Introduction
When will this pandemic end and let us all get back to normal? It seems to be dragging on indefinitely. But at last the pools have re-opened and training and club swimming is re-starting, except at Lewsey Pool (Luton) which is used by Team Luton Masters. There are rumours that it will be re-opening in a month's time – but that month seems to keep moving back from May to June to July.

Christine Gleave was the ultimate swimming ambassador. For decades she taught children and adults to swim. As an ASA tutor she trained and inspired many swimming teachers and was a very successful Masters swimming competitor.

“I knew Chris for nearly 40 years from when I first attended her adult class at Prigmore’s pool, Colmworth. She encouraged me back into swimming teaching and to update my qualifications. She was one of the best swimming teachers I knew, being able to work with both children and adults, always encouraging her pupils to give of their best,” said Beavers Masters Bedford secretary Pamela Russell.

In 1991 Chris Gleave was a founder member creating Beavers Masters Bedford Swimming Club and was treasurer for the first two years. She held Bedfordshire ASA County Masters records in 50m and 100m backstroke and 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke.

Over the ensuing years she won many masters medals, including achieving the 400 IM 55/59 age group title in the 1996 ASA National short course finals at Ipswich.

Chris never missed a Masters competition for the club until she was unable to swim anymore. “Her last international Master’s competition was the European Championships at the Olympic Pool, London 2016, where she swam the breaststroke leg of our Medley Relay Team,” said teammate Pat Reynolds.

She also enjoyed open water swimming competitions and competed in the British Long Distance Swimming Association One Hour swim challenge. Her great love for outdoor swimming led to her being part of the Beavers Masters successful Cross Channel Relay Swim, on 8th August 1997, in 14 hours 40 minutes.

Alan Jackson, chair of Beavers Masters Bedford commented, “In 1996 after our first attempt failed and we were all suffering from huge disappointment, Chris was the one who held the team together.” In a typically understated way, after their successful cross channel relay swim in 1997, Chris will be always be remembered for simply saying to the support team "We've been to France!"

Sadly, in 2018, Chris was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (MND). At the time she was still swimming, rowing, cycling and teaching swimming. She greatly felt the loss of her ability to inspire adults to overcome their fear of water and learn to swim.

However, while physically she began to deteriorate, first losing her ability to speak, she remained mentally strong. She didn’t allow MND to stop her meeting up with her swimming friends once a month, and she communicated through her iPad and a speaker device.

Her bravery as she faced this terrible disease was remarkable. Chris signed up to participate in MND research at Cambridge, raised money for the MND Association and awareness of Motor Neuron Disease while gradually succumbing to her debilitating symptoms. Even during the challenges of Covid and her declining health she remained positive and continued to join the weekly swim club zoom meetings until the week before she died.

A great friend, inspiring swimming teacher and masters competitor taken away from us much too soon. She will be greatly missed.

New Records

No new short course or long course records have been set since the March 2020 Newsletter.

Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2020
The pandemic brought this competition to a standstill, with only 3 Months done and only sixteen Masters swim meets' results included. Many Beds swimmers had not registered a single swim. The rules of the decathlon do not say anything about what should happen in these circumstances, However it has been decided to cancel the competition for 2020. This was decided in discussion with the club representatives who were unanimously in agreement. The 2019 winners, Liz Woolner and Marcel Scholten will retain the trophies. Currently there are no results for 2021.

For those interested, the intermediate results for the year ending 26 April 2020.

The top Beds women’s ranking

Rank	Swimmer	Beds Club	Age	Points
1 (52)	Christine Ayers	South Beds	67	2840
2 (77)	Julie Moinet	South Beds	56	2525
3 (85)	Elizabeth Woolner	Flitwick	53	2465
4 (88)	Frances Merridan	South Beds	26	2450
5 (103)	Janet Masters	South Beds	80	2336
6 (106)	Jodie Armstrong	Team Luton	38	2311
7 (120)	Hayley Newman	Flitwick	32	2232
8 (150)	Lauren Grice	South Beds	21	2068
9 (252)	Kelly Cooke	Team Luton	44	1712
10 (270)	Carla King	South Beds	37	1655
11 (325)	Michelle Neal	Team Luton	40	1471
12 (365)	Heather Patrick	South Beds	58	1376
13 (382)	Alice Pinney	Team Luton	21	1330
14 (401)	Karen Mackenzie	Team Luton	47	1269
15 (458)	Laura Smith	Team Luton	26	1120
16 (472)	Jo Mitchinson	Team Luton	41	1070
17 (512)	Sarah Pearse	South Beds	38	967
18 (521)	Liz Neale	South Beds	68	939
19 (595)	Emma Irvine	South Beds	26	806

The top Beds women’s team ranking is :-

Rank	Beds Club	Points
1 (14)	South Beds Masters Swimming Club	10151
2 (36)	Team Luton Swimming	6824
3 (68)	Flitwick Dolphins SC	4697

