Contents
Introduction
-- Organisation of Masters
-- Swimming Activities
-- The best performances of the year
Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2017 Presentation
Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2018
Report on the Masters Inter-County Competition, November 2018
The Club Scene
-- Beaver Masters SC
-- Flitwick Dolphins SC
-- Putteridge SC
-- South Beds Masters SC
-- Team Luton SC

Introduction
This newsletter contains a summary of events that have happened in Beds Masters swimming during the year. Much of the information has been extracted from the Masters pages of the club web sites and the Masters Secretary’s Annual Report.

Organisation of Masters:- There are seven swimming clubs in Bedfordshire that support Masters swimming. The Masters Secretary has a primary swimming contact in each of these and holds a full list of Masters swimmers (18 and over) in the county, for which the requirements of data protection (GDPR) are maintained.

There are 359 known Masters swimmers in Bedfordshire (164 in 2017). This is an increase of 195 over 2017 mainly due to a list provided by Swim England, which includes new 18 and 19yr olds, water polo players, etc. There are only 70 competing Masters swimmers (33 women, 37 men). There are an additional 61 people on the newsletter mailing list, mostly ex-Bedfordshire swimmers.

A detailed list of activities, contacts and training sessions of Beds Masters Clubs is maintained for distribution to potential new swimmers who enquire about joining. This year one Masters newsletter has been circulated to Beds Masters.

The rules of the Beds Masters Decathlon competition have been drafted, approved and put on the Beds ASA web site.

The Beds Masters Team Manager, John Bellis, has kept a list of Beds Masters records broken during the year and has selected the team and prepared a team sheet for the Masters Inter-Counties Competition.

Swimming Activities:- The main activities of Bedfordshire ASA Masters have been centred on the Beds ASA Masters Decathlon, the East Region Heat of the Masters Inter-Counties swimming competition and the East Region Championships. At national level, many Beds swimmers competed at the GB Champs (Long Course) at Plymouth and the Nationals (Short Course) at Sheffield. A few also competed in the European Championships in Slovenia.

The Bedfordshire Masters Decathlon 2017 female champion is Liz Woolner (Flitwick SC) and the male champion is Marcel Scholten (Modernian SC). The competition continues to create interest and the standard is rising.

Bedfordshire came third in the regional heat of the Masters Inter-County competition at Basildon this year.

A good number of Bedfordshire swimmers attended the East Region Masters Championships at Newmarket and broke several East Region records.

So far in 2018, 64 Short Course, 49 Long Course and 4 Relay Beds Masters records have been set. Thanks go to John Bellis for recording all these changes. Beds swimmers have also broken many East Region records.

The best performances of the year came from Liz Woolner with British Records in the 50m and 100m butterfly and from Carla King with a British Record in 50m Breaststroke as follows. Liz also got a British Relay Record swimming for Team Anglia.

18/02/18 - Sudbury & District Valentine Masters Meet - SUDBURY (Short Course)

Women 50m Fly. 50-54 Liz WOOLNER FLITWICK 30.48 18/02/18

Women 100m Fly 50-54 Liz WOOLNER FLITWICK 1:08.47 18/02/18

26/10/18 - Swim England National Masters Championships 2018 - SHEFFIELD (Short Course)

Women 50m Breast. 35-39 Carla KING SOUTH BEDS MASTERS SWIMMING CLUB 34.16 26/10/18

Women 4x100m Med. Team 200-239 TEAM ANGLIA SWIMMING CLUB
J WILLIAMS / L RYAN / E WOOLNER / H DAVIS 5:02.65 26/10/18

Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2017 Presentation
Liz Woolner received the Beds Decathlon Trophy for 2017 from Beds President Elect, Louise Mackie at the County Championships held at Inspire, Luton. Marcel has to be officially awarded.

Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2018
The end-of-year mark in the swimming calendar has been reached, so it is a good time to summarise the Beds Masters Decathlon results which have not yet been finalised At this stage it is likely that Liz Woolner will win the women’s decathlon again and Marcel Scholten.will win the men’s decathlon again.

Rankings at 1 December 2018 are listed below. The National position is given in brackets.

