Have you ever seen a Spencer silver or gold swim cap and wondered how to get one? The secret is out! They are prizes in the Spencer Mile Open Water Race! After a break of a couple of years, the event made a very welcome return to the calendar in 2025 at a new venue – Denham Lake – thanks to the brilliant organisation of Jennifer and Coach Steve.

Check in was at 9am for a 9.45am start, when Spencer had the use of the whole lake to ourselves. The “mile” consisted of 2 x 1k laps of an easy-to-navigate course parallel to the iconic Colne Valley viaduct for HS2, the recently completed longest railway bridge in the UK.

Early on the scene, in a preview of the race to come were out of towners Matthew, Alan and Amanda (in that order) who were there in plenty of time to survey the course, discuss tactics and don their superfast wetsuits.

Steve gave the briefing, where we learnt that there would be two waves, with the men starting 5 minutes behind the women. There was then a big debate about how cold the water was and whether the fastest guys could catch the fastest girls. There was only one way to find out, so the girls slithered off the pontoon and into the water. The answers: a very pleasant 17-18 degrees and no, of course they couldn’t!

The race produced some very close finishes, with Matthew spotting the pontoon finishing line to overtake Alan in the final stretch, and Clare and Laura touching together.

Post race, we enjoyed Denham Water Ski club’s hot showers, changing facilities and coffee bar, as well as home made focaccia, banana bread and muffins kindly provided by race participants. Then, on to the prize giving, where everyone won a gold, silver or blue Spencer cap for coming 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their age group.

The best thing: everyone felt so great after a brisk morning swim and socialise. Here’s hoping that more folk will join us for next year’s race.

Results:
Wetsuit women:
Lisa Scott – 37.24, 1st, 20-29
Alexandra Bullen-Smith – 42.25, 2nd, 20-29
Josie Miller – 34.07, 1st, 30-39
Amanda Heath – 32.09, 1st, 60+
Nicola Malin – 38.52, 2nd, 60+
Overall winner: Amanda Heath

Wetsuit men:
Matthew Taylor – 28.52, 1st, 50-59
Joe Dean – 36.19, 2nd, 50-59
Alan Parkins – 28.54, 1st, 60+
Overall winner: Matthew Taylor

Skins women:
Jennifer Kelly – 33.41, 1st, 30-39
Helen Cumber – 34.19, 2nd, 30-39
Clare Humphries – 37.06, joint 1st 40-49
Laura Mason – 37.06, joint 1st 40-49
Jane Turner – 41.38, 2nd, 40-49
Overall winner: Jennifer Kelly

Skins men:
Alex Hulme – 37.04, 1st, 20-29
Josh Stratford – 37.17, 1st, 30-39
Ross Needham – 32.31, 1st, 40-49
Michael Shaw – 39.51, 2nd, 40-49
Ben Lillywhite – 44.36, 3rd, 40-49
Luke Schuberth – 35.43, 1st, 50-59
Karl Simpson – 36.55, 2nd, 50-59
Overall winner: Ross Needham

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AGM

The Club AGM and fun gala took place last Saturday 13 November. After an energetic 90 minutes of relays, expertly coordinated by Steve, we gathered to complete the administrative necessities of the AGM, followed by all important Pizza and presentation of our annual awards.

At the AGM, our Committee for the next year was elected. We’re very pleased to welcome them to their new roles:

Chair – Michael Barnett

Treasurer – Sara Luder

Club Secretary – Emma Sweetland

Membership Secretary – Laura Kerrigan

Team Manager – Olegas Petrikas

Kit Secretary – Tracy Wheeler

Communications Officer – Willem Heskes

Social Secretary – Vacant 

We’re still seeking a volunteer for the role of Social Secretary – if you think you could arrange a fun night out please consider volunteering. If you’re interested, email spencerswimteam@gmail.com

Awards

We awarded a short list of four awards this year, in recognition that this year has had slightly less swimming than we would have liked.

Dave Mace Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Club: John Gordon (Posthumous), Club Founder

Irving Dixon Award for Freestyle Swimmer of the Year: Georgina Quayle, for 4 medals (3 individual, 1 team) at Nationals

Outstanding Performance of the year: Fran Baker, for 5 individual national medals including 3 golds.

Open Water Swimmer of the Year: Rachel O’Riordan for circumnavigating the Scilly Isles!

Congratulations again to all of our winners.

Inter Counties Champs 2021

Spencer swimmers were seen racing for four different County teams this Sunday (14 Nov) with Amanda Heath for Berkshire and South Bucks, Di Ford for Hampshire, Clive Benson for Sussex, Sue Lauder and Abba Newbery for Surrey. The racing was fast and furious, 50m only, and with most also racing at least 4 relays. Di Ford’s Hampshire took home the Cup.

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The third annual Spencer Mile is now ready to enter. All the details you need are below!

Date:               Sunday 26th September 2021

Venue:             Thorpe Park Lake. Thorpe Lakes, Thorpe Road, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 8PH

Course:             4 x round 400m loop.

Time:                8.30am briefing.  9.00am first wave. 

