O'Brien strikes Five at Royal Navy Masters

What was once a subtle Masters meet crusing very much under the radar (or sonar!), the annual Royal Navy Masters Meet has rapidly become a staple for the veterans calendar. Boasting a great venue at Millfield School, broad range of races and of course, charitable for the Royal British Legion ... as Nationals loom and the London Aquatics Centre gears up to host the discipline for the first time, early-bird entry events like this offer much needed chances to get times on the board. A sneak peek at qualifying times for Phase One, and expect interested athletes to mop up every opportunity to shed a few precious seconds over the popular middle-long distances - so few opportunities ahead of June! 

Tim O'Brien (70-74yrs) perfers his races to be trimmed to sprints - and wasted no time in lining up for the 50m FC (00.33.46) alongside septigenarian rival Graham Milne of Truro Masters, missing out on Gold to the multiple World Champion by little over a second - a tale repeated over double distance of 100m FC (01.16.36), with a frustrating goggle malfunction relegating the Sotonian to Silver once more over the 100m Breaststroke (01.34.60). After narrowly missing the title over 50m Breaststroke (00.41.41), it seemed the peak of the podium appeared out of reach, until a determined debut showing over 100m IM (01.29.55) finally saw the Seventy-Two year old claim victory. Such glittering success put O'Brien on level points for Top Man over the Age-Division with Milne, and a polished commemorative Navy Coin as is customary. Not the only true sports veteran attending for the Reds, Maria Bunce (70-74yrs) topped up the Golden haul with success over the 100m FC (01.56.66) for her first Royal Navy Masters title, backed up neatly with Bronze over the 50m Breaststroke (01.03.91) - quite the fortitude given only two weeks before, Bunce was hit with the seasonal flu! 

Dropping down several decades and into the Forties, Sarah Mead (40-44yrs) spread her skills wide over Freestyle, with Personal Bests over the 200m FC (03.09.37) and 400m FC (06.29.70) for double Bronze, James MacTavish (40-44yrs) adding Silver by another narrow margin over 100m Butterfly (01.08.98). Annie Belasco (35-39yrs) braved the longest distance once more, refining her pacing over 400m FC (05.54.87) for yet another final podium placing. A disciplined approach paid off for Carl Halford (30-34yrs) as he secured another top notch placing over 200m FC (02.06.59) with a powerful overhaul over the final 50m, a tatic that almost nabbed the same colour over 400m FC (04.33.28), Lincolnshire's Gareth Cocks putting just a little too much distance between early on to dampen the impact. Matt Nash (25-29yrs) always battles bravely over his favoured 100m Butterfly (01.05.90) and 100m FC (01.01.51) but comes up against fierce heat in this highly competitve younger division - finally a breakthrough over 200m FC (02.17.39) and a well deserved Gold...which proved to be our final title claim, as Elliot Neale (30-34yrs) continued to lay down solid performances over 50m FC (00.27.64) and 100m FC (01.01.94), pushed just outside the Top Five. However, Southampton was not done with medals just yet, as newcomer Cameron Hooten (25-29yrs) made quite the statement over his sprint session, 50m FC (00.25.74) not enough to dent the medal metal, but an impressive salvo over 100m FC (00.56.10) ensured the contingent remained in double figures for their tally. More to come from Hooten that's a near certainty! 

With some regular names from the Masters squad being absent, to lock in Sixteen medals (only three less than 2024) amongst sharpened competition is to be celebrated - and wonderful to see new names giving this well measured event a try. With the next diary entry being the initial day of Counties, we too may seek a few more local events to help hone racing skills ahead of the Captial.

Nb : special mention to our very own Kim Tarrant (55-59yrs), initially down to swim, then stepping out due to injury, only to try and be reinstated again but to no avail! Great mascot and support!

MEDAL TALLY:

GOLD : 4

SILVER : 6

BRONZE : 6

TOTAL : 16

James MacTavish

CSSC Masters