Swimmers triumph at nationals

Lt(N) Emily Wood competes in the Women’s 400-metre freestyle at the 2017 Canadian Armed Forces National Swimming Championships in Unionville, Ont., March 26. Photo by Aviator Rachael Allen, CFB Borden Imagery

Lt(N) Emily Wood competes in the Women’s 400-metre freestyle at the 2017 Canadian Armed Forces National Swimming Championships in Unionville, Ont., March 26. Photo by Aviator Rachael Allen, CFB Borden Imagery

Peter Mallett Staff Writer ~

Four athletes from CFB Esquimalt claimed eight gold medals and three silver medals at the Canadian Armed Forces Swimming Nationals held in Unionville, Ont. March 24 to 27.

SLt Nicholas Lightbody of Base Information Services led the way for the Pacific Region Team with five gold medals and one silver medal. Top finishes were in the 200 metre Individual Medley, 100m Breaststroke, 400m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle and 100m Freestyle competitions, while finishing second in the 100m Backstroke all in the Mens Open Category.

“I’m pleased with the first-place finishes but not my overall times, which I thought were stronger the last time I competed at the nationals,” said SLt Lightbody.

Last year, he was unable to compete in the swimming nationals because he was posted to HMCS Ottawa. But in 2015 he captured six gold medals in the same competition.

He says training for the Canadian Armed Forces Triathlon nationals in July  hurt his overall swimming performance despite the impressive medal haul.

SLt Lightbody was one of four swimmers from the base who attended the event held in conjunction with the Ontario Masters Swimming Championships at the Markham Pan Am Pool. He noted the Pacific Region were clear underdogs, facing regional opponents with much larger teams.

“It was great to see the results pay off for the team after all the hard work we did in preparation. Considering we had one of the smaller contingents at the competition we came away with a good chunk of the medals,” said SLt Lightbody.

Lt(N) Emily Wood of HMCS Malahat continued her winning ways with gold medals in the 200m Individual Medley and the 100m Freestyle events, and a second place finish in the 400m Freestyle.

Lt(N) Wood earned four gold medals at the 2016 swimming nationals, and was top female at the 2016 CAF Triathlon Nationals last July. She was also a gold-medal winner for Esquimalt at the CAF Women’s Soccer Championship in September 2015.

Pte Claire Bortolotti a Medical Technician with Canadian Forces Health Services Centre (Pacific) was top finisher in the 100m Freestyle event and also finished second in the 100m Backstroke. LS David Sinai of HMCS Malahat had a top finish of sixth place in the 400m Freestyle event.

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