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.
BSSC Masters represent Hertfordshire
Ten members of Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club’s Masters squad were recently selected to represent Hertfordshire, in the Swim England National Masters Inter-County Competition. Held across six nationwide events with all 33 English Counties competing for the first time in the 22 year history of the event, the results were amalgamated into a National league table and Hertfordshire came a very respectable 14th in an event won by Devon.
At each Regional event swimmers competed in 50m backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle for women and men in age groups 18 plus, 25 plus, 35 plus, 45 plus, 55 plus, 65 plus and 50m freestyle for age group 75 plus. Relays (one team per county) were 4 x 50m medley and freestyle for women and men for combined age groups 72 plus, 100 plus, 140 plus, 180 plus, 220 plus and mixed (two women and two men) 4 x 50m mixed medley and freestyle for age group 260 plus.
All swimmers contributed to the great final position of Hertfordshire but the achievements of Alyson Fordham swimming in the 65 plus age group are definite highlights. Alyson dominated the field in two of her events, coming 1st in the 50m freestyle (32.32) and 50m backstroke (39.37) and she also came 4th in the amalgamated results in the 50m breaststroke (44.39) and 50m butterfly (37.66). Youngsters Callum Davis and Niamh James achieved top ten English finishes in their 18 plus races too: Niamh 6th in the 50m backstroke (32.22) and Callum 7th in 50m butterfly (26.74)
Ex Stortford coach Barry Chandler swam for Suffolk (24th overall) coming 2nd in the 50m butterfly (32.12) and 3rd in the 50m freestyle (30.05).
Full individual BSSC (old and current!) Swim England amalgamated results :
- 50m Freestyle female: 1st Alyson Fordham (65+), 13th Sally Winter (55+), 25th Helen Shingler (45+)
- 50m Freestyle male: 3rd Barry Chandler (Suffolk, 65+), 14th Callum Davis (18+)
- 50m Breaststroke female: 4th Alyson Fordham (65+), 13th Niamh James (18+), 24th Helen Shingler
- 50m Breaststroke male: 15th Joe Collins (18+), 28th Jake Lloyd (25+)
- 50m Butterfly female: 4th Lizzie Bellinger (35+) and Alyson Fordham (65+), 13th Niamh James (18+), 14th Sally Winter (55+), 17th Anne Vanner (Suffolk, 55+), 28th Helen Shingler (45+)
- 50m Butterfly male: 2nd Barry Chandler (Suffolk, 65+), 7th Callum Davis (18+), 20th Jake Lloyd (25+)
- 50m Backstroke female: 1st Alyson Fordham (65+), 6th Niamh James (18+), 12th Sally Winter (55+), 16th Lizzie Bellinger (45+), 19th Helen Shingler (45+)
- 50m Backstroke male: 14th Dan Chada (18+), 24th Jake Lloyd (25+)
BSSC Masters: Alyson Fordham, Aoife James, Callum Davis, Dan Chada, Helen Shingler, Jake Lloyd, Joe Collins, Lizzie Bellinger, Niamh James, Sally Winter and
Ex-BSSC Masters: Anne Vanner (Suffolk), Barry Chandler (Suffolk)
Record breaking Masters smash Nationals
Thanks so much to Stu Clarke (ex BSSC Masters Coach, current Head Coach BSM Marlins, Oman) for his daily Facebook updates on the progress of our BSSC Masters at the Swim England Masters Short Course championships. We loved them so much, that we’ve posted them below along with a photo of the fabulous team who came 49th out of 271 clubs! Between them, the team brought home 8 Gold and 1 Silver medal, 12 top ten finishes and Alyson broke her GB age group record in the 100m Freestyle and three GB AND European records in the 50m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle and 100m IM!!! Wow!
Congratulations to Alex Catton, Alyson Fordham, Callum Davis, Dan Chada, Jake Lloyd, Joe Collins, Niamh James and Sally Winter.
—MASTERS NATIONALS DAY 1 UPDATE—
Awesome performances from the BSSC contingent on day 1 in Sheffield at the Swim England National Masters Short Course Champs.
Current British and European record holder Alyson Fordham did it again in the 65-69yrs 200m freestyle, breaking her own records (subject to verification on the Euro record!) to win GOLD in a time of 2.33! Club president Sally Winter also remained unbeaten at the championships in the 200m freestyle (over a 10 year period now!), winning GOLD in the 60-64yrs category with a time of 2.28!
In the 18-24yrs category, the BSSC swimmers were up against the Loughborough Uni team, featuring members of Team GB amongst its squad! There were still however top 6 finishes for Niamh James and Daniel Chada in the 100 back. Callum Davis was only 0.5secs off his pb in the 100 fly, with a fantastic time of 57.1 to finish 11th too, with the Loughborough team making a higher finish extremely difficult!
