All posts by AMG

News

Record Breakers…..At County, Club & Personal Levels

Congratulations to everyone who has improved on their personal best times, be at our recent Team Luton Open swim meets, National Arena League fixtures or East Region championships.

Matt Wright’s winning East Region victory over 50m Backstroke was a new Beds County record whilst his 200m Butterfly swim was a 7 second improvement on the Club’s record that has stood since 2004.  A review of that latest (11 November) update to the Club Records shows that between them, Jj Wilde and Rhys Davidson have also been beating times which have stood since the year they were born….. or even earlier!

Whilst it is the responsibility of swimmers or their parents to claim club records, personal improvements can be followed by logging into the Individual Best Times registers that are held for every swimmer and updated automatically on the British Swimming database.

How many personal best times might be set at our December Open Development Meet?

Masters, News, Reports

Medals And County Records At 2019 English National Masters

Team Luton’s swimmers gave an impressive display at the 2019 English National Masters Championships bringing home two gold, three silver and three bronze individual medals in addition to one silver relay medal – in “trunk splitting” fashion!

With a further 25 top ten finishes – that included four 4th and four 5th places – the thirteen swimmers who competed set numerous personal best times whilst establishing four new Beds County Masters records. That meant we finished as the 43rd highest points scoring club out of the 232 clubs that were represented, many of which had far more competitors. Read here for a full report.

Masters, News

Fifteen To Compete At 2019 English National Masters

We have our greatest ever representation at the English Masters & Seniors Championships being held in Sheffield at the end of the month. Fifteen members are due to compete in over 70 individual events.

Alice Pinney (aged 19), Laura Smith (25), Jodie Armstrong (37), Michelle Neal (39) & Kelly Cooke (42) – all making their National Masters debuts – will be joined by Karen MacKenzie (46) and Sharon Thompson (52).

Their male counterparts are Alex Mason (23), Sam Bradley (25), John O’Rourke (50), Dave Wright (58), Alastair Gibb (59), Graham Powell (63), Malcolm Barton (64) and Colin Mayes (64).

Four others of the Masters’ squad achieved qualifying times in their respective five year age groups but for various reasons will not be participating.

The strong presence in Sheffield is testimony to the many voluntary hours given to the Masters’ squad by coach Pauline Harrington, assisted by Jane Cattle.

Masters, Reports

Nine Individual And Two Relay Titles At 2019 East Region Masters

A total of 25 medals were won by our Masters and Seniors at the 2019 East Region Championships. Five of our ladies made their regional debuts, all winning medals as Sharon Thompson and Kelly Cooke won their first individual titles. The squad collected a total of 9 individual and two relay golds as Sam Bradley meanwhile improved on one of his Beds County Masters records. Full report here.

2019 East Region 200 yrs+ 4 x 50m F/s Relay Champions.
L-R: Graham Powell, Dave Wright, John O’Rourke & Ian Norman
Masters, Reports

Ladies Shine At Barnet Masters Sprints Meet

Our Ladies took centre stage at the 2019 Barnet Masters Sprints Meet. They collected 17 medals, emulating their male colleagues, but had the surprise bonus of breaking a Beds County Masters relay record whilst adding to what is already the Club’s highest ever Ladies Team decathlon score. Not a bad way to mark Masters’ coach Pauline Harrington’s birthday! Read here for a full report.

L-R: Laura Smith, Sharon Thompson, Jodie Armstrong, Kelly Cooke,Karen Mackenzie, Pauline Harrington & Michelle Neal
Masters, News

Our Latest Beds County Record Holders

Congratulations to Karen Mackenzie, Kelly Cooke, Jodie Armstrong and Michelle Neal on breaking the 160+ years 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay record in a time of 2:06.20 at the Barnet Copthall Masters Sprints Meet.  All four swam 31 second splits; a great team effort.

County Record Breakers L-R: Karen, Kelly, Jodie & Michelle
News

Silver Medal For Matt Wright At Swim England Summer Championships

Six of the Club’s swimmers competed at the British and or English Summer Championships held respectively in Glasgow (23rd – 28th July) and Sheffield (31st July – 4th August). Their 2018/19 season ended with various finals and new Club age group records. 

Celyn Walmsley, Rhys Davidson and Jj Wilde all made finals but in literally the very last event over the two competitions, Matt Wright claimed a silver medal for Team Luton in the 19 years & over 400m Freestyle with a blistering final 50m. Read here for a full report.

L-R: Matt Wright, Chantal Smith, Celyn Walmsley, Chiara Rogers, Rhys Davidson & JJ Wilde
News, Reports

Abbie 4th at Swim England Open Water Champs

Congratulations to Abbie Barnwell, coming 4th in the Girls 16  years’ Swim England 5k Open Water.

Abbie with coach Rikki Morris

Abbie, together with  Chantal Smith, qualified for the Swim England National Open Water Championships by virtue of them winning their respective age group’s 5k events at the East Region’s 2019 Open Water Championships.

In total seven of the Club’s swimmers took part in the East Region event with everyone  (Lauren Donnelly, Lauren Hooker, Lyla Howard, Zara Fallon and Dave Wright) winning regional or County medals. Full report here.