F-Team Gear Up For Festive Meets
Tain Bruce and Candice Hall couldn't keep the smiles away at the latest Funkita campaign shoot.
With the first target meets of the 2017-2018 season fast approaching, our UK F-Teamers are putting together the final prep in training, resisting the temptation of mince pies and Christmas cake, to be in the best shape they can this December. For a few, the Scottish Short Course Swimming Champs (8-11th) will be on the cards, but most will compete at the English Winter Long Course (13-17th) in Sheffield the following week.
Scottish girls Lexi Waller, Kathleen Dawson, Tain Bruce, Kathryn Greenslade and English swimmer Aimee Willmott will all be aiming for podium success in Edinburgh at the Royal Commonwealth Pool.
Aimee Willmott and Kathleen Dawson are using Scottish Short Course as a warm up. Kat Greenslade and Tain Bruce strike a pose at BUCS SC.
Juggling study and swimming, Tain Bruce will be racing on the first two days of the meet in the 100m and 200m butterfly.
"As the meet falls bang in the middle of my exam period I won't be swimming lots of events, but I will be on hand to help my teammates out on Sunday evening in the medley relay."
Both Kathryn Greenslade and Kathleen Dawson are preparing for the European Championships, using the Scottish Short Course Champs as a warm up for the main event. Kathryn is set to race in the 100m and 200m freestyle as well as the 100m backstroke. Kathleen is getting set to compete in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke. English F-Teamer Aimee Willmott will also use the meet as a warm up for English Winter Long Course.
"The rest of my teammates will be in Edinburgh racing so it will be nice to be there to support them. It also gives me chance to sharpen up and practice my skills before English Long Course."
Aimee will be aiming high at the English Long Course as she is hoping to qualify for the Commonwealth Games as part of Team England.
"I didn"t swim at the World Champs due to injury so I missed out on my chance to qualify first time round. I'm hoping to make the team in the 400m and 200m individual medley as well as the 200m butterfly, and I'm really looking forward to getting the job done."
Rosie Rudin and Abbie Wood are looking to qualify at Winter Champs for GC2018! Good luck girls!!
Alongside Aimee, Abbie Wood, Georgia Coates, Rosie Rudin, Charlotte Evans, Imogen Clark, Jessica Jackson and Ciara Schlosshan all have a good chance to qualify in their respected events at the Winter Champs. Abbie and Rosie will swim alongside Aimee in the 400m individual medley on day one. Abbie will follow up with her favourite event the 200m breaststroke.
"I have loved the 200m breaststroke ever since I was around 11. I see it as a no pressure event and it is always a good race when you're in the mix of it. I do like the 400m IM but the pain just makes it not as enjoyable."
Rosie will also swim the 200m backstroke, the event in which she made her team GB debut at the World Champs last summer.
Rio 2016 Olympian Georgia Coates will swim in the 200m freestyle, 200m breaststroke and both the 200m and 400m individual medleys. With such a strong background in all four strokes Georgia will be a force to be reckoned with through the meet!
Leeds swimmer Ciara Schlosshan will complete in the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly. "I love racing and I'm looking forward to seeing how fast I can swim. I'm also aiming to get my Commonwealth consideration times so bring it on."
Emily Ford is set to test her new skills at the Winter Champs.
Youngster Emily Ford will compete in a selection of backstroke and butterfly events over the 5 days.
"I'm really looking forward to the meet as I've been working on some new skills in training so it will be good to see if I can transfer them into racing."
Joining her in the backstroke events, Lily Bosely is also looking forward to getting stuck in.
"I'm so excited to race against the big guns (older swimmers) and seeing what I'm capable of against them in early season."
Olympians Ellie Faulkner and Molly Renshaw have already qualified for Commonwealth Games 2018!
Ellie Faulkner, Holly Hibbott and Molly Renshaw, although having already qualified for the Commonwealth Games, are using this opportunity to race. Molly will swim the 200m breaststroke as well as the 200m individual medley.
Holly will be competing in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle.
"Qualifying for Commonwealth Games was really exciting. It will be my first multi-sport event so it will be a great experience for me. At English Winter meet I won't be resting so the plan is to see how fast I can swim in heavy training."
The same goes for Sheffield's very own Ellie Faulkner who will be making a star appearance in the women's 100m butterfly.
"It will be interesting to see how I can perform through hard training; of course it will be tough but I?m looking forward to it."
Not everything is always plain sailing as Maya Westlake explains. She'll be swimming in the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle.
"I didn't have the greatest start to the season due to illness so I'll be training through it whilst racing. I'm kind of looking forward to the hard work and then once it's over getting to enjoy Christmas!"
Follow the Funkita F-Team on Instagram to keep up with the girls!
A full list of F-Teamer entries for the English Winter Long Course can be found below:
Athlete
Events
Date
400m Individual Medley
200m Individual Medley
200m Butterfly
December 13
December 16
December 17
400m Individual Medley
200m Breaststroke
200m Individual Medley
December 13
December 15
December 16
200m Freestyle
December 13
December 16
100m Backstroke
December 14
December 16
400m Individual Medley
200m Breaststroke
100m Freestyle
December 13
December 15
December 16
400m Individual Medley
200m Breaststroke
100m Breaststroke
December 13
December 15
December 16
200m Freestyle
December 13
December 16
100m Backstroke
200m Backstroke
December 14
December 16
December 17
200m Freestyle
100m Freestyle
December 13
December 16
December 17
50m Breaststroke
December 13
December 16
100m Butterfly
200m Freestyle
100m Freestyle
December 13
December 13
December 16
200m Freestyle
50m Freestyle
December 13
December 14
100m Butterfly
50m Butterfly
200m Backstroke
December 13
December 15
December 16
200m Freestyle
800m Freestyle
December 13
December 14
December 17
200m Freestyle
December 13
200m Freestyle
100m Backstroke
200m Backstroke
50m Freestyle
100m Freestyle
December 13
December 14
December 16
December 14
December 16
100m Butterfly
50m Butterfly
December 13
December 15
400m Individual Medley
200m Backstroke
December 13
December 16
200m Freestyle
800m Freestyle
December 13
December 14
200m Freestyle
100m Freestyle
December 13
December 16
100m Butterfly
200m Freestyle
50m Freestyle
50m Butterfly
100m Freestyle
400m Freestyle
December 13
December 13
December 14
December 15
December 16
December 17