Out of 1695 women, the following table shows the Beds top ten leading women’s ranking

Out of 433 clubs, the leading Beds women’s teams :-

Out of 2157 men, the following table shows the Beds top ten leading men’s ranking

Out of 493 British teams, the leading Beds men’s teams are ranked

With half a dozen top swimmers unavailable, the Beds team did well to take third place in the East Region with five participating counties. John Bellis managed to find swimmers for all events, so we did not lose points for DNSs. We all turned up, so there was only one minor change to the published team sheet. We also did not have any disqualifications, unlike some of the other counties. It was the younger generation that provided high scoring swims – particularly the ladies. They were backed up by several stalwarts such as Colin Mayes and Ian Murray who had extra swims. Colin had two sets of consecutive swims. At one point the officials stopped Colin getting out of the pool because of "over-the-top" starts, when he had to swim in the next event. Fortunately he was not the lead relay swimmer on that occasion. Liz Woolner also had more than her fair share of swims and also had to "swim down" into a younger age group. In one relay she moved us from 5^th. to 1^st.
We won events 1, 11, 12, 23, 25, 28, 29, 33, 24, 45, 50, 51, 57, 59, 65

The final results were:

1st Essex 246

2nd Norfolk 226

3rd Bedfordshire 214

4th Suffolk 168

5th Hertfordshire 155

Cambridgeshire DNS

The Modern Basildon pool proved to be deep and fast and Beds Swimmers took advantage of this to break the following county records:-
50 Freestyle 0:27.70 17.11.18 Flitwick Dolphins Melissa Dolby Basildon

National Result
When the East Region results were aggregated with those of the other regions, Bedfordshire Masters finished in 17^th. Place out of 28 counties that competed.
Notable high scoring swims were:-
1^st. Christine Ayers 65 Breaststroke
9^th. Joe Lound-Keast 65 Breaststroke
8^th. Harry Wear 18+ Butterfly
7^th. Janet Masters 65 Butterfly
6^th. Liz Woolner 45 Butterfly
3^rd. Sarah Pearse 35 Breaststroke
8^th. Claire Evelyn 25 Butterfly
3^rd. Melissa Dolby 18+ Freestyle
7^th. 72+ (18+) Womens Medley
5^th. Frances Merridan 18+ Backstroke
7^th. 100+ (25) Womens Freestyle
2^nd. Liz Woolner 45 Butterfly
2^nd. Carla King 35 Freestyle
8^th. 140+ (35) Womens Freestyle
7^th. 72+ (18+) Womens Freestyle
So well done everyone.
Report by Paul Clarke

Beaver Masters SC
Training sessions continue as usual on Sundays at 9am at Trinity Sports and Leisure Centre, Bedford. All Beds Masters are welcome to join us. Just pay at the door.
Paul Clarke (75-79) has set 35 new county, regional and meet records this year..
Report by Paul Clarke

Biggleswade SC
During 2018, Biggleswade Masters have been represented at competitions by Joe Lound-Keast (65-69). At the Regional Heat of the Masters Inter-County, Joe unknowingly beat the Beds record for 50m Breaststroke in a time of 44.64.

At the Barnet 1500m Swim, Joe recorded a time of 24:54.64, which is a new Beds Masters record.
Report by Paul Clarke

Flitwick Dolphins SC
Flitwick Dolphins were presented with the Swim England Club of the Year Award on the 11th of November 2017 at the National Awards Ceremony held at The Great Hall at Birmingham University. The award was accepted by the club chairman Ian Fowler, along with head coach Nigel Halford; secretary Sandra Grant; coaches Louise King & Ian Murray and club fundraising & event’s organiser Michelle Watson who all attended the prestigious event on behalf of the club.
This award highlights how all of our members, no matter what their role in the club, display passion, enthusiasm and energy. It is these qualities, along with the contributions from all of the exemplary volunteers and committee members that allows Flitwick Dolphins SC to continually develop and advocate a positive environment for all of our swimmers.
The club were also able to demonstrate that they are committed to developing the talent of all its members through training and competition as well as promoting a love of swimming.

The club also received another huge recognition. Liz Woolner (Masters 50-54 swimmer) was awarded the Swim England ‘Senior Participant’ award. This award recognises Liz as an individual who is the Masters champion, British Masters record holder, East region record holder, and bronze medal winner at European Masters.

