Contents
Introduction
Masters Competition Programme for the rest of 2016
Presentation to Ladies Decathlon Winner 2015
Bedfordshire at the GB Masters Championships 1-3 April
Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2016 at 4^th April
Report on the East Region Masters Development Day 23^rd. April 2016
Results of European Masters Championships 25-29 May 2016
New Long Course Records after Europeans
East Region Report on European Masters Championships
The Club Scene
-- South Beds Masters
-- Team Luton
-- Team Luton at the European Masters
Using Age Adjusted Times for yourself

Introduction
The European Masters Championships held in London has been the dominant event since the last newsletter. The Beds swimmers results have been extracted from the full results and are included here. John Bellis the Beds County Masters records keeper has updated the County Masters records despite moving house. Bedfordshire swimmers broke two British Records at the Europeans. Graham Powell (60-64, Team Luton) broke the 50M Backstroke record and Marcell Scholten (50-54, Modernian) broke the 50M Breaststroke record. Marcel also broke the British 50M Freestyle record (50-54) at the Norfolk Long Course Masters Meet at Norwich just before the Europeans.

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

• East Region Masters Champs at Newmarket, Competition date 1st October 2016. The online entry for the East Region Masters Champs is now on the Championship Entry page of the East Region website, the link is:
  http://www.eastswimming.org.uk/swim/index.php/masters-swimming/mastersentries1
  As you know, this year the meet clashes with the Midland Masters Champs
• East Region Heat of the Masters Inter-County Competition at Newmarket, Competition date 20^th. November 2016

Presentation to Ladies Decathlon Winner 2015
The President of Beds ASA, Pat Dowsett, presented the trophy to top lady for 2015 and three-time winner, Chris Ayers at a South Beds Masters training session at Tiddenfoot.

Photo: Pat Dowsett presents the trophy to Chris Ayers

Bedfordshire at the GB Masters Championships 1-3 April 2016
A total of 25 swimmers from Bedfordshire clubs attended the GB Masters at Sheffield from 1^st – 3^rd of April, winning a total of 25 medals.
They were in record breaking form, setting a total of 32 new County Long course records, and breaking 11 east Region records, plus Graham Powell (Team Luton) set a new British record for the 50 Backstroke in the 60- 64 age group with a time of 0:32.91.
Report by John Bellis

Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2016 at 4^th April
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 are in 8^th place nationally.

Team Luton lead the Men’s Clubs and are in 13^th place nationally.

Report on the East Region Masters Development Day 23^rd. April 2016
The East Region Masters Development day was held in the long-course pool at Basildon on 23rd April. Only one swimmer from Bedfordshire attended. Possibly more would have gone if the event had been nearer Bedfordshire. Overall it was an interesting course with lots of new material, gym exercises and swimming. A full report is on the East Region website.
Report by Paul Clarke

Results of European Masters Championships 25-29 May 2016
Here are the results of Bedfordshire swimmers, listed by club:-

