Nationals 09

©ITLang 2007-2010 on behalf of ESLSS

Masters Swimmers from Exmouth Swimming and Lifesaving Society have again returned from Sheffield with a record haul of medals from the ASA National Masters and Senior Age Group Championships.

Fifteen swimmers and their supporters travelled with Coach Bob Clarke for the event and they returned home with a marvellous haul of 3 gold, 6 silver, and 7 bronze medals in three days of top flight competition at Ponds Forge International Swimming Pool.

The Women’s 72+ relay team claimed silver and bronze in the freestyle and medley relay events respectively. Caroline Ball, Tara Dudley and Libby Kathro were defending champions for both relays and British record holders for the freestyle. Faye Burrow stepped into the team and all four performed admirably winning silver and bronze medals.

Individually the girls also had a very successful meet. Caroline Ball (18-24) won three gold medals, in the 100 and 50 backstroke and in the 100 individual medley. Tara Dudley showed her class in the freestyle events, finishing 3rd in the 100, 200 and 400 metre events. Libby Kathro also competed individually to swim to a very respectable 7th place in the 200 backstroke. Louise Kathro set personal bests in what proved to be a very competitive age group. She swam into four very credible top 10 finishes in the 100 freestyle and IM, and 50 freestyle and breaststroke.

The men also had a successful meet with Adam Tapp smashing the club record for the 1500 metres freestyle by over a minute to claim 5th place. Ian Lang also swam the 1500 to claim a credible 6th place some way behind Tapp and set a new personal standard in the 100 metres freestyle later in the meet. Ross Szender missed out on the club record in the 200 IM by one hundredth of a second but still claimed a bronze medal. He also swam to a new club record in the 100 metres butterfly. Sprinter Sam Lander swam some fast times over the shorter freestyle and backstroke events, swimming to fourth in the 100 metres backstroke and 5th in the 50. Jonathan Hawkins (18-24) got the reward he deserved for his training by clocking a 1.10.03 in the 100m breaststroke and 31.65 in the 50; placing him 5th and 9th respectively. Exmouth channel swimmer Olly White (30-34) swam to fourth in the 200m IM. He also set a lifetime best in the 200m freestyle and came 5th in both the 50 and 100metres breaststroke. Neville King swam 5 events over the weekend and swam 4 personal best times. The biggest was in the 800 metres freestyle where he swam to 7th place in a time of 10.47.82. Nick Silkstone and Andy Pratt both attended their first National championships at Ponds Forge. Andy swam some impressive times, particularly in the Breaststroke where he finished 11th in the 100 metres and 10th in the 200. Nick competed in his favourite middle and long distance freestyle events; swimming to 10th in the 400 metres. Once again the men were led by Bill Letch. Competing in the 64-69 age group he won 3 silver and 2 bronze medals over the weekend in IM, freestyle and fly events.

The men’s Exmouth 72+ relay squad also put in an impressive performance to swim to 5th place in both the freestyle and medley relays; their best ever finish in both races.

To round off the weekend Jonathan Hawkins and Ross Szender teamed up with Tara Dudley and Caroline Ball to win silver in the mixed medley relay.

For full results click here

ASA National Masters Championships 09