Ably marshalled by Team Manager Matt Gomez, Oxfordshire and North Bucks Masters took part in the South East gala of the Masters Intercounties contest in Guildford at the start of November. Results, once compiled with the other four regional galas, placed ONB in 20th out of 31 counties nationally. 

Stand-out swims from Oxon and North Bucks swimmers which were enough to get top 5 places nationally were:

2nd Ryan Anscomb (CMK) Men's 18+ 50 fly 26.09

3rd Ryan Anscomb (CMK) Men's 18+ 50 back 27.26

3rd Peter Williams (COSC) Men's 25+ 50 breast 30.92

3rd Dave Denny (COSC) Men's 35+ 50 back 28.98

4th Matt Gomez (COSC) Men's 45+ 50 fly 29.40

5th Dave Denny (COSC) Men's 35+ 50 fly 27.70

5th Men's 72+ 4x50 medley relay 1.53.38

5th Men's 100+ 4x50 medley relay 1.51.92

Berks and South Bucks Open Masters Championships- Maidenhead

A small squad of five swimmers made the trip down the M40 to Maidenhead last weekend and returned with three County records and eight golds.

Swim of the day was Dave Denny's 200 butterfly where he lapped the rest of the fastest heat on the way to a new County record of 2.10.54 off of a 1.02.05 100 split and what looked like a pain-filled second hundred. The ovation from sections of the crowd was well deserved. Dave also took the 50 breast in 34.79 to score valuable points in our men's attempt at improving their current third place in the men's team standings in the 2011 ASA Masters Decathlon.

More vital Decathlon points were gathered by Graeme Spence, making two rare forays into backstroke. Graeme's 200m of 2.21.51 knocked 11 seconds off of the County record and was enough to take gold in the 25-29 age group. He also was the fastest 100 IMer at Maidenhead, winning in 1.04.42 and also took gold in the 50 back in 32.15.

For Ruth Grice it was a case of unfinished business after having broken the County record in the ladies 25-29 200 breaststroke at Sheffield only to be disqualified for an infringement at a turn. After a second in the 50 (39.55) and a third in the 100 breast (1.25.12), a new costume saw her win gold in the 200 and knock 5 seconds off her Sheffield swim and 10 off the County record to dip under 3 minutes in 2.59.70.

Simon Joyce took gold in the 30-34 200 breast in 2.47.16 and the 100 IM in 1.10.79, following a silver in the 200 free in 2.11.25.  Alan Beggs came 8th in the 200 free and 9th in the 100. 

Thanks as always to Tim for his support and coaching on the day. Results are now available: http://www.bsbasa.org/ and also on our Results page.

And finally...

Congratulations to recent COSC Masters departee Bobby Oag, who won the 25-29 Men's 1500 free at the recent Scottish Masters 1500 Championships in a speedy 18.27.26.

Thanks to Matt Gomez for the report.

City of Oxford Masters swimmers returned from the National Championships at Sheffield at the weekend with their biggest record and medal haul ever. The highlights were 3 European and 7 British Records.

The team of Dave Denny, Sara Dykes, Marie Royal and Matthew Gomez set new British and European records for both the mixed 160-199 combined years age group 4 x 100m medley (by a massive 13 seconds) and 4 x 200m free relays (by a mere 0.09 hundredths of a second). Marie, Sara and Matthew were then joined in the 160-199 4 x 100m free relay by Chris Aust to set a new British record knocking 7 seconds off the previous best.

The ladies 160-199 team of Marie Royal, Joanne Eaton, Sara Dykes and Maggie Smith also set a new European and British record in the 4 x 100m free relay by over 3 seconds. 

The other British relay records for Oxford came in the men's 100-119 4 x 100m free where the team of Dave Denny, Ian Surrage, Chris Aust and Chris Marsh took 10 seconds off the old record and the men's 72+ 4 x 100m med team of Joe Canlan-Shaw, Ian Surrage, Dave Denny and Chris Aust who took 5 seconds off the old record.

The final British record set by the Oxford team came from Chris Aust in the individual men's 25-29 age group 50m breast stroke where he won gold swimming a stunning 28.84.

Gold medals came from Dave Denny in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle and 400 individual medley, Chris Aust in the 100 breast stroke and 100 IM, Chris Marsh in the 400 free and IM and for the ladies Sara Dykes in the 50 butterfly and 200 and 400 freestyle.

Other relay golds were achieved in the mixed 160-199 4x50 free relay and the men's 100-119 4 x 50 med and freestyle relays.

Silver medals went to Sara (40) and Maggie (50) in the 100 free, Joanne (30) in the 200 backstroke and Zsuzsanna Felvegi (30) 400 free, Matthew (45) in the 100 breast and IM, Pete Williams (30) in the 50 breast, David Hall (65) in the 200 breast 100 butterfly, Dave (35) 200 back, Chris Marsh (25) 1500 free and 200 IM, Joe (23) 100 IM and Chris Aust (25) 200 breast. Relays :- Mens 72+ 4 x 200 free and mixed 72+ 4 x 50 med and 4 x 200 free and mixed 100-119 4 x 50 medley.

Bronze medals were won for the ladies by Maggie 400 free, Joanne 200 back and Alice Dinsdale-Young 400m IM and for the men Matthew 50 free and breast, and 200 IM, Dave 100 back, Dave Hall 100 breast and 200IM, Ian Surrage 200m breast and Pete 100IM. Relays mixed 200-239 4 x100 free and women's 120-159 4 x 50 free relay.

In all there were 21 gold, 18 silver and 13 bronze medals won by the team and over 50 county records set which is a testament to the outstanding coaching given by Tim. This lead to the fact that everyone of the 21 strong team that we sent to Sheffield came away with medal and personal bests from the weekend’s swimming.

City of Oxford placings (and County Records, NCR, with medal-winning performances in bold) in an event which boasted record numbers of entries were:

Female

18-24 yrs

Jo Davies: 8th, 800 free (NCR, 10:57.66); 9th, 400 free; 12th, 200 free; 23rd, 100 free; 24th, 50 free.

Alice Dinsdale-Young: 3rd, 400 IM (NCR, 6:13.65); 9th, 200 breast; 13th, 100 breast and 200 IM; 20th, 100 IM.

Kezia Pullinger: 8th, 200 free; 10th, 50 free; 13th, 100 free and 50 back, 16th, 50th fly.

25-29yrs

Ruth Grice: 14th, 50 breast; 15th, 100 breast; 17th, 50 back; 23rd, 100 IM; 27th, 50 free; 33rd, 100 free.

30-34yrs

Jo Eaton: 2nd, 400IM; 3rd, 200 back (NCR, 2:40.36); 5th, 400 free and 100 fly; 6th, 100 back (NCR, 1:12.37).

Zsuzsanna Felvegi: 2nd, 400 free; 4th, 800 and 1500 free; 6th, 50 and 100 fly; 7th, 200 free; 11th, 100 free; 14th, 50 free.