Place	Event	Swimmer(s)	Age-group		Time
Beaver Masters Bedford
22	50 Free	Pam Russell	65-69	48.83
40	50 Free	Karen Rockell	60-64	43.82
6	200 Back	Pat Reynolds	65-69	3:23.62
8	100 Back	Pat Reynolds	65-69	1:37.49
8	W Medley Relay	Pam Russell, Christine Gleave, Pat Reynolds, Karen Rockell	240-279	6:26.95
Biggleswade
80	50 Free	Emily Aust	25-29	31.66
29	800 Free	Louise Jarvis	45-49	11:44.22
38	200 Free	Louise Jarvis	45-49	2:38.76
20	50 Breast	Nick Titchener	40-44	32.70
8	100 Breast	Nick Titchener	40-44	1:13.21
56	100 Breast	Emily Aust	25-29	1:28.32
88	100 Free	Emily Aust	25-29	1:09.08
Dunstable
49	50 Free	Sam Parry	25-29	25.94
78	100 Free	Sam Parry	25-29	58.42
Flitwick
154	50 Fly	Owen Jones	25-29	32.32
121	50 Free	Simon Dove	55-59	36.66
97	50 Free	Nigel Halford	55-59	34.35
86	50 Free	Judy Thompson	40-44	35.20
18	800 Free	Ian Murray	55-59	11:12.37
48	50 Breast	Judy Thompson	40-44	42.27
70	50 Breast	Nigel Halford	55-59	42.58
69	100 Breast	Nigel Halford	55-59	1:36.83
46	100 Breast	Judy Thompson	40-44	1:33.74
24	400 Free	Ian Murray	55-59	5:29.99
Putteridge
69	50 Breast	Pat Louis Dit Sully	45-49	44.37
20	50 Breast	Paul Brignell	60-64	38.73
51	50 Back	Carrie Page	35-39	40.15
73	100 Breast	Pat Louis Dit Sully	45-49	1:40.20
25	200 Back	Carrie Page	35-39	3:16.63
253	100 Free	Andrew Haester	45-49	1:13.99
124	400 Free	Emma McDonald	40-44	6:50.08
40	50 Free	Chris Long	60-64	33.41
39	50 Free	Paul Brignell	60-64	32.38
197	50 Free	Andrew Haester	45-49	32.10
73	50 Free	Tracy Hargadon	50-54	36.71
91	50 Free	Emma McDonald	40-44	35.77
South Beds Masters
3	200 IM	Janet Masters	75-79	4:07.06
41	200 IM	Jacqui Maycock	50-54	3:34.46
30	200 IM	Clare Warren	35-39	3:06.62
46	200 IM	Jenny Owens	30-34	3:07.31
12	800 Free	Andrea Minor	65-69	16:27.45
25	800 Free	Liz Neale	60-64	16:59.39
8	800 Free	Christine Ayres	60-64	12:52.81
61	800 Free	Jacqui Maycock	50-54	14:26.43
27	800 Free	Clare Warren	35-39	12:07.84
36	800 Free	Jenny Owens	30-34	11:48.56
10	200 IM	Chris Marshall	69-64	3:01.78
56	200 IM	Kate Robinson	25-29	2:58.20
27	200 Free	Liz Neale	60-64	3:38.30
2	100 Fly	Janet Masters	75-79	1:58.80
11	50 Breast	Sarah Pearse	30-34	37.00
34	50 Back	Alison Sheehan	55-59	44.97
33	200 Back	Alison Sheehan	55-59	3:58.71
18	50 Fly	Chris Marshall	69-64	34.20
32	50 Fly	Pete Isles	60-64	35.99
67	50 Fly	Zoe Jackson	35-39	37.15
23	50 Fly	Samantha Hammond	35-39	32.32
19	100 Free	Chris Marshall	69-64	1:09.08
78	100 Free	Zoe Jackson	35-39	1:14.92
7	400 Free	Christine Ayres	60-64	6:19.63
10	200 Breast	Christine Ayres	60-64	3:36.71
40	200 Breast	Jacqui Maycock	50-54	3:40.02
77	50 Free	Robert Adsley	45-49	28.88
54	50 Free	Samantha Hammond	35-39	30.55
35	50 Free	Joanne Holder	30-34	31.08
9	50 Free	Carla King	30-34	28.69
2	100 Back	Janet Masters	75-79	1:46.15
6	W Medley Relay	Joanne Holder, Sarah Pearse, Sam Hammond, Carla King	120-159	2:13.44
Team Luton
45	200 IM	Karen McKenzie	40-44	3:04.55
40	800 Free	John O’Rourke	45-49	11:35.46
238	100 Free	John O’Rourke	45-49	1:12.01
10	800 Free	Dave Wright	55-59	10:49.54
17	200 Free	Colin Mayes	60-64	2:44.30
2	100 Fly	Graham Powell	60-64	1:10.70
4	200 Fly	Dave Wright	55-59	2:51.07
4	50 Back	Graham Powell	60-64	33.67
19	50 Back	Glenda Mayes	60-64	48.04
42	50 Back	Karen McKenzie	40-44	37.68
65	400 Free	John O’Rourke	45-49	5:31.41
20	100 Free	Glenda Mayes	60-64	1:32.12
31	50 Free	Glenda Mayes	60-64	41.24
3	100 Back	Graham Powell	60-64	1:13.87
39	100 Back	Karen McKenzie	40-44	1:23.87
Beds Swimmers swimming for Team Anglia
5	200 Breast	Dave Cartledge	55-59	2:52.04
6	200 Back	Dave Cartledge	55-59	2:36.69
6	50 Breast	Marcel Scholten	50-54	32.23
6	50 Free	Marcel Scholten	50-54	26.28
19	100 Free	Liz Woolner	45-49	1:06.91
3	100 Fly	Liz Woolner	45-49	1:09.96
3	50 Fly	Liz Woolner	45-49	30.67
19	Mixed Medley Relay	Janet Williams, Martyn Fresher, Garry Mavin, Liz Woolner	200-239	2:16.69

