Stephanie Slater taking the 15/u prizes for their times of 54.91 in the boys’ 100 freestyle and 1:14.18 in the Girls’ 100m breaststroke, Cameron Austin the boys’ 11/u award for his 31.75 effort in the 50m butterfly.

West Midlands league runners-up Perry Beeches finished 92 points adrift of Preston and Nottingham, though even they enjoyed some highlights, not least a couple of race backstroke wins from Holly Lynch (15/u) and Ryan Long (open).

Courtesy of Swimming Times Magazine

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