The Hampshire County Swim Championships 2023, was a magnificent opportunity for the City of Southampton Swim Club to showcase all of our talented swimmers.  Impressively 66 swimmers succeeded in achieving qualification times for this event; with 55 swimmers going forward to represent their club once the numbers of participants per event were announced by Hampshire County ASA.  

Across three weekends of competition through January and February the Club saw 184 swims, competing in all strokes and distances.  There was an 85% PB rate, equating to 156 new times on rankings.  This is testament to the hard work of the swimmers and the high quality coaching on offer at City of Southampton under the leadership of our new Heach Coach, Matt Heathcock.  Overall the Club secured a total of 63 medals placing Southampton 6th in Hampshire.  This is no small achievement given the county comprises 11 districts and the Channel Islands.

Proudly the club had 13 County Champions crowned this year;  the best the club has seen at County Championships for many years.

The Champions included Fraser Adamson (13), Penelope Adamson (15), Alexandra Bassett (16), Matilda Biggs (13), Matthew Davies (19), Alex Gammage (12), Matthew Lowther (15), James Meyrick (20), Rose O’Brien (12), and Lola Roles (14).

This heralds the dawn of a new era at Southampton, with these performances forming the bedrock of greatness still to come.  Our Head Coach, Matt Heathcock, a former Team GB performance coach, recently said,  “The performance of our swimmers through the championships is a great start for the club. It gives us some targets for next year to continue improving the sport in the City. I’m impressed with how the swimmers have committed to the new training regime, and I'm proud of every single one of them.” 

Matt Heathcock has a formidable team of coaches at his side with Paul Dollery, Mark Taylor and Gary Abraham, the latter two both former Olympians.

“The important thing for us as a club is to ensure that all our athletes are happy and enjoying their sport,” says Head Coach Matt, “these swimmers commit to training up to 8 sessions a week, at unsociable hours, so it is a tough sport to succeed in.  We have some exceptional talent in the City and we are just starting to see what these athletes are capable of”.