On Wednesday the 21st March 2018 - Club Masters swimmers were invited to a presentation by a special guest speaker Alistair Shaw BSc (Hons) MCSP MHPC to discuss with swimmers how to work towards preventing injury and how to effectively use Therabands for stretching and exercise. Subsequently each swimmer was issued with a Theraband for them to keep and use as part of their pre-pool and stretching regimes.

Putteridge SC
Putteridge Masters squad has 7 sessions allocated purely to them and all fully structured and coached by Lesley Batson according to individual programmes. We create an environment appropriate to adult swimming needs and for those swimmers to achieve personal fulfilment no matter what, therefore embracing all parts of the community. We seek to improve swimming skills and enhance levels and wellbeing and to engage their interest through imaginative and successful programming to retain their involvement in the sport throughout their lives.
Currently our squad consists of 38. It includes ex National swimmers, English, Welsh, Slovakian and Romanian, current main stream British National Champions and East Region Qualifiers, triathletes, Ironman athletes, and a swimmer who did the Channel swim (Sept 2014) as well as those who wish to improve their technique, ability and fitness, coached by Lesley.

Triathlon Club Mark for Putteridge

Putteridge has just become the first Club in the East Region to be awarded club mark accreditation for Triathlon!

Triathlon England has worked with Sport England to develop the TriMark Club accreditation system. The aim of the accreditation is to support, sustain and maintain a network of high quality triathlon clubs. The TriMark Club accreditation process is open to all community clubs that are affiliated to Triathlon England. TriMark Club accreditation is a three tiered system; TriMark Club Bronze, TriMark Club Silver and TriMark Club Gold. At each level there are a range of rewards and benefits open to triathlon clubs that meet the criteria and have been awarded the accreditation.

Graeme Crowston is a member of the Masters Squad and the Social-Media co-ordinator for Putteridge. Graeme is PSC’s Triathlon Head Coach and is a level 2 Triathlon coach and level 1 swim teacher. He is racing his 6th Ironman tri in Barcelona this year and has raced for the GB Age group team in Madrid 2015 European Duathlon championships.

Graeme is currently Heading the Club’s Triathlon Squad which sees Tri Specific Training sessions for young Triathletes or where swimming is an element.

Report by Paul Clarke based on Putteridge SC website

South Beds Masters SC
Firstly it should be noted that Club Coach John Bellis has retired from coaching but is still active in the club and as the County Masters records keeper and Team Manager for the County Masters team in the Inter-County competition. The new South Beds Masters Coach is Rory. The following are reports on the club’s main competitions during the year.

Midland Masters Championships 2018, Rugby, 26th and 27th May 2018

Over the bank Holiday weekend we had 8 swimmers compete in 29 races which resulted in 12 gold, 8 silver and 4 bronze medals.

Unfortunately Rory could not attend the Saturday sessions, (afternoon/evening), however John stepped in to provide support and feedback.

There were 13 swims, which resulted in ten 12-months best times, seven new club records and five new county records, well done to all!

Sunday followed a more usual format of a morning and an afternoon session.

Of the 16 swims, eight were 12-months best times, five new club records and four new county records. This was again a very successful day made even more impressive with more of the records being achieved in the last session after a long weekend.

Special mentions to Andrea Minor, who achieved records on 3 of her 4 swims (2 county 3 club) and Carla King who achieved records on all 4 of her races (3 county 4 club).

Swimmer of the Gala goes to Claire Evelyn who, along with Chris Marshal, competed in the most events, and achieved five 12-month best times, two club records, one county record and an all time PB in her last race by 2.5 seconds on 100m Backstroke.

Great Britain Masters Long Course, 8-10th June 2018 – Plymouth

3 South Beds swimmers competed in the GB masters long course championships, all did well with Andrea Minor getting a gold in the 800m freestyle and silver in the 50m breaststroke in 54.81 which is a club and county record.

Janet Masters competed in 4 events and got 3 gold medals and 1 bronze.

Our third swimmer was Carla King who got 2 golds and a silver out of her 4 races, she also executed a track start on all her dives having only started practicing this the week before! In the 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke Carla also took 3 club, county and regional records.

Barnet Distance Meet 7th and 8th July 2018

Overall we competed in 22 swims of which 16 were 12-months best times. Seven new South Beds records and 3 new County records were achieved.

