Contents
Introduction
Basil Gell
Masters Competition Programme for 2015
More about Masters Development Day
Beds County Masters Records 2015
Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2015 - Interim Results 28^th July 2015
The Club Scene and Masters Training Sessions

-- Beaver Masters Bedford
-- Flitwick Masters
-- Putteridge SC Report
-- South Beds Masters Report
-- Team Luton Masters Report

Novel Filming Kit Tested at Luton Inspire

Introduction
Many Beds Masters swimmers went to the GB Long Course Meet in Manchester and many Beds records were broken. Of special mention, is Lawrence Palmer’s British Record swims in the 50M and 100M Breaststroke (see Putteridge Report below)..This meet represents the halfway stage of the swimming year, and seems a good time to give the interim results of the Beds Masters Decathlon, where there have been more changes at the top of the men’s rankings now headed by Dave Cartledge. There is now a swimming break in August – except for those at the FINA World Masters in Kazan (10-16 August),.where the latest news is that Janet Masters is in the medals (see South Beds Report below) -- so for the rest of us, have a good holiday.

Basil Gell
I have been given the sad news of Basil Gell's passing. Basil was 83. We will remember him as one of the first, pioneering generation of Masters swimmers in Britain. He swam for Bedford Masters. Basil was a very accomplished breaststroker who always managed to pass me in the closing stages of a race despite being ten years older. On one occasion, a County Championships at Tiddenfoot, I was in the lane on one side of Basil and Alan Jackson was on the other side of him and he beat us both and broke the British Record. He kept himself very fit and at 75 he set County Masters records for all the events (except 800M Free), including the 200M Fly, 400M IM and 1500M Freestyle, and to this day, those records still stand. Most of us will remember him on poolside and had a chat with him, and although he has not competed since he was 80, he will be greatly missed. Condolences can be sent to his son Steven, Email: g_star@hotmail.co.uk

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

• ASA East Region Masters Championships 2015 - Saturday 3^rd October 2015 at Newmarket. Details are on the British Swimming calendar. The closing date will be 10^th September for the individual events and 17^th September for the relays.

• Regional heat of the National Masters Inter-County Competition 2015 - 15^th November at Newmarket

Also note

• Masters Development Day - 20^th September 2015 at Culford School, Bury St. Edmunds

More about Masters Development Day
The ASA East Region is organising a Masters Development Day for all Masters in the region on. 20^th September 2015, 9.30am-5pm. Please note, there are limited spaces available so please contact Amy Bryant (amy.bryant@swimming.org) to request a booking form as soon as possible.

Venue: Culford School, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 6TX
Cost for the day is £15 which will include lunch and refreshments
Early application is advised to avoid disappointment, as there is a limit of about forty places.

Beds County Masters Records 2015
John Bellis is our records keeper, and record claims should be sent by email to him at john.bellis123@btinternet.com , or by post as detailed on the claim form on the Beds ASA website. Since the last newsletter, there have been swims at EDSC Bexley Heath, The GBs Manchester (LC), Barnet Copthall Distance Meet, Rushmoor Royals (LC) and World Masters at Kazan (LC). The following new records have been set. Many of these are also East Region records.
See the latest records at http://bedscountyasa.com/masters-county-records/

Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2015 - Interim Results 28^th July 2015
The Beds results were extracted from the National results and are shown below, with national position in brackets.

Beds Women Masters Points Ranking
Beds ladies are off to a cracking start with six swimmers in the top 100 nationally. Janet Masters (South Beds) leads the Beds ladies. She continues to swim strongly and has cracked to 4000 points mark. So far, 1241 ladies have competed nationally.

In the ladies club team results, out of 334 clubs in the national rankings, South Beds Masters (Janet Masters, Laura Robinson, Christine Ayers, and Carla King) are in 9^th place in the National rankings, Putteridge are in 112^nd place and Biggleswade ladies are in 138^th place.

Beds Men Masters Points Ranking
The Modernian men have put in some excellent 500+ point swims. Dave Cartledge has jumped to the top of the ranking and is in sixth place Nationally. He is closely followed by Marcel Scholten, who has won this competition for the last three years. The Beds top 3 are in the top 50 nationally. So far there are 1689 men competing nationally,

For the men's teams, out of 418 clubs in the national rankings, Team Luton (Alastair Gibb, Colin Mayes, Graham Powell and David Wright) moved to 19^th place ahead of Modernians in 21^st place, South Beds in 69^th place and Putteridge in 72^nd place.

