Swimmer of the Year 2024 - Imogen Hawkins-Swaffer
Fully deserved, our swimmer of the year for 2024 is Imogen. What an exceptional last 12 months for Imogen and what an accolade to be chosen to receive this very special trophy. February was the Winter Long Course Yorkshire Championships held at John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds and Ponds Forge in Sheffield. Imogen qualified in 9 events, 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m backcrawl, 50m and 100m breaststroke, 50m and 100m butterfly plus the 200 IM, absolutely amazing. The week before these championships, Imogen had been unwell with covid but still managed to swim an outstanding 100m breaststroke in a life time best time, utterly amazing.
May was the Long Course NER'S (North Eastern Regions) Championships in Sunderland. Imogen was the only swimmer representing Halifax at these prestigious championships. Imogen qualified in 3 events, 50m butterfly, 50m back and 50m free. In the 50m butterfly Imogen was in the 1st heat yet finished 35th out of 74 swimmers with a lifetime long course personal best time of 32.01, absolutely amazing.
In June, Imogen swam at the Jorvik Sprints gala at John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds where she won the Top Girl Award in the 15 years and over age group for the second year running, great result. The short course Yorkshire Championships took place once again at John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds in October. Imogen achieved 9 qualifying times in the 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m backcrawl, 50m and 100m breaststroke, 50m and 100m butterfly plus the 200m IM, fantastic achievement.
November was the short course NER'S (North Eastern Regions) Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield. Imogen achieved 2 qualifying times in the 50m freestyle and the 100m IM. Imogen swam an outstanding 50m freestyle in a personal best time of 28.90. What is even more incredible was on that particular Saturday morning Imogen had an extremely early start to complete her theory and pool exam for her NPLQ lifeguard qualification before then travelling to Sheffield to race, fantastic achievement. In addition, Imogen has already achieved 7 qualifying times for the Winter Long Course Yorkshire Championships in February 2025 in the 50m and 100 freestyle, 50m butterfly, 50m back, 50m breaststroke, 200m and 400m IM
First and foremost, Imogen is an absolute pleasure to coach, she shows the utmost respect for her coaches and fellow swimmers, her work ethic in training is exceptional and her positive attitude and perseverance to achieve inspires others around her. Imogen truly believes in her own ability and natural talent as a swimmer. She is not phased by any level of competition and absolutely thrives on challenges, she is a great team player and club captain encouraging and supporting her fellow swimmers yet she herself remains humble in success.