East Region Report on European Masters Championships
21 Medals for East Region Swimmers at the European Masters.
The LEN European Masters Swimming Championships took place at the London Aquatics Centre from 25 to 29 May. Over 10,000 competitors from 48 nations descended on the 2012 Olympic venue to battle it out for European medals. Although competitors were limited to a maximum of three individual events, there were still some very long queues, very short warm-ups and almost half the events were held in the warm-up pool rather than the iconic Olympic competition pool. Despite these challenges, there was some fantastic swimming from East Region Masters swimmers.
Chris Dunn (Hatfield) won gold medals in all three of his 70/74yrs freestyle events – 200m, 400m and 800m – breaking his own British and European record for the 200 event. Janet Masters (South Beds) was also a triple medal winner in the 75/79yrs age group with silvers in 100m fly and 100m back and a bronze in the 200m IM.
Five East Region masters came home with two medals apiece. Elizabeth Bellinger (Bishops Stortford, 35/39yrs) swam very close to her British record to win gold in the 50m fly. She also won silver in the 100m fly. In a very exciting race, Sally Winter, also from Bishops Stortford (55/59yrs), was victorious in the 100m free. She was also runner-up in the 200m free. Daryl Mason (Potters Bar, 45/49yrs) sprinted hard to win a silver in the 50m fly and a bronze in the 50m breast. Graham Powell (Luton, 60/64yrs) came home with a silver for his 100m fly and a bronze in the 100m back. Liz Woolner (Team Anglia, 45/49yrs) won bronze medals in her 50m and 100m butterfly events.
There was a silver medal for the City of Cambridge 100/119yrs men’s 4x50m freestyle relay team (Mark Leamon, Luke Westwood, Simon Morley and Liam Barnett) and bronze medals for Sally Mills (South Beds) 60/64yrs 100m fly, Lee Peterson (Braintree and Bocking) 40/44yrs 50m back, Eileen Luther (Rochford & District) 55/59yrs 50m back and Kate Warwick (East Anglian Swallowtails) 35/39yrs 200m breast.
And finally, despite not winning a medal, there was a British record of 32.23s for Marcel Scholten (Modernians) in the 50/54 years 50m breast.
Report by Liz Woolner

South Beds Masters

Photo: Beds ASA President at South Beds Training Session

South Beds Masters had 11 swimmers at the Bracknell meet on March 5^th, and came away with 23 medals, 12 of which were gold. Out of the 61 clubs that competed, South Beds finished in 6^th place in the Top Club Trophy.
Newcomer Rob Adsley, who swam for Luton & Vauxhall thirty years ago, swam his first ever masters short course meet and finished in third place in the 45 to 49 years 50 free, in a time of 28.57 secs. Also swimming in the 50 Free, 33 year old Carla King swam the fastest 50 of all of the female swimmers, winning gold in a time of 27.887 secs.
In the 75 to 79 age group Janet Masters won all of her three events. 22 year old Emma Irvine also won three golds.
On April 1^st to 3^rd, 9 swimmers from the club travelled to the Ponds Forge pool in Sheffield for the GB Masters (long course), winning 11 medals and breaking 7 County long course masters records, as well as 5 new East Region records.
Janet Masters dominated the 75 to 79 age group, winning 5 golds and 1 silver. Her best performances came in the 100 Butterfly and the 50 Backstroke where Janet broke her own East Region Records. In the 60 to 65 age group, Christine Ayers won 1 gold and 2 silver medals, and her time of 0:45.02 seconds in the 50 Breaststroke broke her own County and East Region records. Carla King continued her excellent sprinting form, breaking the East Region 50 freestyle record in the 30 to 34 age group when finishing in third place with a time of 0:28.31 seconds. Also in this age group, Samantha Hammond also picked up the Bronze medal in a new County record time of 0:32.80 seconds, and Jackie Maycock broke the East Region record in the 50 to 54 years 200 Individual Medley.
Report by John Bellis

