2022/23 Club Championships
Events
BSSC Youngsters Shine at Peanuts
Twenty one of Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club 9-12 year olds were in action recently against the best that Hertfordshire could offer. Pre-covid, BSSC competed annually in the Hertfordshire Swimming Peanuts League against other Hertfordshire swimming clubs, but this was the first full league running since 2019.
The top division of the league consists of twelve teams competing in three separate galas. Each gala has 39 events that are a mix of individual age group races (9yr, U11yr, U12yr, U13yr) and relays, and each gala ends with a squadron freestyle relay consisting of eight swimmers (a boy and girl from each age group). It’s usually a raucous, loud, fun night and a great opportunity for swimmers to experience being part of a team in a sport that is primarily individual.
BSSC was drawn to swim at Potters Bar for all three rounds and came 4th in round one, 3rd in round two and 6th in round three, which secured them an overall 6th out of twelve teams in the first division and keeps them in that top division for another year. It was a great achievement as they were up against many other larger clubs and were a very inexperienced team!
This was the first time at Peanuts for the majority of the swimmers and they all put in an amazing performance, working together as a team and giving loads of support for each other. Special mention must go to Molly, Samuel, Noah and Elliot who all swam not only in their own age group but also the age group above and were never far from the starting blocks. Thanks also to the organising team of Team Manager Danielle and Coach Joe, and our older swimmers (Callum, Millie and Niamh) who came along to support the younger members of the club.
Full Peanuts squad: Noah Conroy, Alex Eustace, George Hall, Haydn Bird, Guy Spearman-Baines, Eddy Cheng, Zachary Haslett-Fossey, Ben Palmer, Elliot Hall, Robert Filionescu, Yana Patel, Ellyse Harvey, Millie Cass, Lois Fields, Molly Greatbatch, Elsie Lowe, Adeline Chen, Isabelle Earley, Zoe Opiyo, Meha Patel, Bobbie MacDonald-Williams
Invitation to the Swim England Summer Nationals
We’d also like to congratulate all our swimmers who have been invited to compete at the Swim England Summer Nationals in early August at Ponds Forge, Sheffield. After the top 24 in each event/age group are invited to the British Summer championships, the next 20 fastest swimmers are invited to compete at one of the home nation summer competitions! It’s a great achievement to get this invite and we look forward to watching them compete.
Invitation to the British Swimming Summer Championships
HUGE congratulations to all our swimmers who have been invited to compete at the British Swimming Summer Championships in Sheffield at the end of July. The top 24 in Britain are invited for each event/age group, so this is an achievement to be celebrated!
National Records Tumble in Aberdeen
Having smashed multiple short course (25m pool) British and European records in March 2022, BSSC Masters swimmer Alyson Fordham took on a long course (50m pool) record breaking challenge with gusto at the recent British Masters Championships 2022. The event held in Aberdeen brought together the best Masters swimmers across the three Home Nations along with International visitors, for the first time in three years.
Freestyle specialist Alyson dominated the 65-69 year old category, taking Gold in the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m events. Her gold medal winning 50m freestyle time of 31.13 seconds was a British and European record, the 100m (1:10.53) and 200m (2:43.59) results were both British records and the 400m (5:47.04) time was an East Region record.
Alyson now has her sights set on the Swim England Masters National Championships in October, which are the highlight of the national Masters short course calendar.
