On Tuesday 19th April Dulwich Prep London Swim Team (current London Prep School Champions) flew across to Ireland to take on Dublin’s equivalent – Blackrock College and Willow Park.
After landing early on Tuesday morning and following a whistle-stop tour of the host school and a viking duck tour around Dublin, the boys settled down for an early night. As the sun rose over Dublin bay on Wednesday morning, the Boys woke to face a full day of competition. Fortunately for this group of boys jumping into the pool at 9.00am for a warm-up was nothing out of the ordinary!
Once the welcome speeches were over the competition began. The boys set a fast opening pace and race by race, the wins started to roll in. With the early momentum came increasing confidence – increased and as the sound levels grew and the wins kept coming. As we hit mid-morning, the half way stage of the competition, our hosts’ reaction to the strength of our team was nothing short of shock and awe. However, with half the gala left to fight over we knew not an inch could be given away.
With this in mind the boys continued to build on their early performances, inflicting even more pressure on the host team. Their fine performance and determination reaped great rewards: Dulwich Prep London won 25 gold medals out of 26 races!
This performance is particularly impressive given that it involved a two-day tour following a long, three-week Easter break. Undoubtedly by the end of the gala the boys were exhausted but they did an amazing job. They should all be extremely proud of themselves and deserve huge congratulations.
