Masters (& Seniors) Competitions

Most of the Team Luton Masters squad enter at least one swimming competition each year. They are a great social occasion with training colleagues poolside providing vocal support and encouragement. Individual achievements, however large or small, are acknowledged.

Competing at various regional, nation and international Swim Meets, the Club’s Masters have achieved many notable successes in recent years. As of July 2024, 54 Beds County Short Course and 69 Long Course Masters records were held by 11 of our current members.

We do recognise that not everyone can be a winner but our Masters are able to monitor their own performances from month to month and year to yearly clicking on Masters Individual Best Times.

In addition to the Club’s own Masters records,  British Swimming holds an annual Masters Decathlon competition. This encourages swimmers to compete over a variety of strokes and distances throughout the year. Points are awarded on the age-adjusted times achieved. In addition to the individual competition, the decathlon points gained by the top four swimmers of each club are amalgamated for the team competition.

Results of Masters meets and the Masters Decathlon may be found on clicking on the relevant link.

Sam Bradley, Alex Mason, John O’Rourke, Pauline Harrington, Glenda Mayes, Mark Wareham, Graham Powell, Malcolm Barton & Dave Wright

Forthcoming / usual meets (with dates where known):

Chelmsford Masters – January
Sth East (Long Course) Masters – Crawley- 18th & 19th January 
Welsh Open LC – Swansea –1st & 2nd March
Bracknell Masters – 1st March
West Midlands – Coventry – 8th March
CABS (Nottingham) – usually March
Newmarket Masters – usually April
British Masters (Long Course) – usually May/ June
Erith Masters – Bexleyheath – usually May
London Region – London Aquatics (Long Course) 17th May
Barnet Copthall Masters Distance Meet – usually early/ mid July
East Region Open Water  – usually July
Berks & Sth Bucks – Maidenhead – usually September
Barnet Copthall Masters Sprints Meet – usually early September
Sth East Region (Short Course) Masters – usually end September
East Region Masters – Newmarket – usually end  Septemb
er 
Swim England Masters – Sheffield – 25th – 27th October
Barnet Copthall 1500m- 23rd & 24th November
Swim Wales Open Masters – Llandudno 30 Nov/ 1 Dec
East Midlands – Allentown, Derbyshire 1st Dec
Etwall Masters – 7th December

Some of our Masters & Seniors do enter other meets throughout the country, details of which can be found by selecting the Masters filter on the Swimming.org  Calendar.  However, the dates of individual meets are usually publicised on the host organisation’s website well in advance of appearing on Swimming.org. This is particularly pertinent for the most popular meets where accepted entries might close before the published closing date.

At most “Masters” meets you are seeded in heats to swim alongside competitors of your own speed, regardless of ages. For the purposes of the competition results, your times are then reported in 5 year age group bands, i.e. 25 – 29 years, 30 -34 years etc. These Masters meets also usually hold a Senior Age Group for those aged 18 – 24 years old. “Top level” swimmers, i.e. those still competing at national championship level are not expected to swim at such meets! A few of the “Masters” meets also have a 15/16-17 years age group category.

Some Meets tend to offer races over 25m, 50m & 100m each stroke plus 100m IM. Other meets may offer 200m events and go as far as including 800m & 1500m F/s and a 400m IM but with no 25m races. Even longer distances can be swum when entering Open Water competitions!