Contents
News
Sydney & Nationals – news to
follow
AGM is 24/11/2009 (prob 7pm) in Redwell Room GL1
Please sponsor Sue Leach: http://www.justgiving.com/Sue-Leach-
Children in Need
Christmas Party 19/12/09-
click link on top of left frame. Payment needed ASAP (these
have paid)
Karen needs all
monies and menu choices in by 15th November
at the very latest.
Cash or cheques
payable to Gloucester Masters SC. Please pass direct to Karen or leave at
the desk in a clearly marked envelope (the ladies will not take loose
cash/chqs!!).
Dear Swimmers,
As you may have been aware we've been seeking a new Coach for the club.
In connection with this, we've been in discussions with Nick Hatton from the
south of the county. From the 11th October, Nick will be taking a few sessions
to see how he fits with us and us with him.
I'm sure you'll join me in giving Nick a warm welcome. Any feedback you have
will be very welcome.
Peter Smith
Acting Chair
Aims
To swim and
enjoy! Gloucester Masters formed in 1988 by Mike Phelps (our former
chief coach who died 7/5/2009) to promote fitness through swimming and
competition in Open & Masters events at regional, national and international
fixtures. (Visit the asa website via the link opposite & select
Disciplines & then navigate to Masters)
Membership
open to swimmers aged 18 or over. Competitions are in 5 yr age bands.
Coaching and
stroke improvement for all abilities from assistant coaches Jo Little
and Graham Turner with new head coach awaiting appointment. Simon Cooper
from Cheltenham Swimming and Water Polo club kindly covered us in
the months after Mike’s death.
Social events held through the year.
Swimtimes
Full Club sessions Sunday 7.30 – 9.00pm & Tuesday 8.30 –
9.30pm both at Barton pool, GL1
(25m. x 8 lanes) all abilities
Competitive- training sessions: Monday 7.30 – 8.30pm at Swimwell
pool Ribston School –but at St Edwards in present school summer hols.
and also Thursday 8.05 – 9.05pm
Twyver pool, GL1 (25m. x 4 lanes) with non – competitive training
in 3 lanes Barton pool
Thursday 8.30 – 9.30 (with schedules & no coach
& rest of pool used by sub-aqua club)
And from May – September there is a session at Cheltenham Lido – Saturday
10am.
Committee 09 Identify
Chairman:
Acting Chairman Peter Smith
Treasurer: Jane
Brown
Administration
& Secretarial: Carole Carpenter & Jane Brown
Captains: Peter
Smith & Sandy Jones
Fixtures
& Kit ( Click for Competition Kit details):
Hannah Paull
Social
Events: Carol Perry (09)
Press reports: Esther
Murray
President
& Web: Nick
McDowall
Other Members:
Gill Ferris, Dave Langley, Rob Wood.
Membership – 2009 (Includes compulsory ASA insurance – click here for details) NB waiting list
may be operating
Annual fees for existing members £42 for competitors, £26.75
for non-competitors (less £10 for concessions – age >65, full time
students) plus for new members a one off joining fee £10.
Swimming fees are either by monthly in-advance standing order as follows:
£35 per
month for all sessions. May be cancelled with 1 month’s notice. No refunds for
holidays etc.
or: 12-Swim cards
£36 (or 6-Swim £18) – for those not wishing to pay by Standing
order.
Occasional guests (e.g. former
members, family etc) £3.50.
Contact Jane Brown 01452
855346 (e-mail Jane) or Carole Carpenter 01452
543565 or attend as guest on a Club night.
Click here to print a new-member registration form for presentation at reception on a club night.
News (rolling commentary) I’ve got News / Feedback
Sheffield Nationals: Results in Archive. GB
record for Tony in 100 F/S ! Press report.
Christmas Party 19 December. Please
click the link – urgency for cash-up front!
Hutton Moor Distance meet end Sept.
09. see results. Some gob-smacking PBs !
26/9/09 – Many thanks to Simon Cooper
for his inspirational input as acting head coach over the last few months.
Yesterday at the Lido was his last session with us. We welcomed his new ideas
and refinements and he has successfully taken us through several swim meets and
prepared those swimmers going to Sidney World Games, Sheffield Nationals as
well as the returnees from the Cadiz Europeans. He will be greatly missed but
we will likely see him again at the Lido next year!
Glos. & Somerset counties
– Sandy has assembled our results in gallery.Gallery contains some pics.
Ollie has swum the Channel – read his blog www.olliechannelswim2009.blogspot.com. Also this report from
him. Please add to his sponsorship.