Coach Joe Collins swam a very solid 33.1 on the 50 breast whilst Jake Lloyd made his comeback with top 10 finishes in the 200 free and 100 fly.
On a side note, 91 year old swimming legend Jane Asher swam a time of 4mins 04secs in the 200m freestyle! Wow!
More fast swimming from our team tomorrow! Let’s go BSSC!
—MASTERS NATIONALS DAY 2 UPDATE—
More cracking swimming from the Stortford swimmers at the Masters Nationals!
After gold medal winning performances yesterday in the 200m freestyle, Alyson Fordham and Sally Winter were up again in the 400m freestyle today. Alyson, who broke the British record in the event earlier this year, beat her competition by 20 seconds to win another GOLD whilst Sally defended her title too with a second GOLD! Awesome job ladies! Alyson then went on to destroy her own EUROPEAN RECORD in the 50m freestyle, with a staggering time of 30.3 secs! What a fantastic swim!
There were more fireworks from some of the younger Stortford swimmers too, with Niamh James smashing her pb in the 50m freestyle (27.2!) to finish in a brilliant 6th place, beating several of the Loughborough team in the process! Callum Davis and Daniel Chada both went sub 25 secs in the 50m freestyle too, with Dan adding a 9th place finish in the 50m backstroke (28.5). Dan was just edged out by team mate Alex Catton by 0.1 secs, who finished in 8th with a time of 28.4 secs.
Callum Davis also took on the 200m butterfly, narrowly missing a medal in 4th place (2.18). Joe Collins rounded off proceedings with one of his quickest swims of the past few years in the 100m breaststroke, finishing in the top 20 with a time of 1.13.
Awesome swimming everyone! One more day of fast swimming to come. Let’s go BSSC!
—MASTERS NATIONALS DAY 3 UPDATE —
It was another ‘golden’ day for our Inspirational Masters squad in Sheffield! Alyson Fordham broke her own British record in the 100m freestyle, adding to her tally of five gold medals in total! What an incredible meet for Alyson!
Sally Winter added the 100m freestyle title in the age group below, herself now achieving the triple crown of 100, 200, and 400m freestyle titles!
Niamh James swam arguably her best swim of the meet, picking up a fantastic silver medal in the 18-24yrs category 200IM (2.23), beating several Open National level swimmers in the process. Jake Lloyd also took on the 200IM, finishing in a brilliant 5th place, proving that the comeback is well and truly ‘on’!
Long-standing member Callum Davis took on his favoured 50m fly, and he only narrowly missed out on a top 10 finish. Overall, he swam some brilliant swims though and should be very proud of his performances.
What a fantastic meet overall from our Masters stars! Congratulations everyone! Absolutely awesome!
Successful Summer for Masters Swimmer Bellinger
The 2022 World Triathlon Long Distance and Aquathlon Championships took place August 18-21, 2022 in Samorin, X-Bionic Sphere, near Bratislava Slovakia and BSSC Masters swimmer Elizabeth Bellinger joined 6 other athletes representing Team GB in the 40-44 age group. The Aquathlon course involved a 1km swim in the river Danube, followed by a 5km run. Team GB smashed the age group, taking the top 7 places over teams from USA, Denmark, Brazil and Austria and Lizzie got Bronze!
The season still wasn’t over for Lizzie, as the European Masters Aquatics Championships kicked off in Rome shortly after the World Aquathlon Championships! Lizzie kicked off her campaign in style, dominating the 40-44yr 100m fly to take Gold by over 3.5 seconds! Two more great swims followed
in the 200m IM and 50m fly and Lizzie picked up two Bronze medals. Superb summer swimming!
National Records Tumble in Aberdeen
Having smashed multiple short course (25m pool) British and European records in March 2022, BSSC Masters swimmer Alyson Fordham took on a long course (50m pool) record breaking challenge with gusto at the recent British Masters Championships 2022. The event held in Aberdeen brought together the best Masters swimmers across the three Home Nations along with International visitors, for the first time in three years.
Freestyle specialist Alyson dominated the 65-69 year old category, taking Gold in the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m events. Her gold medal winning 50m freestyle time of 31.13 seconds was a British and European record, the 100m (1:10.53) and 200m (2:43.59) results were both British records and the 400m (5:47.04) time was an East Region record.
Alyson now has her sights set on the Swim England Masters National Championships in October, which are the highlight of the national Masters short course calendar.
Masterful Start to 2022 for a Trio of BSSC Masters
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.