Team Luton Masters
Since the last newsletter was published, our Masters have truly been on a medal collecting and record breaking spree.
From the Bracknell Masters meet in early March, through the British and European Championships and up to and including the Barnet Distance Meet in July, squad members have won 45 Gold, 24 Silver and 15 Bronze medals.
As already noted, Graham Powell has been in fantastic form winning a Silver and a Bronze at the Europeans. At the GBs Graham won three Gold and two Silvers, Dave Wright claimed one Gold and two Bronze and Malcolm Barton a Bronze whilst we had 17 other top ten finishes. However it’s not just some of our more established competitors who are winning medals, this period also saw Sharon Collins collect her first ever Masters medal, a Bronze, over 50m Freestyle in the 45 – 49 year age group at the Newmarket Open. It was well deserved; Sharon clinched that medal by just 13/100ths of a second.
In winning the 50m Backstroke at the GB Masters, Graham set a new British Record for the 60 - 64 year age group. Graham has also swum a total of 11 East Region records with Dave Wright collecting one for his 4th placed 200m Butterfly at the Europeans. Malcolm Barton (1), Karen MacKenzie (4), Colin Mayes (1) and Eloise Turner (3) have all contributed to Team Luton’s Masters claiming a total of 30 County record breaking swims in the period.
There are too many records and medals to list individually but other notable achievements and highlights include:

• All ten of our Masters competing at Newmarket won medals demonstrating the depth and versatility of our squad.
• Both Karen MacKenzie and Gwendalyn Skingley Selo competed at their first national Masters championships. Where else would Gwendalyn compete as a Master for the first time, if not on a national stage?
• John O’Rourke took over 49 seconds off the 45 – 49 year Age Group County record in the 400 IM at the GBs.
• For a literally "competition stopping" performance at the GBs, Team Luton’s Masters Secretary might claim the prize, having collapsed at the starter’s feet after his 200IM.
• Six of our squad (Graham, Dave, Colin, John O’Rourke, Karen and Glenda Mayes) braved the queues to compete at the Europeans. For Glenda it was a return to the Europeans after a 15 year "sabbatical". Karen was out to impress her kids, claiming a new County record in all three of her races.
• Graham Powell’s 50m Backstroke time at the GBs was just 0.34 seconds outside of the European record for his age group. His time at the Europeans over 100m was just 0.8 seconds outside the British record whilst he missed out on a Bronze in the 50m Back by just 7/100ths of a second.
• The squad has welcomed new competitive members Jonathan Pennell and Lorraine Sadler and the return of Mark Wareham.
• After successfully taking on the challenges of 400m IMs and 200m Butterfly events, Malcolm Barton is to swim in his first ever Open Water event, the1500m, at the East Region championships on 17th July.

Team Luton at the European Masters

Photo: Five of the six Team Luton Swimmers at the Euros

Team Luton were once again in tremendous record breaking form at the European Masters Championships held at the London Aquatics Centre, with Graham Powell twice making it on to the medal podium and Dave Wright just missing out on a medal.
The hard work put in over the last year by all the swimmers under the watchful eye of Masters Coach Pauline Harrington was evident from the very first event, the Women’s 200m Individual Medley. Karen MacKenzie touched the wall in a time of 3:04.55, smashing her own Beds County Masters record for the 40 - 44 years age group set less than two months ago by nearly eight seconds. In the 50m Backstroke Karen also reduced her Beds County record by 1.7 seconds, finishing in a time of 37.68 seconds. To cap off the week she then took 1.32 seconds off the 100m Backstroke record.
Having gone to the European Masters back in 2001, Glenda Mayes had taken an extended break from competitive swimming. Fifteen years later, Glenda was back. Her time in the 60 – 65 years 50m Backstroke earned her 19^th place out of over 40 competitors.
Graham Powell had previously won a silver medal and a bronze medal at those 2001 European Masters. In the week of his 60^th birthday Powell was hoping to once more come away with a medal. He was therefore delighted as he stormed to a silver medal in the 60 - 65 years age group 100m Butterfly with a time of 1.10.7. Graham was unlucky to collect a second medal in the 50m Backstroke, missing out on 3^rd place by just 7/100ths of a second and only 0.24 seconds behind the race winner. However Powell returned to the medal podium to collect a bronze medal for his 100m Backstroke. His time of 1:13.87 was a new East Region record, beating his own time set last month by 0.09 seconds. It was also just 0.8 seconds outside of the British record for his age group.
Dave Wright just missed out on a medal as he improved his own East Region Masters record by 3.48 seconds to finish 4^th in the 55 – 59 years 200m Butterfly. His time was 2:51.07. By his own admission Dave Wright had been a little disappointed with his earlier swim in the 800m Freestyle, although happy to finish in 10^th place. However disappointed he might have been, Dave did still beat the Beds County Masters record by 5.9 seconds.
In the 60 - 65 years age group Colin Mayes demolished the Beds County 200m Freestyle record by over 17 seconds, setting new figures of 2:44.30 to finish in 17^th place.
The European Masters championships were held over five days. As the competition unfolded John O’Rourke improved with each of his swims. "It hurt," said O’Rourke after his 800m Freestyle in the 45 – 49 years age group on the first day. Forty-eight hours later he was just 0.7 seconds outside of his 2016 personal best time on the 400m Freestyle. Come his final swim, the 100m Freestyle, John beat his own long course personal best time by almost two seconds.
Pauline Harrington (See photo below) commented how she was "very proud of all the swimmer taking part in the Europeans. All their hard work has paid dividends. We will now start the hard work again as we aim for more good results at the British Nationals in October." So no resting on our laurels then!
Report by Alastair Gibb