The Club Scene and Masters Training Sessions

Beaver Masters Bedford
Beavers main training session is at the Trinity Arts and Leisure Centre at Bedford Sixth Form College, at 9am. on Sunday mornings, which is in a public session, so if anyone wants to join in, they are welcome. Just pay at the front desk as usual. There is free parking in the centre and in nearby streets at that time. Further details about the club are on our new website at:- http://www.swimsite.freeuk.com/beavers

Flitwick Masters
In June there was success for Liz Woolner at the British Masters in Manchester in winning a Gold, Silver & Bronze in the 100 fly, 50 fly and 50 back respectively despite a shoulder injury.
During the summer, open water swimming has been popular. Dan Georgescu competed in the Great East Swim at Alton Water reservoir. The conditions were perfect with calm warm water and cloudy sky. Dan completed the 5K swim in 1hr 35min 46sec. There were about 2000 swimmers in all and 208 in the 5K. In the East Region Open Water Flitwick Seniors came away with one Gold (Rhyianydd Jones, 20-24, 3k) and one Silver (Louise Simmons, 20-24, 1.5k) and in the Masters Owen Jones and Simon Dove got silver in their respective age groups in the 1.5k and Chairman Nigel Halford won a Silver in the 5k. In other events Ian Murray won the BLDSA Lynn Tegid 3k and managed two Silver in the 1.5k and 3k at ASA Masters open water.
The next competition will be the East Region Masters where Flitwick is hoping to field a larger team than last year and improve on it success.
Good progress is being made on construction of the new Flitwick Leisure Centre which includes an 8 lane 25 Metre pool which unfortunately will not be a competition pool. It is due to open in early 2016.

Photo: by Paul Clarke, August 2015
(Report by Ian Murray)

Putteridge SC Report
The British Masters Long Course Championships in Manchester was a fantastic weekend of racing for Putteridge swimming club. A total of 8 medals were won, including 2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze. 14 county and 8 regional records were set.
Lewis King (25-29) started his Masters nationals by coming 9th in the 100 fly with a time of 1:09.31. Although disappointed with the time and just missing a medal (4th) in the 400 IM, he managed to set a new county and regional record of 5:26.70. In the 200 free, he came 10th with a new county record of 2:13.42. In the 200 IM he set a new county record by over a second with a time of 2:31.08 and placed 6th. And finally, in the 400 free he set a new county and regional record by over a second with a time of 4:43.59.
Carrie Page (35-39) swum brilliantly, in her 1st Long Course Nationals and only her 2nd long course masters competition. On the opening day she won a fantastic bronze in the 200 back in a time of 3:08.64. In the 50m back she set a new county and regional record by half a second and finished 6th. In the 50 fly she swum 37.05, which was the first time she had swum it long course as a master, which was a massive improvement from a 38 second swim short course. In the 100 free, she swam a 1:16.12, a PB by almost a second and finished 7th. She won her second medal, another bronze in the 100 back in a time of 1:25.94, just outside her county and region record.
Chris Long (60-64), who was competing in his first Long Course Competition and Nationals, swum superbly to finish 8th in a time of 34.56. Hopefully, now that he has tasted what it is like to compete again, he will continue to do so.
Jordan Batson (18-24) swum a new county record in the 50 fly, which isn't his favoured event, with a time of 27.87 to finish 15th in the tough 18-24 age group. He also swam another sub 31 long course in the 50 breast (30.99), to finish a brilliant 6th.
Lawrence Palmer (18-24) was in superb form, setting a new personal best, masters county, masters regional, British Seniors record, mainstream county and mainstream regional record in the 100 breast in a time of 1:02.44 to claim gold. In the 50 breast he struck gold again, setting a new Masters county, Masters regional and British Seniors record in the 50 breaststroke in a time of 28.17.

