Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club

Affiliated to Swim England East Region

Important news

Masterful Start to 2022 for a Trio of BSSC Masters

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The 2022 season has kicked off in style for three of our Masters.  Having celebrated their 2021 successes with FINA World Top 10 Rankings, Elizabeth Bellinger and Alyson Fordham both recently competed at the Essex Masters Championships.  Lizzie, the current British and European record holder in the 40-44yr age group, demolished the field to take gold in the 100m butterfly (1:08.18).  Alyson was on sizzling form in her 65-69yr group, dominating the three events she had entered, taking gold in the 50m and 200m freestyle in new European record times (30.93 and 2:34.06), and gold in the 400m freestyle with a new British record (5:29.40). 

Lizzie also was in great form at the 2022 Swim Wales Masters Championships, taking gold in 50m butterfly, and silver in both the 100m freestyle and 200m IM.

Sally’s recent trip to the Calverton and Bingham Masters competition in Nottinghamshire resulted in two golds in the 50m and 200m freestyle and overall 3rd place female in the 60/64 age group from only two races!

Late April, Alyson and Lizzie headed to the Newmarket Masters Open Meet and again dominated every race they entered. Lizzie took gold in the 100m butterfly and 200m IM with the fastest times recorded in Britain in her age group in the past 12 months. Alyson also took three golds in the 200m freestyle, 100m IM and 100m freestyle, with the 100m IM and 100m freestyle times also being new British Records.

Focus for this fabulous trio now moves to the British Masters Championships in June and the European Masters Championships in August.

2021 FINA World Top 10 Masters

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Despite 2021 being yet another year of extremely restricted training and limited competition opportunities, three BSSC Masters have been named in the recently released 2021 FINA World Masters Top 10 Short Course (25m) Rankings.  Elizabeth Bellinger (40-44yrs), Sally Winter (60-64yrs) and Alyson Fordham (65-69yrs) all secured multiple world top 10 finishes in their age groups.  Sally and Alyson also still feature on the FINA All Time top 10 rankings in their age groups, with Sally having the 9th and 10th fastest ever 200m freestyle swims (short course and long course respectively) and Alyson holding the 8th fastest short course 100m freestyle swim.

FINA World Masters Top Ten Rankings:

  • Elizabeth Bellinger: 4th 100m Butterfly, 6th 50m Butterfly, 10th 200m IM 
  • Sally Winter: 5th 100m Freestyle, 9th 200m Freestyle
  • Alyson Fordham: 5th 50m Freestyle

Super Six Qualify for British Championships

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We are delighted to share that six of our Stortford based swimmers and one of our overseas members have achieved entry times for the British Swimming Championships 2022! #GoodLuck #SwimFast #HaveFun #GoStortford

It’s a wrap for Counties 2022

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Once all the racing finished, Swim England Hertfordshire crowned the best overall swimmers and three BSSC swimmers secured top spot in the County for their age group: Ella Greatbatch (14 yrs), Kirsty Neill (15 yrs) and Niamh James (18/Over yrs).  Elliot Hall (12 Yrs) was 2nd in his group, whilst five other swimmers were in the top eight: 4th Dylan Davenport (13 yrs); Bella Parkus (17 yrs); 5th Ethan David-Tostevin (13 yrs), Jacob Hayes (15 yrs); 6th Brandon Macdonald-Williams (14 yrs).

  • Kirsty Neill
  • Ella Greatbatch
  • Niamh James

The medals from the whole competition were tallied across the clubs, and BSSC came a superb 4th overall behind the large clubs of Hatfield, City of St Albans and Potters Bar.  In fact, BSSC women (all ages) were ranked second, the Junior Championship women came first and both sexes came second in the Championship rankings.  After the challenges faced by all the swimmers since the last Counties in 2020, it was fantastic to see such great performances.

Don’t forget to explore our other articles about 2022 Counties: Future Stars Make a Splash at Counties, BSSC Celebrates County Successes and BSSC Has “Relay” Great Team Success!

BSSC Has “Relay” Great Team Success

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Weekend three at Hertfordshire County Championships was relay weekend.  Time for club rivals from previous weeks to come together as teams and represent BSSC against the best that Hertfordshire could offer.  The members of BSSC did not disappoint, with nail biting close finishes and great come backs that had spectators off their seats willing them on.  The freestyle and medley relays were split into three age categories (Age Group 13yrs and under, Junior Championship 15yrs and under, and Championship 10yrs and over) with male, female and mixed teams in each.  BSSC relay teams finished in the top 8 in all 18 events, and won an amazing nine medals (1 Gold, 5 Silver & 3 Bronze), seven more than in 2020. Full results are given below the fab photos taken by our Team Managers Claire and Sarah.

Don’t forget to explore our other articles about 2022 Counties: Future Stars Make a Splash at Counties, BSSC Celebrates County Successes and It’s a wrap for Counties 2022!

Full relay results for Age Group teams:

  • Silver Mixed 200m Freestyle Relay: Dylan Davenport, Ethan David-Tostevin, Zoe Opiyo, Felice Chan
  • Silver Women 200m Freestyle Relay: Felice Chan, Maisy Martindale, Imogen Bell, Zoe Opiyo
  • Bronze Mixed 200m Medley Relay: Ethan David-Tostevin, Molly Greatbatch, Felice Chan, Dylan Davenport
  • 4th Women 200m Medley Relay: Maisy Martindale, Molly Greatbatch, Felice Chan, Zoe Opiyo
  • 4th Men 200m Freestyle Relay: Dylan Davenport, Elliot Hall, Samuel Bird, Ethan David-Tostevin
  • 7th Men 200m Medley Relay: Samuel Bird, Ethan David-Tostevin, Dylan Davenport, Elliot Hall

Full relay results for Junior Championship teams:

  • Gold Women 200m Freestyle Relay: Alice Longman, Kirsty Neill, Ella Greatbatch, Imogen Tang
  • Bronze Mixed 200m Medley Relay: Jacob Hayes, Kirsty Neill, George Taylor, Ella Greatbatch
  • 4th Women 200m Medley Relay: Hollie Heighes, Ella Greatbatch, Kirsty Neill, Zoe Opiyo
  • 5th Mixed 200m Freestyle Relay: Jacob Hayes, George Taylor, Imogen Tang, Alice Longman
  • 7th Men 200m Medley Relay: Jacob Hayes, Leo Suo-Saunders, George Taylor, Brandon Macdonald-Williams
  • 8th Men 200m Freestyle Relay: Jacob Hayes, Beau Reilly, George Taylor, Dylan Davenport

Full relay results for Championship teams:

  • Silver Women 200m Medley Relay: Niamh James, Lauren Gore, Emma Fields, Millie Fields
  • Silver Men 200m Medley Relay: Jago Derrington, Callum Davis, Sami Zemzami, Callum Cox
  • Silver Women 200m Freestyle Relay: Millie Fields, Emma Fields, Meisha Trend-Evans, Niamh James
  • Bronze Men 200m Freestyle Relay: Callum Davis, Callum Cox, Jago Derrington, Sami Zemzami
  • 4th Mixed 200m Medley Relay: Jago Derrington, Kirsty Neill, Callum Davis, Millie Fields
  • 5th Mixed 200m Freestyle Relay: Callum Davis, Millie Fields, Meisha Trend-Evans, Sami Zemzami