Masters

A 15-strong team of Bishop’s Stortford swimmers competed for the first time in the Frank Rider charity event hosted by Erith & District Swimming Club on Sunday 15th March. Other teams competing were Saxon Crown SC, Kent Weald SC and two teams from Erith SC.

Many swimmers from BSSC were competing for the first time in 20+ years and for a couple it was their first taste of competitive swimming. We were also delighted to have a few of our senior (18-25yr) swimmers join us in their first taste of Masters swimming. Nerves ran high and during the warm up, the younger swimmers were helping others with race starts and relay take overs.

The event consisted of mainly relay events, including a Butterfly 4 x 50m race and a Backstroke 4 x 50m relay. All were mixed age group so we had 18 year olds swimming with 60 year olds and a 25m race for every age group on all strokes except front crawl. We had 3 joker rounds but sadly only one 1st place – the Mens 18+ (50m) and 60+ (25m) combined backstroke event swam by Callum Davis and Peter Kelleway.

BSSC finished 3rd with 117, 2 points behind Saxon Crown 115 and Erith A just won with 111. (Lowest score wins, with Saxon Crown having a 40 point handicapped head start).

A great evening was had by young and old and all agreed we would be back next year. A total of £289 was raised for Breast Cancer charity.

BSSC Masters competition regular, Elizabeth Bellinger, pulled out of the Febrary Sudbury Masters event with an injury, but although still in recovery, she managed to compete in the Swim Wales Masters Long Course Championships in Swansea over the St David’s Day weekend.

Lizzie took Gold in all four events she entered, bettering her entry times on three events and improving two of the East Region records she already held. Congratulations!

Gold 200m IM (2:39.04)
Gold 50m Fly (PB, 30.17)
Gold 100m Free (PB, 1:04.50)
Gold 100m Fly (PB, 1:07.15)

On 16th Feb, four fabulous BSSC Masters headed to Sudbury for the 25th Valentines Open Meet. David Kelleway (25-29Yrs), Peter Kelleway (60-64Yrs), Helen Shingler (50-54Yrs) and Sally Winter (60-64Yrs) were all in stunning form, taking gold medals in every event they entered and also getting lots of personal best times. Having recently achieved some European Long Course records in her new age group, Sally Winter bagged a short course European Record at Sudbury, taking nearly 3 seconds off the old 200m Free record!! Congratulations to them all.

Results are below:

David Kelleway (25-29Yrs)
Gold in all 5 events
53.50 100m Free
25.25 50m Free
1:02.64 100m Fly
26.74 50m Fly
2:07.35 200m Free

Pete Kelleway (60-64Yrs)
Gold in all 5 events
33.75 50m Back
1:05.63 100m Free
2:46.13 200m IM
1:15.42 100m Back
1:15.26 100m IM

Helen Shingler (50-54Yrs)
Gold 3:04.81 200m IM

Sally Winter (60-64Yrs)
Gold (European Record!) 2:25.83 200m Free

Reaching a milestone birthday can sometimes be advantageous, and BSSC Masters swimmer and Club President, Sally Winter recently proved that point.  January 1^st saw Sally move up into the 60-64 years Masters age group, and at her first 2020 Long Course (50m pool) competition in Crawley on the weekend of 18/19^th January she was in record smashing form.  First up was the 100m Free where she took Gold in a British Masters record time of 1:08.51, more than a second inside the existing British record and only 0.3 seconds outside the European record.  On Sunday she went one better in the 200m Free, smashing the British Masters record by 2.5 seconds and taking the European Masters record by 1 second, in a time of 2:30.78.  Focus for this season now turns to the British Nationals in April and the European Masters Championships in June.  Good luck Sally!

The Swim England Masters National Championships is the highlight of the national Masters short course calendar, with over 1000 competitors fighting it out to be crowned 2019 champions.  This year it took place in Sheffield on 25-27 October and five Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club Masters qualified (though unfortunately Ashley Meerloo and Helen Shingler could not attend).

Lizzie Bellinger has competed in the 50m and 100m butterfly at the National Masters Short Course Championships every year since 2009 and has won a medal on each occasion, the majority of those being gold.  This year was no exception!  On Day 1 Lizzie stormed to Gold in the 100m butterfly (40-44 Yrs Age Group) in a time of 1:05.7, only 0.4 secs off her own British record time!  She then grabbed Bronze in the 400m IM, with a 10 second East Region record.  Day 2 saw her continuing her winning ways, taking Gold in 29.54 in the 50m butterfly in another East Region record and Silver in the 200m IM.  Lizzie continued her butterfly domination on the final day with Gold in the 200m fly.

Sally Winter’s National campaign started well with a Silver in the 200m freestyle (55-59 Yrs) in a massive seasons best time of 2:24.2.  This time is 6 seconds under the 60-64yrs British record, which Sally will be aiming to break come January 2020.  Sally, a previous European record holder in the event, will also be aiming to break the current 60-64 years European record time of 2.28 in the new year.  Day 2 dawned with another Silver being added to her collection, this time in the 100m freestyle.  Her time of 1:06.75 is half a second under the 60-64 age group European record, which Sally will once again be targeting from January 2020.  In her final race of the day she came a great 8th in the 50m freestyle.

Former British butterfly record holder Barry Chandler kicked off with a fabulous 5th in the 200m freestyle (60-64 Yrs).  Day 2 was a busy day, with 2 races back to back in the morning.  He started with a Silver in the 100m freestyle, narrowly missing gold by 0.08 secs, and after catching his breath, got straight back into the pool to come away with a fantastic bronze medal in the 60-64 50m fly, just 0.3 secs off the gold medal winning time!  In the afternoon, Barry was on fire winning Gold in the 50m freestyle by nearly a second!

All of our Masters continue to inspire the next generations, but a huge congratulations must go to Lizzie, Sally and Barry for their outstanding performances!