The Great British National Masters and Senior Age Group Short Course Championships took place at Ponds Forge, Sheffield in October 2009.
For full results click the image
PSUK Team numbers were down due to several of the team affected by swine flu; however, this made little effect on the team’s performance. The team picked up 3 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze individual medals and 12 silver and 8 bronze relay team medals.
The men’s and women’s 1500m freestyle kicked off the weekend with 4 police swimmers entering this gruelling event of 64 lengths. Teresa Dray, Sussex started her excellent weekend winning a silver medal in the 35-39 years age group. Also taking silver was Richard Evans, Metropolitan, in the 40-44 years age group. Nigel Gaskin, West Midlands and Andy Pryke, Metropolitan took 3rd and 4th place respectively in the 30-34 years age group.
The day continued with the 4 x 1 individual medley Alison Willis, West Midlands, back into competition just 12 weeks after giving birth to her second child Zoë, won a bronze medal in the 35-39 years age group. Julian Harforth, Cleveland, came 4th in the 44-49 years age group and Adam O’Grady 5th in the 25-29 years. Sarah Hempenstall, Surrey swam a gutsy 200m butterfly coming 4th in the 30-34 years age group. Ed Clayton, Lancashire, won a silver medal in the 30-34 years 50m backstroke event, an event I had not seen him swim before. Going 27.99 seconds secured him the backstroke leg of the relay! The next event was the 100m breastroke, Claire Thorn, West Midlands (35-39yrs); Dave Morgan, Gwent (30-34yrs) and Phil Taylor, retired from Cleveland (55-59yrs) all won bronze medals.
The 400m freestyle started the 2nd day of competition which saw Teresa Dray continue her success adding a gold medal closely followed by a silver in the 50m butterfly. In the Men’s 50m butterfly Adam O’Grady, Metropolitan won a silver in the 25-29yrs and Ed Clayton a bronze. Richard Evans had a great swim in the 200m individual medley to win the event. The women’s 4 x 50m freestyle relay team 120-159yrs consisting of Teresa Dray, Rachel Vallins Dorset, Claire Thorn and Sarah Hempenstall won a silver medal. The Men’s team of Ed Clayton, Andy Pryke, Adam O’Grady and Nigel Gaskin also won a silver medal. The 200m breastroke event kicked off session 4 which saw Claire Thorn win a bronze medal followed some 20 minutes later by a bronze in the 200m freestyle. In the men’s event Nigel Gaskin and Andy Pryke battled it out resulting in Nigel taking 3rd and Andy 4th place. Ruth Hoyle, GMP, came 4th in the 200m breastroke 30-34years age group.
Teresa Dray continued her golden streak winning the 100m butterfly in a time of 67.64 seconds. Ed Clayton won a silver in the men’s event. The Men’s and Women’s 4 x 50m medley relay concluded the 2nd day’s competition. Delyth Cunnah, Tayside led off on the backstroke leg; Caroline Bell, Lancashire took over onto the breastroke; doing the fly leg was Teresa Dray with the final freestyle leg being completed by Sarah Hempenstall, the ladies won a bronze medal in the 120-159 years. The Men’s 120-159yrs team of Ed Clayton, Dave Morgan, Adam O’Grady and Nigel Gaskin also came in third however, they were subject to a disqualification. The team benefited from the extra hour in bed due to the clocks going back.
However, both Teresa Dray and Sarah Borley, Gwent, were still up early to compete in the 800m freestyle. Teresa won a silver medal and Sarah came a respectable 5th place in the 45-49 years age group. The last few medals of the championships were won by Andy Pryke, Caroline Bell, Ed Clayton and Sarah Hempenstall in the 100-120 years mixed medley relay winning a silver medal. Ed also won a silver medal in the 100m freestyle. Team morale and spirit were high throughout the weekend with good efforts being rewarded with great performance.
Manager: Claire Thorn.
Team: Teresa Dray, Nigel Gaskin, Richard Evans, Andy Pryke, Ed Clayton, Alison Willis, Liane Andrews, Adam O’Grady, Sarah Hempenstall, Caroline Bell, Ruth Hoyle, Julian Harforth, Phil Taylor, Dave Morgan, Delyth Cunnah, Rachel Vallins, Sarah Borley.
Bag Carrier: Norm Stephens
