Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club

Affiliated to Swim England East Region

Masters

Masters kick-start 2025/26 season

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The beginning of September has been very busy and successful for BSSC’s Masters swimmers!

Sunday 7th September saw a trip to Newmarket for the East Region Short Course Masters Championships, with BSSC securing 9 top-three finishes:

Alyson
1st 50 Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle
2nd 200m Freestyle

Sally
1st 200m Freestyle
2nd 100m Freestyle

Ben
1st 400m Freestyle, 1st 400m IM
2nd 200m Freestyle

The medal continued at Sunday’s Barnet Copthall Masters Sprints Meet. BSSC’s medal haul:

Niamh:
1st 50m Fly
1st 50m Freestyle

Jake:
1st 400m Freestyle
1st 200m IM

Sally:
1st 400m Freestyle
1st 50m Fly

Ben
1st 200m IM

Dave
1st 400m Freestyle
2nd 50m Freestyle

Masters shine at British Championships

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A squad of eight BSSC Masters were in action at the British Masters Championships at the London Aquatics Centre from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th June.

The British Masters Championships is the highest level of domestic Masters swimming in Great Britain. The event, which takes place in a long course 50m pool, rotates between England, Scotland and Wales every year.

BSSC’s swimmers came away with an impressive 18 medals: 12 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze.

With Britain’s fastest Masters swimmers in action, it’s not unusual to see world, European and British records broken at the meet. BSSC’s Lizzie Bellinger certainly delivered, with a brilliant British Masters record-breaking swim in the 100m Butterfly (45-49 years) in a time of 1:08.54!

Our relay “dream team” of Callum Davis, Lucy Wheeler, Niamh James and Jake Lloyd took gold in two relays – the Mixed 4 x 50m Medley Relay (72 years+) and Mixed 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay (72 years+).

Sally Winter (65-69 years) and Lucy Wheeler (25-29 years) also secured double golds in the 200m Freestyle.

BSSC finished in 16th position overall out of over 200 represented clubs – a considerable achievement with a squad of eight swimmers competing!

We are incredibly proud of each and every one of our Masters swimmers – fantastic examples to the rest of the Club.

Full results – top-three places:

  • Lizzie Bellinger (45-49 years) – gold 100m Butterfly; silver 200m IM; gold 50m Butterfly
  • Niamh James (18-24 years) – gold 200m Backstroke; gold 200m Breaststroke; gold 200m IM
  • Lucy Wheeler (25-29 years) – gold 200m Freestyle; gold 50m Freestyle; gold 100m Freestyle
  • Jake Lloyd (30-34 years) – bronze 200m Freestyle; bronze 100m Butterfly; silver 200m Butterfly
  • Sally Winter (65-69 years) – gold 200m Freestyle; gold 100m Freestyle

Relays
Gold – Mixed 4 x 50m Medley Relay (72 years+)
Niamh, Callum, Jake and Lucy

Gold – Mixed 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay (72 years+)
Niamh, Callum, Jake and Lucy

Silver – Mens 4 x 100m Medley Relay (120 years+)
Jake, Matt, Callum, Geoff

Bronze – Mixed 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay (160 years+)
Lizzie, Sally, Matt and Geoff

Full team: Lizzie Bellinger, Callum Davis, Niamh James, Jake Lloyd, Lucy Wheeler, Matt McLaughlin, Geoff Short, Sally Winter

European and British Records broken!

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Congratulations to BSSC Masters swimmer and Club President Sally Winter, who recently broke the 200m Freestyle 65-69 years European and British Records at Hemel Hempstead Swimming Club’s Masters Open Meet, with a time of 2:32.83.

The record was previously held by BSSC’s very own Alyson Fordham.

Congratulations Sally on a fabulous achievement.

BSSC Masters represent Herts at Inter-county gala

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Eight BSSC Masters swimmers represented Hertfordshire at the East Region’s Masters & Senior Inter-County competition on Sunday 10th November 2024 at Bury St Edmunds Leisure Centre.

Teams from Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk took part in a series of individual 50m events and team relays. The Hertfordshire team came third, with Essex taking the top spot.

BSSC was represented by: Joe Collins, Dan Chada, Niamh James, Jake Lloyd, Zara Pretious-White, Geoff Short, Sally Winter, Alyson Fordham, with ex-swimmer Anne Edmonds representing Hertfordshire and previous BSSC coach Barry Chandler swimming for Suffolk.

The team secured 11 medals, 7 of them gold.

Top-three finishes:

  • Alyson Fordham – gold 50m backstroke, gold 50m breaststroke, gold 50m freestyle
  • Dan Chada – gold 50m freestyle, gold 50m backstroke
  • Niamh James – silver 50m backstroke
  • Jake Lloyd – bronze 50m butterfly
  • Geoff Short – gold 50m freestyle, gold 50m butterfly
  • Sally Winter – bronze 50m butterfly, bronze 50m freestyle

The following BSSC swimmers were also part of relay teams that claimed top-three positions:

  • Bronze – 4 x 50m mixed freestyle relay (Alyson)
  • Silver – 4 x 50m women’s freestyle relay (Sally)
  • Silver – 4 x 50m mens freestyle relay (Geoff)
  • Silver – 4 x 50m mens freestyle relay (Dan)

Rachael takes on Ultraswim 33.3 in Montenegro

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In October, Assistant Head Coach Joe Collins accompanied BSSC Masters swimmer Rachael Hunt as she took on her Ultra marathon swim in Montenegro. Here, Joe shares the highlights from a gruelling four days of swimming.

Coach Joe’s commentary from Montenegro:
Rachael undertook Ultraswim 33.3 #5, Montenegro at the start of the month. The event usually consists of a number of swims across four days (4th to 8th October), that add up to 33.3km, but in this instance Rachael and Andy Donaldson, a world record holder, most notably the fastest athlete to complete the Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge, had been asked to take on ‘the Ultimate’ swim with them swimming a continuous 22.2 and 33.3km solo swim respectively.

Rachael completed all swims before her ultimate swim on day four, completing 28km over the three days before her ultimate 22.2.

The 22.2km route
The 33.3km route
Moral support
5th October 2024. Montenegro. Pictures of UltraSwim 33.3 day 1 Credit: Lloyd Images
The finish!
Back at training the next day!

The day of her ultimate swim we left the marina at 06:00 to arrive at our start point at the blue cave before jumping in at 06:42. Two hours (around 5km) into the swim Rachael crossed paths with the rest of the group finishing their total 33.3km swims, to huge applause.

Around six hours into the swim, Andy Donaldson caught up after starting 11.1km behind, fighting against a strong current that slowed both swimmers almost to a complete standstill. Rachael powered through and made her way across the channel, for the longest straight stretch of the swim, thankfully slightly current assisted this time.

In the last hour of the swim, Rachael’s son Max joined us in a kayak to offer much needed moral support. She came to the hotel beach finish point at 17:21, swimming for a total of 11 hours 39 mins, where she was greeted by many of the swimmers that had finished earlier in the day, as well as event staff, husband, James and Andy.

We got back to England a few days after on Thursday 10th October, and Rachael was back in the pool Friday morning at Grange Paddocks for our session back with the club, and with time for a proud coach photo opportunity.

I am incredibly proud of what Rachael has achieved and am honoured to have been able to witness such determination throughout the whole event.