BSSC has a vibrant, fun and welcoming Masters squad with swimmers aged 18 to 60+. We have a wide range of abilities with fitness swimmers wanting the incentive of a regular, motivating training programme, competitive triathletes and open water swimmers striving to enhance their swim performance and competitive European and World Masters swimmers. The squad is offered eight coached pool sessions each week across two different local pools. There are different Masters membership price plans based on your chosen attendance hours.
The photos and articles below show the variety of events attended and achievements gained by our Masters squad, from the more social aspects of Swim Serpentine, Marathon Swims and charity galas, to representing Hertfordshire in Intercounty competitions and winning medals and breaking records at National and International competitions.
Masters triumph at Nationals
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)
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?)…
Gold medal haul for Masters at East Region Championships
Sunday 29th September saw BSSC Masters swimmers Jake Lloyd, Niamh James, Callum Davis, Lucy Wheeler and Sally Winter travel to Newmarket for Swim England’s East Region Masters Championships.
The team were in fantastic form, with 16 medals won – 14 of them gold. Highlights from the day included the 4 x 50m freestyle and medley relays, with Niamh, Callum, Jake and Lucy taking gold in both events.
Alyson Fordham continued her record-breaking streak, taking two seconds off her own British 200m backstroke record with a time of 2:51.51.
Alyson was also presented with the British Swimming Masters Decathlon 2023 trophy. Over the year, swimmers’ performances from Masters competitions are assigned points, and the top male and top female (highest points for the 10 strokes they have chosen) receive the trophy.
Full results
65/69 years
Alyson Fordham – Gold 50m Freestyle, 200m Backstroke, 50m Backstroke, 100m Individual Medley
60/64 years
Sally Winter – Gold 200m Freestyle and 100m Freestyle
25/29 years
Jake Lloyd – Gold 50m Butterfly, 400m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly
18/24 years
Callum Davis – Gold 100m Butterfly and Silver 50m butterfly
18/24 years
Naimh James – Gold100m Butterfly and 100m Breaststroke, Silver 100m Individual Medley
Relays
Gold in the mixed 4x50m Medley relay and mixed 4 x 50m Freestyle relay.
The relay team: Niamh James, Callum Davis, Jake Lloyd and Lucy Wheeler.
Beating the best in Europe
Two BSSC Masters recently represented Team GB at the European Aquatics Masters Championships in Belgrade. Both Alyson Fordham (65-69 yrs) and Lizzie Bellinger (45-59 yrs) were on superb form across multiple events.
Lizzie, the current Aquatics GB record holder in the 100m Fly, was in action across four events and secured an impressive three Silver medals and one Bronze medal, setting Swim England East Region records in both the 200m and 400m Individual Medleys.
Alyson, the European Record holder in the 50m and 100m Freestyle, kicked off her campaign with a Silver in the 50m Breaststroke, and quickly followed that up with two superb Gold medals and European Masters Championship Records in the 50m and 100m Freestyle.
Congratulations to them both for their amazing and inspirational achievement.
Full results:
Lizzie Bellinger:
- Silver 50m Butterfly (30.73)
- Silver 100m Butterfly (1:09.79)
- Silver 200m IM (2:41.31, East Region Record)
- Bronze 400m IM (5:59.63, East Region Record)
Alyson Fordham:
- Gold 50m Freestyle (30.90, Championship Record)
- Gold 100m Freestyle (1:10.53, Championship Record)
- Silver 50m Breaststroke (42.59)
BSSC Masters Shine at Hertfordshire Championships
Eight BSSC Masters swimmers won medals in every event they entered at the recent Swim England Hertfordshire Masters Championships, bringing home an amazing 22 individual (20 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze) and 5 relay medals (4 Gold, 1 Silver). Regular competitors Joe Collins, Callum Davis, Alyson Fordham, Niamh James, Jake Lloyd and Sally Winter were joined by Geoff Short and Anel Zuniga-Daly and their superb combined performances resulted in BSSC being the third ranked club in Hertfordshire, an amazing performance for a team of just eight swimmers.
Callum Davis completed an individual clean sweep taking Gold in all five male events in his 18/24Yrs age group; Jake Lloyd was denied the same feat in the 25/29Yrs age group when he was pipped to Gold in the 50m Breaststroke by Joe Collins, but still came away with four Golds and 1 Silver medal; whilst Niamh James, Geoff Short and Sally Winter all won three Golds each. The relay teams were equally successful, resulting in four Gold and 1 Silver finishes.
Congratulations to all our swimmers and we look forward to even more Masters competing in these championships next year!
Full results:
- Callum Davis (18/24Yrs): Gold 100m IM, 50m Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke, 50m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle
- Niamh James (18/24Yrs): Gold 100m IM, 50m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly
- Jake Lloyd (25/29Yrs): Gold 100m IM, 50m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle, Silver 50m Breaststroke
- Joe Collins (25/29Yrs): Gold 50m Breaststroke
- Geoff Short (35/39Yrs): Gold 50m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle
- Anel Zuniga-Daly (40/44Yrs): Bronze 50m Butterfly
- Sally Winter (60/64Yrs): Gold 50m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle
- Alyson Fordham (65/69Yrs): Gold 50m Freestyle
- Female 072+ Yrs Relay Team (Niamh, Sally, Alyson, Anel): Gold 4x50m Freestyle, Silver 4x50m Medley
- Open/Male 072+ Yrs Relay Team (Jake, Callum, Joe, Geoff): Gold 4x50m Freestyle, Gold 4x50m Medley
- Mixed 160+ Yrs Relay Team (Jake, Joe, Sally, Alyson): Gold 4x25m Medley
BSSC Masters on Top of the World in 2023
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.
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)