 Swimmers must be registered prior to swimming.  Late swimmers will not be permitted to compete.

Organisation

The event will be swum in waves of similar ability based on previous results. Waves of ideally 5/6 will start 30 seconds apart.

The swim will start in the water by the pier of the lake. Swimmers must touch the pier on each lap and must swim around the outside of each buoy, keeping the buoy to their left.  Swimmers finish by touching the pier at the end of their fourth lap.

Timing:              Manual.

Categories:       Wetsuit and skins.  Age groups based on every 5 years from 20+.  

Entry

Entries made by email to Steve Baker (sbaker50@btinternet.com). Please provide your DoB and whether wetsuit or skin category.

Price:               £20 each to include entry, prize, refreshments.

Payment:          Please confirm your entry by emailing Steve for bank account details for payment.

No cash will be taken on the day!  

Prizes              

Prizes for first, second and third in each age group. 

Special overall award for skins v suits where wetsuits get a 10%-time calculation penalty.    1 men, 1 women.

Party!

We will be holding a barbecue and light refreshments at the lakeside straight after the racing.  This will be from 10am till lunchtime.  Drinks will be available but warm beverages are available from the lakeside café.

Donations: Intentions to offer a cake or similar will be very gratefully received.  Please advise intention to Steve in advance either in person at training or via email.

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Coaches Report from Steve Baker

The second staging of the Brockwell relays took place on Thursday 22^nd July 2021 with a team of 10 Spencer swimmers.

As the winners of the inaugural event in 2019 we had expectation and objective to retain the trophy.

I am personally delighted that we were able to mix members of longer vintage with new swimmers and of course mixing from various venues. The morale and spirit lift that this offers to swimmers and the club is massive. Of course, a round of tonic water helped in the pub also.

The event was competitive and we did not have every race our own way.  It was also good to know that whilst we did not win every front crawl race, we smashed the other strokes.

We also had fewer swimmers than Serpentine, Windrush and the Clapham Chasers so well done on the stamina.

Well done Olegas for stepping up to management duties and the assistant manager, Agne.   Thanks also for the long-distance travelers, Georgie from Hertfordshire and Mel from South Wales!!

Swimmers.

Over 120                                                                                  Under 120

• Lisa Hibberd                                                                  Sarah Tripp
• Sue Swaine                                                                    Georgie Quayle
• Emily Hayter                                                                  Mel Thomas
• Rebecca Pritchard                                                         Thomas Holmes
• Willem Heskes
• Luca Milana

Results.

O120 Free           2nd                                          U120 Free           2nd 

O120 Br               1^st Dead Heat                           U120 Br               1st

O120 Med          1st                                            U120 Med           1st

Cannon                2^nd

OVERALL 1^st

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All fake news of course.  It was windy, cold air, warm water and there were numerous waves of socially distanced swimmers at 2-minute intervals that took to the water.  Two swimmers with other commitments did the swim prior to the group!!

What was in effect the only competition most swimmers will have this year, the swimmers braved c15 degrees, mostly in wetsuits to do the swim.

A very fast 22.11 minutes saw Simon Berry win the overall event.

Tracy Wheeler was first woman home in 24.19.

Frist female skin was Lisa Hibberd in an impressive 26.56 and first male skin was Rob Tate in 24.45.

Rob had already decided the event was too easy so cycled on to Thorpe and of course back again.

The course was twice round an 800 track. Cleary marked but made tricky by a headwind on the way back.  Whilst chilly it was by no mean cold, although FINA would not have liked it!

It was great to see so many swimmers making the effort in what was our second annual mile and of course rearranged as a venue due to the cancellation of the Thames swim due to the current disease restrictions.

Congratulations to each and every one of the competitors.

We return to the pool with this one under our belt and only 10 months to train for Spencer Mile 3.

The post Spencer Mile 2020 appeared first on Spencer Swim Team London.

So many swimmers, so many winners.  Most important what a lovely stretch of river and a lovely race.  It started in 50’s dreamland at the Sea Scout headquarters.  For you youngsters, the 50s was last century!  After the safety announcements we all got in for the obligatory 5 minutes treading water and acclimatizing.  A rapid start and an 800m stretch of green on both sides of the river.  After the halfway point we got to the hard-standing area with rowing boat sheds for the Oxford colleges.  Another 400m saw the start of the final stretch.  A well laid out series of pencil buoys of 200 m upstream and then a sprint finish on the other side to a hard landing.  The whole race bar the final 200m was upstream but to the Spencer swimmers this mattered little.

To put a smile on everyone’s face, the sun had its hat on, and the weather was just perfect.  Just enough cloud to guard against burn and enough sun to make it warm.

Overall men’s winner was Tristan Slater in an absorbing race against Rob Tate.  Tristan won by a short head but had the advantage of a suit so both men won their categories and had a fantastic race.

Sue Swaine was the women’s overall winner and unusually for her did not wear a suit, well done Sue, a convert!!!!!

Lisa Hibberd was the overall senior women’s winner.

