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2020vision Merchants Connected ArchivesAn exciting match vs Altrincham...and a near miss for Mrs Wynne!
Mr Whalley enjoyed writing this report so much that it is published here in its entirety.
Shock! as long unbeaten run looked destined to end and Mrs Wynne was almost left with blushes that would have consumed her well-baked tan.
Our team began with narrow defeats in the under 9 and under 11 backstroke before levelling the match at 33points apiece, with two wins out of three in the breaststroke.
The butterfly and freestyle individuals produced similar results but a strong under 11 Altrincham team managed to achieve 1st and 2nd places in both events to take Altrincham in to an 8-point lead that set the alarm bells ringing. Could we really be about to surrender our long-standing unbeaten run? And how far was Mrs Wynne prepared to go to help protect it?
With only the relays left to be fought-out we now we had to win the majority of them in order to turn things around. But things where about to go from bad to worse as the under 9 medley relay team race began. Oliver Sherriff swam a fine length of backstroke before confusion and over enthusiasm overcame his teammates with both our Breaststroker and Freestyler entering the water simultaneously on the first takeover. As both swimmers hurtled toward the shallow end and disqualification, the impressive alertness of Mrs Wynne launched her in to action, with the stealth, speed and nimbleness of the 6 million dollar woman. Anticipating what was about to happen she stretched out to hold on to the hand of Tom Durband who was about to set off for his breaststroke as the first of his two teammates approached. In a moment of surreal slow motion as she covered the few metres necessary, she stooped with agility that belied her years. As their hands came in to contact, Tom was in the process of pushing away from the side with all of his might... and with him came Mrs Wynne, over balancing, feet off the floor teetering on the edge, rocking like a seesaw on her knees. Will she? Wont she?
Suddenly the result seemed unimportant. I was about to witness something Mr Wardle and I could dine on for, well, possible indefinitely. Alas, amidst the gasps, Mrs Wynne won the battle as her feet slowly lowered and our breaststroker finished allowing her to let go of Tom's hand. Race over, blushes spared, nothing to dine on, and the race lost, all of her heroism counted for nothing. The score, Altrincham now 12 points ahead. But that's where things turned around; the boys determined not to lose went on to win four of the last five relay events to finish the match 114 points to 108. Pheeeew!
A clearly shaken but relieved Mrs Wynne later said, " I was petrified all I could think about was ruining my brand new custom-made personalised training shoes." (We can't work out why - they aren't even nice trainers! Who wears bright orange personalised trainers??!! - PW) Obviously the thought of having to drive home wearing only a bin liner holds no fear for her.
Report by Mr Whalley, with deep regret from the rest of the staff that we don't have a photo of a wet Mrs Wynne to accompany it. There's always next time though!!