Sth East Masters – Crawley – January
Two of our more senior Masters took advantage of moving up into a new 5 Year age band to claim Long Course East Region Masters records. The seven strong squad returned home with 5 Gold 4 Silver and 4 Bronze medals. Over the two days they claimed 3 East Region 7 County and 9 Club records.
In the 70-74 years age group Graham Powell set new East and Beds Masters records whilst winning both his 50m Backstroke (36.68 seconds) and 50m Butterfly (35.34). Settling for the silver medal in his 200m Freestyle, Graham’s times at 50m (38:00), 100m (1:21.65) and 200m (2:50.33) broke the previous County and Club records set back in 2012.
Dave Wright demolished the East Region’s 65-69 years’ 200m Butterfly record from 2011 by 58 seconds to finish in a winning time of 3:05.76. That followed a Beds County record of 5:36.20 in his 400m Freestyle for which he claimed 3rd place.
Mark Lewis was just 0.26 seconds away from the 40-44 years’ 200m IM County record as he lowered his own 2025 Club record to 2:51.27 to claim a silver medal. That emulated Mark’s placing in his 100m Breaststroke whilst he also picked up a bronze for his 50m Backstroke.
Matt Wright was victorious in both of his 25- 29 years’ 50m and 100m Freestyle.
Sam Bradley claimed silver in the 30-34 years 800m Freestyle.
In the Ladies events Karen was placed 3rd in her 50-54 years’ 50m Backstroke, after recovering from stomach cramps during her 800m.
Michelle Neal’s “star appearances” at Inspire for pre-dawn long course training paid dividends. She picked up a bronze in her 45-49 years’ 200m Freestyle with her time of 2:47.55. Only problem is that it weakens any arguments for Michelle not leading her lane in future training sessions!