County Team Champs crown returns to Kent after victory in Division One

Kent returned to the top of the National County Team Championships leaderboard in 2024 as they secured the Division One title.

For only the second time ever, Kent claimed the crown after going head-to-head with Yorkshire for the third year in a row.

When Kent won their first National County Team Championships title in 2022, it was Yorkshire who finished in a close second place by just four points.

However, 2023 was the year for redemption for Yorkshire, who outdid Kent to return to the top of the pile.

This time around, it was yet another narrow victory for Kent as the two counties were neck and neck throughout the competition.

Similarly to the Division Two title, this one went right down to the final race of the day, the Mixed 300m Freestyle Team event.

Kent, from out in lane zero, needed to remain within at least four places of their rivals, Yorkshire, to stay ahead on points and claim the title – and they did just.

The southeastern county finished ahead of their rivals to cement their title-winning performance and clinch the trophy.

Just seven points separated the counties in 2024, with Kent finished on 470.5 and Yorkshire on 463.5.

Completing the top four were Derbyshire (412 points) and Surrey (409.5 points).

Scotland North, Cheshire, Cambridgeshire and Dorset will all compete in Division Two next year following their relegation.

Great start to the new season

On Kent’s victory, their lead team manager Marie Atkinson-Brian, paid tribute to their good luck charm – Ken the pony!

She said: “It feels absolutely amazing to win the title.

“We put it all down to our new mascot, Ken the pony, so Ken the Kent horse has definitely done us proud this year.

“All of our swimmers stepped up. We had some really cracking performances, so many PB’s – a great start to the new season and I think consistency is what allowed us to take the victory in the end.

“We always take the rivalry we have with Yorkshire now very seriously – no, it’s great to have something to aim for, for all our swimmers to be aspiring to.

“There’s a lot of big clubs with access to big facilities in Yorkshire which we simply don’t have in Kent, so it’s always good to come up here and for the little clubs to be competing against the big clubs.

“With Crystal Palace pool out of action, we actually don’t have a 50 metre pool that we can access very easily. We share some access to the LAC but that’s very difficult to gain access to, so as a county we really struggle to gain access to 50 metre facilities for training or for racing.

“We do have some facilities but not great race pools and we’re just really struggling. But, we overcome that with great training ethic, with great coaches and hard working swimmers.

“But it would just be really great to see that talent that we clearly have in junior swimming in Kent, supported with some new facilities and ones that we can actually gain access to.

“This is such an honour and we take this competition very seriously. There’s a lot of preparation and pre-planning that goes into this by the Kent committee and various volunteers who work very, very hard behind the scenes to make this happen.

The most fantastic atmosphere

“We’ve got very committed team staff who are of the highest standard and that’s what’s made it happen.

“It’s down to our great processes, commitment by the team and the swimmers actually going through those processes and delivering.

“This is the event we look forward to every year. This is our key event that we’re planning for each year.

“We absolutely love it and we’re already planning our dressing up outfits and what our green is going to look like for next year, so this is a key focus for us and we really thank Swim England for this fantastic event they put on and all their team of volunteers, officials and staff that are here on their weekend to actually deliver a fantastic event.

“It’s one of the key events in the programme nationally and it’s an event that swimmers desperately want to make the team and come and attend.

“I never actually swam it as a swimmer which is why I’m here working as a volunteer, because I want to be here and I want to be part of it. It’s the most fantastic atmosphere.”

You can view all the results from Division One of the GoCardless Swim England National County Team Championships 2024 here.

Images: Will Johnston Photography