Congratulations to the quartet of Karen MacKenzie (53) , Nicola Monk (53), Graham Powell (70) and Ian Stoughton (67) on breaking both Beds 240- 279 years 4 x 50m Medley and 4 x 50m Freestyle relay records.
They shaved 0.83 and 1.42 seconds off the respective records held by South Beds Masters since 2017 and 2011.
Read on for more details of the eight swimmers who all enjoyed individual success at Barnet Copthall’s Masters Sprints + Meet.
The quartet of Masters competing at the Berks & South Bucks Championships all produced personal best times.
Opting to only travel to Manchester (rather than the European Masters in Bratislava), Tom Burns and Mark Lewis both broke Club records at the Northern Wave Long Course Masters Meet. Read here for details.
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.
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!
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…
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.
Seven medals and seven Club Masters ‘ records – not all in the same events- were achieved at the 2025 Swim England National Masters championships together with a chance encounter with a “Geordie speaking” Darth Vader!
Read here for a full report on yet another year of highly creditable performances.
Two of our Masters swimmers have demonstrated it is never too late to take up a fresh challenge.
In her first competitive swim, Nicola Monk came 7th in her 50-54 years’ age group in the Serpentine 2 Miler in a time of 1:01.44.
Aged 65 Alastair Gibb has swum his first ever 200m Butterfly. His swim at the Sth East Regional Masters saw him not only beat the County’s 65-69 years’ record but also, subject to ratification, claim the East Region’s record for that age group.
Congratulations to both Mark Lewis and Graham Powell who smashed long-standing records at the 30th Berks & South Bucks Masters Meet.