News from Richard (Aug 09):
After an eventful journey –due to major works of the rail
network my wife and I arrived to a Royal Victoria Dock bathed in
sunshine. Each event having approx 100 swimmers taking part in a ‘mass
start’. The water was a warm 21oC - which would have been warm
enough to swim in without wetsuits … had they not been compulsory. The event
was well run, and an ideal venue for spectators. The British Gas VIP
hospitality added to the day - as did meeting friends from the master’s
circuit.
After the bun fight at the start, with arms flailing and the odd swimmer who’s set off too fast trying swim over you, I moved slightly to my left to find clearer water. After approx 400 metres the pack had sorted itself out and I sat just behind Bartlomiej Kulaga from Poland. At 800 metres both Bartlomiej and I were swimming by side and could literally see each other eyes. My plan was to sprint the last 200 metres, but the finish proved difficult for the lead swimmers to slight from the water. I was confident I could hold off Bartlomiej in the final sprint, but with both Bartlomiej and I trying to keep the straightest racing line possible, and with a gusty south / north breeze we drifted by ½ metre ( tactical error on my part) and I looked up just in time to avoid the final low inflatable buoy just 50 metres from the finish – and which had been partially obscured by the lead (safety) canoeist, loosing me a few valuable seconds … and ultimately, even though I managed to pull some of the lost distance back, lost the race by just two body lengths – pretty annoying. Distance 1 mile. Finish time 22.12. 2nd in Age Group, 11th overall.
Oliver Wilkinson won the
double Lake Windermere swim this w/e (Aug 8/9 2009) in one of the fastest times
ever recorded time!. Visit his blog for details.
July 09 Barnet meet: another tour-de-force from
four of our most competitive swimmers- with more PB’s and 1st
placings. Results assembled by Sandy – thank you.
Distance swims July 09: Dave Granger swam Lake
Bala (Wales) with Dave Langley in support role - some details to follow I hope.
Penny & Lorna drove to Brighton for pier to pier swim and made the start
time by skin of teeth because of car breakdown (No- not running out of petrol)
only to find the event cancelled because of rough seas. Disappointed, they had
to immerse themselves in other liquids. Few photos in gallery in new “Distance
Swims collection”
GL1 hosted the Western Counties 1500’s at GL1
27 June 09- Katie Nimmo reports: A team of 5 GM swimmers
produced golden performances at the South West 1500m, with PB performances from Oliver
Wilkinson, Mark Howells and Katie Nimmo. The impressive times recorded by
Oliver, Tony Cherrington, Jayne Balll and Katie should place them into the FINA
World Top Ten rankings for this year.(results in archive)
Dave Granger in recent distance swim (June 09):
I
was at Scarborough for an open water 5 k lake swim Wykenham Lake
Swim time for 5 k 1:23:55-placed 8th and first vet ; this event was over
a 1k loop and there was also a vets 2 mile race at the same time 1st vet in a
time of 50 min
On Saturday the 14th I was in Dover for the British long distance swimming
champs for the “Champion of Champions” consisting of a 5 mile swim then a break
until the 3 mile once again a short break then onto the final 1 mile- total
time for this great event 4 hr :55min
& from Ollie:
Dave Granger and I rocked up to Dover for the marathon
9 mile race (5mile, 3mile and 1mile races) with 31 other male competitors. It
was a gruelling swim with water temp hovering somewhere around 14 degrees. Only
18 managed to complete all three races. Dave deserves a special mention
for finishing 11th overall and sticking to it when he looked like he had barely
warmed up from the 5mile before having to dive back in for the 3mile race.
He finished them all in just under 5hours, pacing it much better than I
did (I blew up somewhat in the 3mile race). I did enough fortunately to finish
1st overall and win a trophy that believe it or not is even bigger than the
Tony Cherrington Cup for the Lido sprint!
GB’s 09 Cardiff: Captain Sandy reports:
Team
of just 16 swimmers (& we still ended up as one of the top clubs - not sure
of final placing)
A massive haul of 42 Medals
19 golds (11 ladies, 8 mens)/13 silvers (8 ladies, 5 mens)/10 bronze (4 ladies,
5 mens, 1 mixed relay)
Equal amount of men & ladies competing
. . . So, even with speedy Han missing from our ranks,
I think the girls win the medal wars
yet again!!!
