Stroud Masters swimmers kicked off 2012 with a busy weekend of competition.
Stroud Masters at Shrewsbury 2012
On Saturday the 7th January a team of six 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 age group Joe Lewis put in a series of strong swims to finish second overall. Competing in the same age group Elaine Lewis found herself facing stiff opposition and finished fourth overall behind a trio of teenagers. Alex Belcher performed well but found his overall position affected by a decision not to swim all the events he was entitled to. Both Richard Searle and Jessica Wooddisse placed third in their age groups and were rewarded with the novel prize of a gingerbread man each. The highest placed swimmer was Mark Partridge who took his age group title with four out of five first places in his events. On the Sunday, another four swimmers travelled to Bath to swim in the South West Region 800m and 1500m time trials. Star of the show was Lorraine Savagar who recorded a forty second personal best time in the women’s 800m freestyle. The other swimmers: Geoff Twinning (1500m), Lewis Saunders (800m/1500m) and Greg Clements (1500m) also put in good swims but were all unable to follow Lorraine’s lead in setting new PBs due to the Christmas and New Year break.
Shrewsbury Results
| Swimmer | Event | Time | Position |
| Joe Lewis | 50 fly | 29.65 | 1st |
| 50 back | 31.00 | 1st | |
| 25 brst | 17.30 | 2nd | |
| 100 F/S | 1:00.17 | 2nd | |
| 100 IM | 1:09.15 | 3rd | |
| Alex Belcher | 100 fly | 1:10.30 | 2nd |
| 100 brst | 1:19.09 | 2nd | |
| 100 F/S | 1:01.38 | 3rd | |
| 100 IM | 1:09.49 | 3rd | |
| Richard Searle | 100 fly | 1:11.07 | 1st |
| 100 back | 1:09.81 | 1st | |
| 50 brst | 36.66 | 2nd | |
| 50 F/S | 28.47 | 2nd | |
| 100 IM | 1:13.12 | 3rd | |
| Mark Partridge | 50 fly | 30.24 | 1st |
| 50 back | 34.08 | 1st | |
| 50 brst | 33.69 | 1st | |
| 50 F/S | 27.50 | 1st | |
| 100 IM | 1:10.43 | 2nd | |
| Elaine Lewis | 50 fly | 36.77 | 3rd |
| 100 back | 1:22.19 | 3rd | |
| 50 brst | 42.98 | 3rd | |
| 50 F/S | 32.05 | 2nd | |
| 100 IM | 1:20.41 | 4th | |
| Jessica Wooddisse | 100 fly | 1:13.72 | 1st |
| 50 back | 40.70 | 3rd | |
| 50 brst | 42.78 | 2nd | |
| 100 F/S | 1:08.84 | 1st | |
| 100 IM | 1:18.71 | 2nd |