Report by Karl Simpson
Tick, tock…boom. On a weekend when we saw the clocks go back, Spencer swimmers had their eyes fixed on the times flashing up on the jumbo scoreboard looming over the competition pools at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, during the 2024 GoCardless Swim England Masters National Championships.
The swim meet produced an outstanding level of swimming with an incredible 119 British records, 44 European and 17 World records, many exciting races, inspiring swims, and countless personal achievements by 1600 swimmers across all age groups.
The Spencer team contributed to the records tally thanks to the explosive performances of Daniel Cotton, who was in imperious form, claiming four gold medals, all in British record times, plus a silver medal in the 200m freestyle (2:02.77). Becoming National Champion in the 50-54 age group in 200m backstroke (2:11.09), 200m IM (2:14.86), 100m backstroke (1:00.92), and 400m IM (4:49.20) – makes him the most successful male swimmer from Spencer at the meet and crowns a great 2024 in the pool.
Amanda Heath, who is no stranger to British and International records, once again showed her versatility and excellence with an equally impressive medal haul, winning gold medals in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke (yes, the triple), 200m IM, 200m backstroke (age group best time) – all season’s best times. To add to this impressive collection of golds, Amanda also stepped onto the podium and collected silver in the 200m freestyle, and bronze in the 100m backstroke in the women’s 65-69 age group.
But the team was performing well, and medals were collected elsewhere, with Matthew Taylor bagging himself a well-deserved bronze in the men’s 55-59 age group with a master’s lifetime PB of 2:37.95 in the 200m backstroke. He narrowly missed out on medals, collecting fourth spots in 100m (1:12.45 – PB) and 50m backstroke (33.40). He also carried his freestyle form through from Crawley recently to produce a 2:21.88 in a master’s lifetime PB.
After a lengthy hiatus, Spencer Coach Graham Huntingford was back in competition mode, in only his second competitive swim as a master’s swimmer. After contributing to the relays, Graham put it all together in the 50m freestyle to swim an impressive 26.3 seconds in the male 45-49 age group.
Relatively new Spencer member Alex de Tullio also flexed his competition muscles again as he continued working towards finding his best form after returning to the pool earlier this year. Playing an outstanding team role in the men’s relays, Alex was also showing some remarkable form in his individual events too, swimming the 50m (30.91), 100m (1:06.83) and 200m (2:31.90) breaststroke in the men’s 30-34 age group. We’re all excited to see Alex get stronger and faster in the months ahead.
Another recent and very welcome addition to the Spencer team is Lauren Willcox, who delivered some excellent swims. A string of season’s best times, including 2:12.88 in the 200m freestyle (women’s 35-39 age group) secured her gold, as did 4:42.51 in the 400m freestyle and a 1:10.00 in the 100m backstroke meant she would narrowly miss out on gold and collect silver.
Moving into the 60-64 women’s age group this year, Diane Ridings took just 1:30.98 to scoop a fantastic silver medal in the 100m breaststroke. She then backed it up with a bronze medal performance in the 50m breaststroke, touching in 41.18 seconds.
On the meet’s final day, Frances Baker saved the best until last, winning silver in the most enduring of contests, the 400m IM. Frances swam an impressive 7:10.61 in the women’s 60-64 age group, some 11 seconds ahead of the bronze medallist.
Having had a head-scratching first day in the 1500m freestyle and 200m back (losing to a childhood clubmate), Simon Berry did what all good athletes do. He returned the following day and left it all out there in the 800m freestyle to come home in a very satisfying 10:35.80 in the men’s 50-54 years, recording a season’s best time. With belief restored, Simon was back on Sunday, where he replicated his good form with a 5:10.37 in the 400m freestyle.
Robyn Le Friec placed second in women’s 30-34 age group for 200m fly in a very impressive 2:30.77 and in the 100m fly, showed the importance of a strong finish by claiming bronze by two one-hundredths of a second in 1:08.00.
Moving into the 70-74-year-old men’s age group this year, Godfrey Admans delivered some of his best times for several years, with a superb 1:25.78 for the 100m backstroke, earning him a silver medal and 38.9 seconds in the 50m backstroke, seeing him just off the podium in 4th place.
Suzanne Maidment hauled in a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle in a time of 5:38.93 in the women’s 55-59 years age group after a strong weekend of swimming across all her events.
In the 75-79 age group, Peter Stevens seemed to be Spencer’s busiest swimmer, taking on team relay duties and an extensive individual program. Peter managed medals of all colours in the following races: 800m freestyle (bronze), 400m freestyle (gold), 200m breaststroke (silver), and 1500m freestyle (bronze).
With the assistance of some intense physio work, Guy Emerson shook off the effect of a back injury that prevented him from swimming during the first two days of competition to claim a bronze medal in the 50m backstroke in the men’s 60-64 age group.
Karl Simpson produced master’s lifetime personal best times in the 50m freestyle (28.7), 100m fly (1:16.19), and 200m freestyle (2:20.26) and equalled his PB in the 100m freestyle (1:02.7). In the final session, after a strong weekend, he came home in the 400m freestyle in a season’s best time.
Elsewhere, the team performed impressively in the relays without winning any medals. Also, breaststroke specialists Rebecca Pritchard and Fiona Wiggins delivered impressive swims across the meet, achieving PBs in several different events. Rebecca wiped 4 seconds off her 200m PB. Helen Cumber achieved four PBs and slipped just out of the medals in the 50m backstroke. Luca Milana and Sally Ritchie both showed encouraging signs of their best form in their selected events, too.
It was a monumental three days of competitive swimming, with many incredible individual performances. The medals and times are the rewarding dividends of many months of hard training. But it isn’t only about podiums and personal bests, as many other accomplished goals don’t appear on the scoreboard, and every master’s swimmer goes home proud of their achievements. It was a privilege to be part of such a great community of passionate swimmers giving their all, and hopefully, many more Spencer swimmers can enjoy the fun experience in 2025.