Contents
Introduction
Masters Competition Programme for 2015
Beds County Masters Records 2015
Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2014 Final Results
National Decathlon Awards
East Region Masters Meeting 18^th March 2015
The Club Scene and Masters Training Sessions
-- South Beds Masters Annual Dinner
-- Team Luton Masters Results
-- Putteridge Masters/Seniors Results
-- Bedford Beavers

Introduction
A new year brings a new start and new opportunities. For those who have moved up an age group, there may be the chance to break a few records. And here I must apologise for a mistake in the last newsletter. Louise Jarvis (Biggleswade) broke the East Region 200M Backstroke record and not the Freestyle record, as I reported. Lastly, a big welcome to new Masters swimmer Andy Haestier of Putteridge who made his first splash at Crawley.

Masters Competition Programme for 2015
The following are local competitions in the East Region:-

• Newmarket Masters, Senior Age Group &16 &17yrs Open Meet at Newmarket Leisure Centre, Exning Road, Newmarket, Entry closing date: 7 April 2015, Competition date: 26 April 2015. There is online entry.
• Norfolk Open Masters Competition (including Norfolk Masters Closed Championship), at Norwich Sports Park (UEA), Entry closing date: 22 April 2015, Competition date: 16 May 2015. There is online entry. Starts 5.45pm.
  

Beds County Masters Records 2015
John Bellis continues as our records keeper for 2015, and record claims should be sent by post or email to him, as detailed on the Beds ASA website. The start of a new year is a great opportunity for those moving up an age-group to break records. The first major meet of the year, SE Region LC Meet at Crawley has started with twenty five new record claims. Many of these are also East Region records.

Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2014 Final Results
At the end of 2014, with the Regional and National Championships completed, the standing of the Beds ASA Masters Decathlon 2014 is as below. The Beds results were extracted from the National results, with national position in brackets. In the tables below, the last column contains the number of qualifying swims.

Beds Women Masters Points Ranking at the End of 2014
Liz Woolner (Flitwick) with high scoring swims has won the Beds Decathlon for the first time. She finished in 9^th place nationally. She was closely followed by last year's champion Christine Ayres. Jo Holder and Samantha Hammond are close behind. 1735 ladies competed nationally.

In the ladies club team results, out of 390 clubs in the national rankings, South Beds Masters finished in a creditable 8^th place in the National rankings with 16425 points. Biggleswade ladies were in 83^rd place, Putteridge in 90^th place, Flitwick in 120^th place Beavers Masters in 201^st place, Team Luton in 228^th Place,

Beds Men Masters Points Ranking at the End of 2014
Marcel Scholten (Modernian) has won the competition for a third time in succession. Graham Powell has stayed in second and David Cartledge in third. Good all-rounder Alastair Gibb is in fourth place. Ian Murray of Flitwick is in fifth place. There were 2288 men competing nationally,

For the men's teams, out of 464 clubs in the national rankings, Team Luton with 14555 points, finished in 14^th place ahead of South Beds in 28^th place, Modernians in 71^st place, Putteridge in 105^th place (which would have been higher at 34^th if Seniors were included), Flitwick in 143^rd place, Biggleswade in 265^th and Dunstable Water Polo Club in 452^nd. Place.

National Masters Decathlon Awards
As noted above, Bedfordshire swimmer Liz Woolner gained a ninth place in the 2014 National Masters Decathlon and was surprised when a congratulatory letter and commemorative swim hat arrived through the post from ASA/British Swimming. While the 2014 decathlon conditions (on the Internet) say that prizes will be awarded to the top 3 of each sex, it doesn't specify what the prizes will be.
However the British Swimming Masters Decathlon Competition in 2009 stated that:-"Awards are given to the top three overall Male and Female swimmers with the highest total points scores, and the top Male and top Female clubs. In 2009 the prizes will be:- Individual 1st- �100, 2nd- �50, 3rd- �25, 4th-10th- Cap and Club 1st- �400", so it may be worth a bit of extra effort to get among the prizes. Jane Asher must be able to afford a holiday on her winnings.

Photo: National Decathlon Top10 award

East Region Masters Meeting 18^th March 2015
David Robinson, the East Region Masters TSC Chairman wrote saying "Just to let you know that the ASA National Masters Officer Sharon Lock will be attending the meeting on 18th March. Sharon is willing to answers questions but if there is anything you would like to raise with Sharon do let me know so she can be prepared with the necessary information. I have asked her to bring anything she has on organising a Masters Development Day".
Remember that the topics covered at the National Masters Conference last November were Coaching, Non Competitive Masters, Competition, Volunteers and Officials, Newsletter and Web Site, Marketing and Support. Also there was much interest in Open Water.
So if there is anything you would like to see happening in these areas or in Masters swimming generally, or if you have any questions you would like to raise, please let me know, and I will pass them on for the meeting.

The Club Scene and Masters Training Sessions

South Beds Masters - held their annual dinner and presentation evening at Leighton Buzzard Golf Club in January. This year's guests were Gerry Metcalf (East Region President and County Treasurer), and her husband Dave.
An enjoyable evening was spent by one and all, with Gerry presenting the awards, which were

Report by John Bellis

Photo: Gerry Metcalf presenting Swimmer of the Year Award to Emma Irvine. John Bellis on the right.

Team Luton Masters Results
Colin Mayes has laid down his marker competing for the first time in the 60-64 age group category. He established new Beds (and East Region) Masters Long Course records in all three breaststroke events at the Crawley Masters 2015 meet. The three Beds county records had all stood since 2006. In winning the 200 Metre event, Colin took over 20 seconds off the county and over ten seconds off the East Region record, posting a time of 3:22:17. Colin also took ten seconds off both records in the 100 metre Breaststroke to finish 2nd in a time of 1:29:96.

Team Luton Masters achieved their best ever results in the 2014 UK Men�s Team Decathlon, smashing into the top twenty for the first time to finish in 14^th place. Their previous best performance was in 2013 when they finished in 23rd place. In 2014 they amassed a total of 14,555 points compared to the 12,468 recorded in 2013. Team Luton�s highest individual rankings came from Graham Powell (59) who finished 46^th nationally with 4,501 points and Alastair Gibb (54) in 87^th place with 3,951 points. Dave Wright (53) achieved 3,405 points and Paul Clarke (72) achieved 2,698 points.
In the 2014 Bedfordshire Masters individual championships Graham Powell finished second, Alastair Gibb fourth and Dave Wright eighth.

Report by Alastair Gibb

Putteridge Masters/Seniors Results
Lewis King, Miriam Owens and Carrie Page broke the following county records at the Masters long course meet at Crawley:- Lewis King (25-29 age group) 200 freestyle : 2:13.52, 200 IM : 2:32.13, 400 freestyle : 4:44.91 Miriama Owens (35-39 age group) 100 freestyle 1:10.67, 200 freestyle 2:28.79, 50 freestyle 31.45, 400 freestyle 5:19.79 Carrie Page (35-39 age group 100 backstroke 1:25.25, 200 backstroke 3:04.45
Of those, the following were also East Region records :- Lewis King (25-29) 400 freestyle, Miriama Owens (35-39) 400 freestyle, Carrie Page (35-39) 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke.
Andy Haestier also competed in his first competition as a Master and swum really well in the 100 free, in a time of 1:21.22.

Report by Lewis King

Bedford Beavers
At the Sudbury Masters Valentines Meet, Paul Clarke, who recently moved to Beavers, won the top man award with nine first places. In the third year of his age group, he realised that his chances of breaking records are slim, so rather than doing a few fast events, he went for all events (except the 100M butterfly).