Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club

Affiliated to Swim England East Region

Masters

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.

Masters triumph at Nationals

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Huge congratulations the BSSC Masters who were in action at the GoCardless Swim England Masters National Championships in Sheffield over the weekend of 26th-27th October.

The team did amazingly, walking away with 19 medals: 12 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze.

Huge congratulations to medal winners Niamh, Lizzie, Lucy, Alyson, Callum, Jake and Annabelle.

Highlights from the weekend include an entire podium of swims in the women’s 100m Individual Medley with medals across the age groups, and the relay dream team of Callum, Lucy, Niamh and Jake taking gold in the 4 x 100m Mixed Freestyle and Medley relays.

Full results – top-three places:

  • Niamh James – gold 200m backstroke, gold 200m IM, bronze 100m IM, gold 200m breaststroke
  • Lizzie Bellinger – gold 50m fly, silver 200m IM, silver 100m IM, gold 100m fly
  • Alyson Fordham – gold 100m freestyle, silver 50m breaststroke, gold 100m IM, gold 50m freestyle, gold 100m backstroke
  • Lucy Wheeler – gold 200m freestyle, silver 100m freestyle
  • Jake Lloyd – silver 200m fly
  • Annabelle Wright – bronze 400m freestyle

Relays:
Gold 4 x 100m mixed medley relay (Niamh James, Callum Davis, Jake Lloyd and Lucy Wheeler)
Gold 4 x 100 mixed freestyle relay (Lucy Wheeler, Niamh James, Jake Lloyd, Callum Davis)

The Masters at Nationals
Relay Dream Team

Poolside commentary from Assistant Head Coach Joe Collins!

Read on for Assistant Head Coach Joe’s blog detailing all the action from the weekend’s racing:

Niamh kicked off the racing on Friday with a gold in the 200m back. That was followed by Callum, Zara, Lucy and Lizzie’s 50 fly, with everyone swimming an amazing time and Lizzie taking the gold!

Niamh came out of Friday with another gold in the 200m IM, Lizzie clinching a second medal – this time silver in the event – and Jake narrowly missing out on the podium coming 4th.

The 100m free saw Meg set a new masters PB for herself, and Zara just missing out on hers. Callum too swum just over his masters PB that he set the year before at Masters Nationals ’23. Friday was closed out by Alyson and Lucy in the 100m free finishing 1st and second respectively.

Alyson was up early for the 50m breaststroke, taking yet another gold which led us nicely into the 200m free, where we got to watch Annabelle and Jake racing at the same time in opposite pools, both swimmers finishing in the top 10 and Jake just missing out on his sub 2 minute target in a time of 2.00.82. Lucy had her 200m free a few heats later, where she added herself to the list of BSSC gold medalists in the individuals.

We completed a podium’s worth of swims in the Women’s 100m IM across the age groups, with Alyson in 1st, Lizzie in 2nd & Niamh taking 3rd.

The end of Saturday saw Callum and Jake both do a far better job than I have proven I could in the 200m fly, Jake coming away with the silver.

We then went onto the 50m free with Lucy being a hair’s breadth from 26s when she swum a 27.01. We were hit with an Alyson, 1-2 of 1st place swims in both the 50m & 100m back.

Sunday started off with yet another 200m, this time the breaststroke and yet another gold for Niamh in it, after swimming a 2 second PB (putting it down to the lucky swimsuit)! Jake and Callum both then took on the Men’s 100m fly, with both breaking the minute mark in times of 59 & 58 respectively. Annabelle and Lizzie were our Women’s fly swimmers, both swimming a 1.10, with that earning Lizzie herself another gold.

The last session of the weekend included Annabelle’s huge 400m free swim, hitting her target dead on in a time of 4 minutes 50 and we concluded with Zara’s 50 back almost achieving SB for herself.

In terms of the relays, everyone came away with some amazing splits (if I’m allowed to say so myself). Contributing to top 10 finishes in all 4 relays for the 72+ age group. The dream team of Lucy, Callum, Niamh & Jake walking away with the gold in the 4x100m Mixed Medley & Free, retaining the
gold they won in the free last year (can they/will they make it 3 in a row next year?)…