All posts by AMG

Masters, News

Fifteen To Compete At 2019 English National Masters

We have our greatest ever representation at the English Masters & Seniors Championships being held in Sheffield at the end of the month. Fifteen members are due to compete in over 70 individual events.

Alice Pinney (aged 19), Laura Smith (25), Jodie Armstrong (37), Michelle Neal (39) & Kelly Cooke (42) – all making their National Masters debuts – will be joined by Karen MacKenzie (46) and Sharon Thompson (52).

Their male counterparts are Alex Mason (23), Sam Bradley (25), John O’Rourke (50), Dave Wright (58), Alastair Gibb (59), Graham Powell (63), Malcolm Barton (64) and Colin Mayes (64).

Four others of the Masters’ squad achieved qualifying times in their respective five year age groups but for various reasons will not be participating.

The strong presence in Sheffield is testimony to the many voluntary hours given to the Masters’ squad by coach Pauline Harrington, assisted by Jane Cattle.

Masters, Reports

Nine Individual And Two Relay Titles At 2019 East Region Masters

A total of 25 medals were won by our Masters and Seniors at the 2019 East Region Championships. Five of our ladies made their regional debuts, all winning medals as Sharon Thompson and Kelly Cooke won their first individual titles. The squad collected a total of 9 individual and two relay golds as Sam Bradley meanwhile improved on one of his Beds County Masters records. Full report here.

2019 East Region 200 yrs+ 4 x 50m F/s Relay Champions.
L-R: Graham Powell, Dave Wright, John O’Rourke & Ian Norman
Masters, Reports

Ladies Shine At Barnet Masters Sprints Meet

Our Ladies took centre stage at the 2019 Barnet Masters Sprints Meet. They collected 17 medals, emulating their male colleagues, but had the surprise bonus of breaking a Beds County Masters relay record whilst adding to what is already the Club’s highest ever Ladies Team decathlon score. Not a bad way to mark Masters’ coach Pauline Harrington’s birthday! Read here for a full report.

L-R: Laura Smith, Sharon Thompson, Jodie Armstrong, Kelly Cooke,Karen Mackenzie, Pauline Harrington & Michelle Neal
Masters, News

Our Latest Beds County Record Holders

Congratulations to Karen Mackenzie, Kelly Cooke, Jodie Armstrong and Michelle Neal on breaking the 160+ years 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay record in a time of 2:06.20 at the Barnet Copthall Masters Sprints Meet.  All four swam 31 second splits; a great team effort.

County Record Breakers L-R: Karen, Kelly, Jodie & Michelle
News

Silver Medal For Matt Wright At Swim England Summer Championships

Six of the Club’s swimmers competed at the British and or English Summer Championships held respectively in Glasgow (23rd – 28th July) and Sheffield (31st July – 4th August). Their 2018/19 season ended with various finals and new Club age group records. 

Celyn Walmsley, Rhys Davidson and Jj Wilde all made finals but in literally the very last event over the two competitions, Matt Wright claimed a silver medal for Team Luton in the 19 years & over 400m Freestyle with a blistering final 50m. Read here for a full report.

L-R: Matt Wright, Chantal Smith, Celyn Walmsley, Chiara Rogers, Rhys Davidson & JJ Wilde
News, Reports

Abbie 4th at Swim England Open Water Champs

Congratulations to Abbie Barnwell, coming 4th in the Girls 16  years’ Swim England 5k Open Water.

Abbie with coach Rikki Morris

Abbie, together with  Chantal Smith, qualified for the Swim England National Open Water Championships by virtue of them winning their respective age group’s 5k events at the East Region’s 2019 Open Water Championships.

In total seven of the Club’s swimmers took part in the East Region event with everyone  (Lauren Donnelly, Lauren Hooker, Lyla Howard, Zara Fallon and Dave Wright) winning regional or County medals. Full report here.

News

Promotion to Division 1 of M11 Junior League

Our junior swimmers finished in second place in Division 2 of the 2019 M11 League to gain promotion to Division 1 for 2020.

In a closely fought Round 3 we ended up with 170 gala points to finish behind Camden Swiss “B” team. Only 11 points split the clubs finishing in 2nd to 6th place (Team Luton, Epping Forest, Halstead, Borough of Harrow and Enfield Swim Squad). Read here for more details and dates for 2020.

News

Seven Qualify For British / National Championships

It is a busy few weeks for our Performance swimmers competing at the British Championships, English Nationals,  National Open Water and the Swim Wales Summer Open.

L-R: Matt Wright, Chantal Smith, Celyn Walmsley, Chiara Rogers, Rhys Davidson & JJ Wilde.

First off it’s the British summer Championships up in Glasgow (23rd to 28th July) where Rhys, JJ and Celyn will be swimming for Team Luton and Matt and Chantal for Bath University and Sterling University. To watch the swimmers “live” each day click on the Youtube.com link.

At the English Summer Meet (31st July – 4th August) in Sheffield Rhys, Celyn, Matt and Chiara will all be swimming for Team Luton. This should also be live streamed from the Swim England website.

Download this Summer Meets Schedule to see on which day each of our swimmers are competing.

The Welsh Open meet (29th July – 2nd August) sees JJ, Menna Walmsley, Anna and Zara Fallon competing over in Swansea.

Chantal and Abbie Barnwell have also both qualified to swim on Monday 5th August at the National Open Water Championships, following their swims at the weekend’s East Region Open Water championships.

Good luck to everyone!