Miriama Owens (30-34) had an extremely busy, tough and gruelling schedule but managed to prevail with her determination and grit and swum amazingly. She started off with the 800 free in a time of 10:40.06 and on the 400 split she clocked a 5:11.44 to smash her all out 400 PB by 8 seconds as well as setting a new county record by the same margin and a new region record by 5 seconds. Overall she finished 6th. In the 400 IM, she swum bang on her estimated entry time (5:50.17), to claim her first medal of the championships (silver) and set three different records in one race. A 2 second county record on the 100 fly split (1:20.80) and a county and region record on the overall swim. Unfortunately, in the 200 Free, after smashing her personal best by 4 seconds and setting what would have been a county record by the same margin and a new region record by 1 second, she was disqualified harshly for a slight movement on the block before the start. However, in true Miriama fashion, she bounced back and came a fantastic 3rd in the 200 IM in a time of 2:42.99 to smash the county record by 23 seconds. In the 100 freestyle she clocked an impressive 1:03.99 to claim silver in a new county record by 7 seconds and just missing the region record by half a second. She swum slightly slower in her 400 free in comparison to her 400 split in the 800 in a time of 5:12.37 to finish 4th. To finish off her amazing campaign, she clocked her first ever sub 30 long course free (29.55) to smash both her personal best and county record by 2 seconds.
Paul Brignell (60-64) swimming long course for the first time in decades, broke the 1.30 marker in the 100 breast (1:29.61) to just finish outside the medals in 4th. However, he set a new county and region record in the event. In the 50 breast, he dipped under the 40 second marker with a time of 39.26 to finish 7th. In the 200 breast, he came 7th in a time of 3:25.80.
Paul Constantin (30-34) started off with a brilliant 50 fly to swim almost 2 seconds less than his short course PB in a time of 34.25 to finish 21st. In the 50 breast, he went way under the 40 marker (38.68) to finish 11th. Finally, he officially smashed the 30 second barrier long course (29.25) for 50 free to finish 17th.
Overall a fantastic competition for Putteridge Masters swimmers. Everyone swum extremely well and thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the experience. We can't wait for the Europeans next year.
Ryan Compton (who is 18) has joined Putteridge, bringing the number of Masters/Seniors swimmers at Putteridge to 35, of which 6 are competing in both mainstream and masters, 17 competing masters, 9 tri and 7 non-competing.
(Report by Lewis King)

South Beds Masters Report
South Beds Masters had three swimmers at the GB Masters in Manchester in June. 62 year old Christine Ayers won1 gold, three silver and tw bronze medals,. Although out of the medals, 30 Jenny Owens broke County Records in the 100 and 200 Freestyle and in the 200 IM. But best performance went to 75 year old Janet Masters, who won 6 golds and four silver medals in her ten events, breaking Beds County and also Eat Region records in all ten events.
In July Christine Ayers travelled to Sheffield to compete in the ASA Open water championships, and in the 1500 metre event finished in second place just being pipped for thr first place by three seconds.
In August, Janet Masters travelled to Kazan in Russia to compete in the World Masters, and in her five events, she won two silvers and two bronze medals, setting new County and East Region records in the 100 Butterfly, and the 100 and 200 Backstroke. In the 100 Backstroke, Janet was beaten to the Gold medal by 0.03 secs.


Janet Masters (left) Bronze at the World Masters, Kazan August 2015
(Report by John Bellis)

Team Luton Masters Report
Over the last few months club members have been splashing out in various national and regional Open Water, Long Course and Short Course meets, collecting an assortment of medals and records as well as Decathlon points in some of their less favourite events.

At the ASA National Masters Open Water Championships held at Rother Valley, David Wright powered his way to a silver medal in the 50 ­ 54 years age group 3km swim. His time was 46 minutes 17.7 seconds. This swim followed on from his victory in the 50 - 59 age group Open Water 3km at the East Region Masters when he completed the distance in 45 minutes and 25 seconds.

At the GB Long Course Masters championships, Malcolm Barton beat the East Region and Bedfordshire County records for the 60 ­ 64 year age group 200 metres Breaststroke by over six seconds to win a bronze medal. Malcolm also finished 5th in the 100 metres Breaststroke. Alastair Gibb won a bronze medal in the 55 ­ 59 year age group 400 metres Individual Medley. His time of 6:18:05 was a new County record and beat the old East Region Long Course record by 25 seconds. Alastair also finished 6th in the 200 metres Breaststroke, whilst claiming Beds records in both the 100 metres Butterfly and 50 metres Backstroke.

