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Fabulous Flitwick Dolphins swimmer Francesca Baber (15) travelled to Ponds Forge in Sheffield over the 3rd to 5th of December to compete in the National Short Course Championships.

It was a star-studded weekend with many Team GB swimmers taking part, but Francesca showed that she was more than capable of swimming at that level, despite it being her first taste of the Championships. She opened up on the Friday with a 58.99 in the 100m freestyle, only the second time she has dipped under 59 seconds, putting her in the top 50 of the 16 and under category.

There was even better to come in the 400m freestyle on the Saturday, an event that she only qualified for two weeks earlier. She showed great pacing control to pass the 200m mark in 2.13.88 before producing an exceptional second half of the race to come home in a new personal best time of 4.32.02, winning her heat and again finishing in the top 50 of the 16 and under category.

Francesca saved her very best for her last event, the 200m freestyle. She stormed off the blocks to go through the 100m mark in 1.01.28 then pulled away from the other swimmers in her heat to finish in 2.06.63, lowering her personal best time by more than two seconds. That put her 22nd in the 16 and under category and only 1.67 seconds off a final place, which must be a target for next year.

Head Coach Nigel Halford said he was tremendously proud of Francesca’s performances and the way she represented the club with such distinction at a major national event: ‘Francesca is an inspirational swimmer and I hope that younger swimmers at the club will strive to match what she has achieved’.

The Central Milton Keynes Swimming Club Open Meet that took place on the 20th-21st November proved to be an enjoyable and successful competition for Dolphin swimmers. For some it was their first competition ever and for others, a welcome return to competing after the Covid-19 restrictions. Despite the challenges of the past 18 months, the swimmers excelled at their events, achieving a number of new personal best times and medals.
Three of the club’s younger swimmers had this to say about the competition:
“I really enjoyed the MK meet; I can’t wait for the next one! I was pleased as I achieved 4 PBs as well as a silver medal in 200m breaststroke”. Ella Fanning.

“I loved it at the Central MK Swim club weekend. I was really hyped afterwards and it made me really motivated. I took 22 seconds off my Breaststroke and 17 seconds off my front crawl. I thought it was an amazing swim meet and I was thrilled to be able to support the other swimmers from my club at their events”. Flynn Cox.
“I loved racing and being with all my friends and cheering them on. I got a big pb in my 200m breaststroke and won 2 medals” Hudson Sherwani
Coach Sandra commented that it was really great to see all the swimmers supporting each other at their events, cheering them on at the end of the lane and congratulating them after their swims. The swimmers’ behaviour was impeccable and they were all clearly enjoying the return to full-on competitions. It was lovely to see new club members that have never competed at an open meet before really enjoying the experience and for the spectators to be able to watch them achieve their successes from the spectator gallery. For those that were returning to competing, their hard work clearly showed as paying off by the swimmers managing to improve on their times achieved at Level X competitions, obtaining county qualifying times and gaining valuable competition experience, all this going to prove that with hard work and determination, anything is possible and challenges can be overcome and goals achieved.

Francesca Baber spent the weekend of 3-5th December at the Winter Nationals at Ponds Forge in Sheffield. Competing alongside swimmers from many larger clubs she achieved some great swims in the 100, 200 and 400 metre freestyle races. Undaunted by the task, she had a wonderful experience which included completing the 200 F/S in 2.06.63 to take 2 seconds off her Personal Best time.

Masters’ newcomer Charlotte decided that having competed in the Swim England East Region and National Masters Competitions 2021, that she would attempt a repeat of the successes of those competitions and compete in the South Yorkshire Open Meet at Ponds Forge Swimming Pool in Sheffield on 14th November 2021.

Charlotte started off the weekend’s racing with a gold medal in 400 m freestyle; leading all the way for at least a full length in front was a fantastic way to start her medal winning campaign. The 50m backstroke event proved to be another great race with a personal-best time and another gold medal!

