Contents
Introduction
Masters Competition Programme for the rest of 2016
Masters Conference on 12th November 2016
Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2016 at 6^th October
New Records
The Club Scene
-- Beaver Masters
-- Flitwick Masters
-- Putteridge Man who ran the World
-- South Beds Masters at the Nationals
-- Team Luton
Latest on Age Adjusted Times

Introduction
There seems to have been a lull in Masters swimming since the European Masters Championships held in London and the August break. But things have restarted in earnest with the Barnet Copthall Sprints and the Regional Short Course Champs where Beds swimmers were split between the East Region at Newmarket and Midlands at Leamington. A notable achievement by South Beds Masters Women’s team is reaching 5^th place in the national Masters Decathlon.

Masters Competition Programme for the rest of 2016
The following are local competitions in the East Region:-

• East Region Heat of the Masters Inter-County Competition at Newmarket, Competition date 20^th. November 2016 Note Beds Team Manager John Bellis will have contacted most swimmers needed for this event.

Masters Conference on 12th November 2016
If you're looking to gain top tips and invaluable insight into Masters Swimming don't forget to come along to our Masters Conference on Saturday 12th November at ASA, SportPark, 3 Oakwood Drive, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3QF
All Masters are welcome. Full details and online registration are on the ASA Masters Hub at
http://www.swimming.org/masters/

Don't miss our key sessions, full of insight to inspire your swimming, including...

Karen Howells - Sport Psychologist
"Building your confidence"
* How to deal with deteriorating performance
* Coming back to swimming and overcoming injury
* Beliefs and Psychological skills training

David Hemming - Coach, British National Centre for swimming, Loughborough
"Techniques for World Class Performance"
* Discussion of a variety of elite techniques used
* How Masters can use these to improve their competitive starts
* Common mistakes in swimming and how to rectify them

(From Sharon Lock, ASA Masters Officer Email: sharon.lock@swimming.org)

Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2016 at 6^th October
Already there has been many changes in the order of competitors and it will not be till later in the season when the true positions become clearer.

South Beds Masters lead the Women’s teams and moved up to 5^th place nationally.
Flitwick are 51^st. Putteridge are 111^th. Team Luton are 141^st. Biggleswade are 243^rd. and Beaver Masters are 245^th.

Team Luton lead the Men’s Clubs and are in 14^th place nationally.

New Records
Since the start of July, the following Beds Masters short course records have been set

Please don’t forget to claim your new county and regional records or get your club representative to do group claims for you. Forms for doing claiming are online.

* Bedfordshire Masters Record Claims: www.bedscountyasa.com/masters/ and follow the link to "Records". Send completed forms to John Bellis, email john.bellis123@btinternet.com

* East Region Masters Claims: www.eastswimming.org/masters/ and follow the link to "Records". Send completed forms to David Robinson, email david@referee22.fsnet.co.uk

Beaver Masters
Training sessions continue as usual at Trinity Sports and Leisure Centre, Bedford.
Two swimmers entered the Regional Championships. Pat Reynolds (65-69) broke two East Region records again - it seems like an annual occurrence. Amazingly she knocked 4 seconds off her own 200M backstroke time.

Flitwick Masters
At the European Masters the star of the Flitwick Team was Liz Woolner. who won bronze medals in the 50M and 100M Butterfly, setting a new club record in the 100M butterfly and narrowly missing the British record by 0.05 sec: a fantastic achievement.

Liz Woolner at the Europeans

The other swimmers that took part were Judy Thompson, Ian Murray, Nigel Halford, Owen Jones and Simon Dove. Special mention should also go to Phil Winder who was one of the officials who put in some long hours ensuring the competition ran as smoothly as possible.

The club sent a strong team to the Regional Championships. Liz Woolner (45-49) completed more unusual swims (for her), like the 400M Freestyle to gain extra Decathlon points, and now heads the Beds ladies table.