35-39yrs

Kirsty Harvey: 6th, 200 IM; 7th, 1500 free; 9th, 400 free; 11th, 50 breast; 17th, 100 IM; 18th, 100 free.

40-44yrs

Sara Dykes: 1st, 200 free, 400 free (NCR, 4:49.29), 50 fly (NCR, 30.24); 2nd, 100 free.

50-54yrs

Maggie Smith: 2nd, 100 free; 3rd, 400 free; 4th, 50 and 200 free (NCR, 2:33.39), 50 fly.

Male

18-24 yrs

Joe Canlan-Shaw: 2nd, 100 IM (NCR, 58.76); 4th, 100 fly. NCR in 100 back (56.81) as a relay split.

25-29yrs

Chris Aust: 1st, 50 breast (New British Record and NCR, 28.44), 100 breast (NCR, 1:04.67) and 100 IM (NCR, 58.86); 2nd, 200 breast (NCR, 2.26.81); 5th, 100 free (NCR, 52.69) and 50 fly; 7th, 50 free.

Olivier Dudas: 6th, 100 back; 7th, 50 back and 200 IM; 10th, 50 fly; 11th, 100 fly; 13th, 100 IM; 14th, 50 free; 19th, 100 free.

Chris Marsh: 1st, 400 free and 400 IM (NCR, 5:01.35); 2nd, 200 IM and 1500 free; 4th, 200 free; 9th, 100 fly; 10th, 100 free and 100 IM; 15th, 100 breast.

Ian Surrage: 3rd, 200 breast; 6th, 50 breast; 8th, 100 breast; 9th, 50 back and 50 fly.

30-34yrs

Simon Joyce: 5th, 800 free; 8th, 200 IM; 9th, 400 free; 12th, 200 free; 29th, 100 free.

Peter Williams: 2nd, 50 breast (NCR, 30.52); 3rd, 100 IM (NCR, 1:01.80); 8th, 50 free.

35-39yrs

Dave Denny: 1st, 200 free, 400 free (NCR, 4:13.80), 800 free (NCR, 8:47.46), 400 IM (NCR, 4:45.95); 2nd, 200 back (NCR, 2:18.16); 3rd, 100 back (NCR, 1:01.95)

40-44yrs

Jon Darby: 8th, 400 IM; 13th, 400 free; 21st, 50 breast; 24th, 50 free; 25th, 100 IM; 26th, 50 fly; 27th, 100 free.

45-49yrs

Matt Gomez: 2nd, 100 breast (NCR, 1:14.57) and 100 IM (NCR, 1:08.11); 3rd, 50 free (NCR, 26.28), 50 breast (NCR, 33.03) and 200 IM (NCR, 2:29.77); 4th, 400 free (NCR, 4:45.33); 6th, 100 fly; 8th, 100 free.

65-69yrs

David Hall: 2nd, 200 breast , 100 and 200 fly; 3rd, 100 breast and 200 IM; 4th, 400 and 800 free, 50 breast.

Relays

Women's

72+

4x50 medley (Kezia Pullinger, Alice Dinsdale-Young, Sara Dykes, Jo Davies): 7th

120-159

4x50 medley (Jo Eaton, Ruth Grice, Zsuzsanna Felvegi, Maggie Smith): 5th

4x100 medley (Jo Eaton, Ruth Grice, Zsuzsanna Felvegi, Sara Dykes): 6th, 5:02.15 (NCR)

160-199

4x100 freestyle (Sara Dykes, Jo Eaton, Maggie Smith, Marie Royal): 1st, 4:21.59 (New British and European Record)

Men's

72+

4x50 freestyle: 1st

4x100 medley (Joe Canlan-Shaw, Ian Surrage, Dave Denny, Chris Aust): 1st, 3:56.00 (New British Record)

4x200 freestyle (Chris Aust, Chris Marsh, Simon Joyce, Dave Denny): 2nd, 8:15.91 (NCR and inside the existing British and European records in the 120-159 age group (the team added up to 125 yrs)).

100-119

4x50 freestyle (Peter Williams, Olivier Dudas, Ian Surrage, Dave Denny): 1st

4x100 freestyle (Chris Aust, Ian Surrage, Chris Marsh, Dave Denny): 1st, 3:39.82 (New British Record)

4x50 medley (Dave Denny, Ian Surrage, Chris Marsh, Chris Aust): 1st, 1:51.19 (NCR)

120-159

4x100 medley (Simon Joyce, Peter Williams, Olivier Dudas, Chris Marsh): 4th, 4:17.01 (NCR)

Mixed

72+

4x50 freestyle (Joe Canlan-Shaw, Kezia Pullinger, Jo Davies, Olivier Dudas): 5th

4x100 freestyle (Chris Marsh, Kezia Pullinger, Zsuzsanna Felvegi, Joe Canlan-Shaw): 2nd, 3:56.58 (NCR)

4x200 freestyle (Joe Canlan-Shaw, Zsuzsanna Felvegi, Jo Davies, Chris Marsh): 2nd, 8:54.01 (NCR)

4x50 medley (Joe Canlan-Shaw, Alice Dinsdale-Young, Olivier Dudas, Kezia Pullinger): 5th

100-119

4x50 medley (Jo Eaton, Ian Surrage, Zsuzsanna Felvegi, Chris Aust): 2nd, 1:59.33 (NCR)

120-159

4x50 freestyle (Chris Marsh, Jo Eaton, Zsuzsanna Felvegi, Peter Williams): 5th, 1:49.12 (NCR)

4x100 freestyle (Olivier Dudas, Jo Eaton, Ruth Grice, Simon Joyce): 6th, 4:12.17 (NCR)

4x50 medley (Simon Joyce, Ruth Grice, Dave Denny, Maggie Smith): 7th

160-199

4x50 freestyle (Chris Aust, Sara Dykes, Marie Royal, Matt Gomez): 1st, 1:49.22 (NCR)

4x100 freestyle (Chris Aust, Sara Dykes, Marie Royal, Matt Gomez): 1st, 4:03.08 (New British Record)

4x200 freestyle (Dave Denny, Sara Dykes, Marie Royal, Matt Gomez): 1st, 8:53.53 (New British and European Record)

4x100 medley (Dave Denny, Matt Gomez, Sara Dykes, Marie Royal): 1st, 4.30.67 (New British and European Record)

200-239

4x100 freestyle (Maggie Smith, David Hall, Kirsty Harvey, Jon Darby): 3rd, 5:02.57 (NCR)

Men and women make great strides in Masters Decathlon competition

The weekend of successes at Sheffield has had the happy side-effect of boosting the rankings for individuals and teams in the national Masters Decathlon contest.

