After the Devon team’s great performance in retaining the regional shield on 13th November at Millfield, their points were put forward for inclusion in the National Inter County event.  

The team knew that they had put in a great performance but it was not until the national positions were revealed, we learned that Devon had convincingly won this prestigious national competition. Devon amassed an incredible 1972 points to take the championship beating Hampshire 1929.5 and Middlesex 1904 into second and third place.

 Warren Barrett had an exceptionally successful afternoon putting in four stellar individual performances.  In the  35+ age group he secured three national first places with exceptional swims in the freestyle, backstroke and butterfly plus narrowly missing out on another win in the breaststroke.  He was also part of two successful relay teams that gained second place nationally.

Simon and Kalon Veale also put in very strong performances, with Simon in the 65+ age group picking up two national firsts in the freestyle and the backstroke and a second place in the butterfly. Kalon, in the 25+ age group, secured two first places in the backstroke and butterfly.  

Cameron Williams, swimming in the 18+ age group, gained two first places in the  breaststroke and the butterfly, with Fritz Dietz taking first place in the 18+ backstroke and third spot in the 18+ freestyle.

There were other great swims:  

Charlie Smith picked up a second place in the 45+ backstroke, while Emily Tyrell secured two third places in the 18+ breaststroke and butterfly. 

Tegan Drew also came third in the 18+ backstroke. 

Special mention must be made of Bill Letch,  who was persuaded out of ‘semi  retirement’ to claim fourth place in his individual event and assist with two top-10 performances in both his relay swims.

Many other swimmers took top 10 positions in their individual events:

They were Rebecca Jenkinson, Ben Winter, Kim Saddler, Sue Haigh, Kate Veale, Gareth Cowell, Emma Challis, Sonny Trigg, Darren Beer, Bill Letch, Trish Warren and Rob Holderness. 

As well as some fantastic individual swimming, Devon showed the strength and depth of its team this year by taking first place in three relays, coming second in four relays and gaining 11 other top 10 placings! 

1st

72+ freestyle

Cameron Williams, Fritz Dietz, Sonny Trigg, Kalon Veale   

100+ medley relay

 Kalon Veale, Cameron Williams, Sonny Trigg, Rob Holderness 

72+ medley relay

Fritz Dietz, Cameron Williams, Kalon Veale, Sonny Trigg

 2nd    

100+ medley relay

 Tegan Drew,  Emily Tyrell,  Kim Saddler, Emma Challis 

140+ medley relay

 Matthew Mew, Rob Holderness, Warren Barrett, Ben Winter   

100+ freesyle

  Fritz Dietz, Sonny Trigg, Warren Barrett, Kalon Veale  

100+ freestyle

 Kim Saddler, Emily Tyrell,  Emma Challis,  Tegan Drew 

Full results can be found here:

PDF2022_Intercounties_events results.pdf

Devon team 2022 

Warren Barrett     Darren Beer  

 Emma Bickley Jess Bickley

Emma Challis Peter Cousens

Gareth Cowell Fritz Dietz  

Tegan Drew   Alex Goulden

Sue Haigh  Peter Hayward

Rob Holderness  Rebecca Jenkinson 

Bill Letch  Matthew Mew 

Christa Page  Jamie Page  

Katie Pateman Hannah Pullinger 

Kim Saddler Charlie Smith 

Nigel Travers-Griffin Sonny Trigg  

Emily Tyrell Kate Veale 

Kalon Veale Simon Veale 

Trish Warren Cameron Williams 

Ben Winter

 The team’s thanks go to Devon President, Jane Brimacombe, our Vice President,  Esther Rookes and Dave Avery who gave up  their time to officiate and support the team.

Also thanks goes to Robert Clark for recording the teams individual splits on the day and for selecting Emma and Sonny as his swimmers of the meet.

My personal thanks go to Kalon for his skill (and perseverance) in team selection.  

Once again many many congratulations to everyone.   

 Sue Haigh 

Devon Masters Representative