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.
Category Archives: Masters
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.
East Region and Beds Long Course Masters Records For Jo
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’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.
Top Ten World Ranking (Again)
With the FINA World Masters rankings for 2019 just being released it’s congratulations to Graham Powell, Malcolm Barton, Dave Wright and Colin Mayes. For the second successive year their time recorded at the English Nationals in the 240 – 279 years 400m Medley Relay was one of the ten fastest in the world.
L-R: Malcolm Barton, Graham Powell, Colin Mayes & Dave Wright
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.
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.
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.
L-R: Graham Powell, Dave Wright, John O’Rourke & Ian Norman
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.
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.
National Success For Masters Away From The Pool
Congratulations to club coach Dave Wright on his Bronze medal at the Swim England Open Water Championships. Dave’s medal came in his age group’s 3k swim. Alice Pinney meanwhile finished 4th in the 18-24 years’ Ladies 5k event.
Read here for further details.