Whilst most of us were enjoying the sunshine on Saturday Clare Warren and Andrea Minor both competed in the 800m freestyle, both achieved club and county records.

On Sunday 10 swimmers competed and there were lots of very good swims with good times and 11 events had swimmers competing in them for the first time in 12-months.

Andrea Minor, Clare Warren, Emma, Liz and Rory all achieved club records.

A very pleasing aspect from the coaching perspective was the quality of most turns and underwater phase which we have been working on in training, we will continue the technical work on stroke techniques and dives next whilst maintaining the turns.

Frances achieved an all-time masters PB on her 100m freestyle and backstroke having had a significant time out of training due to illness. Liz achieved three 12-month best times and Emma Irvine competed in the 400m freestyle for the first time as a Master.

Swimmer of the gala was given jointly to Sarah Pearse and Emily Young. Sarah achieved two 12 months best times and took over 2 seconds off her 200m Breaststroke time from the Rugby meet at the end of May. Emily competed in her first gala for South Beds, having only started training at the end of April after 8 years out and achieved good times in all her races, picking up medals along the way.

Leicestershire & Rutland ASA Masters and Senior Age Group Open Meet,23rd September 2018

10 swimmers competed in 33 individual events and 2 relays, in a very busy programme.

Overall there were nine 12-month personal bests and a club and regional record for Carla King on the 50m Breaststroke, this was a personal best by 0.36 of a second!

We achieved eleven 1st places, nine 2nd places and six 3rd places. It is very important to get practice races completed throughout the year to help assess progress and racing situations.

Claire Evelyn competed in the most events (6 individuals and 1 relay). Jack McGarry hit the times he targeted for the meet and Sarah Pearse got three 12-month bests with a 0.05 second 12-month best, which she set in May on 50m Free, and a 1.33 second 12-month best from her 100m Breast in early July. All this is good for the build up to Sheffield.

National Masters Competition, 26th-28th October 2018 - Ponds Forge, Sheffield

We had 19 swimmers complete 66 races over 3 days, achieving 27 club records, 18 county records, 2 regional records and 1 British record, our first as a club. Alongside this there were lots of 12month personal bests and overall personal bests, which is fantastic.

Friday was our busiest day with 29 races, there were are several memorable moments from the day, Rob having a nap on poolside, this turned into a regular occurrence and achieving a PB by almost 0.6 seconds on his 100 freestyle, Clare Warren’s 1500m freestyle, a 1st and 3rd in the women’s 35-39 age group 50m breaststroke for Carla King and Sarah, with Carla King achieving the British record and Arron breaking 58 seconds on the 100m freestyle.

This set us up for a great Saturday, which saw the women’s 72+ 4 x 50m Medley relay win gold against some very strong teams including teams from Major cities and the GB police. Jenny had a birthday to remember achieving 2 PB’s and getting a bronze in a relay and Andrea Minor, Heather and Sarah Pearse all swum 12-month PB’s in the 200m breaststroke, with Heather and Sarah achieving all time master PB’s. Once again Rob has his nap and then proceeded to achieve a PB in the 50m Fly alongside Pete Masters.

On Sunday we had 11 races and as expected there were a few tired bodies. Breaking from his routine Rob decided not to nap before his morning swim of 50m Freestyle but still achieved a PB of over 0.3 seconds to break 28 seconds. He also managed to complete the worst underwater phase of the weekend, causing him to get congratulations and a rap on the knuckles at the same time! A lot of the times were very close to 12month or all-time personal bests. An example of this was Carla King’s who went 27.18 missing her PB by 0.01! Our final swimmer to race in the championships was Pete Isles, who achieved a mammoth 32 second 12month PB on the 800m freestyle, along with a club and county record. Swimmer of the day was Rob, for his ability to avoid having a nap … sorry his PB and motivating the other swimmers.
Report by Paul Clarke based on South Beds SC web site

Team Luton SC
The following reports were extracted from the Team Luton SC web site.