Also, there were all the PBs &
other stuff -
Jayne actually held the British record in the 1500 free for about 25 minutes,
Bionic Katie PBd every single swim,
John PBd virtually all his swims too, I think that Anne did 3 PBs, Penny did a
PB in her 50 free & after being
agonisingly close on a few I finally managed a PB in 50 back.
Results
archived. Pics.in gallery
Carol Perry & Dave Langley organized a
great afternoon socio-sporty do starting with a cycle ride in the Tewkesbury
area and ending at Croft Farm & Lake for a BBQ & rehydration.
Glorious weather added to the success of this occasion.
See photos in gallery – mostly courtesy of Penny Hickon- thank you.
Terry Ward Trophy – presented in May 09 to Gill
Ferris. This award is in recognition of general contribution to club affairs –
a reflection on the memory of Terry who was a much liked & respected member
until his untimely death 5 yr ago. Many thanks to his daughter Angela for her
attendance to present it again this year – photo in the Awards section of
gallery (courtesy of her partner Keith).
We are pleased to announce that Simon Cooper
has agreed to act as temporary head coach until the end of our season
(Sheffield Nationals in October). He comes to us with a wealth of experience
from his coaching of the Cheltenham club. He will be with us most Sundays and
Thursdays & also Lido sessions
Mike Phelps endured ill health stoically and
bravely over many years and his death on 7/5/2009 leaves his club in a somber
reflective mood but the discipline he instilled ensures that it will continue as
the strong and successful entity he created. His contribution to swimming in
Gloucestershire over the years is enormous but his achievements with this Club
are the highlight of his long career. Tributes or anecdotes from present &
former club members or from others who knew him, are welcomed for display on
this website-please use link at bottom of page.
At the Welsh Capital Masters meet on 9th.
May the organizer (Terry John) kindly arranged an announcement and a respectful
minute-silence that was much appreciated by our members at this fine swimming
meet. Also on a happier note we took home the Best Visiting Team Trophy – thank
you Cardiff Masters. Photos are in gallery –thank you Penny & Lina. Results
tabulated by Sandy
The results of our swimmers at
the Midland Open Meet at Leamington –April 09- have been kindly tabulated by
Sandy.
Congratulations to Alex & Hannah on their
recent marriage - in New Zealand – great to see them at the get-together on 17
April (09). Photos in gallery and also some taken at Blossoms restaurant
earlier in the week –informal club social event.
It’s a toughie – rising early
to fly out to Guernsey on spring weekend to do the business of medal hunting
but Katie, Sandy & Tony did just this over the w/e 4th./ 5th.
April
-and brought back 19 Golds
& 2 Silvers. Katie was also awarded an overall meet prize of a framed
painting. See archived results and galleries -awards section.
Dave Bartlett has kindly
unearthed some absolute classic old photos dating back to the World Masters meet
in Rio – from a time predating “Carnival” & “Thongs”. Visit galleries !
Our Open Meet 29/3/2009. Thank
you to all our entrants and thank you to the organizers and coordinators: esp.
Karen Taylor, Brian & Pat Jones, referee Mike, announcer Herbie, the computer
boffins Graham & Ollie,( & Brian again) judges & timekeepers and
other volunteers. Also the Massagers !
Results
are here. (Click here for just out own club
swimmers) Record verification(s) will
be posted here when ratified by ASA.
Etwall Eagles took top team
trophy & Robert Small took the coveted keepsake Carl Freeman Fly trophy
(age adjusted time).
A couple of items were left
behind: a blue Bath polo shirt and a large water bottle “Lucozade” – please
email to feedback address at bottom of this page if you want returned and are
prepared to pay postage(!)
Penny took some photos- now
displaying.
Lanzarote trip March 09 – Hann’s & Carole’s
pics. are in gallery. The party theme this year was” characters from the 80’s “
-& Caroline’s “Maggie” took 1st prize.
Sandy & Richard
distinguished themselves at the Staffs. meet & twelve of us took a medal haul
from the Welsh Open meet in Swansea – see in archive.
Distances and places for our club members who entered
the ASA T30.
Individual :
Kate Nimmo – 2350m (1st) 30/34yrs
Ollie Wilkinson – 2400m (2nd) 30/34yrs
Sandy Jones – 2060m (2nd) 40/44yrs
Richard Searle – 2240m (4th) 45/49yrs
Tony Cherrington – 2050m (1st) 65/69yrs
Bob Turk – 1335m (8th) 70/74yrs
Gloucester
Masters 1st. in mixed team (160-199yrs) result with distance
of 8860m result (Kate, Ollie, Sandy and Tony)
More images added to the gallery
– those taken by the Gloucestershire Sports Awards photographer in Oct/ Nov 08
are now displaying as well as all the Christmas party ones.
