Swim England National Masters – day two.

The Swim England National Masters and Seniors Championships held in Ponds Forge Sheffield. 28th October 2017 – day two.

20 BWSC swimmers qualified and entered this event and with Coach Jim Dobinson what followed was one of the best set of results that the BWSC masters had recorded in many many years. Not only in terms of medals, but with seasons best times, personal bests, club records and great camaraderie and team spirit.

After a very successful first days results, day two promised to bring more happiness to the team.

Four medals, Nine BWSC Club records broke and Nineteen two year seasons best times on day two.

Starting with a mixed 4x50m Medley relay with Greg Adams, Georgie Vlatas, Kyran Edmunds and Sasha Forster. A tenth place and some very good splits. We had no swimmers in the 400m Individual Medley. The next event, the 50m Backstroke had Rachel Langton almost take the BWSC Masters record, just 0.11 away. Terry Wright swam a ten year best time for a tenth place, Simon Whiteside after a slip at the start managed to catch up and be just outside his entry time. Greg went even quicker than he did in the earlier relay, 8th place and I am not sure if he knew he was only 0.15 away from the club record. Mike Daniell, despite an agonising turn, still managed to finish third for a Bronze medal. The morning session them finished with the Ladies 4x100m Medley Relay. Rachel, Jenny Crittenden, Catherine Shearn and Karen Leftley all swam improved times from yesterday’s events and were triumphant with the Silver medal place.

The afternoon session came quite quickly and with the sprint event that is the 50m Freestyle. There were 34 heats of the Ladies and 44 heats of the Men, this is a ten lane pool which meant a lot of swimmers. Two new BWSC Records, Mike in his with a sixth place and Terry, who also broke the 30 as well, something that had been a target for four years since the last time he swam under the 30 seconds. Greg and Neil Holmes both went under their entry times as did Simon. For the Ladies, Georgie swam a huge pb going under 30 (there were 62 swimmers in her age group alone), Laura Cooke finished ninth with her Swim and Sasha, well Sasha swam wonderfully. I’ll let you ask her about it. Mixed fortunes in the 200m Backstroke. Clair Baynton had a goggle malfunction right after the start, but she carried on with a time just 6 seconds slower than the district event some three weeks earlier. Rachel, in taking six seconds off the BWSC Masters club record also finished third for an individual Bronze medal. In the 100m Breaststroke event, there were four new BWSC masters records and a National Champion. Terry followed his 50m Free record with one in the Breaststroke, also a 7th place and a further 2 seconds off it, Georgie fresh from her 50m Free also broke the existing record in the Breaststroke and a sixth place, Kyran took 3.7 seconds off his record. No club record for Jenny, but a huge pb and a 9th place, Karen L finished fifth and just outside her entry time. The National Champion and new record holder? Kirtsy Johnson. She had been to a wedding the day before, so was it the bubbles that helped and we are not talking soap.

The final session of day two started with a relay, the Mixed 4x50m Free event. Greg and Simon who both improve on their earlier times teamed up with Karen Bassett and Sasha. The team missed out on a top ten finish. The 50m Butterfly followed with one record from that amazing Kirsty and oh so close to a bronze medal. Greg, Simon and Terry all went under their entry times, Mike finished fourth, Laura fifth. Catherine and Jenny were just outside their entry times and Sasha still dripping from her earlier relay swam well. This left the 400m Free event to finish the session truly. David swam a solid race to finish 9th and ten seconds under his entry time, Clair Baynton swam a well controlled race with evenly split 200’s finishing just outside the top 10, Claire Moore finished 6th as did Nicki Thorpe, however Nicki’s time was another BWSC Masters record.

In summary, 4600m of competition, 9 new BWSC Masters Records, One Gold, One Silver and Two Bronze medals.

Bring on Day three.

Don’t take the photo, we’re not ready.