Not resting on her laurels, Charlotte swam an excellent 50 m breaststroke, yet again holding her own and achieving a third gold medal, along with a silver in the 50 freestyle. Charlotte approached the last two races with her eye on the target of yet more medals and was not disappointed with golds in the 100 breaststroke and freestyle.

Charlotte had this to say :- “this was a really enjoyable masters’ swim meet with some lovely swimming clubs and swimmers attending but some very tough competition. I’m really proud of what I have achieved, not just with my medals but with my new personal best times as well”

Head Coach Nigel Halford commented: Great swimming by Charlotte, flying the flag for the club with such distinction at a major masters meet. It shows just what opportunities there are for adult swimmers to keep enjoying their swimming and keep improving. Well done Charlotte!

13 swimmers from Flitwick Dolphins travelled the short distance to the Luton Inspire swimming pool for the East Region Winter Regionals held on 5-7th November.
The swimmers competing were:
Francesca Baber Ida Corcoran, Lily Farr, Sophie Fowler, Jake Hickmott, Adam Holmes, Megan Jones, Eloisa Miller, Isaac Moon, Prem Parmar, Harrison Shaw Abigail Wickens and Lauren Young.
In the multi-classification events, Ida excelled in her swimming, achieving a silver regional medal in the 200m individual medley. Later on, two amazing swims from Abigail Wickens: a gold medal in the 100m backstroke (with a brilliant 12 seconds improvement on her existing personal-best time) as well as a silver medal for her 400m freestyle event.
Megan Jones swam the 50m butterfly with a new personal best time of 31.30. Quick on the heels of that swim came the 50 free with Megan once again achieving a new personal best time of 28.86. For Megan that was the first time she had ever gone under 29 seconds. Her mum had this to say: “It was amazing to watch Megan swim most specifically in her 50 freestyle event!!” With Megan adding “It was a really good weekend”.
Francesca Baber competed in 5 individual events: 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 400m freestyle achieving new personal best times in 4 of them as well as achieving new Flitwick Dolphin club records in both the age 15 and open age group categories. Her best performance came in the 100m freestyle where she qualified for open age group final and swam 58.27, qualifying her for the short course National Championships to be held in Sheffield in December.
Jake Hickmott swam in the 50, 100 and 200 m backstroke achieving new personal best times in the 50m Back – 30.43 and the 200m Back – 2.20.58 as well as forming part of the backstroke section of the Medley relay along with Prem Parmar, Harrison Shaw and Isaac Moon who, as well as taking part in the relay, swam in 3 individual events – 50m freestyle, 50m fly and 100m freestyle, achieving a new personal best time in the 50m fly.
The girl’s 4 x 50m freestyle relay team consisting of Lily Farr, Megan Jones, Eloisa Miller and Francesca Baber exceeded their expectations finishing in a time of 1.54.56 which gave them a top 10 finish.
The weekend’s swimming as brilliantly summed up by head Coach, Nigel Halford:
“A wonderful weekend at The East Region Short Course Championships with Coach Louise King and a great bunch of swimmers who were a credit to the club. Highlights were: Francesca’s PBs on the 50, 100 and 200 free, with her second Nationals QT on the 100; Megan’s face when she saw her time for the 50 free; Eloisa under 3 minutes on the 200 breaststroke; Jake’s PB on the 200 backstroke; Adam’s on the 200 fly; Isaac back under 27 sec for his 50 free; Prem giving it everything on his breaststroke; as always, Lauren and Sophie heading back towards their best on their 200s back and fly; Harrison apparently cruising to a sub-26 on his 50 free; medals for Ida and Abi, and Lily leading out a senior relay team at a major championships. I could go on, but the relays summed it up (Lily, Megan, Eloisa and Francesca; Jake, Prem, Isaac and Harrison, with Adam supporting): everyone having fun and giving absolutely everything to fly the flag for the club against the best swimmers in the region. All we lacked was spectators and I hope the live stream was a decent substitute for actually being there!”
Flitwick Dolphins Swimming Club are immensely proud of our swimmers.
To have been able to achieve so much after the trials and tribulations of lockdown and the interruptions to training and competitions because of the pandemic is a fantastic achievement. It is certainly evident in all the squads at the club the successes that are taking place as all levels of competitions resume and all ages of the club swimmers excel at their events.
Dolphin’s swimmers can also be commended for their outstanding support for each other; for the coaches, the most rewarding part is seeing all their hard work with their squads paying off and swimmers reaching their full potential, whatever the level of competition they are taking part in.

