News

Long Course Masters Meet Crawley

Eleven swimmers from the South Beds Masters Swimming Club made a splash at the Masters Long Course gala held at Crawley over the weekend of 28th and 29th January, taking home an amazing 34 medals. They set 17 new East Region records, 21 new County records and 25 new club records. What a team.

In the 25 to 29 age group, Joanne Holder set a new County and club record in the 50m Freestyle.

Peter Leadbetter won a bronze medal in the 50m Freestyle and set a new club record.

Sarah Pearse was on fine form and broke an impressive array of records. In the 50m Breaststroke she took home a gold medal and set new East Region, County and Club records. In the 100m Breaststroke she won the silver while setting new County and Club records. In the 50m Freestyle she also set new County and Club records. Finally in the 800m Freestyle Sarah won the bronze medal and set new East Region, County and Club records for the 800m and for her split times in the 200m Freestyle and 400m Freestyle. What a swim!

Christine Ayers put on a great performance and won gold medals in the 200m Butterfly and 800m Freestyle. She also took home a silver medal in the 200m Backstroke and bronze medals in the 100m Freestyle and 400m Freestyle. This was Christine’s first attempt at the 200m Butterfly and she exceeded all expectations and set new East Region, County and Club records.

In the 55 to 59 age group, Peter Iles won silver medals in the 100m and 800m Freestyle setting new County and Club records in both.

Andrea Minor performed magnificently. She broke five County, five Club and four East Region records. Andrea won gold in the 50m Breaststroke, silver in the 200m Freestyle and bronze medals in the 50m, 400m and 800m Freestyle.

Liz Neale who took home a gold medal for her swim in the 100m Freestyle setting a new East Region, County and Club record in the process.

Iris Bellis won silver medals in the 100m, 200m and 800m Freestyle and bronze in the 400m Freestyle. Her time in the 800m Freestyle set new East Region, County and Club records.

Rita Egan won a bronze medal in the 200m Breaststroke setting new East Region and Club records.

Chris Jessup entered a staggering seven events. He took home silver medals in the 200m Backstroke, 100m and 200m Breaststroke and bronze medals in the 100m Freestyle, 100m and 200m Butterfly. His times in the 100m Breaststroke and 200m Backstroke set new East Region, County and Club records.

In the 70 to 74 age group Janet Masters won gold medals in the 200m Individual Medley, 50m Butterfly, 50m and 100m Freestyle. She also took home silver medals in the 50m and 100m Backstroke. Janet’s times in the 50m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle set new East Region, County and Club records.

Congratulations to all the swimmers.

Change of date for Midlands Masters

The Midlands Masters Meet will now be held 28th-30th September 2012. This is due to the change of date of the British Gas (LC) Masters being held at Sheffield 4th-6th May 2012.

Presentation Dinner, 6th January 2012

Presentations were made as follows:-

"Best Newcomer" Joanne Holder

"DQ Award" Chris Jessup

"Swimmer's Swimmer" Sarah Pearse

"Magnifying glass for reading the small print" went to John Bellis

"Swim of the Year" Peter Iles

"John Bellis Quote of 2011 Award" John Bellis!

"Most Improved Swimmer" Clare Warren

"Swimmer of the Year", winning the Master's Trophy, Sarah Pearse

A lot of hard work went on to make such a successful and entertaining evening. Grateful thanks to all involved, especially Donna and John.

South Yorkshire Masters Meet

On 11th December six swimmers from the South Beds Masters Swimming Club travelled North to take a dip in the Ponds Forge pool in Sheffield.

Peter Leadbetter made a splash in the 24 – 29 age group. He set new personal best times in the 50m Backstroke and the 50m Freestyle. He also won a bronze medal in the 50m Backstroke.

Helen Davies put on an impressive show setting new Club Records in the 50m Butterfly and the 100m Individual Medley. She took home silver medals in the 50m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle and a bronze medal in the 100m Individual Medley.

