*** Alexander Cranford in Dortmund, Germany
***
posted on 1 July 2010
Alexander’s Results from the European Deaf Swimming Chamionships June 2010
400m Freestyle Men 04:37,31 10
200m Backstroke Men 02:27,53 6
400m Individual Medley Men (Final) 05:13,95 6
200m Individual Medley Men (Final) 02:26,59 6
100m Backstroke Men 01:07,68 9
200m Individual Medley Men 02:25,93 5
50m Backstroke Men 00:30,88 8
200m Backstroke Men (Final) 02:26,89 7
50m Backstroke Men (Final) 00:32,11 8
400m Freestyle Men (Final) 04:53,40 8
400m Individual Medley Men 05:08,57 6
1500m Freestyle Men 18:19,49 6
4 x 100m Medley Relay (Backstroke) - 5th
4 x 200m Freestyle Relay - 3rd - Bronze Medal
Jane Cranford
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*** Alexander in the National Team ***
posted on 18 June 2010
ALEXANDER CRANFORD TRAVELS TO GERMANY THIS WEEKEND FOR THE
EUROPEAN DEAF SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS TAKING PLACE IN DORTMUND
FROM THE 20TH TO THE 26TH JUNE. THIS IS ALEXANDER'S
THIRD INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION AND IS PROUD TO BE
REPRESENTING GREAT BRITAIN ONCE AGAIN. ALEXANDER IS
SWIMMING IN SEVEN INDIVIDUAL EVENTS PLUS TWO RELAYS. WE
WISH HIM GOOD LUCK!
Here is the link to the Championships website :-
http://www.swimming-ec2010.dg-sv.de/index.php?lang=en
Jane Cranford
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*** Alexander in the National Team ***
posted on 2 April 2010
So we made the journey to Loughborough on Friday - terrible
journey - it took 5 hours! Only took 3hrs 20 mins on the way
back on Sunday which was a relief.
The Deaf National Championships went well and Alexander came
home with the trophy for the 100m backstroke and the 200m
individual medley and also a silver and a bronze medal.
The team for the European Deaf Championships was announced on
Saturday evening and I am delighted to be able to report that
our young man has once again been successful in securing his
place in the GB team!
Alexander will be swimming in seven events - 100m backstroke,
200m individual medley (wonder why!!??) 50m backstroke, 200m
backstroke, 400m individual medley, 1500m freestyle and 400m
freestyle. Also depending on how things go with finals, etc.
he could swim in two relays.
The European Deaf Swimming Championships are to be held in
Dortmund, Germany, from the 20th to the 26th June and
Alexander will be travelling out to Germany with the rest of
the team early on Saturday the 20th June and returns on Sunday
the 27th June.
As always, the down side of being selected is the fact there
is absolutely no funding for our Deaf GB Swimmers for any of
these events and we are expected to find £720 to send
Alexander to Germany so that he can compete. The only
thing we can say is that at least it's a bit nearer home so
not the mammouth task we had fundraising the £3,000 that UK
Deaf Sport wanted for the Deaflympics last September in
Taiwan! So guess what I'll be doing over the Easter
holidays.
We have two more competitions by way of preparation for the
European Championships - Portsmouth Easter Meet and Crawley
Spring Open which are both long course competitions - then
it's hard training all the way to the end of June.
So great news for Alexander and for Worthing Swimming Club!
Jane Cranford
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*** Alexander Cranford - National Record
Holder ***
posted on 15 May 2009
At the moment Alexander holds :-
National Age-Group Deaf Swimming Long Course records
14u 50m Backstroke 35.96 World Champs - Taipei, Taiwan 14-Aug-07
14u 100m Backstroke 1:18.35 World Champs - Taipei, Taiwan 14-Aug-07
14u 200m Backstroke 2:52.62 World Champs - Taipei, Taiwan 14-Aug-07
13u 50m Breaststroke 47.89 Deaf National - Loughborough 22-Apr-06
National Age-Group Deaf Swimming Short Course records
15u 50m Butterfly 33.59 Junior DSE National 01-Mar-08
13u 100m I.M. 1:21.83 DSE National 05-Nov-06
We are awaiting confirmation of three more
16u 200m Breaststroke 2:47.84 Sussex County Dev Nov-08
16u 1500m Freestyle 18:38.64 Sussex County Champs Feb-09
16u 400m I.M. 5:09.57 Sussex County Champs Feb-09
Jane Cranford
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*** Identical Twins Excels in Swimming ***
posted on 5 May 2009
Lizzie and her twin sister, Anna, have osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bones disease). Both are prone to fracturing but Lizzie has been the worst affected, having had almost 50 fractures in her 13 years. She has had major surgery at Great Ormond Street many times: to set fractures and to insert metal rods (which she has running down the centre of most of the bones in her legs).
