Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club

Affiliated to Swim England East Region

Masters

BSSC Masters on Top of the World in 2023

Posted on:

The World Aquatics Masters rankings for 2023 have just been published and two BSSC Masters had such a great year that they feature in the World Aquatics Top 10 lists of fastest swimmers! 

Sixty eight year old Alyson Fordham had an amazing 2023, becoming the fastest woman in the WORLD in her 65-69 year age group in the short course (25 pool) 50m & 100m Freestyle, the 100m & 200m Backstroke and the 100m IM.  She showed her versatility by also being the 4th fastest in the 50m Backstroke, 5th in the 200m Freestyle and 50m Breaststroke and 7th in the 100m Breaststroke.  In the long course (50m pool) format, she again topped the world rankings in the 50m Freestyle, was 3rd fastest in the 100m Freestyle, 4th in the 50m Breaststroke, 5th in the 200m Freestyle and 7th in the 50m Backstroke. 

Lizzie Bellinger (45-49yrs) also got into the 2023 world top 10 rankings for both short course (SC) and long course (LC) events, being the 3rd fastest competitor in the world in the SC and LC 100m Butterfly, 6th in the SC and LC 50m Butterfly and the SC 200m IM, 7th in the SC 400m IM and 9th in the LC 200m IM.

Lizzie & Alyson at the 2024 British Masters Championships

Alyson’s record breaking times from the 2023 season also increased her entries in the top 10 fastest swims of ALL TIME to ten events (seven short course and three long course).  By the end of 2023, she held the 3rd fastest time ever swum in the LC 50m Freestyle and the 6th fastest LC 100m Freestyle, both of which were European records, and the 9th fastest 50m Breaststroke time.  Her short course performance was even more outstanding as she increased her European record tally to six (50m/100m/200m Freestyle, 100m/200m Backstroke and 100m IM) and achieved the 3rd fastest swims of all time in the SC 50m and 100m Freestyle, 5th fastest in the 200m Freestyle, 100m/200m Backstroke and 100m IM and 8th fastest in the 50m Breaststroke.  Wow!

Massive congratulations to Alyson and Lizzie for all their achievements and we’re excited to see what 2024 brings for them both!

World Aquatics All Time Long Course Top 10 Rankings

65-69yrs Alyson Fordham

  • 3rd 50m Freestyle (30.56, European Record)
  • 6th 100m Freestyle (1:09.16, European Record)
  • 9th 50m Breaststroke (41.65)

World Aquatics All Time Short Course Top 10 Rankings

65-69yrs Alyson Fordham

  • 3rd 50m Freestyle (29.45, European Record) & 100m Freestyle (1:07.07, European Record)
  • 5th 200m Freestyle (2:33.14, European Record), 100m Backstroke (1:18.70 European Record), 200m Backstroke (2:53.87, European Record), 100m IM (1:20.35, European Record)
  • 8th 50m Breaststroke (41.08)

2023 Long Course World Aquatics Top 10 Rankings

45-49yrs Elizabeth Bellinger

  • 3rd 100m Butterfly (1:08.70)
  • 6th 50m Butterfly (30.10)
  • 9th 200m IM (2:42.50)

65-69yrs Alyson Fordham

  • 1st 50m Freestyle (30.56)
  • 3rd 100m Freestyle (1:09.16)
  • 4th 50m Breaststroke (41.65)
  • 5th 200m Freestyle (2:38.23)
  • 7th 50m Backstroke (38.53)

2023 Short Course World Aquatics Top 10 Rankings

45-49yrs Elizabeth Bellinger

  • 3rd 100m Butterfly (1:07.32)
  • 6th 50m Butterfly (30.02) & 200m IM (2:35.88)
  • 7th 400m IM (5:40.17)

65-69yrs Alyson Fordham

  • 1st 50m Freestyle (29.45), 100m Freestyle (1:07.07), 100m Backstroke (1:18.70), 200m Backstroke (2:53.87), 100m IM (1:19.69)
  • 4th 50m Backstroke (37.61)
  • 5th 200m Freestyle (2:35.13), 50m Breaststroke (41.08)
  • 7th 100m Breaststroke (1:33.06)

Golden time at British Masters Championships

Posted on:

BSSC Masters swimmers Lizzie Bellinger and Alyson Fordham had outstanding performances at the recent British Masters Championships, bringing home five gold and three silver medals and a new East Region records. 