Keith Spence won a gold medal in the 100m Individual Medley. He also won bronze medals in the 50m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke. Keith set a new PB and broke his own Club Record in the 50m Backstroke.

Pete Iles took part in a staggering six events and did fantastically well in them all! He won gold medals in the 50m Butterfly, 100m Individual Medley and the 200m Freestyle. He won silver medals in the 50m Backstroke, 50m Freestyle and 100m Freestyle. Congratulations Pete.

Liz Neale achieved a silver medal in the 400m Freestyle and a bronze medal in the 200m Freestyle.

Rita Egan took home 3 gold medals in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke and the 400m Freestyle. Rita set a new personal best time in the 400m Freestyle. Well done Rita.

Records tumble at the Inter-counties Masters, Newmarket

Seven club and four county records were broken at this event. Howard Gell broke the 50m Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke and the 50m Butterfly records in the 40-44 age group.

Sam Hammond broke the 50m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke club & county records in the 30-34 age group, the Freestyle being the lead off in a relay race.

In the 25-29 age group Chris Lewindon set new club & county record times for both the 50m Freestyle on the first leg of a relay race and in the individual 50m Butterfly but then Ross Payne broke the 50m Freestyle club & county records again when he swam in the individual event.

Bedfordshire came 4th in the East Region gala, an improvement on last year's result and our points total was only 10 points behind Essex

Our club member's results and a link to the full results are now available.

Making A Splash South Beds Masters Style. October Report

Five SBM swimmers took the plunge at the ASA Masters Championships held in Sheffield on the 28th, 29th and 30th October.

Sarah Pearse had four fantastic swims and set three new personal best times in the 100m Breaststroke, 50m and 100m Freestyle. She set a new East Region record in the 100m Breaststroke.

Keith Spence swam well competing in the 50m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle, 100m Individual Medley and the 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke.

Christine Ayers swam in six events. She excelled in the 200m Individual Medley winning a silver medal, taking 3 seconds off her personal best time and setting a new East Region record.

Pete Iles also swam in six events competing in the 50m and 100m Butterfly and the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m Freestyle.

Chris Jessup won bronze medals in the 100m Butterfly, 200m Butterfly and 200m Backstroke. Chris also took an impressive 8 seconds off his 200m Individual Medley time.

 

Eight SBM swimmers made a splash at the East Region Championships in Newmarket on 1st October. They won an awesome array of medals and two swimmers set new East Region Records.

In the 24 to 29 age group, Joanne Holder set a new East Region record and won gold in the 200m Freestyle. She also won gold in the 50m Freestyle, silver in the 200m Backstroke and bronze in the 200m Breaststroke.

Sarah Pearse set three new personal best times and won gold medals in the 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke. She also won silver in the 400m Freestyle.

Keith Spence won silver medals in the 100m Butterfly, 100m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley.

Swimming in the 55 to 59 age group, Chris Marshall set a new East Region record and won gold in the 200m Individual Medley. He also won gold in the 100m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke and bronze in the 50m Butterfly and 400m Freestyle.

Pete Iles took home a gold medal in the 50m Butterfly and silver in the 400m Freestyle.

Liz Neale gave three strong performances and won silver medals in the 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle.

Chris Jessup swam well and won gold medals in the 100m Breaststroke and 100m Individual Medley. He also won silver in the 50m Freestyle, 50m Breaststroke and 50m Freestyle.

Rita Egan took home four gold medals for her performance in the 400m Freestyle, 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke.

Congratulations to all swimmers.

Barnet Sprint Meet 4th September 2011

6 SBM swimmers took 8 first places, 10 second places and 7 third places at the Barnet Sprint Meet.

7 club records were broken and 4 new records set.

Jo Holder, making her debut for the club this weekend, broke club records in the 100m IM and 100m Freestyle.

Sarah Pearce swam a blistering 50m Freestyle in under 30 seconds.