Your ever so humble coach was first in the infinity category and second in the senior men’s.  That’s over 55 if you need to know!!!! 

Very impressive swims were recorded by James Draper in 6^th, Luke Schuberth in 8^th, Willem Heskes in 11^th and  Ed Hill in 12^th.  James and Luke in rather dapper rubber suits with Willem and Ed in hairy pink versions.  Well done Willem and Ed.

Luca Milana completed his first ever open water race and swim in water below 26 degrees.  Forza Luca.

Luca of course had a good introduction to open water swimming by pulling the coach back by the trunks and having the temerity to cut across him during the race.  Naughty Luca!

Making up the team on the day were Jane Turner and Sara Luder who had a good personal race, Michael Barnett, Nicola Malin, Mel Thomas.  14 swimmers in all.  There were three withdrawals for various reasons.

Mel had made the trip all the way from Cardiff to compete.

Well done everyone on your efforts, please see the attached spreadsheet for results and times.

In terms of the open event of which we were a part, we had no fewer than 8 in the top 20 and when you consider there were lots of suited swimmers in the race that’s a great achievement.  The total entry was 120 swimmers, so we made up a little over 10%.

Following the race there was exceptionally good cakes with tea and coffee from the organisers.  We then trekked back to a lovely spot on the river for a picnic.  What a fab event that was.

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The post Competitions Update appeared first on Spencer Swim Team London.

Open Water Activities 2020

As a massive advocate for Open Water Swimming, I have been delighted to see so many Spencer Swimmers taking to the sea, lakes and rivers. Congratulations to those of you entering the wild waters for the first time, the season comes around every year, and perhaps some of you will brave the cooler waters and swim through winter! The Royal London Docks have a sub 5 degree skins club and I hope to see some Spencer names on the list.

My summer has involved three types of Open Water Swimming; training, racing, and wild swimming. Here are the race reports and wild swim spots I have enjoyed throughout the Open Water Season. I have also become a strategic suit wearer having learnt how to use one properly, if there are no separate suits and skins categories I default to a wetsuit, sorry Steve, it’s all about the speed.

Box End 19km

Saturday 27th June 2020, Self Organised, Choice of Skins, no prize only the glory of finishing, 24 loops of an 800m loop

Virtual English Channel Crossing Fundraising Events @ Merchant Taylors’ and Shepperton

Saturday 5th July 2020 and Saturday 25th July 2020, a battle of the lakes, how many times can swimmers virtually cross the English Channel? Shepperton won with 29.5 crossings, and at Merchant Taylors’ did 13 crossings. We raised over £1000 at the events and the community spirit and charitable support was incredible. We had a tombola with prizes provided by HUUB, Swim Secure, and other companies.

Canary Warf 3x1mile

Friday 17th July 2020, Turner Swim, Wetsuit Compulsory, prize = £100 for the fastest loop of the morning, you can choose to do 1, 2 or 3 miles, one mile every hour, a good event to squeeze in before work as the first heat starts 6.30am

English Channel Swim

Thursday 13th August 2020, Aspire Charity, 6 people on a 1 hour rotation, we completed this in 12 hours 45mins, started in a thunderstorm, lightning and rain, and finished in sunshine. Conditions were flat and warm water, sun shining and quite a few jellyfish, no stings. We saw the P&O Ferries and a migrant boat being escorted. The 6 of us were allowed to swim together to Wissant with a large crowd applauding and cheering ‘Bravo’, ‘Congratulations’. 

MK1K Milton Keynes 3x1km

Saturday 22nd August 2020, Love Sports Event (NOWCA), Choice of Wetsuit or Skins no separate categories, prize for fastest cumulative time male and female, 1 km every hour, this was the first year the event was run and it was good as a time trial. Spencer rep from Gillian Hodgson.

Shepperton Night Swim 

For me, this is always the highlight of the Open Water events. Night swimming is a great experience made better by how pretty they make the lake. The path from car park to lakeside, the hut, buoys and the safety kayaks are lit with glow sticks and fairy lights. You swim wearing glow sticks and the event takes place near a full moon making the lake light up. This year there were fireworks during the swim and cake and hot chocolate afterwards.

Dorney Lake 750m, 1.5km, 3km

Sunday 6th September 2020, Choice Wetsuit or Skins no separate categories, prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd male and female Senior and Vet categories (there was a triathlon at the same time hence the categories). This took place in the boating lake so we could swim in a straight line following the lines attaching the buoys instead of sighting. This was more a time trial race and was one of the cheapest events to enter. Good Spencer representation with Becky Power, Amanda Heath and Alan Parkins.

Upcoming events

• Dock2Dock 5km, Saturday 12th September 2020
• Storm the Lakes – Quad 3000, HYMB Cheshunt, Sunday 20th September 2020
• Swim Equinox – Thorpe Lake, Saturday 26th September 2020

Wild Swim Spots

• Tarn up Old Man Coniston, Lake District
• Consiton Lake, Lake District
• Ullswater Lake, Lake District
• Castle Eaton to Kempsford River, Oxfordshire
• Great Barford, Bedfordshire

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