Congratulations to Graham Powell and Karen Mackenzie who were both victorious in their age groups at the 2026 GB Masters in Aberdeen.
A total of five medals were brought home….albeit at different times, as detailed in the full report.
Karen Mackenzie broke the 200m Butterfly record by over 14 seconds at the London Region Masters meet to claim her eighth Beds County Masters record in the Ladies 50-54 years’ age group. It was the first time racing the event in a 50m pool….and may yet be the last?
It capped a weekend where all five Masters came home from their respective meets with some bling!
It was so often a case of times that were “so very near but not quite” for most, but not all, of our Masters’ swims at the Reading Masters SC Meet.
They still came away with nine medals and saw one of the Club’s County relay records stay intact – but only just!
Three months into the year and we already have nine swimmers who have broken Club records in ages spanning over sixty years.
Congratulations to Kan Kline Guia, Lucy Biscoe, Elijah Unsworth, Alice Buckingham, Sam Bradley, Mark Lewis, Dave Wright, Ian Stoughton & Graham Powell.
Team Luton rocked up in force to Hemel Hempstead Swimming Club’s 2nd Open Masters Winter Meet, with eight of our master swimmers treating it as our new “local” and casually bagging 6 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze medals from just 22 swims. Not a bad day at the office… or in this case, the slightly chaotic swimming pool.
With thanks to our special correspondent, Mark Lewis, read on…
Two of our more senior Masters took advantage of moving up into a new 5 Year age band to claim Long Course East Region Masters records. The seven strong squad returned home from the South East Long Course Masters with 5 Gold 4 Silver and 4 Bronze medals. Over the two days they claimed 3 East Region 7 County and 9 Club records.
2025 brought countless new individual best times, 35 Age Group and 38 Masters Club Records, together with 5 Eastern Region and 21 Beds County records.
Parents and swimmers should all take a moment to recognise their personal achievements. However, it would be remiss to not extend our appreciation to Dave Wright, Gary Smith, Izzy McCulloch, James Fuller, Jane Cattle, Matt Wright and Pauline Harrington. We could not have done what we did without you who turn up on poolside come rain, shine or on those frosty/ icy mornings!
Tom Burns travelled to Poland to compete in the European Masters Short Course Championships where he produced a lifetime best by almost eight seconds in his 200m Individual Medley.
Sam Bradley didn’t travel quite as far earlier in the month to set new County Long Course figures for the 30-34 years’ 1500m Freestyle at the East Midlands Masters championships. It brought the Club’s total of individual Masters County records set in the year to 25.
Sexagenarians, Ian Stoughton and Dave Wright, were both in County record breaking form in November albeit at opposite ends of the spectrum of freestyle pool events.