Chris Marshall broke records in the 50m Breaststroke, 100m IM and his lead-off 50m Backstroke in the Medley relay.

Keith Spence set 4 records in his new age group.

Pete Iles won the 25m sprint race and came 2nd in 5 other events.

Chris Ayers broke her own 100m Backstroke record.

See the results page for more info.

Baby Buckingham Arrives

Rachel and Simon are the proud parents of Eveline Lily Buckingham who was born on 25th September. Eveline weighed in at 8lb 3oz and mum and baby are diong fine.

AGM

The club's AGM will be held at the Ayers' residence, on Tuesday 25th October 2011.

Barnet Distance Meet 16th & 17th July 2011

Five club swimmers travelled to Barnet to compete in the Barnet Distance Meet.

Sarah Pearse won gold in the 100m Breaststroke. She and put in an impressive performance setting a new club record and winning silver in the gruelling 400m Individual Medley. Congratulations Sarah.

Jeanetta Lee swam well in the 400m Freestyle setting a new personal best time. Well-done Jeanetta.

Christine Ayers was awarded gold medals in the 200m Breaststroke, 400m Individual Medley and the 800m Freestyle. She also took silver in the 400m Freestyle.

Peter Iles won gold in the 200m Freestyle and bronze in the 100m Freestyle.

Liz Neale swam in the 200m and 400m Freestyle. She won bronze in the 400m and set a new personal best time in the first 100m of the 200m race.

"Top Team" at West Suffolk Masters Meet 3rd July 2011

Ten club swimmers travelled to Bury St Edmunds to competed in the West Suffolk Masters Meet. The team won 32 events. Over the weekend twelve new club records and a host of personal best times were set.

Our successful ladies relay teams set two East Region records & the club was awarded the ‘Best Visiting Club’ trophy. What a team!

Medals were not awarded for separate events, instead there were individual trophies awarded for best man and best woman in each age group. Chris Jessup, Pete Iles, Andrea Minor, Janet Masters, Chris Ayers & Sarah Pearce all came first in their age groups.

Daniel Hayes won the 50m Breaststroke and set a new personal best time in the 200m Freestyle.

Sarah Pearse set three personal best times and won the 50m Breaststroke, 100m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly and the 200m Individual Medley.

Lesley Bellis came 2nd in the 50m Breaststroke and 3rd in the 50m Freestyle.

Jeanetta Lee set three new personal best times and came 2nd in the 100m Freestyle and 100m Breaststroke.

Peter Iles won the 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle and the 50m Butterfly.

Christine Ayers won the 50m and 100m Backstroke, 50m and 100m Butterfly and the 200m Individual Medley.

Liz Neale won the 50m and 200m Freestyle and was second best woman in her age group.

Chris Jessup won the 50m and 100m Butterfly and the 50m and 100m Breaststroke. He came second and set a new personal best time in the 200m Individual Medley.

Janet Masters won the 50m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly, 50m and 100m Backstroke and the 100m Individual Medley.

British Long Course Championships 17th to 19th June 2011

Christine Ayers and Janet Masters travelled to Leeds to swim in the British Masters Long Course Championships. Chris set new East Region records in the 100m Butterfly and 1500m Freestyle and Janet set new East Region records in the 50m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke. They both competed in eight events won a host of medals. Well-done ladies.

Changes to Bletchley Training Sessions

Our club training sessions at Bletchley will be changing to Monday evenings as from the beginning of July 2011.

There will be 2 x 1hr sessions, in 2 lanes at 7.30pm and 8.30pm

Bletchley regulars will be told what time to attend (if you don't already know). Anyone else intending to start swimming with us on a Monday please talk to JB.

The last Thursday session will be on June 30th, and the 1st Monday sessions will begin on July 4th.