Putteridge Man who ran the World
The club has a new Chairman, Chris Long, who many of you may recognise as "The man who ran the World", helping to raise millions for charity and relieving African debt. He was the man behind the biggest mass participation event in world history - Run the World - involving 19 million people across 89 countries in 1986. As a keen swimmer and scuba diver, Chris is also currently running "earthdive" in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, which involves millions of recreational scuba divers around the world. The picture below shows Chris (centre) with Chief Coach Lesley Batson (left) and Coach and elite swimmer Lawrence Palmer, together with some happy junior swimmers

South Beds Masters at the Nationals
South Beds Masters had 17 swimmers at this year’s ASA Nationals at Ponds Forge Sheffield, and won a total of twenty medals, and re-wrote the record books, breaking a total of 33 club records, 23 new Bedfordshire County records, and 10 new East Region records.
In the 75 to 79 age group, Janet Masters had a busy three days, swimming in nine individual events and two relays. In the individual events Janet won 8 gold medals and one silver, setting 5 new County records and 4 new Region records. Janet’s best session was on the Sunday morning, when she took nearly three seconds of the 100 Butterfly region record, and 40 minutes later was back in the pool setting a new region record in the 50 Backstroke.
There was also a new region and County record for 63 year old Christine Ayers in the 200 freestyle but only good enough four fourth place, Chris picked up two silvers and three bronze medals in her other events. While in the 45 to 49 age group, swimming in his first year of masters swimming, ex Luton and Vauxhall swimmer over 30 years ago) set new club records in both the 50 Butterfly and 50 freestyle events.
In the 35 to 39 age group, Sam Hammond broke six South Beds club records, of which 3 were new County records.
The best swim from the club came in the 30 to 34 age group, where 33 year old Carla King set a lifetime best in the 100 Freestyle event, hitting the pads at an impressive time of 0.59.89 seconds. The first time in her life that Carla had ducked under the one minute barrier, but even with this time it was only good enough for fifth place in her age group. Carla also broke her County time in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 27.29, winner the silver medal. Also in this age group, there was a silver medal in the 50 Breaststroke for Sarah Pearse.
In the 30 to 34 age group, Joanne Holder won the bronze in the 100 Breaststroke in a lifetime best of 120.58, also in this age group, another lifetime best for Jenny Owens in the 800 Freestyle.
In the Senior age group, the 18 to 24’s Lucy Gregory set four new Bedfordshire records, and a new East Region record in the 100 Backstroke, while Emma Irvine swam a 1.19 100 Breaststroke, just outside the medals. There were also new club records for Jack McGarry in the 50 Breaststroke, and for Arron Moore in the 50 and 200 Butterfly and in the 100 Freestyle.
It was in the relay events that the club swam well. They entered ten relay teams, and broke Bedfordshire County records with eight of them, and two of those were new East region records.
The region records came in the Ladies 120 to 159 200 Medley relay, where the team was Jo Holder, Sarah Pearse, Sam Hammond, and Carla King,

South Beds Masters Ladies 120-159 Relay Team

and in the 200 to 239 200 Freestyle relay with Clare Warren, Chris Ayers, Janet Masters, and Jenny Owens being the four swimmers.

South Beds Masters Ladies 200-239 Relay Team and John Bellis
Report by John Bellis

Team Luton Masters
Open Water Events
Malcolm Barton and Dave Wright both competed in the East Region Open Water championships held in Norwich. In what was his very first open water competition, Malcolm won the Men¹s 1500m race for the 60 years and over. Especially satisfying for Malcolm, his winning time of 27 minutes 38 seconds would have also placed him 2nd in both the 40 ­ 49 years and 50 ­ 59 years age groups. Having now ‘mastered’ a 400m IM, a 200m Butterfly and an Open Water lake, could the next challenge for ‘breaststroke specialist’ Malcolm be a cross channel swim?

