British Masters Championships [19th-21st April 2024, Swansea]
A relatively small, yet impressive contingent of our NUEL Masters squad were in Swansea this past weekend for the British Masters Championships and came away with 14 pieces of hardware, loads of PBs and 100% top 10 finishes! Well done team!
- Ian - 2 GOLDs [400 Free PB, 200 Fly], 2 SILVERs [800 Free, 200 Free PB], 2 4ths [1500 Free, 100 Fly]
- Tori - SILVER [200 Breast], 3 BRONZEs [100 Breast, 200 & 400 IM]
- Ralph - 2 BRONZEs [200 & 400 Free], 4th [100 Free]
- Matt - GOLD [200 Fly PB], SILVER [200 Breast PB]
- Ilya - BRONZE [800 Free PB]
- Eva - 9th [100m Backstroke PB]
- Alaine 2 4ths [800 Free PB, 200 Breast PB], 5th [100 Breast], 7th [50 Breast]
- Relays - SILVER [800m Mixed Free Relay 160-199 - Ralph, Alaine, Tori, Ian], 8th [400m Mixed Medley Relay 120-159 - Eva, Tori, Matt, Ilya]
Essex County Masters Championships [2nd March 2024, Basildon Sporting Village]
Despite part of the squad still being out in Doha, the remaining members of the NUEL Masters squad were out in full force at the Essex County Masters Championships. Impressively, even with the Doha absences, the team managed to hold on to our 4th place team standing which we achieved last year! Lots of great swims and hardware won [see below] and a very special CONGRATS to members of the squad who were competing for the first time [or the first time in a loooooong time] :)
Results:
Building on the success from last year's World Championships in Japan, 9 members of the NUEL Masters squad [11 if you include Kyla and Joe - our adopted teammates] headed to Doha to see how we would fare on the world stage. Not only did we put in some fantastic performances at the world class venues - 21 top 10 finishes including a BRONZE medal winning performance from Federica in her 50 Fly . . . we managed to have just as much fun outside of the pool exploring all that Doha has to offer :) The competition, which sees thousands of masters athletes from all over the world gather to compete in all of the aquatic disciplines [swimming, open water, waterpolo, diving, artistic swimming] will be held in Singapore in August 2025 - come join us!
Results:
South East Regions Long Course Championships to start off 2024 [20th & 21st January 2024, K2 Crawley]
A great start to 2024 racing this weekend at the K2 Centre in Crawley for the South East Region Long Course Championships. Congrats to the team who came away with the following pieces of hardware:
December 2023 Round-Up: NUEL Open Meet, Scottish Nationals, HO-HO-HOliday celebrations, End-of-Year Awards . . . and Good-bye to Coach Ismail
NUEL Open Meet: December 2nd/3rd weekend once again saw a group of the Masters squad competing alongside the age-groupers of the club at the NUEL Open Meet and demonstrating that "age is just a number." Competing in the 17-99 year old category, we came away with the following results:
Kim - 200 IM 4th, 400 Free 6th, 200 Breast GOLD, 100 Breast BRONZE
Federica - 100 Free SILVER, 200 Free SILVER
Christine - 200 Fly SILVER, 100 Fly SILVER
Abigail - 400 Free 5th, 100 Fly 5th, 400 IM 4th, 100 Breast SILVER
Marcus - 50 Free 7th, 100 Free 4th, 50 Breast 6th, 50 Back 4th, 100 IM 4th
Andrew - 100 Free GOLD
Matthew - 100 Free BRONZE, 50 Breast GOLD
Christophe - 200 Fly GOLD, 100 Fly 6th, 100 IM BRONZE
Alaine - 200 Back GOLD
HO-HO-HOliday Celebrations & End-of-Year Awards: On Sunday 10th December, we held our 3rd annual holiday celebration meal at Zizzi's. This year, Coach Ismail was in attendance and presented the following awards to recognise some of our impressive aquatic achievements this past year:
Goodbye to Coach Ismail : We've been so lucky this past year to have had Coach Ismail overseeing our sessions and are so sad that he is leaving us at the end of December. He's been such a positive presence on poolside and although we will miss him very much, we wish him the very best as he starts his new career. [And hope that he will join us for a session or two once in a while :)]
2 British records, 3 Scottish records, 1 Zambian record, countless PBs = a successful weekend at the Swim England National Championships [27-29 October 2023, Ponds Forge Sheffield]