The top Beds men’s ranking

Rank	Swimmer	Beds Club	Age	Points
1 (72)	David Cartledge	Modernian	60	2720
2 (89)	Paul Clarke	Beaver Mast	78	2602
3 (146)	Marcel Scholten	Modernian	54	2214
4 (162)	Ian Stoughton	Team Luton	61	2142
5 (289)	Malcolm Barton	Team Luton	65	1730
6 (326)	Samuel Fox	Flitwick	42	1609
7 (383)	Gary Holmes	South Beds	50	1475
7 (487)	Christopher Marshall	South Beds	64	1265
8 (489)	Peter Iles	South Beds	67	1264
9 (593)	Sam Bradley	Team Luton	27	1068
10 (759)	Colin Mayes	Team Luton	65	783
11 (839)	Jack Mcgarry	South Beds	26	649
12 (848)	Joel Storry	South Beds	41	610

The top Beds men’s teams are ranked

Rank	Beds Club	Points
1 (60)	Team Luton Swimming	5723
2 (83)	Modernian SC	4934
3 (91)	South Beds Masters Swimming Club	4653
4 (155)	Beavers Masters Bedford SC	2602
5 (216)	Flitwick Dolphins	1609

If I have inadvertantly omitted anyone, please let me know.

Current Club Activities and Training Sessions

The break in pool openings has caused many clubs to revise their training sessions.

Beavers

Beavers are currently not swimming in the usual pool in Bedford because of the presence of the “Indian” Delta variant of Covid-19 in the town. Members are swimming individually in other pools outside of the town. There is a weekly “Beavers Coffee Morning” Zoom meeting on Thursdays. Thought (wishfull thinking) is being given to forming a team for a possible Commonwealth Games Masters Swim next year in Birmingham.

(Information from Paul Clarke)

Biggleswade

There are about ten Masters swimmers covering a range of ages and competitive ability. Longer standing members have been competitors at county and national competitions. Newer members are exceptional swimmers and auger well for the resurgence of the Masters section of the club. The coach is Doug Kerr.

Swim Training, covering stroke technique and interval training.

At Biggleswade Saxon Pool (25M):

* Friday 6.00am-7.30am

* Sunday 4.00pm-5.00pm

(Information from Joe Lound-Keast)

Flitwick

Masters squad members at Flitwick can only train twice per week at the moment but this will increase after restrictions are finished. One training session with Flitwick Dolphins is at Trinity Pool on Monday evenings.

(Information from Liz Woolner)

Modernian

Masters/Seniors at MSC now have a new head coach, Laurence Mills, if anyone wants to get in touch please email him at headcoach@modernians.org.uk.

The training hours have also changed quite a bit due to covid and are still temporary, again anyone interested should contact Laurence.

(Information from Marcel Scholten)

Putteridge

Training is continuing almost back to the sessions prior to the pandemic. All Senior Age Group and Masters sessions are coached by head coach Lesley Batson. We cater for competitive and non-competitive swimmers including competing triathletes and open water swimmers. Putteridge SC is also accredited to Triathlon England.
The age groups utilise all the sections from 18-24 through to the 60-64 swimmers.

The sessions are at Luton Inspire (configurable to 25M and 50M)

* Monday – Inspire 7.30pm – 9.00pm
* Tuesday – Inspire 8.30pm – 9.30pm
* Wednesday – Inspire 5.30am – 7.00am
* Thursday – Inspire 5.30am – 7am
* Saturday – Inspire 7am – 8am
* Sunday – Inspire 1pm – 2.30pm

(Information from Lesley Batson)

South Beds Masters

At Wolverton leisure Centre (25M)
* Tuesday 8:15pm to 9:45pm. Club Sessions.
At Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre. Leighton Buzzard (25M).
* Wednesday 8.00pm to 9.00pm as part of a Swim Fit session

The session at Bletchley has been terminated.
Coached by South Beds Masters Coach

(Information from Rory Kemp)

Team Luton

Friendly banter is a regular feature of the Masters squad¹s training sessions.. Coaches Pauline Harrington, a former World Masters champion, and Jane Cattle offer stroke technique suggestions to all. The club’s dedicated Masters squad currently has four training sessions each week (due to COVID) instead of the usual six sessions..
At Inspire (configurable to 25m and 50m)
* Tuesdays - 5:45am to 7:15am (25m)
* Thursdays – 7.00pm to 8:30pm (25m)
* Saturdays - 8:00 to 9:00
* Sundays - 8.00 – 9.00
A number of the competitive swimmers also meet and train at quieter times in public lanes.
(Information from Jo Mitchinson Masters Rep)

Links
Beds County ASA Website Masters: https://bedscountyasa.com/masters/
East Region Website Masters: https://www.eastswimming.org/masters/
Swim England Masters Hub: https://www.swimming.org/masters/
Back copies of Beds ASA Masters Newsletters can be found in the Archive at http://www.swimsite.freeuk.com/beds/news/news.htm
You can Subscribe to the Beds Masters Newsletters by emailing me at the address below.

Paul Clarke
Email: swimsite@freeuk.com

Archive: www.swimsite.freeuk.com/beds