If you want a taste of what swimming at the World Championships is all about, this short video, featuring Amanda and Esther, offers a glimpse into the experience. In the 3rd and 4th year of our age group (65-69) respectively, we didn’t expect to be as competitive as the last 2 years (2023 in Fukuoka and 2024 in Doha), but we were determined to have a great time, and that we certainly did!
We flew out to Singapore on 22nd July, arriving on 23rd July, ready for the 3k Open Water event starting on 26th. Things hadn’t looked good when the Elite Women’s 10k event was postponed due to poor water quality, and our Training Day on 25th was cancelled for the same reason. We went to bed on the 25th, not knowing if we would be able to swim or not. Up bright and early, we made our way to registration on Sentosa Island, where we found out the race was going ahead. In all honesty, I am not too sure if I was pleased or not! The conditions really were as brutal as some of the Elite swimmers had said – the water was 30.2 °C (the maximum allowed for safety reasons being 31 °C), and it was dirty and choppy, especially when the ferries passed by, very close to the barrier separating us from the shipping lanes.
But Spencer swimmers are a tough bunch and of the 5 medals won by GB swimmers, 3 of them were claimed by us.
Results as follows:
26th July – Women
65-69 🥈2nd Esther Iseppi – 59.22.0
65-69 🐬4th Amanda Heath – 1.00.08.9
27th July – Men
40-44 🥉3rd Jamie Mackay – 52.40.9
80-84 🥇1st Michael Read – 1.27.32.1
The relatively slow times reflect those brutal conditions!
On the 27th July, Esther, Amanda and Jamie & family had the opportunity to watch the first finals night of the Elite pool events, and get a glimpse of the amazing temporary racing pool in which we would be competing 10 days later.
Whilst Michael stayed in Singapore, Jamie headed home, and Esther and Amanda hopped on a plane to Phuket, Thailand, with four fellow Open Water/pool swimmers, for a much-looked-forward-to training camp.
With reports of US & GB elite swimmers suffering food poisoning/stomach viruses from their holding camp in Phuket, we were glad that we had chosen a different location on the island. We had use of a wonderful covered 50m pool, the services of an excellent Polish coach, yoga and stretching sessions, Thai massage (ouch!), Thai boxing (which we wimped out of), and local excursions.
9 days later we were fully acclimatised to the time zone and hot weather, had sharpened up our racing skills, and headed back to (more humid) Singapore for the pool events. Meanwhile Guy and Suzanne had arrived and the full Spencer team was ready to race.
There were 2 competition pools in use each day, the permanent OCBC Aquatic Centre and the temporary World Championships Arena, each with their own 50m warm up/cool down pool. The pools were roughly 10 minutes by foot away from each other, and the men and women’s events alternated between each. The pool events kicked off on 7th August, with a day of 800m freestyle. On 9th August, there was a break to celebrate Singapore’s 60th anniversary of independence, a National holiday, and the events culminated with relay day on 14th August.
And here are the results!
800m freestyle
80-84 🐬Michael – 7th, 17.28.93
55-59 💐Suzanne – 14th, 12.26.90
400m freestyle
80-84 🐬Michael – 8th, 8.32.99
55-59 💐Suzanne – 19th, 5.56.61
200m freestyle
80-84 🐬Michael – 9th, 3.57.99
55-59 💐Suzanne – 26th, 2.54.64
50m freestyle
60-64 🐬Guy – 34th
200m breaststroke
65-69 🥇Amanda – 1st, 3.20.17, 💐Esther – 4th, 3.23.73
55-59 💐Suzanne – 15th, 3.45.36
100m breaststroke
65-69 🥈Amanda – 2nd, 1.32.15, Esther – 6th, 1.35.62
55-59 💐Suzanne – 21st, 1.40.89
50m breaststroke
65-69 💐Esther – 5th, 42.27
100m backstroke
60-64 🐬Guy – 10th, 1.17.28
50m backstroke
60-64 🐬Guy – 11th, 34.46
200m fly
65-69 💐Amanda – 4th, 3.23.92
400m IM
80-84 🥈Michael – 2nd, 10.57.11
65-69 🥇Amanda – 1st, 6.41.10, Esther – 🥉3rd, 6.50.43
200m IM
65-69 🥉Amanda – 3rd, 3.10.49, 💐Esther – 6th, 3.12.70
4×50 freestyle, 280-319, 🥈2nd – Guy, Amanda, Michael, Esther
4×50 medley, 280-319, 🥈2nd – Guy, Esther, Amanda, Michael
So, including the Open Water, the final medal tally for Spencer was an amazing
3 gold (Michael, Amanda x2)
5 Silver (Esther, Michael, Amanda, relays x2)
3 bronze (Jamie, Esther, Amanda)
The full results may be found here (click on summary tab).
https://results.microplustimingservices.com/MastersSingapore2025/#/schedule-bydate-json/1/*
Spencer swimmers: Guy Emerson, Michael Read, Jamie McKay, Suzanne Maidment, Esther Iseppi, Amanda Heath