From Friday, 8th - Sunday 10th June, The Plymouth Life Centre welcomed swimmers for The British Masters Championships 2018.
715 athletes from 202 clubs competed in the 3-day event, and 56 World/European/British records were broken. Otter proudly contributed 21 athletes to the mix, and also had their names carved into the record table as well.
Otter closed the championships with 314 FINA points, winning the Cupar Trophy Top Club Award.
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London rivals, Spencer Swim Team was second with 274, and Out to Swim was third with 160 points.
With hours left of the annual competition, team Otter also provided an exciting finale in producing not just one, but two British Record swims in the 400m Medley Relay!
The mens' 100-119 team fought off close competition from Exeter's team to break a 5-year old record by almost 7 seconds! (Backstroke: Wade Rimbach, Breastsroke: Craig Gillespie, Butterfly: Fraser Peh, Freestyle: Martin Sartorius)
This was followed by the womens' team of the same age category going on to break the 5-year old record by 15 seconds. (Backstroke: Sophie Clarke, Breaststroke: Hayley Davis, Butterfly: Abigail Hucker, Freestyle: Catherine Demont).
Enjoy the race report below:
Friday, 8th June 2018
After a long journey to the south-east, the meet kicked off with the 800m Freestyle. Enrique Ruiz took 2nd place with a season's best, and Pip Bennett took gold in his age category. This was followed by the Mixed 400m Medley Relay, where the 100-119 team (made up of Sophie Clarke, Craig Gillespie, Wade Rimbach & Catherine Demont) narrowly missed a British Record time.
There was strong representation in the infamous 200m Butterfly, with Catherine Demont & Abigail Hucker taking gold & silver medals in their age category respectively, with Derek Parr, Enrique Ruiz & Hayley Davis also achieving first place in theirs. Craig Gillespie won the 100m Breaststoke with a season's best time, as did Sophie Clarke in the 100m Backstroke.
The first day came to a close with another gold medal for the Men's 280-319 400m Freestyle relay team, made up of Robert Thomas, Roger Lloyd-Mostyn, Derek Parr & Peter Rae.
Saturday, 9th June 2018
An early start on Saturday morning saw Catherine Demont take first place in the 400m Freestyle, as well as Pip Bennett, who also achieved a master's best time. The afternoon saw Craig Gillespie, Matt Wai Kwong Wan & Can Bozkurt take medals in the hotly-contested 50m Breaststroke, and all 3x Otters who swam in the 100m Backstroke took medal-winning spots (Sophie Clarke, Martin Sartorius & Matt Wai Kwong Wan).
Senior Otters dominated the 50m Butterfly, with Derek Parr (70-74) & Roger Lloyd-Mostyn (75-79) both taking gold in their respective age categories. Peter Rae & Roger Lloyd-Mostyn both won their respective age catergories for the 100m freestyle, whilst silver medals were won by Jane McMenemy, Abigail Hucker & Hayley Davis in the 200 IM. On top of that, Fraser Peh acheived masters' best times in both events!
Saturday came to successful close, with both the Men's 100-119 (Wade Rimbach, Craig Gillespie, Fraser Peh & Martin Sartorius) & 280-319 (Robert Thomas, Derek Parr, Roger Lloyd-Mostyn & Peter Rae) 200m Medley relay teams adding to the growing collection of gold medals.
Sunday, 10th June 2018
The final day of the meet began just a strong as the previous days, with Martin Sartorius swimming a personal best time in the 50m Backstroke, and all 4x Otters competing in the 400m IM achieving medal-winning positions (Derek Parr, Enrique Ruiz, Abigail Hucker & Hayley Davis).
Casper Stops & Elizabeth Shaw swam season debuts of the 200m Freestyle, and Derek Parr, Hayley Davis & Pip Bennett all won gold medals in the 1500m Freestyle in their respective categories.
Here's to many more years of success, and see you in Swansea for next year's champtionships!