A centennial win: RAF dominate Inter Services swimming championships as they celebrate 100th year
The Royal Air Force Swimming Association have celebrated their centennial year in style after dominating the swimming events at the Inter Services Aquatics Championships in Aldershot.
The Air Force, who were competing alongside teams from the British Army and the Royal Navy, swept the board in the men's and women's team events, thus taking the overall combined team title with a total of 348 points.
The Army were pushed down into second on 283 points with the Navy finishing third on 264 points.
The RAF also saw success in the diving event where Sergeant Charlotte Goodman continued her dominance in the women's event, winning both the springboard and the platform events for the fourth consecutive year.
She said: "I just love it, I really do. I love seeing everybody, I love diving and I love coming back and challenging myself and trying to pit myself against other people and seeing if I can improve on my score from last year."
The men's diving event was won by Able Rate Andrei Gobratii, who has only just completed his Phase 1 training at HMS Raleigh.
He started diving at the age of eight when he was encouraged to pick up the sport by his mum and spent many years training in Southampton.
He said: "It's surprising because I didn't think I'd be allowed to compete here. But I'm happy that I got to compete and get some medals for the Navy.
"But it's a really cool experience, very surprising and I'm very happy to do it."
Centennial celebration
The RAF's win comes as they celebrate 100 years since the founding of the RAF Swimming Association - which they're marking with a series of sporting events across the year.
This includes the Inter Services Championships of which it was the RAF's turn to host in 2026.
The RAF Swimming Association was founded on 30 March 1926 and covers four different aquatics disciplines, including swimming, diving, water polo and open water swimming.
Aside from the Inter Services Championships, the RAFSA have also held other events to mark their centennial year – including visits from Olympic medalists Matty Lee, Cassie Patten and Anna Hopkin at RAF Coningsby in March, where they spent time giving a talk to RAF swimmers about their experiences as Olympic athletes.
A team of five RAF swimmers also took on the German Bundeswehr in a relay race across the English Channel – which the RAF won.
Lead of RAFSA 100, Wing Commander Stephen Brassington, said: "We had a team of five swimmers, four females and one male swimmer swimming against their [the German Bundeswehr] team.
"Both set off at the same time on the 14 June, it was a typical cross-channel race, the weather was perfect for it with the RAF team coming in first, finishing in 11 hours and 36 minutes.
"The Germans unfortunately miscalculated the tide to the currents slightly, so they swam an extra 13km and took about an extra two, but they completed the event as well."
He continued: "We then rolled forward into the Inter Services, where we are now, which we're hosting as part of our RAF 100.
"It just happens that it is timed nicely, perfect timing for us."
Later in the year, the RAF also hope to host a Water Polo tournament where the RAF men's and women's squads would take on masters teams from the Home Nations, before a final event with a swimming championships against the British Police and the Fire Service set for November.
Join Our Newsletter
