A team of enthusiastic disabled swimmers from Sutton helped the borough to third place in the annual London Interborough Swimming Championships, held at Waltham Forest Pool and Track on Saturday.

  The Sutton swimmers, all of whom train at weekly sessions for disabled swimmers at Cheam and Westcroft leisure centres, won 18 medals including 10 golds.  All but one of the 12 swimmers came home with at least one medal.    Greenwich took first place among the boroughs thanks to its female swimmers who dominated the womens and girls events.  Sutton missed out valuable points because both of its female swimmers pulled out of the competition on the day, and had to settle for third behind Barking and Dagenham.

  “It’s a shame the girls couldn’t make it because we had a strong team and we thought this might be our year to win the overall title,” said Mick Betteridge who coaches the group.  “We had three new swimmers in the team this year and it was really satisfying to see them all come home with medals.”

  The gala is one of several disability swimming events at which Sutton competes.  The group recruits new members from learn to swim programmes across the borough and schools.  Several members have gone on to represent the London region in national events.  Anyone interested in joining the squad should contact Mick Betteridge on 07831198019.

Based on information supplied by izabel grindal.