With all of the County¹s Long Course records likely to be targeted at the European Masters in London next year, Alastair put his name on the 200 metres Freestyle books, if only for a few months, lowering the Beds record for his age group by 2.6 seconds to 2:33: 62 at the Rushmoor Royals Open Meet.

At the Barnet Copthall Masters Distance Meet, the Team Luton trio of Malcolm Barton, John O¹Rourke and Alastair Gibb brought home eight medals between them. Half of them came from events in which they have rarely competed in recent years.

Malcolm Barton was the star performer, collecting four gold medals and a silver in the 60 - 64 years age group. He won the 100 and 200 metres Breaststroke, his specialist discipline, as well as the 100 metres Butterfly and the 400 metres Individual Medley. Malcolm¹s time in the latter event was over four seconds faster than the County short course record that he had only set back in May. Having clocked 7:08:68, so far reducing the record this year by over 48 seconds, he has now set his sights on the seven minute barrier come the Nationals in Sheffield. Malcolm also swam the 400 metres Freestyle, winning a silver, demonstrating his growing stamina and versatility.

Like Malcolm Barton, John O¹Rourke took the opportunity at Barnet to enter some of his less favourite events. Competing in the 45 ­ 49 year age group, John came away with bronze medals in both the 100 metres Butterfly and the 400 metres Individual Medley. In the 55 ­ 59 years age group, Alastair Gibb swam his first competitive 800 metres Freestyle race in over 38 years, just dipping under the eleven-minute barrier, to collect the silver medal.

Attention in training is now turning to the Barnet Sprints, the East Region and National Short Course championships, with a number of the club¹s female tri-athletes being encouraged to make their debut competitive swimming performances. After a brief absence from the pool, Graham Powell is also due to return to the competitive scene. Now retired from his full-time role in education even he admits to having few excuses for missing training!
(Report by Alastair Gibb)

Novel Filming Kit Tested at Luton Inspire
These days many swimmers use video recording as a method to analyse their strokes and start/turn/finish techniques as well as for entertainment and re-living happy memories of their best swim. At a recent swim camp I saw the coach walking on the poolside alongside the swimmer, and holding an action cam (very small waterproof video camera) in the water on the end of a short pole, filming for later analysis. This seemed simple and effective. For Masters swimmers there are no problems of "child protection" and little objection to the use of video cameras.
On a professional level, Polecam Limited based out of Kempston, Bedfordshire are the original inventors, designers and manufacturers of their global system "Polecam" – a super lightweight highly portable carbon fibre camera crane that has been used for underwater filming. The first underwater system was developed for the Sydney 2000 Olympic games and has been used ever since by Olympic Broadcast Services (OBS) for all aquatic events, the BBC Natural History and Red Bull have adopted the system as standard. A recently developed new underwater system using a combination of advanced movie making technology was tested at Luton Inspire prior to being used at the FINA World Championships in Dubai. The subjects of the trial were Luton Diving Club and Team Luton Swimming.
The system is generically called "Polecam Antelope PICO" combining an ultra-slow motion high definition mini-camera from German company LMC, a newly designed remote pan and tilt Polecam underwater remote head called Fishface which was mounted on to the 3m Polecam hollow carbon crane system which provides a balanced boom to enable rapid smooth camera movement above and below water.
The high diving trial video was impressively slowed down from three seconds to 30 seconds and the dives were tracked full distance through the air and down under the water. The Team Luton swimmers were shown doing racing dives, tumble turns and strokes from various angles above and below water, which are all very useful for analysis. The breaststroke, when viewed from in front and underwater is very interesting and I may have learnt a few techniques from watching the film.

Photo: By Polecam - note the pole and half submerged camera in empty Lane 6

Details and photos about the trial are at
www.polecam.com/latest-news/679-fishface-pico-slow-motion-swimming
The video is listed at
www.youtube.com/polecam
or directly viewable at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwoqXhV6ZOs&list=UUcyuWiQj3apPPEIJfmoVA_w