Shrewsbury Masters New Year Gala and Brass Monkey Swim
Stroud Masters swimmers kicked off 2013 with a busy weekend of competition. On 5th January a team of seven travelled to compete at the Shrewsbury Masters New Year Gala. Unlike the majority of competitions, swimmers could only enter one event in each of the four strokes from a choice of three distances and also an individual medley. Swimmers gained points for each event which were added together and resulted in an overall age group placing.
In the youngest Master’s age group Joe Lewis put in a series of strong swims to finish first in each of his individual events, winning his age-group title undefeated. Lewis broke the Club record in the 100m backstroke event where he recorded an impressive time of 1.05.36.
Competing in the same age group Elaine Lewis won the 50m backstroke as well as gaining two second and one third place, finishing in a very creditable fourth place overall in her age-group.
Alex Belcher swam well to gain first place in the 100m backstroke and was fifth placed overall. Lorraine Savagar swam three events and gained a second place in the 100m freestyle whilst Richard Searle swam four events finishing first in the 50m backstroke as well as achieving three second places.
Jessica Wooddisse started the year off impressively winning three events as well as gaining second place in a further two and finishing as runner-up in her age-group.
The final swimmer in the team, Mark Partridge, also had an impressive set of swims taking his age group title with five wins out of five swims.
The following day, both Savagar and Searle swam in the Brass Monkey swim at Cheltenham Lido. This was the inaugural swimming of the event and was marked by fine swims from both swimmers in the very cold waters of an unheated Cheltenham Lido, with Searle finishing as first male swimmer in the 1000m event (wetsuit), and Savagar finishing as second placed female in the same event.
| Swimmer | Event | Time | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elaine Lewis | 50m Butterfly | 35.99 | 2nd |
| 100m IM | 1.23.02 | 3rd | |
| 50m Backstroke | 38.05 | 1st | |
| 50m Freestyle | 32.37 | 2nd | |
| Jessica Wooddisse | 100m Butterfly | 1.13.43 | 1st |
| 100m Breaststroke | 1.30.76 | 1st | |
| 100m IM | 1.18.92 | 2nd | |
| 50m Backstroke | 40.81 | 2nd | |
| 100m Freestyle | 1.08.51 | 1st | |
| Lorraine Savagar | 50m Butterfly | 41.59 | 5th |
| 50m Backstroke | 46.72 | 5th | |
| 100m Freestyle | 1.17.11 | 2nd | |
| Joe Lewis | 100m IM | 1.09.86 | 1st |
| 100m Backstroke | 1.05.36 | 1st | |
| 100m Freestyle | 1.00.19 | 1st | |
| 50m Butterfly | 29.57 | 1st | |
| 25m Breaststroke | 17.39 | 1st | |
| Alex Belcher | 100m IM | 1.10.69 | 4th |
| 100m Backstroke | 1.11.58 | 1st | |
| 50m Freestyle | 28.22 | 3rd | |
| 50m Butterfly | 31.51 | 3rd | |
| 50m Breaststroke | 37.01 | 4th | |
| Richard Searle | 50m Backstroke | 31.82 | 1st |
| 100m Freestyle | 1.02.31 | 2nd | |
| 50m Butterfly | 31.03 | 2nd | |
| 100m Breaststroke | 1.19.16 | 2nd | |
| Mark Partridge | 100m IM | 1.12.45 | 1st |
| 50m Backstroke | 33.95 | 1st | |
| 50m Freestyle | 27.62 | 1st | |
| 50m Butterfly | 30.23 | 1st | |
| 50m Breaststroke | 33.59 | 1st |