Lizzie (45-49 yrs), the current age group British record holder, obliterated the field in the 100m Fly winning nearly 14 seconds ahead of her closest rival (1:10.36) and broke the East Region record taking silver in the 200m IM (2:41.73). She also won Gold in the 50m Fly (30.67 seconds).

Alyson Fordham (65-69 yrs), already the age group European Record holder in both the 50 and 100m Freestyle, easily won gold in both events (50m 30.62 & 100m 1:10.51) and added gold in the 100m Backstroke (1:24.15, new East Region record) and silver in both the 50m Backstroke (39.30) and 50m Breaststroke (42.79) to her haul. 

Congratulations to them both on their achievements that continue to inspire our younger swimmers.

Triple Gold for BSSC Masters

Posted on:

Two BSSC Masters recently competed at the 2024 Derbyshire Open Long Course Masters Championships.

Lizzie Bellinger (45/49 Yrs Age Group) had a one-two of amazing swims, swimming a 1:10.40 100m Butterfly and a 2:44.53 200m IM with no more than ten minutes rest between the two, earning herself two golds in the process. 

Assistant head coach Joe Collins (25/29 Yrs Age Group) performed a true “splash & dash” going to swim the 50m Breaststroke and Freestyle, getting Gold in the breaststroke with 34.14 and just missing out on a podium finish in the freestyle, coming in 4th.

This was a great warm up event for Lizzie who competes this coming weekend in the 50m & 100m Butterfly and 200m IM at the British Masters Championships in Swansea.  She’ll be joined by another BSSC Masters swimmer, Alyson Fordham (65/69 Yrs Age Group), who’ll be swimming 50m & 100m Freestyle, 50m & 100m Backstroke and the 50m Breaststroke. 

Eight Masters Swim for Hertfordshire

Posted on:

Eight BSSC Masters recently represented Hertfordshire in the Swim England National Masters Inter-County competition.  The usual youngsters of Callum Davis (18+), Lucy Wheeler (18+), Niamh James (18+) and Jake Lloyd (25+) and the experienced hands of Sally Winter (55+) and Alyson Fordham (65+) were pleased to be joined by two others who don’t often compete – Elanor Cadzow (25+) and Helen Shingler (45+).

Twenty-nine English Counties competed for the Inter-County title across seventy-two thrilling races, but the event was won by Hampshire, with Warwickshire second, and defending champions Devon third, whilst Hertfordshire were 24th.  There were notable performances from BSSC Masters, with Alyson Fordham (65+) continuing her recent great form, coming 1st in the 50m Freestyle & 50m Backstroke, 2nd in the 50m Butterfly and 3rd in the 50m Breaststroke.  Other top ten finishes came from Lucy Wheeler (9th 18+ 50m Freestyle) and Niamh James (10th 18+ 50m Backstroke).

Congratulations to all BSSC swimmers who represented their County.

Six Record Smashing Masters take on Sheffield

Posted on:

Article by Jake Lloyd, BSSC Masters Swimmer & Rep, and BSSC Committee member

Six BSSC swimmers, across a variety of age groups, recently travelled to Sheffield for the Short Course Masters National Championships.  No one chose to swim the 1500m Free in session 1 so we start the Champs with session 2.  The long weekend kicked off with a short race in the 50m Fly, where Lizzie claimed a gold medal and East Region record (45/49 Yrs Age Group: 30.02), Callum won a silver (18/24 Yrs: 25.89) and Jake came 12th (25/29 Yrs: 27.27).

Niamh, Jake, Lucy, Alyson, Lizzie & Callum

Next, the ever-popular 50m Freestyle; Callum came 21st (24.95), Niamh came 4th narrowly missed out on bronze (18/24 Yrs: 27.29) and Alyson won gold whilst also claiming the title of the first 65-69 Yrs woman in Europe to ever swim under 30 seconds with a mind blowing 29.45.  A new East Region, British and European record.  Alyson’s swim puts her 15 milliseconds away from the World Record.

100m Backstroke came next with a very strong showing by BSSC.  Both Niamh and Lizzie won silvers (1:03.81 & 1:13.83) both breaking East Region records. Alyson also kept her record-breaking streak going with another gold (1:18.70) breaking the East Region, British and European records again.

Last event of Day 1 was the 200m Fly with just me deciding to put myself through the pain.  I won the gold medal (2:18.22) and earned the trip to the pizzeria that the “young” Masters visited that evening to replenish our energy.