COSC men, who had dropped to sixth in the team contest in recent weeks, surged to third (on 19073 points), behind London-based Otter (19840) and only 13 points behind Trafford Metro (19086).  This was in the most part due to point-tastic performances from Messrs Gomez, Marsh and Denny. The four scorers for the team are currently:

Matt Gomez (5235 points from 10 events, good enough for 13th in the individual competition)

Chris Marsh (4963 from 10, 23rd)

Dave Denny (4746 from 8, 37th)

Simon Joyce (4129 from 10, 76th)

With Dave as well as Chris Aust (3896 from 6, 91st), Olivier Dudas (3802 from 8, 98th) and Graeme Spence (3617 from 7, 112th) all with the possibility of adding many 100s of points to their score between now and the end of the year and becoming one of the four team scorers, improving on third-placed team is a distinct possibility.

Not to be outdone, COSC ladies soared up the female team rankings post-Sheffield to 15th on 13143 points thanks to extra swims from:

Zsuzsanna Felvegi (4432 points from 10 events, placing her 43rd in the overall women's rankings)

Jo Eaton (3665 from 8, 90th)

Kirsty Harvey (2582 from 8, 219th)

Ruth Grice (2464 from 6, 245th)

With only a few weeks and a handful of meets available across the country, both our men and women should making significant improvements on their positions from last year (16th and 40th respectively).

South East Region Masters Results

Some late withdrawls meant that only two Masters swimmers made the trip down to Aldershot on Saturday for the SE Masters, however the duo were not without success. Dave Denny led home the entire field in the 200IM by 8 seconds, winning the event and his 35-39 age group in 2.19.67 and then followed up with a win in the 100 free in 56.35. Both of these swims were County Records. Zsuzsanna Felvegi continued her recent good form in winning the 30-34 years 100 fly in 1.14.17 and taking silvers in the 50 fly in 32.69 and 100IM in 1.18.21. She then followed up with good swims in a competitive 200 free (4th, 2.26.20) and 5th in the 50 backstroke (37.46).

Queenford Lake Relays

18 teams of brave souls, 3 from COSC, took a bracing early morning dip in Queenford Lakes near Berinsfield last weekend for the inaugural relay competition. 14 degree water temperature (and that was a generous estimate), 8 degree air temperature and an early start (7am) made for a challenging swim of a 1.15k lap with four swimmers per team and only the promise of a cup of tea and bacon sandwich to keep them going.

COSC Men, in the non-wetsuit category, got off to a flyer with Ben Chapman finishing the first leg in second place overall, only headed by a very fast wetsuited triathlete. Following solid legs from Mike Whitworth and Simon Joyce, Dave Denny took over on the anchor leg well clear of the other non-wetsuit teams and in 5th overall, narrowly behind our own wetsuited ladies team. Dave put in a storming leg (13.41 for fastest non-wetsuit leg and 4th fastest of all swimmers there on the day) to bring the men home fourth overall and first non-wetsuit team. The addition of wetsuits would have made for an interesting race between the men and the winning male wetsuit team, comprised of top triathlete swimmers from across the south.

Also convincing winners of their category, the multi-national COSC Ladies (sensibly wearing wetsuits) put in a great performance with all four swimmers recording split times within 30 seconds of each other.  Jo Davies handed over in 6th overall after the first leg with Zsuzsanna Felvegi improving to 4th at halfway. Charlie James swam an equally strong third stint and Sonia Bracegirdle bought the team home in 5th place overall and nearly 24 minutes ahead of the next team in their class.

After a fast start from their main competition (a team of youngsters from Wantage), the COSC Mixed team of Liz Barker, Janette Cardy, Jason Bruce and Jon Darby (also in wetsuits) were always closing but finished a second in their class and 9th overall. Also mention must go to Matt Gomez who put in a fast 14.21 wetsuited swim to bring Oxford Water Polo home in first place in the Masters Men (45+) class and 6th overall.

Split times:

COSC Men (non-wetsuit): 59.28: Ben Chapman (14.10), Mike Whitworth (16.31), Simon Joyce (15.06), Dave Denny (13.41)

COSC Ladies (wetsuit): 1.00.39: Jo Davies (15.28), Zsuzsanna Felvegi (15.01), Charlie James (15.00), Sonia Bracegirdle (15.10)

COSC Mixed (wetsuit): 1.06.18: Liz Barker (15.53), Janette Cardy (16.21), Jason Bruce (17.29), Jon Darby (16.35)

Barnet Sprint Meet Results

The first Masters meet after the summer break bought plenty of success for three members of the Masters squad, bringing home 8 golds and 4 silvers between them.

Matt Gomez returned from his holidays to lead the haul, bringing home gold in the 45-49 years 50 fly (31.09), 100 free (1.04.18), 100 IM (1.12.41), 100 breast (1.22.09) and blasting a 13.15 25 free to take first place.

Graeme Spence led the whole field home in the 100 fly, finishing just outside the magic minute mark (1.00.12). He was also the fastest breaststroker at the meet, winning the 100 in 1.11.66 and came a close second in the 25-29 100 freestyle, clocking 56.68.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Brian Reed recorded some of his fastest times of recent years, winning gold in the 70-74 years 100 IM in 1.42.81 and silvers in the 50 free (36.05), 100 free (1.23.30), 50 breast (51.43).

COSC men up to fourth in the Decathlon team event

As one of the four current highest scoring male swimmers, Graeme's results from the Barnet meet added to the COSC Men team totals in the British Swimming Masters Decathlon (see previous news updates for more information on the Decathlon and here for current results: http://www.swimmingresults.org/mastersdata/decathlon/2011/index.php?view=summary).

This was enough to bring us up to 4th place in the current male team standings on 16761 points, behind leaders Birmingham Masters (18619), London-based Masters 'superclub' Otter (18104) and just five points behind third-placed Kenilworth Masters (16765). Any placing even in the top 10 at the end of year would herald a real step up for us, as we finished 16th last year.

With no ladies from the club swimming at Barnet, we remain in 24th in the women's club competition.

Open Water Latest

Several COSC Masters swimmers have been tearing it up outside of the pool in their wetsuits in recent weeks. At the Big Cotswold Swim, Charlie James finished second overall and second woman in the 1500m event in a fast 20.46, whilst Eamonn Deeley came ninth in the 3k event in 42.02 (which he followed up by a sub-56 minute 3.8k last week at Reading to finish in the top three there) and Claire Vallance was ninth woman in 48.46.

Janette Cardy and Andrew Spencer both took on the 1500m at the Marlow Thames Swim, Janette finishing 11th overall and 4th woman in 23.18, Spenny coming home 45th overall and 3rd non-wetsuit swimmer in 28.30.  They then both made an appearance at the RNLI Long Swim Series in tricky conditions off Bournemouth Beach, Janette clocking 33.20 for the 1 mile to finish 7th overall (2nd woman) and Andy coming 49th in 1.26.11 for the 3.8k and one of the first swimmers to finish without a wetsuit.

Rushmoor Royals Long Course Masters Meet

Eight COSC Masters swimmers made the trip down to Aldershot for the inaugural Rushmoor long course meet in July, returning with 16 golds, 4 silvers and 4 bronzes.  Our summer visitor from across the pond, Georgia Tech swimmer Eric Chiu led the way, taking victories in each of his races (50 freestyle 24.78, 50 back 28.81, 100 back 1.02.59 and 100 fly 1.03.01).