Fifty five year old Dave Wright won a silver medal for the Men’s 50 ­ 59 year age group 3000m race in a time of 49 minutes 37.7 seconds.

Malcolm Barton and Dave Wright at Norwich

These East Region races also served as the basis for determining the Beds County Open Water championships for 2016. Accordingly, in the ‘Boys 18 years and over’ Malcolm and Dave both finished in second place for their events. Quite an achievement as both of the winners were their junior by over 30 years!

Our greatest open water enthusiast has to be Gwendalyn Selo Skingley who spent the summer in various rivers and lakes but neither owns nor wears a wetsuit. Unfortunately, having achieved PB¹s in 5k and 10k events as part of her training, her attempt in August at a Double Windermere swim was cut short by hip flexor issues. Despite enduring pain for over six hours she still set a 1 hour PB whilst completing the one way swim in 7 hours 19 mins. Undeterred by continuing hip flexor pain, Gwen competed a week later at the 10k Galeforce event at Box End Park. Rather more enjoyable events for Gwen were the Scilly Isles Swim Challenge (15k of swimming and 10k of walking in one day, where you swim and walk Island to Island) and the Aspire Night Swim the first weekend of October.

Not to be outdone both Alan Armstrong and Karen MacKenzie took part in the Swim Serpentine, Eloise Turner competed in her first Ironman competition whilst Mark Wareham has participated in various triathlon events. Karen has of course shamed us all, being the only one who took up the "21 press ups in 21 days" challenge!

Barnet Sprints Meet
We had our best ever medal haul with all ten of the club’s entrants bringing home at least two medals each from the Barnet Masters Sprint meet.

Team Luton Masters at Barnet

Whilst historically our male swimmers have tended to dominate the headlines, the club’s ladies are coming to the fore (as evidenced by their significant advance up the GB ladies team decathlon rankings compared to recent years).
In the 40 ­ 44 years age Group, Karen Mackenzie collected her first ever gold for a 50m Butterfly swim whilst finishing second in the 50m Backstroke, just 0.35 seconds outside of the Beds County record.

Competing in her first ever Masters competition, Lorraine Sadler finished fourth in the 45 ­ 49 years 50m Backstroke but then smashed her entry times to collect silver medals in both the 50m Breaststroke and 50m Freestyle. In the same age group, Sharon Collins won the 25m Freestyle and came third in both the 50m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle. Fourth places in the 100m IM ­ Sharon¹s first ever race in that event ­ and the 50m Freestyle rounded off a hard day¹s competition which at times might have seemed more like a training session.
Glenda Mayes won a silver medal in the 60 ­ 64 years 100m Freestyle, a bronze in the 50m Freestyle and came fourth in the 50m Backstroke.
The four ladies, with a combined age of 197 years, also collected a silver medal in the 160 ­ 199 years 4 x 50m Medley relay, behind a much younger team from the hosts Barnet Copthall.


Team Luton Ladies at Barnet

Mark Wareham surprised himself in his first pool race of 2016 collecting a bronze medal for his 50m Breaststroke. A fourth place in the 50m Freestyle was swiftly followed by a gold medal in the 100m IM and silvers in the 50m Butterfly and Backstroke. Competing in the same 45 ­ 49 years age group,

John O’Rourke swam some of the longer distances collecting gold in the 100m Backstroke, silver in the 100m Butterfly and bronze in the 100m IM. He also finished fourth in the 50m Butterfly and 7th in the 50m Freestyle.

In the 55 ­ 59 years age group, Alastair Gibb won gold in the 100m Butterfly and 100m Backstroke and bronze for the 100m IM and 100m Freestyle. Dave Wright finished fourth in the 50m Breaststroke but powered his way to a silver medal in the 100m IM.

Malcolm Barton used the competition as practice for his 400 IM swim at the October Nationals, winning silver in the 60 ­ 64 years 100m Butterfly, Breaststroke and Freestyle. Malcolm’s Breaststroke time was his best of the year by over a second. Another personal best time for the year in the 50m Breaststroke won him a fourth silver. Competing in a 100m Backstroke for the very first time, Malcolm finished in fourth place.

