RTSC Gala Reports

24th to 26th October - ASA National Masters Championships - Ponds Forge

Romford Town's 14 swimmers win 30 medals and claim 28 top ten finishes

RTSC competed in this year’s ASA masters and Senior Age Group Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield over the weekend of 24th to 26th October.

In the first session RTSC had two swimmers in the 1500 metres Freestyle, Jill Complin (Age group I) and new recruit Helen Gray (Age group D). Jill took silver while Helen took the National Title for her age group. In the second session on the Friday Jill again took silver, this time in the 50 metres Freestyle, while Barbara Boxall (Age group F) took 4th place and Julie Sanders (Age group C) placed 22nd. Tom Enright (Age group E) took the same position, 22nd, in the men’s 50 metres Freestyle. In the next event the 200 metres Breaststroke, Dawn Palmer (Age group B), in what was surprisingly her first national Short Course championships, took the silver medal. In the men’s event Gary Wraight (Age group B) took 7th place. In the final event of the day the 100 metres Backstroke, Tony Pepper (Age group J) took the gold medal and Janos Leigh in the same age category took the bronze medal.

In the first event of the Saturday morning session, Jill took the gold medal in the 400 metres Freestyle, with Barbara taking 5th place, Helen taking 4th place and Kay Hamilton (Age group B) taking 6th place. Kira Fawke came away with the gold medal in this event for the senior age group (20 to 24 years). In the next event, the 100 metres Butterfly, Tom took 10th place and Mark Baker (Age group B) took 6th. In the 200 metres Backstroke Tony took silver and Janos the bronze. In the final individual event of the session, 50 metres Breaststroke, Barbara took 6th place, Julie 11th and Sally Wood (Age group A) took 7th place. RTSC entered two teams in the Mixed Freestyle Relay Dawn, Sally, Mark and Gary took 6th place in the 120+ event, while Jill, Barbara, Janos and Tom took 5th in the 240+ event.

In the first event of the afternoon session on Saturday, 400 metres Individual Medley Dawn took the gold medal and Kay the bronze. In the 100 metres Breaststroke Barbara took 7th place, Julie also took 7th and Sally took 10th. In the Men's 200 metres Butterfly Tom took 7th and Kay won the bronze medal in the women’s event. In the 100 metres Freestyle Gary took 27th place while Mark took 7th. In the women’s event Jill won another silver and Barbara won the bronze medal, while Helen took 7th place, Julie 13th and Kira 5th. In the final event of the day the Mixed Medley Relay Jill, Barbara, Tony and Stan Clarke took 5th place in the 240+ event, while , Sally, Mark and Gary took 4th place in the 120+ event.

In the first event on the last day, the 800 metres Freestyle, Jill again won silver, while Helen and Kay both won bronze and Kira took 5th place. In the 100 metres IM, Barbara won her second bronze while Sally took 17th place and Dawn won her second silver of the championships. In the men’s event Stan Clarke (Age group J) won the gold medal and Mark took 5th place. In the 50 metres Backstroke Tony and Janos repeated their medal haul from the 100 metres with Tony taking gold and Janos bronze. In the final event of the first session, the women’s Freestyle Relay, the 120+ team (dawn, Kay, Julie, Sally) took 9th place and the 160+ team (Jill, Barbara, Helen, Kira) took 4th, while the men’s 240+ team (Janos, Stan, Tony, Mark) won the bronze medal.

In the last session of the championships the first event was the 200 metres IM and Dawn again won silver, whle Sally took 11th place and in the men’s event Mark took 4th. In the 50 metres Butterfly Stan continued his winning ways and won his second gold medal. In the last individual event the 200 metres Freestyle Janos took 4th place, Tom 6th and Gary 13th, while in the women’s event Jill won her second gold, Helen won bronze and Kira won silver. In the final event of the weekend the Medley Relay, the women’s 120+ team took 6th place and the 160+ team took 5th, while in the men’s event the 240+ team (with Gary substituting for Mark) won silver.

In total the RTSC team of 14 swimmers won 30 medals and had 28 top ten finishes. The team won 9 gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze, with Jill finishing as the top medal winner with 2 gold and 4 silver.