Category Archives: Masters

Three National Masters Titles For Graham Powell

Graham Powell claimed six medals, three Eastern Region and five Beds Masters record from his six swims at the English National Masters.

Graham Powell: Triple Gold Medalist @ 2022 English National Masters

However the ten – strong squad all produced notable performances. Dave Wright was our other medal winner as a total of seven Beds County and twelve Club Masters records were broken. Advancing years proved no obstacle as some of our Ladies swam their fastest ever times in Masters events. Read here for a detailed report.

Two East Region Masters’ Champions

Karen MacKenzie and John O’Rourke were both crowned Backstroke champions as the small squad of the Club’s Masters who chose to compete in advance of the National Short Course Championships later this month returned from Newmarket with thirteen medals.

L-R: Karen, John, Lorraine, Sam & Alastair

A detailed report (together with successes from other Masters’ meets earlier in the year) may be accessed here.

Masters’ Travels Reap Records And Medals

Five of our Masters travelled in various directions during the first quarter of 2022 to compete, all returning with medals of varying colours.

Bracknell and Swansea were the two destinations which reaped a new Beds County record for Dave Wright and new Club Masters’ records for Dave, Colin Mayes and Sam Bradley.

Welsh Masters Medal Winners: Sam Bradley & Karen MacKenzie

A report (with a link to the full results) may be accessed here.

Trio Ranked in 2021 World Masters’ Top Ten Swims

Jo Mitchinson, Dave Wright and Graham Powell are all included in the World Top Ten Rankings for their Masters’ swims in the lists just released by FINA.

L-R: Graham Powell, Jo Mitchinson & Dave Wright

Jo was ranked 3rd (1500m Freestyle, ) 6th (400m Freestyle) and 7th (200m Backstroke) in the Ladies 40 – 44 years’ age group.

Dave claimed 6th spot in the Men’s 60 -64 years’ 200m Butterfly.

In the 65 – 69 years age group, Graham Powell was 5th (50m Back), 6th (100m Back) and 10th (200m Back).

FINA’s Top Ten relay listings were clearly incomplete, omitting all British club relay times from 2021. Other countries may also have been omitted but the English Nationals’ time recorded by Graham, Malcolm Barton, Dave and Alastair Gibb in their 240 – 279 years’ 400m Medley relay might have claimed them 5th spot. The combination of Dave, Alastair, Colin Mayes and Malcolm potentially also recorded the 8th fastest time for their 240 -279 years’ 800m Freestyle relay.

Best Ever National Masters’ Performance?

Our Masters won a total of 2 Gold, 6 Silver and 7 Bronze medals whilst setting 5 East Region, 15 Beds County and a further 6 Club Masters records at the Swim England National Masters Championships.

Multi National Masters’ medalists L-R: Graham Powell, Jo Mitchinson & Dave Wright

Read here for further details of the individual and relay team successes.

OUR MASTERS ARE BACK TO WINNING FORM!!!

After 18 months’ absence due to the COVID pandemic, seven of our Masters’ squad revelled in being back in competition, all winning medals at the Barnet Masters Sprint Plus Meet. They won a total of 10 Gold, 8 Silver and 1 Bronze Medals. Three were also in County Masters record-breaking form. Read here for further details.

More Masters County Records…

Six of our swimmers competed the Bracknell Masters Meet, collecting 16 medals and setting four more County Masters records. Read here for more details.

L-R: Malcolm Barton, Karen MacKenzie, Jodie Armstrong, Michelle Neal, Kelly Cooke and Colin Mayes