Graham Powell meanwhile concentrated on his favourite events, winning the 60 - 64 years 50m and 100m Butterfly and Backstroke races. His 50m Butterfly time clipped his own East Region and Beds County record by 0.1 seconds but over the longer distance he smashed his own regional and county Butterfly records by over a second to claim gold in 1.08.70. (Much to his personal embarrassment, severe cramp at a subsequent meet in Maidenhead prevented Graham from wrestling the Beds 200m Butterfly short course record from Malcolm Barton until next year at the earliest! A new record in the 200 IM provided some consolation.

The Men’s Medley and Freestyle relay teams won both of their races in the 200 ­ 239 years age group with a further two silver medals coming from the Mixed Medley and Freestyle relay teams.

The net overall result was 12 Gold, 15 Silver and 7 Bronze medals as well as the East Region and Beds County records. The meet served as a great boost to all of the swimmers and coach Pauline Harrington ahead of the National Masters competition. It also provided an entertaining day for the small group of travelling supporters that included all ages ranging from pensioners to teenagers.

East Regions Champs
With most choosing to rest up for the Nationals, only three members of our Masters squad competed this year at the East Region Masters championships in Newmarket. Nevertheless they still brought home eleven medals between them; two gold, five silver and four bronze.

This was only Lorraine Sadler’s second Masters competition, having got ‘the bug’ after Barnet. In front of proud parents who lived locally, but last saw her compete as a teenager, Lorraine collected four medals in the 45 ­ 49 year age group. A goggle malfunction at the start of her first race, the 50m Breaststroke, was not an auspicious way to commence the day as she finished in second place just outside her best time. Undeterred, Lorraine proceeded to win a bronze medal in the 100m Breaststroke and a silver medal in the 100m Freestyle. A third silver came with a PB by almost a second in the 50m Freestyle.

In the same age group, John O’Rourke swam in five events, winning a silver medal in the 200m metres Backstroke and bronze medals in both the 200m IM and 400m Freestyle. With his best 50m Freestyle time in over three years, John missed out on a further bronze by just 4/100ths of a second. A further fourth place came in the 200m Freestyle.

Alastair Gibb retained his East Region titles in the 55 ­ 59 year age group 200m IM and 200m Backstroke. Alastair also won a silver medal in the 400m Freestyle and a bronze in the 100m Breaststroke. The next day he competed in the second day of the Midlands Masters gaining a silver in the 400m IM and a fourth place in the 200m Breaststroke.

Team Luton at East Region Champs

National entrants
Eleven of our squad are due to compete in over 50 events at Sheffield. That should keep our coach Pauline Harrington busy pacing from one pool to the next. However, having taken time out (the night before the East Regions!) to help her celebrate a ‘significant’ birthday, we have all witnessed that the time she spends at gym classes means she is still very nimble on her feet ­ she never stopped dancing!
Report by Alastair Gibb

Latest on Age Adjusted Times
Thanks for sending me your newsletter each time. It's lovely to read how well the swimmers are doing and keeps me informed about each area.
Loved your article on using decathlon points to gauge your progression as you get older but wanted to let you know that the 'Rowson' formulae is easily available online. You just need to read the decathlon conditions and then there is a link to the Rowson website on the conditions.
http://www.swimming.org/masters/british-swimming-masters-decathlon/
http://www.rowson.co.uk/alan/Masters-Swimming-age-adjustment/
Would be nice if you could share it with everyone in your next newsletter - this formulae is now used as the Finish formulae was slightly biased towards older age groups. This should now give a more realistic measurement as we all age.
I'm also going to send your newsletter as a great example to the Leicestershire rep (David Strachen) who might want to get in touch with you. I hope that's ok.
Thanks again
Sharon Lock (ASA Masters Officer)