Chris Marsh swam a relaxed programme of just five events, winning three (200 free 2.08.88, 100 back 1.13.04 and 100 fly 1.05.12) and taking second in the other two (100 free 59.14 and 100 breast 1.17.51).

Zsuzsanna Felvegi also had a busy meet with three wins in the 100 fly (1.15.70, a new County record), 50 fly (33.86) and 200 free (2.30.56), a silver in the 100 free (1.07.57), bronzes in the 50 free (31.95) and 50 back (38.06) and 4th in the 50 breast (42.26). She continued this good form on a trip to Hungary, winning medals at the National Masters there.

Jo Eaton was also in County record-breaking form, taking wins in new marks in the 50 (35.73) and 100 backstroke (1.16.52) as well as a third place in 100 free (1.08.52). Marcos Vieira won the 'Battle of the Brazilians', pippingRomulo de Lazzari in the 50 free to win in 26.12 (to Romulo's second place in 26.67) and also winning the 50 fly in 28.15. Romulo won the 50 back in 32.56 and took home bronze in the 100 free, 1.00.43.

Matt Gomez won the 50 back in 35.11, whilst Jon Darby just missed out on the medals in three events coming 4th in the 50 breast (40.34), 50 back (41.44) and 50 fly (38.25) and sixth in the 50 (31.8) and 100 (1.12.43) freestyles.

Decathlon Update

You may remember mention of the British Swimming Masters Decathlon in an earlier email when the 2010 results were published.  What is the Decathlon? It’s a bit of fun really, but it does encourage some Masters swimmers to do that odd event they wouldn’t usually contemplate swimming.
 
Every time you swim a Masters meet, the results are submitted to the ASA who run the competition.  Points are awarded for each swim using the FINA points scoring tables and these points are then age-adjusted. For each individual swimmer, up to 10 events count for points across six groups (short freestyle (50, 100, 200), long freestyle (400, 800, 1500), backstroke (50, 100, 200), breaststroke (50, 100, 200), butterfly (50, 100, 200) and IM (100, 200, 400). To get the maximum 10 events, a swimmer must complete one swim in each of the six groups and then their four next best scoring events are selected with no more than two swims from any of the six event groups. All clear?!
 
At the end of the year awards are given to the top three male and female swimmers with the highest total points scores nationally (so doing 10 events is a distinct advantage).  The top four swimmers from each club in terms of total points count towards the club competition. Results are updated throughout the year here:
 
http://www.swimming.org/britishswimming/masters/british-swimming-masters-decathlon-competition/

Being in August, we are now well past the half-way mark in the year and City of Oxford are performing strongly. The men's team are currently in 5th place nationally, only behind Masters powerhouses Otter, Birmingham and Kenilworth plus Silver City from Aberdeen. Current scorers are:

Chris Marsh: 4736 points from 10 events (17th in the individual men's competition)

Matt Gomez: 4465 points from 9 events (27th)

Simon Joyce: 3943 points from 10 events

Graeme Spence: 2652 points from 5 events

The women's team are currently 24th nationally with 10,249 points:

Zsuzsanna Felvegi: 3797 points from 9 events

Jo Eaton: 3019 points from 7 events

Kirsty Harvey: 1930 points from 6 events

Ruth Grice: 1503 points from 4 events

These current positions are both well ahead of where both men (16th) and women (40th) finished in 2010, but we can still improve these totals. Obviously, getting as many people to swim their 10 events helps immensely, so get entering that butterfly or long distance freestyle at Sheffield!

Summer Training

From the 1st-21st August, summer training applies for the Masters Squad.  There will be three sessions a week at Oxford High on Monday and Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. Times are as usual on these days.

From 21st August, training reverts to the usual 5 sessions a week.

Recent Results

Although the summer months generally feature fewer meets, that hasn't stopped COSC Masters swimmers from winning events and picking up medals across the country.

Barnet's Masters Distance Meet in July saw a chance for three swimmers to concentrate on events at the longer end of the programme. Zsuzsanna Felvegi came away with 5 golds and a silver, winning the 100, 200 and 800 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 200 IM and finishing as runner-up in the 400 free. Chris Marsh swam a reduced programme following his epic 17 events at Leeds, but still managed wins in the 400 freestyle, 200 butterfly, 200 and 400 IM in a new County Record (5.10.36) and a bronze in the 200 freestyle. Alan Beggs picked up a silver in the 800 freestyle.

As we all know, no holiday is complete without an 1800m sea swim, or so Graeme Spence thought on a recent trip to Jersey.  Graeme's open water debut ended in a 3rd place in the competitive Castle to Harbour race.  The event is high-profile in the Channel Islands, with footage of Graeme muscling his way past the first female finisher making it onto local news websites.  Graeme's time of 21.58 equates to averaging 1.13 for each 100m. Thanks to Tom Perchard for pointing me in the direction of the results.

In other recent open water events, Simon Joyce finished 2nd in the 30-34 age group and 7th overall at the ASA National Masters 3k Open Water Championships at Rother Valley in Yorkshire, finishing in 42.01 despite a finishing straight 'incident' with another competitor. He then followed this up by retaining his non-wetsuit category title in the RLSS Poole Lifeguard Brownsea Island Swim, covering the 7k round trip in 1hr26mins15 to finish 7th overall. COSC took both men's titles as the wetsuit category and the race overall was won by Guy Giles, a member of the senior squad.

Kirsty Harvey donned her wetsuit for a 2.25 mile (3,650m) dip in the Thames at the Hampton Court Swim, one of the popular Speedo Human Race series. She finished as 6th woman in her age group and 130th out of more than 1300 swimmers in 56.13.

If you have been competing recently, just drop me a line and let me know how you got on; it's great to share your successes with those you train with!

Sponsorship

From Liz Barker: My 21 yr old cousin is an 800m runner and is competing to win sponsorship from For Goodness Shakes to sponsor him into 2012. The 10 with the most votes go through to a judging round. He thinks he needs just another 500 votes to get inside the top ten. So some votes from the swim club would help!

Here's a message from him: "I'm going full time with my athletics training after graduation in the summer and am currently looking for sponsorship to help me through the year before 2012. I've entered this competition and need your votes.

Please follow the link, it only takes a couple of clicks."

Here is the link: http://www.bringontomorrowfoundation.com/final.php?id=53

Open Water Competitions

Thanks to Lee Harper for forwarding this onto me. Could be a local(ish) replacement for the much-missed Marlow swims on a Thursday evening:

Hi there,

The big day is getting nearer for the Tri2O team as our inaugural open water swimming events approach on Thursday 25th August. We're hosting a 1500m and a 3800m swim at the Tri2O Swim Centre, venue details can be found here:

http://www.mysportingtimes.com/product.htm?product=doggy-paddle#

We'd be delighted to see you and your club members on the evening for what should be a great event.