Midland Masters Open Meet, May 2011

Twelve swimmers from the South Beds Masters Swimming Club competed at the Midland Masters gala at Leamington Spa during the 6th, 7th and 8th May. The team took home 32 individual medals and 4 relay team medals.

Over the weekend 11 new club records, 18 personal best times and 5 new ASA East Region records were set.

The relay teams won gold medals in the Ladies 4 x 50m Medley, the Ladies 4 x 50m Freestyle and the Mixed 4 x 50m Freestyle events. They also won silver in the Mixed 4 x 50m Medley Relay.

See the full report under "Press Releases"

Bracknell Masters Open Meet, 5th March 2011.

6 SBM swimmers, 17 medals, 5 club records and 1 East Region record.

Results now posted for this event and a full report on the press page.

South East Region Long Course Championships, Crawley, January 2011.

Ten swimmers competed at Crawley on 30th and 31st January.

The team took home a staggering 24 medals, set 13 new East Region records and 21 new club records.

Check out the results page.

Annual Dinner and Presentation Evening.

27 swimmers and supporters attended the dinner at Martini’s Italian Restaurant in Leighton Buzzard. It was a great evening, with the presentations sandwiched between courses.

There was also a quiz, and a caption contest with prizes won by Sarah Pearse and Bryn Sharp.

John said how pleased he was with the way the year had gone. He gave special mention to the Decathlon, with six swimmers, Howard Gell, Chris Ayers, Chris Marshall, Keith Spence, Jo Jenner, and Rachel Buckingham all competing in the full 10 events.

In the Decathlon Team competition for 2010 our Women’s team finished in a very creditable 8th place, while our Men’s team finished 25th.

Some presentations were serious and some were mickey takes, the winners were as follows: -

Swimmer of the Year. Janet Masters, for her medal winning performances at the World Masters in Gothenburg, Sweden, her seven gold medals from seven swims at the ASA Nationals at Sheffield and for currently holding 21 East Region records, both long and short course.

Most Improved Swimmer of the Year. Rachel Buckingham who has improved her times this year in all strokes and distances and has finally realised what a good distance swimmer she could be, with her speciality event going to be the 400 IM. (according to JB!)

Best Newcomer. Jeanetta Lee - a newcomer to the sport at the age of 47 who a few years ago could only manage a couple of lengths. She swam her first completion in July and represented Bedfordshire in the Inter-County Masters in October.

Best Swim of the Year. Sarah Pearse for her 50m Breaststroke swim of 34.74 at the Nationals at Sheffield a life time best at the age of 28 - not only breaking her own East Region Masters record, but also setting a new Bedfordshire County Senior Short Course record, the first masters swimmer to hold a Bedfordshire County Senior record.

The Last out of the Shower Award went to Pete Iles

The Always Talking in Training Award went to Janet Masters

The Always Talking Award went to Keith Spence

The Crawley Block 8 Award for being disqualified for moving at the start, in lane 8 at Crawley two years running, went to Rachel Buckingham.

Some pictures can be seen on the Gallery page.

Janet in the National Press.

Yours magazine issue 105, dated January 1-10th has an article featuring Janet talking about her performance in both the World and the National Championships 2010 and 3 photos of Janet - looking fabulous!

Barnet 1500.

4 swimmers - 5 club records!

Well done Rachel, Jeanetta and Peter.

National Masters Inter-County Competition, Newmarket.

After a gap of 4 years Bedfordshire reappeared in the competition due to Pat Dowsett becoming Beds County Masters representative earlier this year.

Ten South Beds Masters swimmers took part and John Bellis took on the role of Team Manager.

The air temperature on poolside was cool, which made conditions difficult for fast times, but despite this 4 club records were either broken or set: Jeanetta Lee - 50m freestyle, Chris Ayers -50m backstroke, Andrea Minor - 50m backstroke & Iris Bellis - 50m breaststroke. Chris' 50m backstroke time equalled the current East Region record time.