Dolphins Masters’ swimmer Thomas Allen travelled to Ponds Forge International swimming pool to take part in the Swim England Masters Nationals over the weekend of 30th/31st October 2021, where he was entered for 8 events: 50 & 100 Back, 100, 800 & 1500 Free, 200 & 400 IM and 200 Butterfly.

On the first day Thomas achieved a gold medal for the 1500m freestyle, a silver medal for the 200 butterfly setting county records for both. On the second day, despite travelling back from Bedfordshire Thomas excelled again, completing a sub-10-minute 800 m freestyle which resulted in another silver medal and county record.

The club is very proud of its Masters’ swimmers and look forward to reporting on their future successes.

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.

A number of our Masters swimmers were at the East Region Masters Open Championships on 10th October. There were some great swims, leading to first places in a range of events. The following all achieved at least 2 first places: Sam Fox, Ian Murray, Mike Outtram, Alistair Shaw, Rachael Stevenson and Liz Woolner. A number of county records were also broken. Well done to all!

The entry deadline for the Open Meet on 16th and 17th October has been extended to midnight on 30th September

Dolphin’s swimmer Harry Rowson had an amazing time with Olympic Adam Peaty as well as other swimming Olympians at Adam Peaty’s “AP Race Clinic Tour 2021”

The day was separated into three parts for the swimmers with a separate session just for parents.

The first session for the swimmers was land training with work in the gym led by Rob Norman, who is Adam Peaty’s gym coach. This focused on numerous bodyweight exercises and improving swimming specific pathways. Moving onto the second session after a short break, this was called “Racing Edge” and was based around the mental side of racing and how elite swimmers get the winning edge through focus and mental fortitude.

The third session, probably the most exciting one for Harry, was in the swimming pool. 45 minutes with Ed Baxter who is Adam‘s swim partner, focusing on the push off and turns with, not surprisingly, Adam focusing on breaststroke.

Adam then went through arm exercises, firstly doing mini breaststroke then showing them how he did “speed arms” and gauging how many pulls they could do in 15 m. A pull buoy was then used for a Breaststroke kick set and to see how many kicks they could do as a minimum with strong propulsion over 15 m. Harry learned that he is able to cover 15 m with three breaststroke kicks.

Out of the pool, to finalise the day’s events, there was a great presentation made by Adam with a question and answer session. Also within the day running simultaneously was a parent session which focused about the role of a parent and a really informative document was provided entitled “Parent Support Station, AP Race Clinics tour 2021”

All in all Harry had an absolutely amazing time with Adam and other Olympians; he now proudly wears his Adam Peaty swim cap at training and has come away with wonderful memories having had an exceptional time with Olympic Gold medal winner Adam Peaty.

Open the attachments to see the pictures:
Seen here in the picture with Harry are (from L to R 🙂
Michael Gunning (dual Jamaican British. Record holder for 200 fly, 200 free, 400 free)
Ed Baxter (Youth Commonwealth Games champion, Adam’s swim partner)
Harriet West (Commonwealth Bronze medallist) and Tom Bates of Racing Edge.

Harry getting his alignment board and Flitwick Dolphin top autographed by Adam Peaty

15 swimmers took part in the Festival of Swimming in Norwich and London. Swimmers achieved a number of Long Course PBs and 13 Long Course Club Records were broken. Daniel De Filippo won a Gold & Silver medal for his 100m & 50m Breaststroke and Francesca Baber, won a Bronze in her 200m Freestyle. Well done to all the swimmers who took part.