You can enter the 1500m Doggy Paddle or the 3800m Big Dog swims right here

The Doggy Paddle costs £15 to enter and the Big Dog is £20. For those prices though you'll receive a personalised finishers medal with your name and time on, and as an exclusive to our favourite local swim and triathlon clubs, you'll also receive a free swim (worth £5) to be used any time you like.

So, whether you're looking to test yourself out against the clock, take bragging rights over a clubmate or just get in some great training for other events later in the year, then come along and join us.

If anybody has any questions at all, then please get in touch.

Happy Swimming,

Andy

Andy Macaskill

My Sporting Times Ltd.

Office: 01189 332761

Mobile: 07963982316

Meet entry forms now available

Details of the following Masters meets taking us through to the end of 2011 are now available:

Barnet Sprint Meet, 4th September (entries due by 12th August)

South East Region Masters Meet, Aldershot, 24th September (entries due by 31st August)

ASA National Masters Championships, Sheffield, 28-30 October (schedule of events is all that is available so far)

Berkshire and South Bucks Masters Championships, Maidenhead, 26th November (entries due by 31st October)

Barnet 1500 Meet, 26-27 November - you pick which day you want to swim the 1500 on (entries due by 11th November)

Please find these details on our website (http://masters.oxfordswim.com/) either through the calendar or the 'Entry Forms' page.

City of Oxford Swimming Club Masters Squad perform magnificently at National Long Course Championships held in Leeds 17th-19th June 2011.

Over 100 COSC national champions in the past 10 years!

The team of ten swimmers travelled to Leeds and returned with twelve national titles as well as some memorable performances.

Chris Marsh led the way having entered and swum in every event on the programme (17 events in all) over the three days – Chris returned as national champion in five of them; 1500m freestyle, 800m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly.  He supplemented these with a silver medal in the 200m backstroke and 2 bronze medals in 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke; a truly magnificent performance.  

Marcos Vieira won gold medals in both the 50m and 100m backstroke and Maggie Smith won the 50m freestyle.

Silver medal winners included Matthew Gomez in the 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley and he also gathered bronze medals in 50m freestyle, 50m and 200m breaststroke. Zsuzsanna Felvegi secured a silver medal in the 800m freestyle following this up with bronze medals in 1500m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly.  Alice Dinsdale-Young won silver in the 200m breaststroke.

Simon Joyce secured two bronze medals in the 1500m freestyle and 100m backstroke whilst Ruth Grice won a bronze medal in 100m breaststroke.

The relay events bought more success with 4 gold medals, the highlight being a closely fought win for the 100+ years 4x50 free team of Romulo de Lazzari, Olivier Dudas, Chris Marsh and Marcos Vieira. Other relay victories went to the women’s 72+ 4x50 medley team (Ruth Grice, Alice Dinsdale-Young, Zsuzsanna Felvegi and Maggie Smith), the men’s 120+ 4x100 medley team (Simon Joyce, Matthew Gomez, Marcos Vieira and Romulo de Lazzari) and the 160+ mixed 4x100 medley team (Simon Joyce, Matthew Gomez, Zsuzsanna Felvegi and Maggie Smith).

In summary, 12 national titles, 5 silver and 11 bronze medals as well as 29 new county long course records were set, which enabled every member to return to Oxford with a least one gold medal.  Another fabulous National Championships which takes the Masters squad past the 100 National Championship title mark in the past 10 years.

New County Long Course Records:

Matthew Gomez (6), 45-49 years: 50, 100, 200 breaststroke, 50, 100 butterfly, 200 IM

Chris Marsh (6), 25-29 years: 200, 800, 1500 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200, 400 IM

Simon Joyce (3), 30-34 years:  400 freestyle, 800 freestyle, 1500 freestyle

Maggie Smith (3), 50-54 years: 50 freestyle, 50, 200 butterfly

Marcos Vieira (2), 25-29 years: 50, 100 backstroke

Alice Dinsdale-Young (2), 18-24 years: 200, 400 IM

Olivier Dudas, 25-29 years: 50 butterfly

Zsuzsanna Felvegi, 30-34 years: 50 butterfly

Women’s 72+ 4x50 medley relay

Men’s 100+ 4x50 freestyle relay

Men’s 100+ 4x50 medley relay (R. de Lazzari, M. Vieira, O. Dudas, C. Marsh)

Men’s 120+ 4x100 medley relay

Mixed 160+ 4x100 medley relay

FINA World Masters Rankings 2010

World swimming governing body FINA recently published their world Masters rankings for 2010, covering both short and long course.

Several City of Oxford swimmers and teams were ranked in the top 10 in the world last year in the 25m pool:

Dave Denny 6th, Men's 30-34 800 Free

Chris Aust 7th, Men's 25-29 50 Breast

Dave Denny 10th, Men's 30-34 400 IM

160+ Mixed 4x200 Freestyle team (Dave Denny, Marie Royal, Maggie Smith, Matt Gomez) 2nd

160+ Mixed 4x100 Freestyle team (Dave Denny, Marie Royal, Maggie Smith, Matt Gomez) 3rd as well as their British Record

120+ Men's 4x100 Freestyle team (Steve Banner, Dave Denny, Simon Joyce, Chris Marsh) 10th

Full rankings are here:

http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=636

Upcoming Meets

A few entry deadlines are approaching over the next couple of weeks, so if you want to go along to these meets, get your entries in:

Barnet Distance Meet (16th/17th July 2011): deadline for entries is 1st July.

ASA 3km Open Water Masters Championships (24th July 2011): deadline for entries is 6th July.

Rushmoor Royals Masters Long Course Meet, Aldershot (30th July 2011): deadline for entries is 16th July.

Barnet Sprint Meet (4th September 2011): deadline for entries is 12th August.

The Open Water meet is an electronic entry on the ASA site (http://www.swimming.org/britishswimming/calendar/event/british-gas-asa-3km-open-water-masters-championshisps-2011), the other forms are all in the ‘Entry forms’ section.

And finally,

Don't forget the social event this weekend! (speak to Kathryn for more details) Meander across the meadows, cycle the country lanes, or boat along the Thames... Escape the city and spend a relaxing afternoon at The Perch/ Port Meadow with the COSC Masters team, Saturday 2nd July, from 2pm onwards.

There is no fixed agenda - bring the family for a late lunch, indulge in The Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea with a glass of champagne, or pop over for a couple of drinks in the beer garden. Perhaps if we are feeling energetic we can arrange some games in Port Meadow. Of course, partners and petit perchés are welcome...

City of Oxford Swimming Club Annual General Meeting – 4 June 2011

Squad Coaches Report – Masters Squad

The COSC Masters squad comprises of 70+ like-minded individuals who are focused on achieving their own particular targets and goals. They are drawn from some eighteen different countries, representing both the northern and southern hemispheres, their occupations spanning the full spectrum of life. World leading figures from nuclear physics, mathematics, academia and Formula 1 racing, share lanes with surgeons, general practitioners, educators, police persons, mothers, fathers and those that are just starting out on their own path of life. In fact the only profession or calling not represented is that of a religious minister. So, births, deaths and murders can be coped with however marriages and funerals need the support of outside assistance in order to complete.

