Junior League Team Storm to Victory in Northern Final

Sun­day saw the City of Leeds over­come strong oppo­si­tion to be crowned North­ern League Cham­pi­ons and will now progress to the Nation­al Final in November. 

Fresh from their vic­to­ry in the White Rose Gala, the City of Leeds Junior League Team head­ed to Louth, Lin­colnshire this week­end to make their first ever appear­ance in the North­ern Area Final of the Nation­al Junior League. The prize on offer was a place in the Nation­al Final, to be held in Liv­er­pool at the end of November. 

The com­pe­ti­tion was always going to be tough with City of Liv­er­pool, City of New­cas­tle, Lin­coln Vul­cans, Hale­sowen and last years North­ern Final Cham­pi­ons South­port Aqua com­plet­ing the line up of teams. 

Right from the start the team looked like they were up for the chal­lenge, and with some very vocal sup­port the City of Leeds got off to a great start win­ning the first 4 events. This gave the team great momen­tum and City of Leeds nev­er placed out­side the top 2 posi­tions in the first block of relay events. Mov­ing into the indi­vid­ual events the team kept up the good work with ear­ly wins for Huza­y­fa Kayani and Toby Kitch­ing. At the first points check after 12 events City of Leeds had built up a 14 point lead over City of Liverpool. 

As the indi­vid­ual events con­tin­ued there were wins for Kiani Camp­bell-Grady, Kather­ine Fish­er, Ellie Jones, Liam Bir­rell, Toby Kitch­ing and Blake Ben­nett. After 24 events the City of Leeds had only fin­ished out­side the top 2 posi­tions on 4 occa­sions and at the halfway points check they had extend­ed their lead to 26 points, with South­port Aqua mak­ing up ground to move into sec­ond place. 

After short break for every­one to catch their breath, the com­pe­ti­tion con­tin­ued with things real­ly hot­ting up. As the indi­vid­ual events con­tin­ued their were wins for Bil­ly Walk­er, Elle Pick­ett, Euan Cow­an (2), Liam Bir­rell, and Chloe Adams. City of Leeds won 14 out of 32 indi­vid­ual events with many fin­ish­es that were far too tight to call as the swim­mers fought for every point. At the points check City of Leeds had again extend their lead which was now 46 points over South­port Aqua. 

As the com­pe­ti­tion moved into its final phase, the ten­sion was build­ing with City of Leeds hav­ing to work hard to main­tain their dom­i­nance. Despite only pick­ing up 3 vic­to­ries in the final relay events the City of Leeds main­tained their excel­lent con­sis­ten­cy, fin­ish­ing out­side the top 2 only once. With all the events swum the teams wait­ed with bait­ed breath for the final stand­ings, to find out who had made it through to the Nation­al Final and who would be crowned North­ern Area Champions. 

As the results were announced it became clear that it was a three horse race and with a strong fin­ish from City of Liv­er­pool push­ing them into sec­ond place above local rivals South­port Aqua, City of Leeds were crowned North­ern Area Cham­pi­ons on their first appear­ance in the final. 

Well done to all the swim­mers, staff and sup­ports for a fan­tas­tic effort. City of Leeds placed in the top two posi­tions in 37 out of 49 events, only fin­ish­ing out­side the top three on three occasions. 

City of Leeds will now go to Liv­er­pool on Novem­ber 28^th to com­pete in the Nation­al Junior League final along with City of Liv­er­pool, South­port Aqua and City of New­cas­tle where they will face the top 4 teams from the South­ern Area Final.