Flying Start To 2018 At South East Long Course Masters, Crawley

Returning to competition after a 15 months absence due to a snow boarding injury, Malcolm Barton set the marker. He stormed to victory in his first race in the 60 – 64 years old age group. Whilst slightly disappointed by his own pacing and the resulting time, a gold medal in the 200m Breaststroke was testament to the time Malcolm had spent in the gym last year regaining his muscle strength. That victory was followed by a second win in the 50m Breaststroke in 41.43. Malcolm capped his weekend with a silver over 200m Individual Medley ("IM").

For Karen MacKenzie it was a truly golden weekend as she stepped up into a new age group, the 45 – 49 year olds. Taking gold in her 200m IM, Karen smashed her own personal best time by 2.5 seconds, whilst establishing a new County record of 3:00.90. Karen had forgotten that she had even entered the 100m Freestyle until the start of the next session. She further surprised herself by winning that event in 1.11.38, another personal best by over five seconds, which also broke the old County record by fourteen seconds. Two further gold medals came in Karen’s preferred 50m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke. Her time of 31.58 on Freestyle took over five seconds off the County record for her age group. Despite slipping at the start, Karen’s Backstroke time of 38.02 demolished the old County figures by fifteen seconds.

Competing in the 55 – 59 years age group, Dave Wright swam a well paced 200m Freestyle to claim second place in a time of 2:28.15. He then finished in fifth place in the 200m IM just behind teammate Alastair Gibb. In a small field of competitors, Alastair came away with a silver medal from his 100m Butterfly despite suffering the consequences of a suicidal pace over the first 50m. Better pacing at the start of his final race, the 400m IM, saw Alastair carry on to touch in third place.

Team Luton Ladies Shine At Newmarket Masters Meet

On a day when the men received their awards for being the top placed East Region club in the 2017 GB Masters Team Decathlon competition it was the turn of the ladies to shine, winning more medals than their male colleagues.

Making her debut in Masters’ competitions, Michelle Neal won the 35 -39 years’ 100m Freestyle in a time of 1.12.44. Narrowly missing a medal over 50m Freestyle, Michelle finished second in her 50m Butterfly with Gwen Skingley touching in third place. Gwen won a further bronze medal in her 100m Breaststroke whilst claiming 4^th. place in both the 50m and 200m Freestyle.

In the 45 – 49 years age group, Karen MacKenzie also finished 4^th. in the 50m Freestyle but won her preferred 50m Backstroke in 36.55 seconds. Much to her surprise, competing in less favourite events for the decathlon competition, Karen also collected a gold medal over 100m Butterfly and silvers from her 50m Butterfly and 50m Breaststroke. In a return to competition after over nine months away, Lorraine Sadler won bronze medals in the same age group over 100m Freestyle and 100m Individual Medley.

After years of watching her own children compete and only two months of training, Sonia Bentley also had an impressive Masters’ debut winning the 50 – 54 years’ 100m Individual Medley and silver medals over 50m, 200m and 400m Freestyle. Sharon Thompson, competing again after sustaining an injury in 2017, finished in third place in that 400m Freestyle in a personal best time. Much to her delight Sharon also collected a gold medal over 50m Breaststroke and a silver over 100m Individual medley.

John O’Rourke competed in six events in the 45 -49 years’ age group winning gold in his 400m Freestyle, silver over 200m Freestyle and a bronze over both 100m Backstroke and Freestyle. John also finished 4^th. in his 50m Breaststroke and Freestyle.

In the 55 – 59 years’ age group, Alastair Gibb won the 100m Breaststroke, a trio of silvers over 100m, 200m and 400m Freestyle whilst finishing 4^th. in both the 100m Backstroke and 100m Individual Medley. Dave Wright came second in his 50m Butterfly, claiming a trio of silvers over 100m Backstroke, 50m Freestyle and 100m Individual Medley whilst finishing 4^th. over 50m Breaststroke.

Having missed competition throughout 2017 due to an injury, Malcolm Barton used the competition to test his pacing, swimming Breaststroke in the 200m Freestyle. He still collected a bronze medal to go with the golds he won over both 50m and 100m Breaststroke.

Eleven Medals Won At Midland Masters

Alex Mason may have been disappointed with his times in the 18-24 years’ age group but 4:24.48 was good enough to claim gold in his 400m Freestyle. This was followed by a silver medal for his 57.35 in the 100m Freestyle.

In the 55-59 years’ age group, Alastair Gibb finished second in his 200m Breaststroke and 400m IM and collected bronze over both 200m Backstroke and 400m Freestyle.