They follow our own cyclically performance-related programme, enabling these dedicated swimmers/athletes to focus on their own particular events, which can be multi-disciplined, or to supplement training that they undertake in other locations…synchronised swimming, water polo, modern pentathlon, aquathon, duathlons and triathlons. Open water and cross-Channel swimming is also a discipline that has been covered by the Masters squad.

We are fortunate to be able to train in The Oxford High School for Girls facility for five 90 minute sessions per week…the average attendance for which is 30-35 swimmers per session. The session average is 4600m; leading to an annual total in excess of 980,000m or 650 miles. With the increase of external enquiries for membership which has arisen from an active marketing strategy, perhaps the need for a further session is becoming obvious and potentially more viable.

The performances of the squad over the year has been truly phenomenal and reflects on some outstanding personal and team performances, these have been achieved across the various levels of WORLD, EUROPEAN, NATIONAL and REGIONAL competitions. These have not only been achieved within the swimming pool but in other disciplines, triathlon, modern pentathlon, synchronised swimming, cross-Channel and open water swimming. This mix of swimmers and athletes enables them ALL to be stimulated by the progress and achievements of other like-minded individuals.

Both individual and team performances and achievements are so very numerous, I have had to illuminate the more noteworthy…to those individuals that have been omitted from the list of “Victor Ladorum”, I apologise. It in no way belittles their individual and personal successes.

WORLD CHAMPIONS:

SOPHIE WHITWORTH: became I.T.U. World Age Group Aquathon Champion in Budapest on 8^th September 2011.

SOPHIE WHITWORTH: became I.T.U. World Age Group Olympic Distance Triathlon Champion in Budapest on 12^thAugust 2011.

TOM PECHARD: became I.T.U. World Age Group Sprint Distance Triathlon Champion in Budapest on 11^th September 2011.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS:

SOPHIE WHITWORTH: became I.T.U. European Age Group Olympic Distance Triathlon Champion in Athlone on 3^rd July 2011.

NATIONAL ASA MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS:

This competition saw the squad achieve SIX national titles:

DAVID DENNY won two individual titles, 800m freestyle and 100m backstroke.

CHRIS AUST                50m Breast in a NEW BRITISH RECORD 29.04

CHRIS MARSH                         1500m Free

MARIE ROYAL             200m Free

DAVID DENNY, MARIE ROYAL, MAGGIE SMITH and MATT GOMEZ:  Mixed 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay in a NEW BRITISH RECORD 4:10.17

FIVE Silver Medallists:

DAVID DENNY              400m Free, 200m Breast

DAVID HALL                 800m Free

ROMAN WALCZAK       100m Back

DAVID DENNY, MARIE ROYAL, MAGGIE SMITH and MATT GOMEZ combined in the mixed 4 x 200 Freestyle Relay.

SEVEN Bronze Medallists:

DAVID HALL                 100m and 200m Fly

IAN SURRAGE              50m Breast

PETER WILLIAMS        50m Breast

MATT GOMEZ              200m Breast

SIMON JOYCE                         200m Breast

PETER WILLIAMS, IAN SURRAGE, DAVID DENNY and CHRIS AUST in the men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay.

At this meet 2 new British Records, 4 new Scottish National Records and 14 new County best times were also set by Masters squad members.

NATIONAL TRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS:

SOPHIE WHITWORTH: became I.T.U. National Olympic Distance Triathlon Champion at Bedford on 15^th August 2011.

TOM PECHARD: became I.T.U. National Sprint Distance Triathlon Champion at Bedford on 15^th August 2011.

One of the squad’s swimmers TOM BURKE spent most of 2009 and 2010 preparing for the challenges of a cross Channel swim…more people have made a successful attempt on Mount Everest than have completed a Channel crossing swim. TOM invested heavily in terms of time and at a huge personal cost well in excess of £5000 to make a successful crossing…his worthwhile cause was to be The Helen and Douglas House. Not being satisfied with attempting “La Manche” as a soloist he volunteered to substitute for an injured team member so he could swim as part of a three person relay.  His perseverance, strength of belief and focusing on his goals saw a successful ending to both crossings…in fact the solo crossing was achieved in a faster time than the relay, 13hrs and 4 mins.

The Masters squad’s season recommenced with the Midland Regional Championships held at Leamington in early May. Once again the swimmers responded superbly producing 20 Regional Championship swims, 17 silver medallists and 6 bronze medallists:

Regional Champions:

CHRIS MARSH                                     400m Free, 400m IM, 50m and 200m Back

GRAEME SPENCE                   200m IM, 200m Breast, 100m Fly

JO EATON                                400m Free.

DAVID DENNY                          400m IM

DAVID HALL                             100m Fly, 50m Free, 100m Free and 100m IM

MARCOS VIEIRA                                  50m Free

MATTHEW GOMEZ                   100m IM

ALAN THOMPSON                    100m IM

ZSUZSANNA FELVEGI             100m Fly

CHRIS SCOTCHER                   100m Back, 200m Back

CHRIS AUST, CHRIS MARSH, RUMELO DE LAZZARI and MARCOS VIEIRA in the 4 x 50 Freestyle relay combined to set a NEW REGIONAL and COUNTY RECORD of 1:38.20.

There were also 17 SILVER and 6 BRONZE medal swims.

The results have now re-established COSC Masters squad as one of the centres of excellence in both the Midlands and the South East.

This year saw the 11^th consecutive “overseas self-funded training camp” which takes place at Club la Santa, Lanzarote. This comprises of 2 x 2 hour pool long course training sessions (66000m) per day over 6 days augmented by a variety of contrasting activities…stretch and relax, boxercise, core stability, yoga, body pump, etc. The choice of contrasting consecutive activity is left to each individual…those that choose to could cycle! No, not with a basket on the front and down to the shops, but on one of many demanding 40-50k routes.  The “Lanzarote Ironman” competition is held whilst we are in attendance and one can easily see the results of those that have prepared properly or conversely those that have failed to prepare properly.

To summarise the swimmers can look back at their achievements this past year with a great sense of satisfaction. In order to continue and even sustain those standards and become consistent WE MUST as a CLUB REMAIN COMMITTED ACROSS THE BROADER SPECTRUM OF ABILITIES.

Both as an individual and as a squad  we should like to welcome the appointment of AMANDA BOOTH as CHIEF COACH, it is very apparent that AMANDA has brought so much to the City of Oxford in such a short period of time. Parents and swimmers alike will perhaps never again be afforded the opportunity to be coached by such a gifted individual. Amanda brings an abundance of technical knowledge gained by working with some of the most talented swimmers in the WORLD ….this knowledge she shares with you in your quest to improve, she has great organisational capabilities, and she is an extremely well motivated individual.  Her two way communication is both inspirational and motivational with a balance of empathy and common sense, but swimmers be warned, after a life time in the Swimming World she has heard every permutation of excuse. Peeps, YOU now have the opportunity to make significant improvements as swimmers and young people. This, opportunity normally comes but once in an individual’s life time…please use it wisely and respond wholeheartedly.

