The Records: Derek Parr lowered the British Record in the 50m fly in his age to 30.58. Another personal best for Derek! And the pressure of front loading clearly worked, as Gina Hobson, Fiona Marshall, Lauren Edwards and Ruth Morrison teamed up to snatch the 100-119 yrs 4 x 50m fc British Record from the Barnet Copthall ladies.

Friday: Otter’s sole representative in the 1500m fc was Katherine Mearman. With some serious training metres under her belt, Katherine deservedly smashed her pb by over a minute, claimed the first Otter gold of the meet, and had plenty of time to admire herself at each turn in her new fastskin. The 100m br followed, with Mike Wake leading the way with a silver in a time of 1.29.23. Then came Liz Shaw, who smashed her pb in a 1.26.22 and picked up a bronze. Finally, the much anticipated head-to-head between Ruth and Fiona. Fiona triumphed in 1.16.15 and claimed the silver, with Ruth on 1.16.36 and bronze. To be fair, neither of the girls had great preparation for the weekend – Ruth was coughing up various pieces of lung, and Fiona’s training had been a little inconsistent, so it’ll be interesting to see these two go at it in the new year! In the 200m fc showdown between Lockie Pollard and Dan Mikulskis, there was a bottle of whisky riding on the result – serious business. Dan made it to the blocks and triumphed convincingly in 2.02.22, with Lockie coming home in 2.05.29. In the ladies, Gina and Jane McMenemy lined up and did battle. Gina was a little over zealous over the first 100 and paid for it at the end, with Jane snatching victory in a pb of 2.14.28 to Gina’s 2.14.39. In the final event of the evening, the 50m fly, Roger Phillips set the tone with a strong 35.29, then came Derek’s record breaking swim, – how low can this guy go? Gina laid down the challenge for the rest of the ladies to follow (30.96 and 3rd), with Jane and Fiona stepping up to have a go. Neither were quite able to match it, despite a ‘flying’ start from Fiona.

Saturday: The fun began with a 400m IM, with Lauren standing alone for Otter. She got the day off to a winning start posting an impressive 5.31.50 (including a pb for her 100m fly, on the way), and clearly hadn’t tried hard enough as she still had plenty of energy to berate Gina at the end for ‘encouraging’ her to enter. Next was the 200m br, which saw Ruth storming to overall victory in a time of 2.44.75. And then the 50m fc, Sophie Hemsworth made her debut and posted a speedy 32.42. But it was Fiona who came away with the fastest lady award, with a more than a little frustrating 28.01 and 3rd in her age.  Not to be outdone by the Mrs, Matt Staines wound up as top Otter in a time of 25.00 and 2nd in his age, with James ‘Peaches’ Palmer next in a pb of 26.69 – sporadic training and a new fastskin are clearly the tapering method of choice! Only the hardiest (fools) stepped forward for the 200m fly, including Michele Senecal. Whilst Michelle was characteristically unimpressed with her time, the fact that it was 11 secs faster than her Stanford time and she claimed 2nd in her age, suggests her standards are set very high. I think she may’ve been delirious when she mentioned that she’ll now be swimming 200s fly in training. In the mixed fc relays, the Otter 100+ team (Matt, Dan, Fiona, Gina) nailed the GB Police and were tantalisingly close to claiming the British Record. The 120+ team claimed a very respectable bronze in their age, and the 200+ team (including Catherine Couquet, who very sportingly came all the way from Geneva to swim the relays after missing the entry deadline for her individuals) would have undoubtedly medalled if it weren’t for those darn conglomerate teams.


A bevy of Otters lined up to take on the 400m fc. Sue Hill (3rd), Katherine, Gina (pb and 3rd), Michelle (masters pb and 1st) and Jane (pb and 2nd) all went for the ladies. Katherine swum comfortably under 5mins for the first time (5.54.70) and then was dq’d for moving on the blocks. Anyone who has seen Katherine’s start will know that this is incredibly unlikely – the time stands! Comedy turns were order of the day in the 100m IM, with Dan and Phil demonstrating the most uncomedy like, and snatching a 3rd and 2nd in their respective ages. Despite trying to complete the whole of the bk length under water Fiona still claimed 1st, and Lauren made it an Otter 1-2 in the 25-29 age. Entrants in the 200m bk were thin on the ground, but Tony Ray showed how it was done, picking up a bronze medal. In the mixed medley relay, the GB Police got their revenge on the 120+ team (Matt, Fiona, Gina, Alex), leaving them to settle with a silver.

In the evening, we headed to Mama Leonies for the traditional pasta and wine feast. This year the wine seemed to migrate towards the older members of the party, which made sorting out the bill at the end of the night very entertaining. Thanks for the club subsidy, and to Tony and Roger, who finally collected all the required cash! Was it Tony we were waiting on in the end?!

Sunday: Storming swims and almost negative splitting were the themes for Sue and Katherine, who took on the 800m fc. Katherine took gold and Sue a silver. Fiona and Ruth lined up again for the 50m br claiming 1st and 2nd in the 25-29 age, respectively. Roger Sharpley, James and Matt contested men’s event, with James setting another pb (I believe he slept in his fastskin over the course of the weekend, such attachment was made).  Rob Alderton scored a fine 1st in his age in the 50m bk, in an impressively quick 30.93, and ‘Little Ben’ Thomas picked up another 4th! The 100m fly was a hotly contested affair. Gina went first for the ladies, posting a pb of 1.08, then came Lauren, in a pb of 1.11, followed by Michelle (1.09), and Jane (1.11). Pbs all round for James, Andy and Alex Freelove, along with a gold and a silver for Derek and Roger Lloyd Mostyn. As previously mentioned, the 100+ ladies fc relay claimed the British Record, beating all the other teams in the younger ages as well, all in spite of a glacial take over from Ruth and a severe case of the shakes for Lauren! In the 240+, Rogers S and LM, Mike and Phil picked up a silver. There was supposed to be a men’s 120+ team competing for the medals, but unfortunately, Dan had an important call to take, so they didn’t quite make it to the blocks in time. The rest of the team were seen wiping away the tears of frustration that they couldn’t compete. Lesley Davies and Katherine took on the 200m IM, with both ladies smashing their entry times. In the blue ribboned event, the 100m fc, Dan finished top of the Otter pile, and Andy and Alex both dipped under 59 secs for the first time. Of the ladies, Gina nosed ahead, although it was Ruth, Liz and Sophie who posted new (masters) pbs. Start of the weekend came from Jane in this event, who notched up a sizzling reaction time of 0.36 – quite possibly a physical impossibility, but she wasn’t dq’d, so it stands (sorry Peaches!). In the 100m bk Ben finally picked up a (bronze) medal! Sadly, he wasn’t able to pick it up before we left as the results had got lost somewhere. Following a few bag issues, a slightly amended men’s 100+/120+ medley relay team (Matt, James, Alex, Andy) took to the blocks (thanks to Peaches for stepping in) and they picked up a well deserved silver. And the 120+ ladies (Gina, Ruth, Jane, Lauren) romped home to victory. 

Full results: http://asaftp.sportcentric.net/sports/masters/results/2006/asama06/webpages/index.htm