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.
After a two year hiatus, seven of our swimmers brought home 24 medals from Newmarket’s Open Masters Meet, claiming two new Beds County records as they set three new Club Masters records.
L-R: Karen MacKenzie, Kelly Cooke, Alastair Gibb, Dave Wright, John O’Rourke, Graham Powell & Sam Bradley
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.
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.
Team Luton won one gold, six silver and two bronze medals at the Welsh Open Masters Championships with Kelly Cooke breaking the club’s 45 – 49 years’ 200m Freestyle record as she stormed to victory.
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.
Team Luton swimmers broke three East Region and seven County records at the East Region Masters championships held in Newmarket. Read here for a detailed report.
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.
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
Congratulations to Jo Mitchinson on setting an East Region and 4 new Beds Masters records in the 40 – 44 years’ age group with her winning swims at the Welsh Masters Long Course Championships.
Jo Mitchinson: Double gold medalist at the Welsh Long Course Masters
Jo’s 200m Freestyle time of 2:21.53 broke the East Region record by 6 seconds whilst her time of 2:47.62 in the 200m Butterfly set new figures for the County’s 40 – 44 years’ age group record. Her 100m splits of 1:20.82 and 1:08.23 were both new Beds records; Jo’s freestyle split breaking the record club mate Kelly Cooke had only set back in January.