Remember YOU are only as good as your NEXT swim!

It has at times been fraught, very taxing and a demanding year but on overall reflection a fantastic one, to see as many individuals pushing their performance “envelope” and succeed, is what makes a coaches’ life bearable.

Please remember that fabulous Abraham Lincoln Quotation;

“YOU can have anything you want, if YOU want it badly enough. YOU can be anything that you want to be, do anything YOU set out to achieve if you hold that DESIRE with a singleness of purpose.”

Thank you for your attention.

Tim Samwell MBE

Masters Squad Coach

Report from Tim on the Midland Masters Championships

Newbold Comyn pool was the venue for The Midland Master’s Regional Championships. Eighteen swimmers entered this meet in order to pit themselves against the best swimmers in the region.

Once again the opening event 400m freestyle proved to be very popular with the squad with six entries; Gold medals were won by Chris Marsh in the 25-29 years (4:32.97), Jo Eaton 30-34 years (5:10.80) and a Silver by Chris Scotcher 65-69 (6:58.09).

Saturday morning saw the session start with 400m IM for which there were three Club swimmers. David Denny 35-39 Age Group, swam a very impressive time of (4:55.08) to secure the Gold medal. Chris Marsh 25-29 also achieved Gold in a New County Age Group record time of (5:12.19). Alan Thompson 25-29 secured the Silver (5:30.01).

Zsuzsanna Felvegi won her age group 30-34 100m Fly (1:18.32). In the corresponding male event we had four swimmers who all medalled. Graeme Spence 25-29 years swimming faster than at Gloucester and again going sub 60 thereby returning a Gold medal swim with a time of (59.42), Chris Marsh was the runner up in the same age group with a swim of (1:05.52). Matt Gomez 45-49 was the Silver medallist with a swim of 1:09.05. David Hall 65-69 age group also secured Gold in a time of (1:41.75).

Graeme Spence 25-29  was soon back in action, securing gold and a New County Age Group record in the 200m Breaststroke with a time of (2.32.63), supported by Matt Gomez 45-49 who won Silver with a time of (2:49.57).

The “Blue-Riband” event, 50m freestyle saw the emergence of “The Boys from Brazil” in their debut appearances in the United Kingdom. Marcos Vieira 25-29 secured Gold with (24.67) his Brazilian cohort, Romulo de Lazzari 25-29 secured a Bronze (25.10) in a closely fought encounter.

Zsuzsanna Felvegi 30-34 had a Bronze medal swim of (1:09.67) in 100m Freestyle. The Men’s 100m Free followed and The Club’s success continued with Marcos Vieira 25-29 (55.13) securing a Silver medal,  Romulo de Lazzari secured the Bronze medal with (57.80), not to be outdone Matt Gomez 45-49 won Silver (1:01.91) and David Hall 65-69 Gold with (1:25.36).

Chris Marsh 25-29 secured Gold with a swim of (32.32) in the 50m Back.

The 100m IM saw four Club swimmers in action and they secured three Gold medals, Matt Gomez 44-49 (1:09.95), Alan Thompson 25-29 (1:11.93) and David Hall 65-69(1:42.56).

The ladies 200m Freestyle saw another clutch of medals for The Club, Zsuzsanna Felvegi 30-34 Silver in (2;30.96), Maggie Smith 50-54, New County Age Group record and Silver in (2:36.97), Kirsty Harvey 35-39 Bronze (2:50.04) and Barbara Kolbert 60-64 Bronze (3:50.01). In the corresponding male event Graeme Spence 25-29 continued his medal winning ways with Silver (2:04.18).

The Men’s 100m Back saw further success for Romulo de Lazzari 25-29 (1:06.92), Chris Marsh Silver same age group in (1:12.08) and a Gold for Chris Scotcher 65-69 with a swim of (1:41.77).

Barbara Kolbert 60-64 secured Silver with a swim of (53.48) in the 50m Breaststroke.

Two Silver medals were won in Men’s 50m Breaststroke by Marcos Vieira 24-29 (32.87) and Chris Scotcher 65-69 (51.72).

Graeme Spence 24-29 dominated the 200m IM to secure the Gold medal and set a New County Age Group record of (2:16.07).

There were only a few events left, the swimmers were tiring, would the medal tally be improved upon….and could we tease just a little more out of our weary bodies?

The answer came with a very positive response from both “The Chrises” in the 200m Backstroke, Chris Marsh 25-29 winning Gold with a swim of (2:32.74),a New County Age Group record and Chris Scotcher 65-69 also winning Gold in (3:44.59).

The Ladies 50m Fly saw Silver success for Maggie Smith 50-54 with a swim of (35.38). The Men’s 50m Fly followed and Marcos Vieira 24-29 achieved Silver (27.14) and was closely followed home by Chris Marsh (28.35) in the same age group.

In the first session of Sunday morning Chris Aust (who was on his way to Coventry to attempt to qualify for Senior nationals) stopped by to swim in the 4 x 50m freestyle 100+year relay, the quartet were never opposed led off by Chris Aust (24.10), Chris Marsh (25.29), Rumelo de Lazzari (24.16) and brought home by Marcos Vieira (24.50) set a New County Age group record of (1:38.23), breaking, the previous record  by over 1 sec which had also previously been held by us.

The mixed 4x 50m medley 100+ relay saw the Club secure a Silver medal with a quartet of Romulo de Lazzari (30.04), Marcos Vieira (32.43), Zsuzsanna Felvegi (34.08) and Jo Davies (30.07) (2:09.58).

Other COSC Swims;

400m free:

Zsuzsanna Felvegi         F30-34              5:22.59

Kirsty Harvey                F35-39              5:56.67

John Darby                   M40-44             5:42.39 

200m Breast:

Matt Gomez                  M44-49             2:49.57

50m Free:

Zsuzsanna Felvegi         F30-34              31.64

Maggie Smith                F50-54              31.92

Jo Davies                     F25-29              31.99

Chris Marsh                   M25-29             25.79

Jon Darby                     M40-44             30.70

David Hall                     M65-69             35.93 

100m Free:

Jo Davies                     F25-29              1:10.88

Chris Marsh                   M25-29             58.33

John Darby                   M40-44             1:10.74

100m IM:

John Darby                   M40-44             1:23.04

200m Free:

Chris Marsh                   M25-29             2:09.24 

50m Breast:

Ruth Grice                     F25-29              1:28.48

50m Fly:

Zsuzsanna Felvegi         F30-34              33.89

Kirsty Harvey                F35-39              37.30

Romulo de Lazzari          M25-29             28.70               

The COSC Master’s squad of 18 swimmers competed in 67 individual swims, setting 6 New County records, 20 Regional Champions, 17 Runner’s up and 6 bronze medals. This was a magnificent achievement by all those who competed and augers well for our next outing National Long Course Championships at Leeds 17th -19th June 2011. You should be very proud of these achievements, but armed with caution please remember you are only as good as your next swim…don’t be complacent.