On Saturday 10th January, Sandy and Richard were
in Shrewsbury (a town with significant medieval heritage!) for one of the first
Masters meets of the 2009 calendar - the Shrewsbury New Year Gala, which is
jointly organised by the Swimming Club and local Council - and which culminates
with formal presentations by the Mayor and a social event at the nearby Darwin
Centre, aptly named after Shrewsbury most famous son, Charles Darwin (1809 -
1882) whose publication On The Origin of Species celebrates 150 years
since its first publication this year.
Their results were spectacular – see archive.
Photo in gallery taken just after Richard’s PB (by 2 sec !)
in the 100 free.
- thank you Richard & Sandy for this news
Penny organized a fabulous
Christmas Do at the Bowden Hall Hotel – very well done Penny & you must be well
pleased that all your hard efforts paid off so well in an evening of partying
that had a buzz right from the start. Thank you also to Dave & Sandy for
presenting the fun awards. The party was Penny’s swan song as she has resigned
her role as social secretary – she has given a lot of time & effort for a
good while now. Some pics will likely
appear soon.
The
Committee welcomes Carol Perry as new social secretary in ’09 !
Pint Pot informal Christmas
dinner photos showing.
Improvers Trophy this year awarded
to Kevin Brady – in a matter of months he has improved beyond all recognition
as a result of his enthusiasm and application under Jo’s guidance. He isn’t
even a “returning club swimmer” and hadn’t previously swum since early
childhood lessons. Well done Kevin.
Richard Searle swam 5 PB’s (!) at the Etwall
Eagles Derby meet and Dave Granger excelled at the Barnet 1500 swim (2nd
& also PB). See archived results.
“Active Gloucestershire Sports Awards 2008” – the
Club took 2 awards (having been shortlisted for 4) – we won the titles “ Adult
Club Performance of the Year” & “Adult Club Volunteer” of the year (awarded
to Carol Carpenter). Jane Brown narrlowly missed out on the Adult Club Official
award. A contingent of us attended the
evening do at the Racecourse which starred Sharron Davies MBE. Click on the 
icons opposite.
Counties competition at Weston
–S – Mare Sunday 16 Nov. – Gloucesteshire came 3rd out of the 6 counties
in this S.W. area competition –won by Devon- & Herbie Adams has forwarded a
thank you to the competitors - & we thank him for his organization &
entertaining commentary at the meet.
More
golden –oldie photos have been added in the gallery – latest are kindly
provided by Janet Gwilt and contain such gems as “Mike from the B&W era,
Mike and a plate of cake and best of all, Gerwen sporting a moustache that
formed the inspiration for Magnum P.I. ( see in gallery “Miscellany of old…”). Once again thank you
to Dave Bartlett for scanning them all - & I also look forward to getting his
old photos sometime when he searches his attic!
Sheffield Nationals October: Press Report. Many
thanks to Capt. Sandy for all her work in organizing hotel accommodation, the
Sat. night meal & the helpful summary slips. Furthermore she has collated
all the results! – see archive.
Here is her overview of the club performance:
“30 of us managaged to collect 31 medals - 14 Golds (9
male, 5 female), 9
Silvers (4 male, 5 female), 8 Bronze (1 male, 7 female) - Blokes may
have got more golds but us girlies out did you on the overall medal
tally (14 male, 17 female). . . Nah, nah,nah nah nah!!
Loads of good swims from everyone and too many PBs to mention.
Regardless of position it was lovely to see newcomers like Riccardo
setting PBs as well as old faithfulls like Penny and Anne still raising
their game . (Not forgetting brave troupers like Esther, carrying on and
doing all remaining races despite having been poorly early on in meet)
Golden Girls and Boys -
Tony - 6 Golds & 2 GB Records - Say no more!
Han - 2 Golds, 2 Silvers & 1 Bronze (inc 2 PBs)
Kate - 2 Golds, 1 Bronze (inc 1 PB)
Colin - 2 Golds (just Fab)
Jon - 1 Gold (a 10 second PB)
& Gail - 1 Gold & couple of others
Pete, Richard, Gill, myself & the mens 200+ relay team also added to the
haul but medals were far harder to get hold of this year than I can
remember before. “
Older News Commentary viewable:- HERE
Last
revised 31 Oct 2009 Nick McDowall Feedback Welcomed 
click-me for fun