On 24 September the Abbey School brave Swimmers from year 4 to 6 girls travelled to Ipswich High to challenge them to a swimming gala. There was tension in the air as both schools filled the leisure centre. There was an eerie silence as Ipswich High started their warm up, The Abbey watched and grew ever more excited. First up was the year 6 Back Crawl, went up to start us off followed by the year 5 and 4.
Year 6 Back crawl start off neck to neck till the final stretch where the opposition powered ahead to take the lead from both our pairs to grab the top two spots. As fate had it the year 4’s had a very similar result. However not for the year 5 pair which took 1st and 3rd place.
We left the first race behind us and looked onward to Breast stroke. Just like last time the Year 6 pair were up first. They got into position, off they went was neck and neck till the last length were Ipswich High A team slowly pulled ahead to take first place, closely followed by I.H.S B in second. Hoping they could change the flow, off the year 5 pair went, however could not beat the strong I.H.S pair. After the disappointing start the year 4 girls weren’t going to lose quietly and fought back in the breaststroke and took 1st and 2nd away from the home side, we were back in the race.
Butterfly was next, arguable the hardest stroke to do. Yet we had some talented enough swimmers to compete. Sadly though I.H.S where stronger in the year 6 and 5 races and took an early lead to grab the two spots. However the same can’t be said about the Year 4’s, which Abby B team narrowly lost to the I.H.S A team but grabbed 2 place for the team.
Freestyle, the year 6 pair was up first. Sadly though the races weren’t going our way and I.H.S seems to ease to victory in this race but the Year 6 weren’t giving up still full of excitement they continued to fight on. Seeing this, the year 5 pair weren’t going to be shown up and took 2nd place followed by the year 4 B freestyle swimmers who grabbed 1st and 3rd in their race.
Next up was the year 6 medley relay, however luck wasn’t on our side as I.H.S was just too strong this year and we ended up taking 3rd and 4th places, similarly in the year 5 race, Although year 4 was a different story which we took 1st and 3rd place leaving all to play for in the final race.
The final race was the freestyle relay, The Year 6 and 5 Team took their place on the starting blocks, they made a valiant effort to narrowly lose to I.H.S A and B team to take 3rd and 4th place respectively. A big race for the year 4 teams as they lined up. After a thrilling race the Abbey took 2nd and 3rd hoping it was enough to keep them in the lead.
Over all I.H.S year 6 Team won comfortably with a combined score of 18 compared to the Abbey’s of 42. With the year 5 doing slightly better but still lost with a score of 38 compared to I.H.S score of 22. However the Year 4’s results were a different story with the Abbey having a score of 29 and I.H.S achieving 31.