Lizzie and Anna enjoy swimming. It is one of the few ways of them keeping fit which does not carry significant risks of injury. Lizzie can walk to a limited extent but predominently gets around in her wheelchair. She is sufficiently disabled that she has been classified to participate in disabled swimming events. Recently, she swam in the regional disabled swimming event at Southampton; and Anna, not classified as disabled, was able to swim as a 'guest'. Both did particularly well over the 25m short courses, being in the top three positions in back stroke, freestyle and butterfly.
As a result of the regional event, Lizzie qualified for the annual disabled national competition at Sheffield earlier this month. She swam against guest swimmers from Korea, Hungary and Greece. There were a number of Paralympic medal winners competing, although not in her events. Lizzie won a number of heats. Her overall results (ignoring guests), within her class were:
- 50m fly - 5th (a PB by 5 seconds)
- 100 fly - 4th
- 50m breast - 3rd
- 50m free - 7th
- 100m free - 5th
Her very best finish was second in the 100m backstroke; however, she was disqualified for an 'illegal' turn! Lesson learned.
I have to say that the role of Worthing Swimming Club has been crucial in their swimming development in many ways; for example:
EARLY TEACHING Although I taught the girls to swim, they developed considerably when Michelle provided them coaching for a couple of years at the Aquarena. Worthing work very closely with Southern Water in their scheme to teach children to swim. I was particularly pleased when Worthing nominated the girls for a regional Southern Water award two years ago, and they received their awards from Duncan Goodhew. Anna and Lizzie went on to represent Southern Water as it's scheme itself was nominated for a national award.
TALENT SPOTTING The next significant thing that happened was when Rob Aubry (then the regional disabled coach but now one of the two national paralympic swimming coaches) interceded between us and the Worthing Swimming Club to get the girls established within the excellent coaching scheme that you have.
REGIONAL DISABLED SWIMMING The club then worked with Sue Barker, the lady who coordinates the regional disabled set-up, to get the girls to the regional disabled competition.
FUNDING The club then gave additional support, funding the entrance fees for the girls at that event. The club also expressed a desire to fund Lizzie's place at the nations but their school had already said that they would fund this.
ADDITIONAL COACHING Nic Piper, as he will be this evening, regularly gives up additional time to give the girls further coaching on their technique. This has been invaluable.
The level of commitment to the girls, particularly because of their disabilities, by the club has been considerable. I am also impressed with how the club fits in to a larger picture, coordinating what it does with the regional and national disability set up.
Thank you once again.
Paul Williams
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*** Alexander Cranford selected for TaiPei
Deaflympics ***
posted on 28 April 2009
 Worthing Swimming Club Member 15 year old Alexander
Cranford has qualified and been selected for the GB Swim Team
for this year’s Deaflympics to be held in Taipei, Taiwan, in
September. This is an amazing achievement for Alexander and we are all extremely proud of him.
This will be Alexander’s second visit to Taipei, the first being in 2007 when he was called to the GB squad at age 13, for the World Deaf Swimming Championships. Alexander was the youngest competitor at the World Championships and it was his first experience of international competition. He swam very well and the GB Deaf Coach, Angela Holmes, was very proud of his efforts. This competition was never going to be about medals for Alexander but more for the experience and, hopefully, preparation for the Deaflympics. Alexander swam in seven events, did seven personal best times and broke seven British Deaf Age Group Records and didn’t come last in anything!
Since then Alexander has been determined to make it to the Deaflympics and has been training harder than ever. All that effort has now paid off.
At the moment it looks as though Alexander will be swimming 200m backstroke, 200m breaststroke, 50m backstroke, 400m individual medley, 100m breaststroke, 100m backstroke, 1500m freestyle and will be part of the relay team for 3 events. He does like the distance swims!
The only down side to being selected for the GB team is that there is no government funding for deaf swimmers, or indeed any of the GB Deaflympic Squad, and despite the fact that Alexander will be representing his country, the only way he will get to Taipei in September is if he can raise the £3,000 that UK Deaf Sport need to take him. Also, he’s really too young to be going on his own, (and would you really want him to?) so his father Kelvin, will be making the journey to Taipei with him. As you can imagine, the fundraising has begun!
If you would like to help in any way, either ideas for fundraising or a donation to the fund, Alexander would be grateful! Any donation made through the Just Giving website will mean that if you are a U.K. taxpayer, your donation will be worth an extra 28% in tax relief that can be claimed through the Gift Aid scheme. So it looks like the government could have to do some of the funding after all. Very satisfying!
www.justgiving.com/vincentdickson is the link for the deaf swimmers, just add Alexander’s name in the comments box when making your donation.
This achievement is great for Alexander, great for the Swimming Club and great for the town! He needs our support so let’s do what we can to make Alexander’s Olympic dream come true.
Jane Cranford
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