Big congratulations to the 11 members of the NUEL Masters squad who headed to Ponds Forge for the Short Course Swim England National Championships this past weekend. As well as the two British, three Scottish and 1 Zambian records that were broken, the team also brought home 15 medals, achieved numerous top 10 finishes and countless PBs, and were the 24th ranked club overall out of the 286 clubs represented! Please speak to any of us below if you've not competed [at all or for a while] and you would like to join us at the next gala - the more the merrier :)
Individual and Relay results:
Alaine - 1500 Free 4th, 100 Breaststroke 9th, 100 Backstroke 7th, 800 Free 7th, 50 Backstroke 11th
Reece - 50 Fly 21st, 100 Free 30th, 50 Breaststroke 26th, 100 Fly 15th, 100 IM 16th
Ian - 50 Fly 21st, 200 Fly 4th, 800 Free SILVER, 200 Free BRONZE, 400 Free BRONZE
Federica - 50 Fly 9th, 50 Free 11th, 100 Free 23rd, 100 IM 9th
Eva - 50 Fly 24th, 100 Backstroke 18th, 50 Free 32nd, 100 Free 42nd, 50 Breaststroke 13th, 100 IM 15th, 50 Backstroke 16th
Christine - 50 Fly 12th, 200 Fly 6th, 100 Fly 5th
Matt - 100 Breaststroke 9th, 200 Breaststroke 4th, 800 Free 6th [Zambian record]
Ralph - 50 Free 6th, 100 Free 6th, 200 Free SILVER
Katie - 100 Back 18th, 50 Free 27th, 100 Free 24th
Andrew - 4 SILVERs: 200 Back [Scottish record], 100 Back [Scottish record], 50 Back [Scottish record], 200 Free
NUEL at the London Film Festival [10th October 2023]
Trading in our caps and goggles for an evening of red carpet fun, a few of the Masters squad attended the London Film Festival screening of the film Nyad! The film documents the incredible accomplishment of Diana Nyad, a decorated marathon swimmer who, at the age of 64 and on her 5th attempt, completed the 103 mile swim between Cuba and Florida in the shark and jellyfish infested waters. The inspirational film, which stars Annette Bening as Diana Nyad and Jodie Foster as her coach, is out on Netflix from November.
NUEL Early County Qualifier [7th & 8th October 2023, LAC]
Competing in the 17 & over category at our home [NOT MASTERS] gala, the NUEL Masters squad were able to show the "little kids" that age is just a number . . . ! Congrats on the following results:
Golds - Will [100 br], Andrew [200 bk - unofficial Scottish record!, 100 fr, 400 fr, 50 bk], Matt [200 IM & 200 br], Alaine [200 br], Federica [50 fly & 50 fr]
Silvers - Christoph [200 & 400 IM], Reece [200 fly], Marcus [100 IM]
Bronze - Federica [100 IM & 100 fr], Marcus [50 br]
4th places - Matt [400 fr], Christoph [200 fly], Alaine [200 bk]
Start of the 2023-2024 season - Barnet Copthall Sprint Meet [17th September 2023] & South East Regions [30th September 2023]
The 2023-24 season has started . . . first up was the Barnet Copthall Sprint meet which saw great results for Ralph [3 Golds - 50, 200, 400 free], Donna [Silver - 400 free, 5th - 50 free] and Alaine [Silver - 100 back, 200 free, Bronze - 50 back, 4th - 100 breast]! This was followed, two weeks later, with Ralph and Alaine competing again, this time at the South East Region Short Course Championships in which Ralph broke the SE Region records in the 50, 100 & 400 freestyle events for the 60-64 age group! He picked up another Gold medal for his 200 freestyle, and Alaine also came away with a Silver for her 50 back and Bronze medals for her 100 back and 400 free. Great job guys!
World Aquatics Masters Championships [2nd-11th August 2023, Japan]
We are extremely proud of our small but mighty NUEL contingent who competed at the World Aquatics Masters Championships this August. The event saw thousands of masters athletes competing in all of the aquatic disciplines [swimming, open water, diving, artistic swimming and waterpolo] over the 9 days of competition throughout the Island of Kyushu, Japan in the cities of Fukuoka, Kumamoto and Kagoshima.
Leading the NUEL charge was Peter Dixon in the 55-59 year old age group who came away with the following hardware and records:
Gold - 400 Free [British & European record] - WORLD CHAMPION!
Silver - 400 IM
Bronze - 800 Free [British record . . . and European record for about 10 minutes until it was broken in the following heat] and the 3km Open Water.
