Competitions
Currently there are no local Masters competitions in the Swim England Masters Calendar. The East Region Masters will not be running an Inter-counties competition this year as not enough counties were prepared to enter.

New competitions are appearing on the Swim England Masters Calendar, so, if you are prepared to travel, look there. At the time of writing, it lists South Yorkshire Masters (at Ponds Forge, Sheffield), Etwall Eagles Masters and Barnet Copthall 1500M Meet.

East Region Events

The East Region ran the annual Masters Championship on 10^th October 2021. Several restrictions were necessary

- Poolside restrictions as a result of COVID-19 limited numbers of competitors during warm-ups. Rather than having men and women warm-ups, it was decided to have age-group warm-up sessions. These extended the four warm-ups to an hour each.

- The 800m and all relays would be omitted from the schedule for this year only

- The remaining events were divided into 4 sessions.

- The cost of a single entry was discussed and a cost of £7.00 was set. No medals were awarded.

22 swimmers from 6 Bedfordshire clubs swam. This was down from 34 swimmers in 2019. The swimmers were:-

From Beaver Masters, Paul Clarke.

From Biggleswade, Mark Wallman, Joe Lound-Keast.
Susan Evans, Lauren Goodyer, Olivia Lillywhite.

From Flitwick, Alistair Shaw, Ian Murray, Mike Outtram,
Charlotte Joyce, Sam Fox, Rachael Stevenson, Liz Woolner, Brooke Tinniswood.

From Modernian, Marcel Scholten.

From South Beds Masters, Jacquie Maycock, Frances Merridan, Liz Neale, Carla King,

From Team Luton, Graham Powell
Jo Mitchinson, Karen Mackenzie, Kelly Cooke.

The East Region Heat of the Masters Inter-counties

Louise Mackie the ER Masters Manager had heard from Bedfordshire and Suffolk that both Counties thought they could enter a team for this event. Norfolk currently has no representative and other Counties thought it unlikely they could enter a team. As a result, with just 2/3 teams likely to take part the Group decided not to hold this event this year.

New Records

The following new short course records have been set, including those in the March 2020 Newsletter. No new Long Course records have been set.

County Masters records for 2020-21 (short course)
Age/ Group	Event	Name	Club	Time	Date	Venue
80.84	50 Freestyle	Janet Masters	South Beds	0.44.88	16.02.20	Sudbury
80-84	100 Backstroke	Janet Masters	South Beds	1.54.98	16.02.20	Sudbury
80-84	50 Butterfly	Janet Masters	South Beds	0.56.48	16.02.20	Sudbury
80-84	100 Ind-Medley	Janet Masters	South Beds	1.55.73	16.02.20	Sudbury
55-59	50 Freestyle	Julie Moinet	South Beds	0.34.61	16.02.20	Sudbury
55-59	50 Butterfly	Julie Moinet	South Beds	0.41.01	16.02.20	Sudbury
65-69	200 Butterfly	Malcolm Barton	Team Luton	3.34.93	07.02.20	Bracknell
65-69	100 Breaststroke	Colin Mayes	Team Luton	1.31.48	07.03.20	Bracknell
40-44	50 Backstroke	Kelly Cooke	Team Luton	0.36.61	07.03.20	Bracknell
18-24	100 Butterfly	Lauren Grice	South Beds	1.07.17	07.03.20	Basildon
25-29	50 Butterfly	Frances Merridan	South Beds	0.30.78	07.03.20	Basildon
55-59	50 Freestyle	Julie Moinet	South Beds	0.34.47	07.03.20	Basildon
55-59	50 Butterfly	Julie Moinet	South Beds	0.39.99	07.03.20	Basildon
80.84	50 Backstroke	Janet Masters	South Beds	0.51.83	07.03.20	Basildon
80-84	100 Backstroke	Janet Masters	South Beds	1.49.82	07.03.20	Basildon
80-84	50 Butterfly	Janet Masters	South Beds	0.53.78	07.03.20	Basildon
80-84	100 Ind-Medley	Janet Masters	South Beds	1.53.97	07.03.20	Basildon
35-39	200 Backstroke	Jodie Armstrong	Team Luton	1.51.80	07.03.20	Bracknell
40-44	100 Freestyle	Jo Mitchinson	Team Luton	1.07.59	19.09.21	Barnet Copthall
40-44	200 Freestyle	Jo Mitchinson	Team Luton	2.22.23	19.09.21	Barnet Copthall
40-44	400 Freestyle	Jo Mitchinson	Team Luton	5.02.26	19.09.21	Barnet Copthall
60-64	400 Freestyle	David Wright	Team Luton	5.09.66	19.09.21	Barnet Copthall
65-69	50 Breaststroke	Colin Mayes	Team Luton	0.42.18	19.09.21	Barnet Copthall
35-39	100 Backstroke	Rachael Stevenson	Flitwick Dolphins	1.15.70	10.10.21	Newmarket
35-39	200 Backstroke	Rachael Stevenson	Flitwick Dolphins	2.44.02	10.10.21	Newmarket
35-39	50 Backstroke	Mike Outtram	Flitwick Dolphins	0.29.42	10.10.21	Newmarket
35-39	100 Backstroke	Mike Outtram	Flitwick Dolphins	1.03.48	10.10.21	Newmarket
36-39	100 Ind-Medley	Mike Outtram	Flitwick Dolphins	1.03.62	10.10.21	Newmarket
65-69	50 Backstroke	Graham Powell	Team Luton	0.34.57	10.10.21	Newmarket
65-69	100 Backstroke	Graham Powell	Team Luton	1.15.87	10.10.21	Newmarket
65-69	200 Backstroke	Graham Powell	Team Luton	2.52.91	10.10.21	Newmarket
40-44	200 Freestyle	Jo Mitchinson	Team Luton	2.21.98	10.10.21	Newmarket
40-44	400 Freestyle	Jo Mitchinson	Team Luton	4.50.94	10.10.21	Newmarket
40-44	100 Butterfly	Jo Mitchinson	Team Luton	1.15.02	10.10.21	Newmarket
40-44	200 Backstroke	Jo Mitchinson	Team Luton	2.35.29	10.10.21	Newmarket
40-44	400 Freestyle	Alistair Shaw	Flitwick Dolphins	4.45.46	10.10.21	Newmarket

Many thanks to John Bellis for preparing this table.

Beds Masters Decathlon Challenge 2021
There are no results listed for the national Decathlon in 2021 at the time of writing. Only about five Masters swim meets have taken place in 2021 so far.

Current Club Activities and Training Sessions

Currently many clubs are revising their training sessions as swimming gets back to normal. So the following may already be out-of-date..

Beavers

Beavers are currently swimming individually in the sea and in their local pools outside of Bedford. There is a weekly “Beavers Coffee Morning” Zoom meeting on Thursdays.

(Information from Paul Clarke)

Biggleswade

There was a strong contingent of Biggleswade swimmers at the recent East Region Masters Championships. 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

There was a strong contingent of Flitwick swimmers at the recent East Region Masters Championships. 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, Bedford on Monday evenings.

(Information from Liz Woolner)

Modernian

Masters/Seniors at Modernian SC 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 Coach 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

A Beds Archive: www.swimsite.freeuk.com/beds