However it was Graham Powell who was in particularly impressive form at Rugby. In his first competitive swims of the year, Graham won all five of his events in the 60-64 years’ age group. Posting a time of 33.63 in the 50m Backstroke, a win over 200m was swiftly followed by 32:29 to snatch victory in the 50m Butterfly. Two further golds came in the 100m Butterfly and 100m Backstroke.

Graham’s times have helped him to take over the fourth place from Malcolm Barton in Team Luton’s Decathlon team.

Malcolm had competed at the Erith & District Masters meet the previous weekend. Despite the water being ridiculously warm for achieving fast times, Malcolm still claimed first place in his age group’s 400m IM. The slowest seeded heat for that event was an all Team Luton affair, which saw Malcolm swimming alongside Alastair Gibb and John O’Rourke. John now occupies third place in the club’s Decathlon team having gained more valuable points, whilst finishing second in both his 800m Freestyle and 200m Backstroke.

Our Men are up to 17th place in the GB MastersTeam Decathlon whilst our Ladies (none of whom competed at either Bexley Heath or Rugby) are now in 76th place.

Team Luton Masters Shine At 2018 GB Championships

John O’Rourke set the tone for the weekend, both at the hotel the night before swimming and then with his first swim, the 800m Freestyle. Competing in the 45 – 49 years’ age group, John finished 5^th. in a time of 11:48.67. That was some eighteen seconds faster than his qualifying time and five seconds faster than he had swum in the Erith Masters’ short course meet just three weeks’ earlier. John also finished 5^th. in his 400m Individual Medley ("IM") in a time of 7:01.51. That was so agonisingly close, not just to breaking the seven-minute barrier, but also a mere 0.54 seconds outside of his own Beds County record set back in 2016. John, at the top end of his age group, also finished 7^th. in both his 400m Freestyle and 200m IM.

Karen Mackenzie (45) claimed 4^th. place in her 100m Backstroke. Her time of 1:21.62 demolished the County record for her age group by over 20 seconds. Karen proceeded to reduce her own County records on both 50m Backstroke and 200m IM by a second whilst knocking 0.5 seconds off her 100m Freestyle record. Swimming 50m Butterfly long course for the first time, Karen also beat her personal best short course time by 0.5 seconds.

In the 55 – 59 years age group, Alastair Gibb (58) claimed 5^th. spot in both his 200m IM and 200m Breaststroke. He topped off his weekend with a bronze in the 400m IM, to match his finish in the 2015 GBs.

Out of his five swims in the 60 – 64 years’ age group, Graham Powell (62) was most pleased with his time in the 50m Butterfly. This was despite being touched out of the medals by 0.36 seconds. Revenge over his rivals came by Graham then snatching the silver medals in his 50m Backstroke and 100m Butterfly by just 0.03 and 0.06 seconds. Graham won two further silvers in his 100m and 200m Backstroke.

Colin Mayes (63) collected a bronze for his 200m IM whilst finishing 4^th. and 5^th. over 100m and 200 Breaststroke. He also managed to fit in an "open water" swim, retrieving his phone at 6am from the harbour where he had dropped it the night before!

In a return to competing nationally after a year coming back from a snow-boarding shoulder injury, Malcolm Barton (63) was less than 0.5 seconds behind Colin in the 100m Breaststroke to finish 5th. A strong final 50m in the 200m Breaststroke saw Malcolm claim 4^th place. His time of 3:18.57 was an eight second improvement on his long course time from January and within three seconds of his GB bronze medal winning time in 2015.

Another Beds County Record For Alex Mason at Barnet Distance Meet

Alex won all four of his events, (the 200m IM, 200m, 400m & 800m Freestyle). His time in the 800m Freestyle of 9:17.64 also took 1minute 40 seconds off the club’s 18 years and over short course record for that event. Alex already holds the Seniors’ County Record for 18-24 years for the 400m IM.

A club swimmer for many years, Barnet saw Sam Bradley making his debut as a Masters competitor. Sam won both the 25 – 29 years’ age group 200m Freestyle and 200m Backstroke. Touching in third place in the 100m Backstroke, Sam is already looking forward to competing at the English National Masters in October.

