The first round of the Sussex County Championships took place at the Freedom Leisure K2 Centre at Crawley. The first event is traditionally a long distance swim which meant 800m Freestyle for the girls and 1500m Freestyle for the boys, requiring stamina and the ability to maintain pace throughout the race.

The St Bede's swimmers were on superb form and demonstrated their class as Michael Faber won the boys Open Championship in a race that saw 19 year old James Adams from East Grinstead stay on the pace until the half way mark but then fell behind to leave a 10 second winning margin for Faber. Stephanie Ketley won the Girls Open Championship and was never seriously challenged, coming home with a large 20 second gap to the second place swimmer. Katherine Horsfall-Turner took 1st place in the Age 11 girl's category with an extremely comfortable swim and a great time to win by 28 seconds from her nearest rival.
More fine swims saw Ben Jones and Mary Carless coming in 2nd
in their age groups and Peyten Newbury in 3rd.

Boys (1500m)
Age 17 + Michael Faber (17) 1st 16.22.26; Nick Ayers (17) 6th 17.14.11
Age 16 Tom Lamb (16) 2nd 17.18.84
Age 14 Ben Jones 2nd 17.40.94; Andrew Horsfall-Turner 6th 18.24.41

Girls (800m)
Age 15 + Stephanie Ketley (16) 1st 9.08.38;
Age 14 Mary Carless 2nd 9.56.92
Age 13 Cristina Richards 4th 10.04.76; Rebekah Chapman 6th 10.12.08; Emma Horsfall-Turner 11th 11.03.32; Chloe Rowlinson 12th 11.06.39
Age 12 Peyten Newbury 3rd 10.28.98; Eve Carless 6th 10.35.14
Age 11 Katherine Horsfall-Turner 1st 10.22.66