On a misty, slightly grey morning on Friday 10 March at 7.15am outside Pageites dining room. Inside, a flurry of action with the swim team demolishing breakfast as the Bath Cup 2017 uniform was being handed round. Originally requested by James Cole, a hot cerise pink hoody was specially designed with the blue dolphin symbolising all things swimming at Charterhouse proudly emblazoned on the back. Looking fierce, if not eye-catching to say the least, the pink army set off to catch the train to London.
And so began a day of thrilling competition that was as exhilarating for the accompanying beaks as it was for the swimmers themselves. The Bath Cup is a traditional, longstanding event with impressive history; it began in 1910 and is now in its 95th season. Open to independent schools all over the UK, participants flock from as far and wide as Ireland and Scotland sending their very best swimmers to compete in teams of four over freestyle and medley relays. Teachers Peter Bagley and Maja Čizmić were quietly optimistic of success for the Charterhouse team graced by two very strong national swimmers, Alicia Wilson and Piers Bowden, with the other team members having worked hard at training.
After a quick team snap outside the impressive London Aquatics Centre, home of aquatic sport at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the team ventured inside and nabbed an excellent spot for the day poolside. The girls did not have long to hang around with warm up beginning promptly at 10.00am.
The action opened with Alicia, Raemen, Evgenia and Sarah firing into the water to swim the 50m freestyle relay for all their worth. Alicia set a blistering 27.05 pace followed by 32.90 for Raemen a Personal Best (PB), 35.93 by Evgenia and a fabulous finish of 30.27 (PB) for Sarah, resulting in a superb time of 2.06.15 and Maja hopping for joy as the girls team smashed the previous school record of 2.14.95 from 2015. To add to the excitement, this brilliant swim qualified the Charterhouse girls - we suspect for the first time ever - for the Aldenham Girls Final. Putting in immense effort as a team, their time for the Finals was 2.07.40, a great finish to be proud of.
The boys’ team were up next to swim the 100m freestyle relay, feeling buoyed up after the girls’ success and also from the intensity of the competition. Piers led out a phenomenal 56.73, Andrei followed in 1.05.32 (PB), next was James 1.04.22 (PB) and finished up by Chris with a neat and nippy 57.38 (PB) to make the overall 4.02.97. The boys are to be wholly congratulated. For 3 out of 4 swims to beat personal bests on record is an amazing achievement (Piers narrowly missed his school PB by 100s of a second). The level of competition from other sides was almost unbelievable, with the members of the winning teams mostly swimming under 55 seconds over 100m!
A short pause for lunch flew past and the girls very quickly found themselves back up on the starter blocks for the afternoon Medley Relays. The afternoon races are always challenging having pushed to the maximum in the morning and tiredness starting to kick in. Yet the girls forged back and really gave it their all! Raemen kicked off with a swift 39.15 Backstroke, followed by Sarah’s 41.85 Breaststroke, Alicia literally flew with a 30.09 Butterfly all brought home by Evgenia’s Freestyle 37.00 on the nose. This heroic effort paid off a very sweet 2.28.09 final time – another school record broken by our 2017 team! Congratulations girls!
The boys then returned to the blocks for the Otter 200m Medley event and swam their final event with gusto. Piers kicked things off swimming a blistering 29.98 Backstroke, Andrei put in a solid 38.20 Breaststroke, Chris swam a swift 29.11 Butterfly and all was rounded off with a nippy 28.03 Freestyle by James. The boys’ collective time was a respectable 2.05.32, which although good was sadly not quite fast enough to secure a finals place.
A tired but happy Charterhouse team then left for home after a quick pit stop at Waterloo station where several pink hoodies were spotted wandering in the direction of the old favourite, Burger King!
Thank you very much to Peter Bagley for accompanying and supporting the team. Thanks also to the parents and family members that came to support the team.
Well done to all swimmers for their terrific efforts – you did yourselves proud.
Boys Team
James Cole (CAPT) (G)
Andrei Kvachikhiia (G)
Piers Bowden (S)
Chris Chan (P)
Freestyle Relay 4.02.97
Medley Relay 2.05.32
Girls Team
Raemen Sahney (CAPT) (F)
Evgenia Dubinskaya (P)
Alicia Wilson (G)
Sarah Hui (S)
Freestyle Relay 2.06.15
Aldenham Girls Final 2.07.40
Medley Relay 2.28.09