Otter wins top club trophy at the GB LC masters champs!
The Otter team, consisting of 21 swimmers, wrestled the top club trophy away from Spencer by achieving more top 3 places and point scoring swims than any other team. Certainly in recent years this is the first time Otter has won the trophy, having placed second or third in the past three years. Massive congratulations and thanks to all the swimmers; this was a brilliant team effort and wouldn’t have been possible without all of your swims. We eventually beat the next best team (Swindon, I believe, although they are yet to release the official top 3) by over 30 points.
 
The records
It was in the relay races where Otter achieved record glory. In the ladies medley 100+ relay, Cat ‘I will not finish with my head’ Dobson (33.4 pb), Fiona ‘there’s a handbag at stake’ Marshall (34.4), Lizzie ‘I can feel water flushing through my fastskin’ Bellinger (29.2) and Gina ‘I love chicken’ Hobson (27.9) smashed the British and European record by over 3 seconds and were only .15 away from snatching the World record. Next time ladies?! 
In the 120+ ladies fc relay, Fiona (28.0 pb) led Gina (27.9), Jane ‘Macca’ McMenemy (29.2), and Lisa ‘I’m doing this for the Fox’ Wujec (28.9) to another British record, reducing our own standard by a further 0.5 seconds. Lisa can now proudly move up to Edinburgh as a British record holder – we’ll miss you!
In addition to the relay records, a huge number of Club records were broken by the following swimmers: Roger Lloyd-Mostyn (50fc); Ted Evans (100fc, 50bk); Peter Rae (200fc, 400fc, 1500fc); Dave Roberts (50fly); Enrico Hahn (200bk); Jane McMenemy (100fc, 200fc, 400fc, 50br); Catherine Couquet (100fc, 50fly); Lesley Cook (400fc, 1500fc, 200IM); Lizzie Bellinger (50fly); Cat Dobson (50bk); and Fiona Marshall (50br).
 
Further relay glory
There were gold medals for the experienced men’s 240+ team (fc: Roger ‘resisting the fastskin’ Lloyd-Mostyn, Tony ‘sod training, I’m going on holiday’ Ray, Ted ‘lightening off the blocks’ Evans and Peter; medley: Tony, Coach Steve Bratt, Derek and Peter ‘I won’t be beaten by girls’ Rae) and 100+ fc ladies (Cat, Anna ‘I’ll leave everything to the last minute’ Ochocinska, Jane ‘are my starts really that bad?’ Leighton and Michelle ‘I have too many handbags’ Senecal). There was also satisfaction for Gina, Fiona, Derek ‘El Del’ Parr and Peter in the 160+ mixed medley relay, who beat teams including Spencer and Barnet, and took gold in style. 
There was slight relay trauma, which resulted in a few last minute runs to the changing rooms to search for missing team mates, but everyone was on the blocks in the end! Special thanks to Lesley ‘check out my tan’ Cook and Lisa for dropping everything and rushing to the blocks after some miscommunication from Captain Hobson! Thanks also to Jane L (and Dave) for hanging around til the very end of the meet to swim in the final relay. 
 
Frontcrawl
The Otter ladies were dominant in the fc events, with Macca comfortably winning the 200 and 400fc in her age; and Fiona taking gold in the 50fc (28.2); Gina gold in the 100fc (1.02.0 pb); and Michelle gold in the 200fc (2.18 pb), all in the 30-34 age. Despite having to endure the auditory delights of the local disco til 3am on Fri night, Liz ‘I’ll swim through anything’ Shaw posted a speedy 32.3 and a top 10 finish. There was also silver for Catherine ‘I’ll fly across the world for a swim’ Couquet in the 100fc, a 100fc pb for Lisa (01.04.8), and bronze for Lesley in the 800fc – Lesley also easily wins the prize for the number of metres raced over the course of the weekend, which perhaps contributed to the delightful ‘lactate ass’ she experienced during the 200IM!  
Dave ‘will these Swindon/Police swimmers just quit?!’ Roberts walked away with the fastest Otter award posting a punchy 25.6 in the 50fc individual and then 25.4 when he led off the mixed fc team. Peter showed true competitive spirit and determination not to get beaten by a bunch of girls and achieved the fastest Otter 200fc time (2.17.9), winning the 55-59 age. And in between finding errant Otters for relays, Tony rediscovered his fc form and was pleased with top 10 finishes in the 50, 100 and 200. 
 
Fly
Enrico ‘programme of death’ Hahn, Derek and Roger took on the hell-ish event that is the 200fly and all lived to tell the tale, picking up a fourth and two golds respectively, although Enrico admitted that he may not go out quite so quickly next time.  Dave (27.3 pb) and Adam ‘check out my camera work’ McCarthy (28.6) pulled out swift 50fly swims, with Dave winning a bronze medal in the ultra-competitive 25-29 age group.
The Otter 30-34 ladies achieved a 1, 2, 3 in the 100fly, with Lizzie, Gina and Fiona picking up medals. There was a 1, 2 in the 50fly for Lizzie and Gina, with Lizzie (29.3) only .05 away from the British record. Michelle decided to make the 100fc a little more interesting by swimming fly and comfortably won her heat. That can’t have been fun for the fc swimmers! 
 
Breaststroke
Perhaps a little unusually, there was a squadron of Otter ladies lined up to take on the 50br. The chicken lover laid it down with a 40.1 to start, which was quickly bettered by Macca (39.9), Anna (38.0), and Fiona (35.3). Fiona just missed out on gold by 0.8 and is next likely to be seen at QMSC practicing her finishes. In the 200, Enrico pulled out a 4.5 second pb to finish 3rd and Jane L also claimed a bronze in the tough 25-29 age group. 
 
Backstroke
400bk specialist, Jane L, swum a fantastic, if a little unorthodox, 200bk, to take gold in her age.  And sprinting specialist, Cat, was just pipped to silver in the 50bk, having very sportingly given the other competitors a chance by finishing with her head. Coach Steve pulled out a 40.1 in his 50bk and claimed a silver. 
 
The starts
Special mention to Ted, who again showed that age is no excuse for being slow off the blocks, with reaction times of 0.7. Also mention to Lisa, who apparently just couldn’t be bothered at the start of the 200fc, and decided to sit on the block for nearly 2 seconds (1.9); that must be a Club record! 
 
And finally,
Here are some of the pearls of wisdom learnt over the weekend:
 
Catherine C learnt that it puts a bit too much pressure on yourself, not to mention the relay organisers, when you go to the toilet as your team mates dive in for the relay. 
Gina learnt that Aberystwyth is not in north Scotland. 
Enrico learnt how seriously Michelle takes her role as Club Trunk Monitor.
Jane L learnt she should check closely when packing her fastskins.
 
Massive thanks to Coach Steve for his enthusiasm and filming prowess throughout the weekend and to Tony for his organisation of the relays and ensuring that everyone made it to the blocks in time! Winning the team trophy is no mean feat and certainly goes to show that Otter is a team to be reckoned with; I hope that we’ll have an equally good showing at the SC champs in Sheffield in October and again in Manchester next year, when hopefully we can retain the trophy.  
 
Gina
 
Due to space, time, and other continuum issues, not all swims could be detailed. Regarding all factual inaccuracies, please contact a member of the Barnet editorial team. 
 
See here for full results.