Middlesbrough Amateur Swimming Club (MASC) achieved 1st place in 10–14-year-old age group category at the Northumberland and Durham County Championships, winning the 47-year-old Tom Randall Trophy. The championships took place over two weekends in February 2024 at the Sunderland Aquatics Centre and finished with a final Teams Day of relays on 2nd March, with the best swimmers in the Northumberland and Durham District taking part.
With over 60 swimmers competing – the most in our 138-year history – we achieved 5th place in Most Gold Medals category and 6th place in the 15yrs Open category (out of 31 clubs in the district) and accomplished almost double the points of our 2023 achievements, with two outstanding club records broken during the competition.
The swimmers also brought home 19 gold, 20 silver and 21 bronze medals and qualified for 172 finals, of which 47 were Heat Declared Winners.
The award success comes hot on the heels of being promoted into the Northwest “Arena” Premier League in 2024, after only joining League Division 2 in 2022 and being promoted into the Division 1 league in 2023.
We are now focusing on preparing for regional and national championships taking place over the next few months. The team was awarded the Tom Randall trophy and presented by Chris Cook, double Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
Marcin Paszek, MASC Head Coach, said: “Winning the Tom Randall Trophy is a tremendous achievement for Middlesbrough Amateur Swimming Club. I’m so proud of the dedication, hard work and talent displayed by all individual swimmers. The support all swimmers gave to their peers throughout both weekends was fantastic. This is a brilliant achievement and I’m so proud of every single swimmer taking part in the competition, and the sponsors, parents, Team Managers, and volunteers who continue to help us build such a great swimming community”.
Michelle Laverick, MASC Assistant Head coach said, “As coaches at MASC we believe in challenging our swimmers to become their best selves, to work hard and to never give up. We frequently watch our swimmers put in 100% effort and overcome their fears to achieve their goals.
“To say the kids, coaches and Team Managers have had fun throughout this competition is an understatement but achieving this award proves these swimmers can compete and perform extremely well with the best in the district, and I’m absolutely delighted that their efforts have been recognised by winning this award. I’m so proud of them all.”