Day 2. Lots to live up to with some amazing swims the first day, I was certainly feeling the pressure. The first event of the day is the Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay.  BSSC hasn’t entered a relay at Masters Nationals for a few years now and we entered the youngest age group of 72+ Yrs.  Myself, Callum, Lucy and Niamh swam as hard as we could and to all our surprises, we took home the gold (3:46.37) setting a new East Region record by 12 seconds.

Next up was the 50m Backstroke, with just Alyson racing.  She won another gold (37.61) and another East Region record.  Followed by the 200m IM and another 2 golds from Niamh (2:24.65) and Lizzie (2:38.88) which was also an East Region Record.

The start of the next session began with another relay, Mixed 4x50m Medley Relay.  With the same relay team entered into this race, we didn’t know what to expect after our surprise win at the beginning of the day. We just missed out on a medal, coming 4th by less than a second (1:55.27).

Following on from the relay was the 100m Freestyle with all but Lizzie entered.  Competition was fierce for the guys with Callum coming 23rd (56.14) and Jake coming 21st (55.84).  A much stronger showing for the ladies; Niamh finishing 8th (1:00.33), just missing the elusive sub-60, Lucy coming 4th (58.35) only 4 milliseconds away from the East Region record and Alyson showing everyone how easy it can be ticked one more gold medal off her list (1:07.07) with another round of East Region, British and European records.

Last session of day 2 was the 50m Breaststroke and the 800m Freestyle.  None of the BSSC swimmers had entered the 800, so Alyson was left to break one more East Region record and win silver in the breaststroke (41.08)

The last day of the weekend, we all feel a little beat up and want nothing more than a lie in before the return to work Monday morning. The last relay the young guns entered was first, Mixed 4×50 Free Relay.  With a majority of the team being middle distance swimmers and just missing the podium on the Medley relay we were determined to see what we could do to turn this into a Free relay double.  Flying through the water, we managed to finish with the bronze medal (1:44.53 East Region record) and turning the table on the team from Kidlington that beat us in the Medley relay.

Straight after the relay was the 200m Freestyle, which was going to be a tough race for Lucy, Niamh and myself after that relay. Niamh and I both finished 7th (2:12.84 & 2:02.52) and Lucy set a new East Region record and won bronze (2:06.06).  Alyson, who still needed more silverware to add to her collection won the gold (2:35.13).

By this point, we were all definitely feeling the effects of the hard swimming done over the weekend and showing signs of struggle as we swum.  I don’t just say that because I’ve gone from the relay, to the 200 free, to the next event; 100m Fly.  I swam a disappointing 1.02.19, finishing 14th while Callum wasn’t too happy with his 58.04, finishing 4th. Both of us felt like our legs were ready to drop off. Lizzie finished 1st (1:08.39) but the 100 fly at the end of the weekend is a killer.

One last session to go.  Callum and Alyson swam the 100m IM.  Callum finishing 15th (1:05.38) and Alyson stepping up for BSSC and finishing with a bang.  Winning her final gold (1:19.69) and one last East Region, British and European record.  Lucy, wanting to share the glory of the last moments with Alyson, swam the 400m Freestyle, winning the silver medal (4:32.68) only 2 seconds outside the East Region record.

And with that Masters Nationals was finished.  Out of the 286 clubs that were represented, BSSC finished 27th overall and 1st in Hertfordshire.  With only 6 swimmers up there this is a tremendous achievement and I would like to give a huge CONGRATULATIONS!!! to all the swimmers that performed some incredible swims.  It would be great to see a few more masters come up with us next year and help see how high up the “Best Club” table we can climb.

Alyson Fordham 65/69 Yrs7x Gold, 1x Silver Records: 7x ER, 4x BR, 4x EUR
Lizzie Bellinger 45/49 Yrs3x Gold, 1x Silver Records: 3x ER
Niamh James 18/24 Yrs1x Gold, 1x Silver 1x Relay Gold, 1x Relay Bronze Records: 1x ER, 1x Relay ER
Callum Davis 18/24 Yrs1x Silver 1x Relay Gold, 1x Relay Bronze Records: 1x Relay ER
Lucy Wheeler 18/24 Yrs1x Silver, 1x Bronze 1x Relay Gold, 1x Relay Bronze Records: 1x ER, 1x Relay ER
Jake Lloyd 25/29 Yrs1x Gold 1x Relay Gold, 1x Relay Bronze Records: 1x Relay ER