News

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.

The club will be running a taster session for anyone aged 5 and over who may be interested in getting involved in para-swimming. The taster session will be suitable for anyone with a visual, physical or learning disability. The taster session will be between 3.30-4.30pm at Flitwick Leisure Centre. Open the attached file to see how to book a place.

Seven swimmers from Flippers and Fins squads attended the Future Champions Meet last weekend. For many it was their first experience of a competition away from their home pool. The seven produced some amazing swims, gaining 27 PBs between them. Alena Smith put in a great performance on 100m freestyle to achieve bronze medal position. Well done to all!

Despite the threat of thunderstorms on 3rd July the Flitwick Dolphins Open Water Event at Box End was able to go ahead. Swimmers were able to complete either a 800 or 1600metre swim. For some swimmers, it was their first competitive open water swim.

Every swimmer can be really proud of what they achieved, as everyone managed to complete the trial. The fastest female swimmers were: 1600m- Francesca Baber and 800m – Neve Jones. Alistair Shaw was the fastest male (1600m) and Daniel De Filippo was the fastest male in the 800m event.

Following the swim, swimmers took advantage of the Aqua Park facility at Box End to test out their water skills further. Well done to everyone!

Flitwick Dolphins swimmer Francesca Baber (15) has qualified for the British Junior Team Selection Race for the European Junior Open Water Championships. The selection race, over a gruelling 5km, will take place on Saturday 19th June at Llandegfedd Lake in Monmouthshire, with places at the European Junior Championships in Paris on 22nd to 25th July up for grabs. Francesca qualified for the race through her previous finishes at the National Open Water Age Group Championships, and her performances in pool events prior to lockdown.

It is an incredible achievement for Francesca and the club, said Head Coach Nigel Halford, and we are all very proud of her.

Great to be back in the pool and with the sun shining also a chance to get involved in some open water swimming.
13th June – Level X 100s for senior swimmers – get your entries in by 7th June via Swim Manager
16th June – Junior League
20th June – open water event at Box End
3rd July – to mark our 30 years as a club we are going to be celebrating at Box End – offering the chance of an open water swim, time on the Aqua Park and a BBQ. Don’t forget to book your place by 8th June!