Contents
Introduction
Masters Programme for 2014
Report on National Masters at Sheffield - October 2013
Report on the Masters Inter-County Championships, November 2013
County Masters Records
Results of Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2013
Length of Britain Swim

Introduction
A Happy New Year to you all. A new year means that Masters swimmers who have completed five years in their age group, now move up an age group and have the opportunity to break records in their new age group. For the speediest amongst us there will be new World, European and National records. For the average swimmers, there is the chance of Regional, County and Club records and for the rest, there will be the opportunity to set new age group PBs (personal-bests).
For those who don't move up an age group, ageing is likely to mean reduced chances of breaking records, but there will always be personal "year-bests" to record.
For those who don't keep personal records, don't despair, because Big Brother has been keeping them for you - in the form of Decathlon results automatically recorded for every (qualifying) swim you do. To get a listing, find your name in the Decathlon Results on the ASA website (www.britishswimming.org) and click on it. Results are online for 2010 to 2013.
Many thanks to those who have sent comments and reports included in this issue of the newsletter. As always, the reports are the sole views of the authors and Beds ASA bears no responsibility for their accuracy.

Masters Programme for 2014
First Newmarket Masters meet (25M) - Sunday 27th April 2014.
Team Luton Masters Meet (50M) - Sunday 18^th May 2014.
East Region Master & Seniors Championships, Newmarket (25M)
- Saturday 4^th October 2014
British Gas ASA National Masters and Senior Age Group Championships (25M)
- Friday 24^th- Sunday 26^th Oct 2014
East Region Round, Masters Inter-County Competition, Newmarket (25M)
- Sunday 16^th November 2014

Report on National Masters at Sheffield - October 2013
There were four Beds Clubs represented. Flitwick, Modernians, South Beds and Team Luton, and a total of 25 swimmers competed (15 coming from Team Luton alone). A total of 24 medals were won. Which consisted of 3 Gold; 12 Silver and 9 Bronze.
Report by Keith Spence.

Report on the Masters Inter-County Masters Championships, November 2013
Thank you and well done to all the Masters swimmers who formed the Bedfordshire team for the East Region Inter County Competition and a special thank you to John Bellis for organising the team. Here are John's reports on the event.
Regional Report
A team of 32 Masters and Seniors from 4 Bedfordshire clubs competed at Newmarket in the East Region Inter county event.
Once again Bedfordshire finished in 4^th place, but this year we were a lot closer to the three counties above us, finishing 44 points behind the winners Essex, and only 9 points behind Norfolk who were third. With Hertfordshire 2nd and Suffolk 5^th. Cambridgeshire did not enter a team.
The team managed 12 individual wins, the most ever, plus one relay win.
Liz Woolner (Flitwick Dolphins) was in sparkling form in the 45 and over age group, winning the 50 metre Freestyle in a new County record time of 29.56 seconds, and the 50 metre Butterfly in an East Region record time of 31.27 seconds. A time that was over a second quicker than her winning time at the National Masters at Sheffield, three weeks before.
The Modernians pair of Dave Cartledge and Marcel Scholten won four events between them, with Dave winning the 45 and over 50 metre Butterfly and Backstroke events, and also the 35 and over 50 metre Breaststroke, While Marcel won the 45 and over 50 metre Breaststroke.
Sarah Pearce (South Beds Masters) won the 25 and over 50 metre Breaststroke by just over 3 seconds.
Team Luton swimmers had four wins, with Lawrence Palmer winning both the 50 metre Butterfly and Breaststroke events in the 18 and over Senior category. Miriam Owens broke her own County record in the 25 and over 50 metre Freestyle event with a quick 28.94 seconds, and Graham Powell won the 55 and over 50 metre Backstroke.
Final Regional Points
Essex 240
Hertfordshire 238
Norfolk 205
Bedfordshire 196
Suffolk 123
National Report
When all of the results from the five regional rounds were collated, Bedfordshire finished in a disappointing 18^th place, a drop of two places from 2012, although this year we finished with 991.5 points, compared with the 2012 total of 794.5 points.
Warwickshire retained their title, with Devon getting the runners up spot, an improvement from 4^th place in 2012, and Hampshire jumped from 8^th in 2012 to finish in third place.
In the individual placing’s, 21 year old Lawrence Palmer (Team Luton) won the 18 and over 50 metre Breaststroke and finished 4^th in the 50 metre Butterfly. Liz Woolner (Flitwick Dolphins) won the 45 and over 50 metre Butterfly, and finished in 4^th place in the 50 metre Freestyle. Sarah Pearce (South Beds) finished 2^nd in the 25 and over 50 metre Breaststroke, and Graham Powell (Team Luton) was the only other swimmer to obtain a top five finish, when finishing in 3^rd place in the 55 years and over 50 metre Backstroke.
We had another eight individual results in the top ten, but it was in the Relays where Bedfordshire suffered, with only one team finishing in the top ten, the 140 and over 200 Medley Relay team of Cheryl Templeman (South Beds) Sarah Pearce (South Beds) Liz Woolner (Flitwick Dolphins) and Miriam Owens (Team Luton), out of the twenty relay events in the programme.
Overall, a disappointing result, considering Bedfordshire finished with 197 more points than they did in 2012.
Reports by John Bellis.

County Masters Records
John Bellis has now taken over the Beds Masters Records Keeper role, so all future record claims should be sent to him. His email is john.bellis123@btinternet.com and his postal address is on the claim form which is on the Beds ASA website.
Automatic Records: John will check for any records broken at the East Region champs, at the Nationals, and for the County team event. Otherwise swimmers will have to claim there own.
Keith Spence's departing comments about the records and Beds Masters were as follows, "Just by looking at all the recent records that were broken and the new names that are appearing, I would say the Masters swimming in Bedfordshire is looking very healthy at the moment".

Results of Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2013
With the season finished, the final National results are now available. There were 1449 women swimmers, 1966 men swimmers, 360 clubs with women swimmers and 446 clubs with men swimmers. The Beds results extracted from the National results (with national position in brackets) are:-

In the club team results, for the ladies, South Beds Masters are 14^th in the National rankings, up from 18^th last year and Biggleswade ladies are in 61^st place. Well done to them. Also Team Luton ladies have rocketed up the chart to 129^th place from 254^th last year.
For the men, after a strong showing at the Nationals, Team Luton have risen to 23^rd place from 50^th last year and South Beds are close behind in 46^th place, up from 66^th last year. Both have shown great improvement. Modernians were in 100^th place, which is good considering it is a small team.
For 2014, with the inclusion of the "Senior" age group (18-24), there could be big changes in all the Decathlon results, particularly the team results.

Length of Britain Swim
I'm not sure if you have been following Sean Conway swimming the length of Britain. He has already swam over 900 miles along the coast of the UK I have been coaching & mentoring him You can track his progress on www.swimmingbritain.co.uk.
Report by Mark Kleanthous.
PS. Since Mark wrote, Sean has now completed the Lands End to John O'Groats swim by swimming ten miles a day. Having previously cycled it, he is now going to run it, making this a "Length of Britain" Triathlon. Amazing. Also see www.seanconway.com/2013