Coach Tim

Entry forms 

Also find in the 'Entry Forms' page the forms for Barnet Distance Meet on 16th (800m only) and 17th (100,200 of all strokes and IM plus 400 free and 400IM). These meets are well run with a warm-up/down pool constantly available and Barnet is only an hour down the M40.  Enter by the 1st July.

Thanks to Tom P for the other form, a series of Open Water swims in Jersey over the summer - would make a nice weekend away!

Those of us heading up to Leamington in a couple of weekends' time should have received an email today with accepted entries.  Here is the consolidated list of entries, arranged by club:

http://www.icklepeoplesoftware.co.uk/meets/mm2011_info.pdf

 Looks like we have one of the largest number of entries as a club. There is also an info sheet with some information about arrangements for the day, including the re-entry procedure for those doing 400 free or 400 IM, so we can't use the old 'I forgot to reenter' excuse (mentioning no names...!).

Entries for ASA British Masters Championships (Long Course) now open

Entries close at midday on May 18th. The following are amongst the hotels that are within a 5-10 minute drive of the pool: Leeds West Premier Inn, Premier Inn City Gate, Etap Leeds City Centre, Holiday Inn Express.

Gloucester Masters – 3^rd April 2011

Ten swimmers from City of Oxford Masters made the short trip west to Gloucester last weekend for their annual Masters meet and enjoyed a day swimming in a fast pool as well as contending with the gala announcer’s ‘interesting’ wit and repartee.

Graeme Spence proved to be the fastest swimmer at the meet, winning the 25-29 years 50m butterfly in 27.27 and then putting in a burst just short of half distance to pull ahead of his rivals on the way to posting a winning 2.01.10 200m freestyle.  He also broke the minute on the 100m butterfly, touching in 59.56.

There were two new County Records in the women’s 55-59 50m (31.23) and 200m freestyle (2.37.72) for Sue Hodge as she took gold in both these events.  Sue should be a great addition to our relay teams for meets later this year.

Jo Eaton won the women’s 30-34 400 freestyle in a well-paced 5.11.17 and also took silver in the 100 free (1.07.06) and 50 backstroke (34.95). Zsuzsanna Felvegi was third behind Jo in the 100 (1.08.76) and gained silver in the 400 freestyle (5.21.47) and 50m butterfly (33.21) during the morning session. In the afternoon, she won the 200 freestyle (2.30.82) and 100 fly (1.17.27), whilst taking a further silver in the 50 free (30.85). Also in the 30-34 age group, Simon Joyce finished second in the 400 freestyle (4.36.26) and third in the 100 freestyle (1.00.18).

The 400 freestyle proved popular with COSC swimmers, as we also took gold in the men’s 35-39 event through Eamonn Deeley who came through strongly at the end to record 5.12.82 and silver and bronze in the women’s equivalent through Kirsty Harvey (5.53.78) and Claire Vallance (6.00.84). Alan Beggs took silver in the 45-49 age group (6.49.8).

Kirsty landed gold in the 50 fly (36.96) and bronzes in the 100 free (1.17.3) and 100 IM (1.25.9) with Eamonn taking silver in the 200 freestyle (2.29.58) and bronzes in the 50 freestyle (30.46), 50 breaststroke (38.25) and 100 breaststroke (1.27.4).

Other COSC swims

100 freestyle:       Alan Thompson   M25-29  1.02.49

                                Eamonn Deeley  M35-39  1.07.08

                                Alan Beggs           M45-49  1.29.92

50 breaststroke:   Kirsty Harvey        W35-39  44.39

50 butterfly:           Alan Beggs           M45-49  48.02

100 IM:                   Alan Thompson   M25-29  1.12.05

Full results are now on our website.

Bad news on the Open Water Swim Series (Marlow)

We’ll all have to start buying our own kiwi-flavoured Powerbars as sadly the Open Water Swim Series at Marlow which proved so popular last summer will not be happening this year, due to a ‘change in circumstances’.

However, there remains the F3 events series of 750m and 1500m open water events to be held on Wednesday evenings throughout the summer (18^th May, 15^th June, 13^th July, 17^th August) at Dorney Lake near Windsor. More details can be found in the ‘Entry forms’ section of our website.

Tim has also received details of a different series of Open Water swims, sponsored by Speedo, many in our local area. Though they may not be handily placed on a weeknight, they should offer good swims if mass-start events are your thing. Non-wetsuit swimming is permitted if the water is above 15 degrees C and waves are classified based on your estimated time (elite, performance and public). Dates/distances as follows:

28^th May, Dorney Lake, Eton (750m, 1500m, 3.8k, 10k)

3^rd July, Windsor (750m, 1500m, 3k)

17^th July, Hampton Court (2.25 miles)

21^st August, Marlow (R. Thames) (750m, 1500m, 3k)

11^th September, Poole (750m, 1500m, 3k)

More information is here: http://swimseries.humanrace.co.uk/home. If more than 10 of us want to enter, we may get some money off the entry fee – so let Tim know.

ASA Masters T-30 Results

Whilst getting up on a rainy Saturday morning in January for training is rarely anyone’s idea of a perfect start to the day, eight of the Masters squad went one step further and ploughed a lonely 30 minute ‘max effort’ furrow as part of the ASA Masters T-30 contest (you may remember the email Kathryn sent around in earlier in the year inviting us all to take part).  The T-30 is an annual competition ran by the ASA where swimmers simply see how far they can swim in half an hour.  The swims are validated by having the lengths counted and splits recorded and then posted to the ASA who compile the results from across the country.

COSC peformed well, coming away with two winners; Jo Eaton in the women’s 30-34 and Simon Joyce in the men’s 30-34 age group, and a bronze (Mike Whitworth in the men’s 50-54) in the National competition.

COSC results in full:

Women

30-34       1^st            Jo Eaton                 2085m

35-39       7^th            Kirsty Harvey          1835m

40-44       6^th            Sophie Whitworth    1960m

60-64       =8^th          Barbara Kolbert       1450m

Men

30-34       1^st            Simon Joyce          2335m

45-49       11^th          Alan Beggs            1790m

50-54       3^rd            Mike Whitworth      2025m

70-74       7^th            Brian Reed            1525m

Many thanks to Kathryn and Jo Fletcher for organizing the swimmers, submitting the entries, counting lengths and taking splits – we couldn’t have done it without you!

Gloucester entry list now available

As it is now only a couple of weeks until the Gloucester meet, the start lists are now available here: http://www.gloucestermasters.com/2011openstartlist.htm

With 11 of us going, we should have one of the larger squads.