Our swimmers put in some fine performances with some involved in as many as ten swims and some very sportingly swimming down with younger age groups to gain points in events where we would otherwise have had no one taking part.

Bedfordshire, the smallest county, came 5th in this particular gala. Other galas with the same events were being held in other venues over the same weekend and in time all the results will be collated to produce one winning county.

Final results from the Newmarket gala were Hertfordshire 1st 293 points, Essex 2nd 289.5, Suffolk 3rd 247, Norfolk 4th 234.5, Bedfordshire 5th 175, Cambridgeshire 6th 156 points.

Results will be posted as usual when available.

Janet's Magnificent Seven (gold medals).

Janet Masters was on gold medal winning form at Ponds Forge in the ASA Master's National Championships , winning all 7 of the events she entered.

Chris Jessup won a silver medal in a personal best time in the 200m breaststroke and Iris Bellis, Sarah Pearse and Chris Ayers all won bronze medals.

There were 3 particularly notable swims. In the 50m Breaststroke Sarah Pearse broke the East Region Record and the Beds County Senior Short Course Record (a record that had stood for 13 years). She also swam a lifetime best time in the 100m breaststroke. Iris Bellis set an East Region record in the 800m freestyle and swam 25 seconds faster than she did the same event earlier this year.

The 8 swimmers between them set 15 new club records.

Results and full report to follow soon.

Dates for your Diary

Ten Pin Bowling next to Planet Ice near MK station on Friday 12th November. Contact Donna for further details.

The Presentation Dinner will be held on Friday 7th January. After a superb meal last January we are returning to Martini Italian Restaurant, Leighton Buzzard. Please keep this date free and bring partners. Awards will be made - some serious, some not!

Berks and South Bucks Masters Gala, Maidenhead

We enjoyed another strong performance at the Berks and South Bucks Masters Gala held at Maidenhead on 16th October, taking home an impressive 14 medals.

The more mature swimmers showed the youngsters how it's done, with Iris Bellis and Christine Ayers each winning three gold medals.

In the 65 to 69 age group, Iris Bellis set new meet records in the 50m and 100m Freestyle.

In the 55 to 59 age group, Christine Ayers broke a meet record in the 200m Breaststroke and set a new East Region record in the 200m Individual Medley in a personal best time.

In the 30 to 34 age group, Rachel Buckingham set three new personal best times all of which were new club records, taking home one gold (50m Freestyle) and three silver medals (100m Backstroke, 100m & 200m Freestyle).

Jo Jenner set four new personal best times and collected two silver (50m Backstroke & 100m Individual Medley) and two bronze medals (100m Backstroke & 200m Individual Medley).

Congratulations to all the swimmers.

Barnet Sprint Meet

15 club records and East Region records for Sarah's 50 Breaststroke and Janet's 50m Backstroke, 50m Freestyle and 50m Fly.

The "old girls relay" won - unopposed - and are ranked No 1 for this year so far! (not many teams have swum the 240 years 4 x 50m freestyle relay yet)

World Masters - Gothenburg.

Congratulations to Janet and Chris on their swims in Sweden this summer.

Janet deserved a medal just for competing as she had her leg in plaster until just a couple of weeks prior to the event. She swam personal best times and East Region records in all 4 events and gained the bronze medal for the 50m Fly.

Chris swam particularly well in his 3 Breaststroke events and all 3 were new club records.

West Suffolk masters at Bury st Edmunds.

We had eight swimmers at Bury for the home club's first masters meet.

Out of the 23 clubs in attendance, we finished in 4th place, behind home club West Suffolk, 2nd Colchester, and 3rd was Cambridge.

With only a small entry, they decided not to give medals for each of the first three in each age group and in each event, but to give medals for the first three in each age group on their combined score from their best four events.

Lesley Bellis and Chris Ayers both won their age groups, Iris Bellis and Chris Jessup both came second, and Sarah Pearse and Daniel Hayes both came third.

We also had 9 new club records.