Photo: Pauline Harrington and Graham Powell

Using Age Adjusted Times for yourself
As well as allowing results from swimmers of different ages to be compared, e.g. For the Masters Decathlon, it is also possible to use age adjustment of results to get a better idea of whether a swimmer is improving or not.
It is known that swimmers times get worse as they get older. You have only to look at the British records and compare the times of 25-29 year swimmers to those of older age groups such as 50-54 years, to see that.
If the record times were plotted against the age of the swimmer, they would roughly lie on an in curve that increases with time. It is not a straight line, but increases roughly with the square of the age. This curve is known as the "Finnish" formula and was used by the ASA in calculations for the Decathlon up until 2013. (A more complex calculation, which is not documented, and on which I cannot comment, has been used since.)
The Finnish formula is simple to calculate and can be done with a spreadsheet. The following are calculations for my 50M Freestyle from the age of 50 to my present age of 74. The adjusted times have been used to calculate FINA points. I used a fixed World Record time of 21.10 as a base time. I also calculated sample adjustments for ages 20, 25, 30 (with a test time), 75 and 80 just out of interest. Using a spreadsheet I calculated the Adjustment Factors as
:SQRT((98-A1)*(98+A1))/94.757585 and the FINA points as:- 1000*POWER((21.10/D1),3) for row 1 etc., where A1…. Is Age and D1… is Adjusted time, as was on the ASA webpage. I obtained the following table:-

Conclusions:- Looking at the tabulated values, we can deduce:-

• It is clear that adjustment actually increases the times of people under 25. (Note that under 25’s are not included in the Decathlon).
• From the ages of 50 to 52 my times were improving – not surprising as I had only started doing freestyle at the age of 50
• At 53, although my time is slower, the adjustment shows that I have actually continued to improve.
• From 56 to 62, my results were steady - first years of retirement, with plenty of time to swim.
• From 66 to 72, my adjusted results were even better despite the actual times dropping from 37sec to 39sec. My explanation for this is that the "model" represented by the Finnish formula increasingly favours "older" swimmers. Alternatively older swimmers (me included) are performing better than they used to, when the formula was originally proposed – perhaps due to continued swimming throughout their lives or better health, nutrition and training.
• From 73 to 74 there has been a dramatic decline in my actual times and my adjusted times are still comparable to my mid-fifties. Possible explanations are that I am developing an illness or the formula is becoming unreliable.
• At the age of 65, I only swam 50 Free once in the year (4^th event of the day immediately after 50 fly), so the slow time is not reliable.
• At the age of 67, I had shingles which prevented me from competing and I only swam once at the end of the year. This does not show up in the results. Otherwise my health has been "good" throughout.

Overall the Finnish model seems quite good for comparing swimmers under 65 in age, but from then on seems to be increasingly off mark. This could well be because it is based on a single point on the curve (world record time, assumed to be at age 25). A better model might be to use a statistical fitted curve based on Masters records at each age group. Your comments are welcome.
Report by Paul Clarke