On a busy weekend of racing for Hemel Hempstead Swimming Club, some members of the Masters Team made the journey to Newmarket for the 2014 East Region Championships to claim 7 gold medals and numerous PBs.
The day was kicked off by Andy Swift in the 50m Fly. He put in a good time of 29.41 but was disappointed after slipping on the notorious plastic wall extension.
The next race of the day was the 100m IM where Heidi Gibbens took 1 second off her PB, doing a 1:21.74, and Annette Thatcher scooped a gold medal on a great swim with a 1:29.21, which would have even given her a medal 3 age groups below her own.
Rachel Barber got a PB and a Gold medal in the 50m breaststroke, unexpectedly breaking the 40’s mark for the first time with a 39.85. Annette picked up her second gold of the day with a 43.78. This was Andy’s last race of the day where he managed to pick up a Silver with a 32.91, just half a second from the gold.
Annette kicked off the afternoon in the 50m Freestyle, picking up another gold medal with a 33.18.
Next up was Rachel in the 200m Freestyle. She managed to take a whopping 12 seconds off her PB and pick up the gold medal and a county qualifying time with 2:25.59.
Heidi’s next swim was the 100m Breaststroke where she managed to take 2 seconds off her PB with a 1:28.15 and also picked up the gold. Annette continued this gold streak with her 100m breaststroke.
The final session started with Rachel’s final race, the 100m Fly, which nearly didn’t happen due to a bad back. She managed a small PB and settled for the Silver.
Annette’s last race of the day was the 200m Breaststroke which saw an exciting battle between herself and a man from an Italian swimming club who turn up each year. She held him off throughout the race but was pipped to the post on the final 50m. She still managed to pick up yet another gold medal. However she did not take any of her medals away with her as, sadly for us, Annette is leaving to go back to South Africa at the end of the month and she already has far too many medals that she cannot take with her.
The last event of the day was Heidi in the 100m Freestyle where she again managed a PB, taking more than a second off her time, with a 1:11.05, narrowly missing her 1:10 target.
Another successful day for the Masters Team and a great start to the season. A nice warm up before the British Gas National Masters Championships in Sheffield later this month.