The Lannon brothers, Luke (14) and Jamie (16), competed in the Senior Connacht Regional Championship over two days in the beautiful Lough Lannagh, Castlebar, Co. Mayo at the weekend.
Luke, one of the youngest competitors to race at this meet, put in fantastic swimming in the 50m and 100m backcrawl and the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle.
In his favoured long-distance events he performed exceptionally well earning a 6-second PB. He was delighted to win the bronze medal in the 800m freestyle, finishing in a time of 9:51.03s.
He followed this with an impressive performance in the 1500m freestyle, achieving an incredible 15-second PB, winning his heat in 18:50.37.
Although only 14-years-old, Luke earned the title of Senior Connacht Short Course Champion of the 1500m freestyle and won the gold medal, a very satisfying end to this regional championship for him.
Older brother, Jamie, entered six events and was selected for the men’s 200m freestyle, and mixed and men’s medley relay, which saw his team win two silver and gold medals, respectively.
Consistent and robust preliminary swims saw him proceed to the finals in the 50m and 100m butterfly and 50m,100m and 200m breaststroke.
The competition was tough, and the incredibly exciting finals saw the top three swimmers touch the wall within a fingernail for podium finishes.
Jamie was happy to achieve the bronze in the 100m breaststroke in 1:06.36s and silver in the 100m butterfly in 59.30s, a new personal best.
The highlight for Jamie was his performance in the 200m breaststroke.
Having been working on the backend of this stroke, Jamie was a clear leader, achieving a 2-second PB in the prelim and 2-second PB again in the final, finishing in a very impressive 2:24.65s.
A well-deserved gold medal win earned him the title of Senior Connacht Short Course Champion in this event for the second year.
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