Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club

Affiliated to Swim England East Region

Events

BSSC Youngsters Shine at Peanuts

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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

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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

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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

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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. 

Swim England East Region LC Championships 2022

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After a gap of two years, the Swim England East Region Long Course Championships returned in 2022, with two full weekends of exhilarating competition!  Twenty nine BSSC swimmers qualified to compete against the top swimmers from the six eastern Counties of England – Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk.

For many of these swimmers, it was their first opportunity to compete at this Regional level and they all dug deep and stepped up to the occasion, ensuring BSSC finished 15th out of more than 40 clubs and the 2nd ranked Hertfordshire club.  Individually the swimmers secured many personal bests, had 32 top eight finishes and also brought home eight medals:

  • Kirsty Neill (15 Yrs): Gold 50m/100m/200m Breaststroke
  • Niamh James (17 Yrs/Over): Gold 200m Backstroke
  • Ella Greatbatch (14 Yrs): Silver 50m/100m Breaststroke
  • Jago Derrington (16 Yrs): Silver 200m Backstroke
  • Lauren Gore (16 Yrs): Bronze 50m Breaststroke
  • Top eight finishes: Callum Cox, Callum Davis, Dylan Davenport, Emma Fields, Hollie Heighes, Meisha Trend-Evans, Millie Fields, Sami Zemzami

Congratulations to all our swimmers who took part in these Championships. We look forward to celebrating many more successes resulting from all the hard work you put into training.

Kirsty Neill
Niamh James
Ella Greatbatch
Jago Derrington
Lauren Gore

Full list of swimmers:

  • 11/12 Yrs: Elliot Hall, Maisy Martindale, Molly Greatbatch
  • 13 Yrs: Dylan Davenport, Ethan David-Tostevin, Felice Chan, Zoe Opiyo
  • 14 Yrs: Brandon MacDonald-Williams, Ella Greatbatch, Hollie Heighes
  • 15 Yrs: Alice Longman, George Grimwood, George Taylor, Imogen Tang, Jacob Hayes, Kirsty Neill
  • 16 Yrs: Callum Cox, Emma Fields, Grace Mason, Jago Derrington, Jessica Fields, Lauren Gore, Lilian Opiyo, Meisha Trend-Evans, Miriam Moukdad
  • 17 Yrs/Over: Callum Davis, Millie Fields, Mohamed Sami Zemzami, Niamh James