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Aquatic sports in the London region

Success for London swimmers at Swim England National Masters Championships

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The weekend of the 25th-27th October saw a large number of swimmers from London descend on Ponds Forge in Sheffield for the recent Swim England Masters Swimming National Short Course Championships 2019, for what turned out to be a very successful meet for them, and therefore, the region.

Otter SC managed to secure top club, with Spencer Swim Team coming in third, just underlining the strength and depth of Masters Swimming in London.

Overall the region, represented by over 15 clubs, came away with an inspiring tally of 90 Gold’s, 83 Silver’s and 60 Bronze medals.

However, it was the records that fell that was the absolute stand-out feature, with Diane Ford of Spencer in the 75-79 50m Breast touching in 0:45:37 to secure the World, European and British record in an outstanding swim. In the lead up to this fantastic swim, Diane bagged herself two other British records in the 100m Breast in at time of 1:39:90 and the 200m Breast in a time of 3:39:58.

Overall London swimmers managed to achieve a fantastic total of 19 records, which also included two European records as well; Alyson Fordham of Romford in the 60-64 200m Free in 2:28:49, and Derek Parr of Otter in the 75-79 100m Fly in 1:21:20 Parr also secured the British record in the 200m Fly in 3:13:98.

Peter Dixon of Otter made sure that records continued to tumble. Having started the ball rolling with the British record in the 50-54 1500m Free in 17:18:70, Dixon brought the meet neatly and fittingly to an end with the record in the 800m Free in a time of 9:10:69.

Georgina Heyn of Teddington blasted out three British records; the 35-39 100m Breast in 1:11:30, the 100m I.M. in 1:05:45 and the 50m Breast in 0:32:92.

The Individual Medley event proved a very fertile hunting ground for London swimmers with Mark Reynolds of Barnet completing a “perfect hat-trick” of British records in the 55-59 event, with times of 5:07:81, 2:21:82 and 1:04:89 in the 400m, 200m and 100m respectively.

British records also fell to Daniel Cotton of Spencer in the I.M. where he was also successful in the 45-49 400m and 200m with times of 4:44:04 and 2:14:02, but additionally secured the record in the 200m Back in a time of 2:10:85.

Also getting in on the I.M. action was Amanda Heath of Spencer who got the British record in the 60-64 400m in a time of 6:13:06, and also achieved the record in the 100m Breast in 1:26:85.

But it is not always just about the records and medals, with many swimmers just missing out on podium places, that really just go to show and highlight how competitive these events can be.

One of the most competitive races just underscored this, as in the Women’s 40-44 50m Back where the winning time was 0:32:54, with second touching in 0:33:61, but had two London swimmers coming in third and fourth. These were Gina Hobson of Otter and Helen Barrison of Barnet, who touched in times of 0:33:92 and 0:33:93.

Congratulations to all those who took part, the medalists, those just narrowly missing out, those competing for the first time and especially those who achieved new British, European or World records.

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