Both Sonia Bentley and Sharon Thompson were "debutantes" at the Meet, competing over various strokes for the first time in their 50 – 54 years’ age group. Sonia was rewarded with a gold over 200m IM and finished third over 100m Backstroke, 100m Breaststroke and 100m Butterfly. Sharon finished in fourth place in the 100m Breaststroke but collected a bronze medal over 200m Breaststroke.

For John O’Rourke, the Meet was a stunning return to form. At the top end of his 45- 49 years’ age group, John collected a silver medal over 200m Freestyle and 400m Individual Medley. John’s IM time of 6:40.67 was an all time personal best, beating by over six seconds the time he had recorded back at the 2015 National Masters. An all time personal Masters best time by over a second also came in the 100m Breaststroke for which John collected a bronze medal. John went home very happy, having won medals in all of his events with a further bronze over 200m Freestyle.

Open Water Success Across The Ages at East Region Meet, Norwich

All six of our competitors, ranging over a more than forty year age span, won East Region or County medals at the 2018 Open Water championships held in Norwich with the competition also incorporating the Beds County Open Water championships,

Having only returned to swimming in the past year, Sonia Bentley is proving to be up for any challenge. Successes in the pool over a variety of events have now been matched in open water as Sonia picked up an East Region Bronze and Beds County Gold for her 2km swim in the 50 – 59 years’ age group.

Dave Wright also won County Gold for his 3km swim in the Men’s 50 -59 years’ age group. His time of 46:35.9 easily beat his 2017 swim of 47:18.10 and saw him claim the East Region silver for the third successive year.

Youngsters Spearhead East Region Masters’ Medal Haul

Having only returned to competitive swimming in mid-September, after a four year absence, Tom Lambert won the 18 -24 years’ 400m Freestyle in a time of 4:46.85. Tom went on to claim silver over both 200m Breaststroke and the 200m Individual Medley. Two bronze medals from his 50m and 100m Breaststroke brought his personal medal tally to five.

That medal total was emulated by Sam Bradley in the 25 – 29 years age group, with him winning both the 200m Backstroke and the 200m Individual Medley. Like Tom, this has been Sam’s first season as a Masters’ swimmer, having also competed at the Barnet Copthall Masters meet the weekend before. At Newmarket Sam swam a well-paced 400m Freestyle heat to claim a silver medal, finishing in his heat just 5/100ths of a second ahead of Graham Powell in the adjacent lane! A second silver came in the 50m Backstroke with Sam also finishing third in his 50m Freestyle.

Team Luton was well represented in the 400m Freestyle event with Karen MacKenzie, more renowned for her sprinting, making her debut over that distance. Competing in the 45 – 49 years’ age group, Karen’s time of 5.37.59 saw her claim the East Region title.

A further gold medal for the squad came from Alastair Gibb’s 200m Breaststroke in the 55-59 years’ age group.

In the 60-64 years’ age group, Graham Powell won three titles over 400m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly and 100m Individual Medley. Malcolm Barton meanwhile won a hat trick of medals over 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke. His time of 3:14.12 to claim the silver over 200m augurs well for the English National Masters at the end of October.

This year Team Luton has a total of eleven swimmers who have both qualified and are free to swim at the Nationals. In addition to five of those who competed at the East Regions, Sharon Thompson, Sonia Bradley, Alex Mason, John O’Rourke, Dave Wright and Colin Mayes will be taking part.

Team Luton are up to 12^th. place as of 1st October in the GB Men’s Masters Team Decathlon competition. Alex, Graham, Alastair and Tom are currently the top four highest scoring males to date from the club. Close on their heels is Dave Wright. He is due to compete at the South East Region Masters in the lead up to the Nationals and should therefore be vying for one of the top four places in the team competition. Our Ladies team of Karen MacKenzie, Sonia Bradley, Sharon Thompson and Michelle Neal are meanwhile in 76^thplace in the Ladies Team event, having already achieved their highest cumulative points total to date.

