Talons find ways to the top amidst Colts pressure

In the end, even a swim-off relay on match day 18 was not enough for Colts to retain leadership of the Uganda Swimming League at British School of Kampala, Muyenga last Friday.

The day’s programme had been tuned to kickoff Altona’s final preparations for the upcoming Uganda Swimming Federation (USF) Club Championships due next month.

“We wanted to see where we are with the 50s (50m freestyle and butterfly) and so far so good,” Altona coach Erick Kisero, said as a couple of his swimmers bettered their times.

Talons won the 50m freestyle contest with 80 points while Astros and Colts followed with 47 and 44 points respectively.

Talons kept form to win the 4*75m medley relay with 80 points as Colts and Astros followed with 60 and 40 points respectively.

Another tasking race; the 200m freestyle was up for grabs and although Colts’ captain Tara Kisawuzi obliterated the pool to take it home, her side only managed 26 points - eight more than Astros and eight less than Talons.

Colts, however, won the first 15*25m freestyle event but Talons came back to win the 50m butterfly competition with 34 points. Astros had 23 while Colts had 21.

Talons and Colts were hard to separate in the final 15*25m free relay as both of their anchors appeared to touch at the same time but there had to be a winner.

At this point, Talons were leading by 45 points and a disqualification for them could have allowed Colts retain top spot for another week.

Talons manager coach Musa Galabuzi and his Colts opposite Joshua Lule were given an opportunity to accept second place or face off in a swim-off and they both went for the latter.

But with their rookie swimmer Nailah Nalukenge having burnt out after two pulsating relays, Talons were walking a tight rope.

Fortunately for them, their swimmers kept discipline not to earn a disqualification, as they had severally done in previous weeks, but Colts won convincingly with over a body’s length to close the gap to just 25 points.