Flitwick Dolphins: Success at the Swim England East Region Masters 2021

Despite the continued interruption in swimming training and the cessation of swimming competitions because of the pandemic, the Flitwick Dolphins Masters squad excelled at the Swim England East Region Masters Championships held at Newmarket Leisure Centre on Sunday, the 10th of October 2021.

Masters competitive swimmers are divided into age groups which range from 18 years old to 80 and above. With masters swimmers entering the SEER 2021 Championships from across Great Britain and arriving at Newmarket from as far afield as Leeds, Wales, Bournemouth and Maidenhead to name just a few, including masters swimmers from other clubs in Bedfordshire, the competition was always going to be intense and tough.

Dolphins’ masters rose to the challenge, with their will to succeed, camaraderie, determination and their eyes firmly set on their goals to excel at their events; eight Flitwick Dolphins swimmers set out from Bedfordshire and made the trip to Newmarket to take part in their first masters competition since the start of the Covid pandemic.

Sam Fox, Charlotte Joyce, Ian Murray, Mike Outtram, Alistair Shaw, Rachael Stevenson, Brooke Tinniswood and Liz Woolner, despite the lack of practice over the past months, certainly did excel, coming home to Bedfordshire with 32 medals between them. The tally included 20 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze and to top it all off, 3 of the masters even managed to achieve 6 county records between them.

Mike was one of the star performers with 3 wins and 3 county records in the 50m and 100m backstroke and the 100m IM.

Rachael picked up a hat-trick of golds in the three backstroke events with county records in the 100m and 200m.

Alistair won the 400 free in a county record time and picked up an additional 5 gold medals in breaststroke and freestyle events and a silver in the 50m butterfly.

Liz came home with 4 golds, Ian with 2 golds and 2 bronzes, Sam with 3 golds, a silver and a bronze.

The youngsters of the pack, Charlotte and Brooke also medalled; Charlotte at her first Masters’ competition achieved 3 silvers and a bronze and Brooke achieved a bronze position.

Truly inspirational swimming from Dolphins’ Masters. Watch this space: undoubtedly much more to come from Dolphins’ Masters.