Medal Rush for Southampton Masters at County Champs

The mania of Hampshire / Channel Island / HM Armed Forces Masters Championships returned for the final weekend of June, Portsmouth's Mountbatten Centre playing hosts once more. Following the County's phenomenal success at British Nationals earlier in the month and several Hampshire Clubs setting new European and World records (individual and relay), stakes were high for our little provincial duel, despite the nonchalant atmosphere. 

Our coastal county never disappoints when it comes to quality - a new World Record being struck by Rushmoor Royals' veteran Diane Ford in the first session as the octogenarian almost dipped below 01.40.00 for her 100m Breaststroke (thankfully the electronic timing at the venue was back up and running by then following a few early hiccups!)...and a break of her existing British Record over the 50m event to complement. However, prepotent as always was Basingstoke Bluefins, a 30-strong contingent with depth of age and experience frequently taking podium sweeps across well-challenged 30yrs+ and 40yrs+ age divisions. Chasing them down all the way was SD Trojans, again with an apex-masters swimmer or two in their ranks and fierce relay contenters. A welcome return from Havant and Waterlooville too, a fine 25 swimmer tally making the quick trip down the road to check their Portsmouth Northsea rivals on shared territory. 

City of Southampton's main objective - welcome our newcomers to this special event, and see if we can cling to our coveted Top Three overall club placing behind the Bluefins and the Trojans...not going to be easy! Melissa Dolby (25-29yrs) fought hard over the 50m FC (00.27.71) to defend her County title, following up with mirrored fortitude over the 100m IM (01.09.40), but a fiesty challenge from Rushmoor's Charlotte Rowlands just pipped Dolby from the hat trick over the 50m Fly (00.30.03). Issy Lyon-Maris joined in the same age-division for a silver in the 100m Back (01.16.09) and Bronze in the 50m distance (00.35.02). Annie Belasco (35-39yrs) stepped up for her inaugural County Champs with Top.5 finishes in the 50m Back (00.43.20), 50m FC (00.34.66) and 100m IM (01.30.74). Rachel White (40-44yrs) battled against Bluefin and former Sotonian swimmer Sarah Hunt in sprint, snatching Bronze in the favoured 100m Back (01.19.97), whereas Lucy Gruner (40-44yrs) struck a surprise Gold in the 100m Breast (01.35.43). Cathy Willcocks (45-49yrs) again came up against indefatigable Fleur Turner of Basingstoke but still salvaged a string of Silvers, and a particularly well-controlled 100m IM (01.24.17) come close of play. 

Higher Ladies age-divisions had Amanda Rush and Kim Tarrant (55-59yrs) command a range of strokes from Tarrant's polished 50m Breast (00.45.49) and 100m Breast (01.40.17) for double-Gold, to Rush's glittering five-title run over Backstroke and FC...50m Back (00.37.63) and 100m Back (01.24.75) titles successfully defended once more. Suzanne van Leeuwan (50-54yrs) planned her trip back home from Italy to provide the Reds with a deserved Gold in the 50m Fly (00.40.10).

No shortage of competition for the Gentlemen either - Matt Nash (25-29yrs) continuing a fine run of form with his Fly, opting for the 100m schedule this time and nabbing a personal best in the 100m (01.05.43)...denied Gold only by multi-discipline expert Neil Redman of Portsmouth Northsea. Fatigue setting in, the 25-year-old still battled to a title win over 100m FC (01.02.86). Carl Halford (30-34yrs) stamped his authority over the 200m FC (02.05.52) with a healthy win, matched by a solid 100m FC (00.58.44) for a Golden double. Terence Holness-Wright (30-34yrs) made a welcome return to form over the splash-and-dash distances, titles heading his way for 50m Back (00.33.55) and 50m Breast (00.38.33). Our sole competitor in the late 30yrs division came with newcomer Peter Riddle (35-39yrs), the Newcastle-born sprinter showing early signs of resurgence across 100m IM (01.13.53) and 50m FC (00.27.89) - a little way to go to challenge Basingstoke's Olly Espinasse and Brendan Giltinane!

Coach James MacTavish (40-44yrs) wore two 'silcone' hats the entire competition as event organiser, team manager and aspiring competitor...! The 200m FC (02.16.86) not quite going to plan with a mid-race cramp, but redeemed with a 100m Fly (01.08.44) title defence and a few 25m wins. Richard Osman (65-69yrs) finally got the better of the seasoned competition with a win in the 50m Back (00.53.78).

Relays next...and with a few notable absentees from Southampton's typical line up and formidable amalgamation of Basingstoke Bluefins and their  more options for quartets than the X-Factor, just getting to the podium was quite the achievement. 72yrs+ (Halford/Nash/Dolby/Lyon-Maris) came within a whisker over the 4 x 50 Medley relay, just out-touched by the Fins in the last 5m for Silver, less tight however for bridesmaid position over the FC event. 120yrs+ (Holness-Wright/Riddle/Willcocks/White) clinched Top.5 in both FC and Medley, this time challenged by Trojans and Wildern Waves. 200yrs+ (Osman/MacTavish/Rush/Tarrant+Van Leeuwen) slipped behind both Havant and SD Trojans over the Medley, but leap-frogged the latter for a successful Bronze in the FC finale...Basingstoke making it 6 from 6 across all three age-divisions. 

It was then just a matter of final points placings...and worth stressing that Southampton, despite class in each swimmer, was outnumbered by Havant and Waterlooville 2:1 concerning overall athletes - the points largely determined on number of swims as opposed to quality. Thankfully, with a final re-jig of the relay positions, Southampton eclipsed the Orange and Blue by a single point - although will stress a few results remain subject to ratification given a momentary manual timekeeping fall-back halfway through (but will leave that to the smarter, technical people!)

Objectives for next year...get more Sotonians involved from the squad (with a membership of over 45, a contingent of 20+ should be doable) and make sure we have enough medals and ribbons (spared no expense of course!)

MEDAL TALLY:

GOLD : 21

SILVER : 15

BRONZE : 12

TOTAL : 48

James MacTavish

City of Southampton Masters / Hampshire ASA Masters Secretary