Also competing in Japan, in her very first World Championships, was Federica Noera in the 25-29 year old age group. Federica managed to break the top 25 in all of her events - 50 Free [23rd], 50 Fly [24th] and 100 Free [20th]
Well done Peter and Federica! We're hoping that there will be more of us to join you at the next World Championships which will be in Qatar in February 2024.
Masters success at English Nationals [4th August, Sheffield]
Congrats to Andrew Sawkins, our backstroke superstar, who came 4th place at the English National Championships [NOT Masters!] - we're so proud of you!
Summer 2023 round-up
Well done to all the NUEL Masters swimmers who competed in [and completed!] some impressive events this summer. If you're interested in attempting one of these next summer, you know who to get in touch with.
Leading the way, in terms of distance covered, was Alaine who completed Coniston [5.25 miles in 2:33.54], Ullswater [7.5 miles in 4:14.11] and has the 11 mile Windermere swim coming up soon - Good luck Alaine! We also had Beth competing in the 2km open water swim as part of the Mumbles Centurion in Wales, placing 21st overall out of 260 swimmers [and 5th female!], Ash completing an Ironman Triathlon [3.8km open water swim followed by 180km cycle and finished with a marathon!], Dian completing a 2km open water swim, finishing 17th out of 44 swimmers, in his home country of Bulgaria. Finally, Holly, Chelsea, Leo, Abigail, Ash, and Ilya all took part in this year's London Triathlon - Way to go, Team!
London Region Open Water Championships [2nd July 2023, Merchant Taylor's School - Watford]
A strong showing from NUEL Masters at the London Region Open Water Championships this past weekend - GOLD's in their respective age groups for Tori [5km], Alaine [5km], Peter [5km], Ralph [5km], Marcus [2km], Donna [1km] and 2nd place showing for Ilya [5km], 3rd place for Megan [5km] and 4th place for Rebecca [5km].
GLL Awards Evening [13th June 2023, Timber Lodge - QEOP]
Congratulations to Christine, Tori, Katie, Ralph, Margarita [National Performance Squad], Andrew, Peter [awarded via Tower Hamlets] and Susie [our Legacy Ambassador] who, along with other National-ranked athletes using the sporting facilities based in and around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, received their GLL Foundation Awards.
British Masters Championships [2nd - 4th June 2023, Ponds Forge Sheffield]
10 swimmers . . . 3 British records . . . 3 Scottish records . . . 22 medals . . . countless Top 10 finishes . . . 17th club overall . . . !
Standout performances from Peter [breaking British records in the 400IM, 800 and 1500 Freestyles] and Andrew [breaking Scottish records in all three backstroke events] !!!
Already looking forward to the English Championships which will be held in Sheffield 27-29th October 2023 . . . please speak to any of us below if you've not competed (at all or for a while) and you would like to join us :)
Individual and relay results:
Ian - 800 Free (4th), 200 Free (BRONZE), 200 Fly (SILVER), 1500 Free (BRONZE)
Peter - GOLDs in 800 Free [GB Record], 400 IM [GB Record], 200 Free, 400 Free, 1500 Free [GB Record]
Andrew - 100 Back (SILVER - Scottish Record), 50 Back (GOLD - Scottish Record), 200 Back (4th - Scottish Record), 100 Free (SILVER)
Katie - 100 Back (5th), 200 Free (12th), 50 Back (9th), 100 Free (16th)
Reece - 50 Breast (12th), 100 Fly (4th . . . 0.02 from Bronze), 50 Free (8th), 50 Fly (9th)
Ralph - 200 Free (SILVER), 400 Free (SILVER), 50 Free (6th), 100 Free (BRONZE)
Christine - 100 Fly (5th), 200 Fly (SILVER), 50 Fly (6th)
Henry - 50 Back (8th)
Tori - 100 Breast (BRONZE), 200 IM (4th), 200 Breast (SILVER)
Federica - 50 Free (5th), 50 Fly (6th), 100 Free (8th)
Chris (including him even though he entered with Otter 
) - 400 Free (SILVER), 800 Free (SILVER)
160+ Men's Relay [Peter, Ian, Ralph, Andrew - 4x200FR (SILVER), 4x100FR (SILVER)
100+ Mixed Relay [Federica, Katie, Reece, Andrew] - 4x50FR (4th), 4x100FR (4th), 4x50MR (BRONZE)