Bedfordshire County Masters Meet.

Bedfordshire have arranged a closed County Masters Meet to be held at the High School Pool, Bromham Road, Bedford.

Entries have to be in shortly, and the meet will only go ahead if enough entries are received, so it is imperitive that as many of our members enter as possible, and they enter as many events as they can manage to swim in one session.

It is important for Masters Swimming in the county that we make this work this year - even at this short notice - it is a case of "Use it or lose it".

Please see the calendar page for further details.

10th Welsh Capital Masters Meet, Cardiff.

4 SBM swimmers; 18 swims; 3 bronze, 2 silver and 2 gold medals; 7 Club & 3 East Region records.

Great 10 lane, 50m pool & facilities and a very well run event.

Aylesbury Relay Gala Results

After a recount, St Alban's Masters and Witney tied in 1st place with 186 points, we came 3rd with 158 points, CMK were 4th with 138, Amersham had 137 points in 5th place, Bicester 116 points in 6th and Aylesbury bringing up the rear with 100 points.

As usual it was a very well run gala. Grateful thanks go to Alan Bennett, Mick Elliott and Stuart Hastings for officiating on our behalf.

Well done to all who swam - a great team effort!

Decathlon Position 2009

The 2009 results are now finalised.

Chris Marshall's swims at the South Yorkshire Masters in December gave him 4 extra qualifying swims and he has shot up the list. Keith's good swims improved his score at that event too, so has also risen up the list.

As a result our Men's team have improved 9 places, and it looks as though JB's target of both teams getting in the top 50 in 2009 has been well and truly achieved!

The challenge for this year is to beat all personal points scores (which may be harder for some of us than others due to the new costume ruling), and for the Ladies team to get into the top 15 and Mens team the top 25!

Jacquie's Relay Channel Swim

A message from Jacquie.

Ever wanted to swim the Channel?

Well it was something I was interested in as a teenager when I spent numerous hours swimming in chlorine infested waters training for galas and life-saving competitions. I never, however, got round to it.

So when I received an email from Diabetes UK last year about swimming the Channel as part of a team of 6 in a relay, it didn't take me long to make up my mind and go for it.

Last September I went down to Dover for the first training/fact finding weekend. We had to do 3 swims in the sheltered harbour area the longest one being about 2.4km. No wetsuits were allowed and they even frowned when I wore my tri-suit for the first dip but I was thinking, the more of my skin I could have covered the better! The water was freezing but the sun was shining and for two of the swims the water was lovely and calm.

Anyway I put my name forward and now I will be attempting this challenge between the 9th and 16th August this year depending on the tides etc.

We all have to swim one hour each and there are very strict rules about not touching the boat if you need a quick bite to eat or drink and then it is 5 hours to rest, eat and throw up although not necessarily in that order! Apparently sea sickness will be harder to bare than the swimming, which will include coping with jelly fish, sand eels and of course some bloody big boats/tankers.

How long will it take I have been asked? Well it is like the preverbial piece of string, it will depend on how fast we swim and how rough the sea is etc. So how many times I will have to enter the water....I reckon at least 2 or 3.

As you can guess, being that this challenge is for a charity, I have to raise some funds. A minimum of £950. I know we have just had Christmas and are still in the realms of a credit crunch but if you are able to sponsor me I would be extremely grateful. You can either pop a cheque in an envelope and leave with John or Chris on poolside ( made payable to Diabetes UK ) or you can go on the following site and complete a payment online.

http://www.diabeteschallenge.org.uk/challenge/jacquiemaycock-channelswim2010

My next training weekends are in May and July so I will let you know how it all goes later in the year.

Many thanks - Jacquie Maycock

 

New Bletchley 8 lane pool opening January 4th 2010

We will be running training sessions at the new pool on Thursday evenings from 9.00pm -10.00pm starting on 7th January. Watch out for an email from JB with further details - or contact JB if you are not on our email list.