Eleven National Masters & Seniors’ Medals

Our Skills Coach, Alex Mason, aged 22, swam a lifetime best of 2:13.54 in the 18-24 years’ 200m Individual Medley ("IM") to claim the first of four individual medals. Silver medals followed in both the 400m Freestyle and 400m IM, with Alex also collecting a Bronze over 200m Breaststroke. Just for good measure, Alex also helped the GB Police’s Mixed 72+ years’ 4 x 50m Freestyle relay to a silver medal with a split time of 26:04 seconds. Had he been swimming as Team Luton, Alex would also have recorded a new Seniors’ County record in the 400m IM, improving on his 2017 winning time by 0.14 seconds.

After swimming with the club as a teenager, Tom Lambert (23) returned to training in late Summer and competed in September to gain the necessary qualifying times for the Nationals. The training is already paying dividends as Tom smashed all of his entry times. He finished 4th in the 18-24 year’ 200m Breaststroke, 6^th. in the 400m Freestyle, 11^th. in the 200m Freestyle and 12^th. in the 100m Breaststroke.

Sam Bradley (25) also made his Masters’ debut performance at National Level, competing in six events. His best placings were 8^th. in the 25–29 years’ 400m Freestyle, 14^th. in the 200m Freestyle and 15^th. in the 100m Backstroke.

John O’Rourke (49) came 8^th. in the 45-49 years’ 400m IM, 9^th. in the 400m Freestyle and 13^{th .} in both his 200m Freestyle and 200m IM. His times in those 200m events were his best for over six years.

Sonia Bentley and Sharon Thompson both secured top twenty placings in each of their three events in the 50-54 years’ age group, steadily increasing their own individual and the Club’s Ladies Team Decathlon points. After many years as a "swimming mum", this was Sonia’s first year as a Masters’ swimmer and she shattered her qualifying entry times. For Sharon it was a welcome return to competition after a year plagued by injuries.

The weekend was a welcomed opportunity for Junior Performance Coach Dave Wright to get in the pool himself. Despite only competing over the distance for the first time this year, Dave (aged 57) swam a well-paced race to claim the 55-59 years’ 200m Butterfly National title. One year older, Dave’s winning time of 2:47.03 was only 0.33 seconds slower than his swim last year with which he finished third. Missing out on a Bronze over the 100m Butterfly by just 0.27 seconds, Dave registered further top ten placings in his 400 IM (5^th, with a time of 6:00.04), 400m Freestyle (6^th) and 200m IM (8^th).

In the 60-64 years’ age group, Graham Powell had claimed silver medals over each of the Backstroke distances in 2017. This year he collected medals of each colour, winning the 100m, finishing 2^nd. over 50m and 3^rd. in the 200m. His 50m swim was particularly impressive coming within half an hour of claiming a Bronze medal in the 100m Butterfly. Graham collected a further Bronze in the 100m IM. Although finishing outside of the medals, Graham still beat his own Beds County Masters records from 2016 in his 50m Freestyle (29.80 seconds) and 100m Freestyle (1:06.06).

Competing in the same age group, Malcolm Barton claimed five Top Ten finishes, his best being 5^th. in both his 200m Breaststroke and 400m IM. Having had a serious shoulder injury early in 2017, it was a welcome return to form for Malcolm with him recording season’s best times in four of his six events. Colin Mayes meanwhile secured four Top Ten finishes, his best being 5^th. in the 100m Breaststroke.

The squad’s team spirit and vocal travelling support was well in evidence throughout the weekend. All the more so in the Men’s 240-279 years’ 4 x 100m Medley Relay. After an enthralling race, where the lead changed with each stroke, the team of Graham Powell, Malcolm Barton, Dave Wright and Colin Mayes finished second to Hemel Hempstead but well clear of the team from Royal Tonbridge Wells. Team Luton’s time of 5:10.46 established a new Beds County Masters record for their age group.

With an increasing membership across all ages in the Masters & Seniors’ squad, the prospect of further relay successes may yet be on the cards come 2019.

At the Barnet 1500m Meet, Sam Bradley's set a new Beds Masters record.

At the Welsh SC Masters Alex Mason won 3 golds.

At the Etwall Eagles Masters, Tom Lambert won all six of his events to top the 18-24 year old age group. He also set a meet record by winning the arduous "skins" event.

County Records:- Fourteen of our current Team Luton Masters squad hold 44 Short course and 51 Long Course Beds County Masters & Seniors records.

At present Team Luton Men are in their best ever position and our Ladies team are recording their highest ever points totals and position in the GB Team Decathlon.