Swim England Masters National Championships 2021
October 31, 2021
715 Men and 553 Ladies entered 2929 and 2251 individual events respectively from 282 Clubs and there were 432 relay teams. It was going to be a busy and competitive three days. For those new to Masters, swimmers compete in age groups, 18-24, 25-29, 30-34 and so on.
A full programme is available to enter, 50m, 100m, 200m all strokes, 400m Free and I/M and 800m & 1500m Free.
For the Bracknell & Wokingham Masters, success came from One Gold, One Silver and Five Bronze medals and 16 BWSC Club records
A full set of medals for Laura Cooke. Bronze in her 100m Free, Silver in her 50m Fly and Gold with Laura Wilcox, Karen Leftley and Nicki Thorpe in the 4x200m Freestyle relay. Laura Cooke also had two new Club Records from her 50m Fly and 100m Free. The four ladies are seen here with Ian Mackenzie, the President of Swim England.
Karen added to her Gold with a Bronze in both her 50m & 100m Breaststroke events, both being club records. She gained two more records from her 100m Free and leading the 4x200m Free relay.
Two Bronze medals and 5 club records for Terry Wright, also three fourth and one fifth placing. The bronzes were in the 200m Backstroke and the 800m Freestyle. His records were in the 100m Free, 200m Free lead relay swimmer, 200m I/M, 200m Backstroke and 200m Breaststroke.
Ian Smith and Harry Middleton were the other record breakers, Harry with three from his 50m & 200m Backstroke and the 400m Free and Ian with two from his 50m Fly and 100m I/M.
Out of the medals, but none the less impressive swims came from Laura Wilcox, 4th in her 1500m Free with one minute 40 seconds off her personal best time. Jevgenijs Putans swimming in the Breaststroke events was 0.39 outside the 50m record, 0.37 outside the 100m record and 1.77 outside the 200m record. Huw Jones in the last year of his extremely competitive age group, 18-24 and Mark Straw in a slightly older age group were the other two Bracknell Swimmers that were part of the team
The success from the Bracknell & Wokingham swimmers came from a shorter lead up. With pool training returning this year in May. During lock down to keep the team morale high, weekly zoom quizzes, land and spin classes were held. Masters Coach Jim Dobinson turning his hand to this adeptly. Jim was also at the event and although no one was allowed poolside as usual, Jim could be heard from the balcony cheering on the swimmers for all the events.
The Masters now turn their attention to the Inter-Counties on the 14th November. 10 from Bracknell have been selected to represent Berkshire & South Bucks.
