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Durham competed in the BUSA long course champs at the weekend, and, competing at the highest standard student meet yet, were very successful, writes Gavin Stephens.

The team finished an exceptional 10th overall, with the women's team finishing a very impressive 7th. More finals were achieved than ever before, with all four relays, Chris Pratt, Jo Sherwood, Laura Welford and Vicki Beaney all making finals. And for once we only had our banner stolen once (which we retrieved fairly quickly) and were probably the most prolific banner thieves present! Although we did get a swimmer kidnapped in revenge!

So the weekend was a resounding success for Durham Swimming and for Durham Sport in general.

Having told some important people how we got on at the weekend, here's what they said:

• Matt Tansley (AU President): "Nice to hear someone's actually doing well!"
• Peter Warburton (Director of Sport): "A magnificent result at the weekend - please pass on my congratualtions to the whole team. I shall make sure the result is published widely." and (to Gary) "Excellent results for the swimmers - I am sure you were very proud of them."
• Dan Lewis (Deputy Director of Sport): "Congratulations on the outstanding results."
• Wade Hall Craggs (Rowing coach and Swimming Mentor): "The only problem with reading all you've written is thinking just how good all our teams could be if they showed your resourcefulness and drive. Outstanding"
• Matt Rogers (Ex Capitan): "Congrats on the excellent results Gav, sounds like all the guys did you proud."

...still waiting to hear from the Vice Chancellor, but i'm sure he'll make glowing remarks of the team too.

All this would not have been possible without the dedication of Gary Hollywood, our world class coach, and the outstanding spirit of the team.

If you are interested in swimming at such a high achieving university, whether you are a top class swimmer or just want to swim so you can come on our legendary socials, please feel free to get in touch.