Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club

Affiliated to Swim England East Region

News

Neill SNAGS Gold in Glasgow

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Five events, five finals, seven PBs and three medals at a National level competition!  BSSC Elites swimmer Kirsty Neill recently headed north of the border to the Scottish National Age Group championships (SNAGS), the largest event in the Scottish National swimming calendar that pre-pandemic attracted over 1000 athletes from across the UK and beyond.  After a three year hiatus, the 2022 competition was held at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow and Kirsty qualified for five events in the 15 year age group: 50/100/200m Breaststroke, 200m Individual Medley and 400m Freestyle. 

Day one of the competition and Kirsty secured a place in the 50m Breaststroke final with a great personal best (PB) time and broke her own PB in the final that evening to get Bronze.

Next up was Kirsty’s favourite race, the 200m Breaststroke.  In qualifying she was narrowly beaten into second place, but after some text conversations with her BSSC coach, Mathieu Leroy, who was watching on the YouTube live stream back in Stortford, she absolutely stormed to Gold and a new PB in the final.  Having been nearly 2.5 seconds behind the leader at the turn for the final length, the commentary on the live feed during her winning comeback was hugely entertaining!

“Well, I did not see that coming at all”

“She should not be able to do that – it should not be possible”

“Came back like a train”

Days three and four there were more two more events, two more finals and four more PBs, resulting in 6th in the 400m Freestyle and 4th in the 200m IM.

The final day of the competition was another breaststroke day, this time the 100m and another rivalry with the swimmer she beat into second in the 200m Breaststroke.  Unfortunately, this time it was Kirsty’s turn to lose out, but she still secured a superb Silver medal.

Kirsty and her proud family supporters!

Congratulations to Kirsty for all her performances (and the family for the great support!), but especially the 200m Breaststroke swim that makes her the fastest 15 year old in Britain.

Schedule changes from 16-May-22

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As our members know, we will soon be saying goodbye to Coach Mat and therefore some slight adjustments will need to happen to squad schedules. The updates have already been communicated by email to all four affected squads, but here’s a reminder of the new schedules that will be used from Monday 16 May onwards. Any questions please contact Headcoach Benoit.

Newsletter – 2022 Spring-Summer Edition

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Not sure about you, but this season seems to be flashing by so quickly!! Last moment it was Christmas and suddenly Counties was months ago, we’re in the middle of Regionals, chasing Summer Championship times and about to compete in Peanuts for the first time since 2019!

This edition of Babble celebrates all the great achievements from 2022 so far (and there have been many!), sees a welcome return to swimmer profiles – including an interview with a Commonwealth Games Medalist – and takes a look forward to the rest of the season. Happy reading!

DownloadNewsletter – 2022 Spring-Summer Edition (2.2 MB)

Four BSSC Swimmers Join the Top in Britain

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Congratulations to all our swimmers who competed at the British Swimming Championships in April. This annual event brings together the top swimmers in the country and with teams for many International events, including the upcoming Commonwealth games, being selected from the championship results the likes of Adam Peaty, Duncan Scott, Anna Hopkin and Abbie Wood were present and in great form!

Unfortunately, although they achieved the British Qualifying Time for the 50m Breaststroke, restrictions on numbers at the event meant Lauren Gore and our overseas member Holly Clifford did not get to compete, with Lauren missing out by just 0.06 seconds.  Niamh James also could not compete in the 50m Backstroke.  Well done to them all for achieving the times and we look forward to reporting on a future event where they have competed!

The remaining four BSSC swimmers swum superbly against the top swimmers in the Country, getting close to personal best times and beating them in the case of Callum (50m Butterfly) and Kirsty (50m Breaststroke).  In the 200m Breaststroke, Kirsty was the fastest swimmer in her 15 year old age group. 

It was also lovely to see an old club member, Cira Fletcher, still swimming and achieving so well.  Cira, swimming for Nova Centurion SC, came 6th in the open finals of the 50m and 200m breaststrokes with two PBs, and was 3rd in the B final on the 100m breaststroke with a time very close to her PB.

Focus now turns to Regionals and also qualifications for the British and English Summer Championships, where these swimmers will hopefully be joined by more club members.

  • Millie, Kirsty, Niamh, Coach Mat
  • Kirsty & Niamh with hoodies!!
  • Callum

Callum Davis (Open age group) – 50m Butterfly: 97th Open (26.29 PB)

Kirsty Neill (15 yr) – 50m Breaststroke: 7th fastest in age group (34.55 PB); 200m Breaststroke: 14/17yrs 20th overall, 1st in 2007 age group (2:40.85)

Millie Fields (Open age group) – 200m Freestyle: 107th Open (2:12.49)

Niamh James (Open age group) – 100m Backstroke: 71st Open (1:06.17); 200m Backstroke: 32nd Open (2:20.00)

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.