Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club

Affiliated to Swim England East Region

Masters

Golden time at British Masters Championships

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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

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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

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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

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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

BSSC Masters take on the Serpentine

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On Saturday 16th Sept, a group of BSSC Masters swimmers entered the annual Swim Serpentine open water swim in Hyde Park in London.  Geoff and Annabel entered in the 1-mile distance which is a single lap of the lake circuit and Helen, Jake and 2 ex-Masters Karen and Emma entered the 2-mile distance. Rachel had entered the Super Six (6-mile) but pulled out due to illness.  As she is planning on swimming an open water competition in Montenegro on 29th Sep, her recovery took priority. Keep your ears open for news of how she got on.

The morning started with fantastic weather and the 2-mile Ladies swimming at 09:20.  Helen swam in 59 minutes 57 seconds, finishing 9th in her age group, the 71st female and 245th out of the 3109 male and female swimmers that swam the 2-mile distance.  Karen swam 1:03:44 and finished 445th overall.  Emma swam 1:16:51 and finished 1436th.

After the day had warmed up even more, Geoff and Annabel swam at 13:50.  Geoff completed his swim in 23:34 and finished an impressive 4th out of 809 swimmers (2nd in his age group and 3rd male overall). Annabel swam 31:39 and finished 24th in her age group, 40th female and 86th overall.

To wrap things up Jake swam his 2 miles at 15:30, completing it in 50:13, coming 15th in his age group, 24th male and 32nd out of 3109 swimmers.

It was a fantastic day with an incredible atmosphere and a very friendly community of swimmers. The spaces for entering this year disappeared very quickly so if you are interested in swimming the Swim Serpentine 2024 register your interest now.  It would be great to see more BSSC swimmers at the lake.

[Article by Jake Lloyd, BSSC Masters]