The Annual Otter Half-Mile open water handicap

The Otter Half-Mile open water handicap was held yesterday evening at Henley Sailing Club. The Sailing Club proved excellent hosts as usual providing boats and safety crew along with a wonderful barbeque and soup ready for the swimmers as soon as they got out the water. The water itself was possibly a steaming 20 degrees so lovely to swim in and the warm setting sun made for a perfect evening on the river side. Tremendous thanks to Roger Sharply for organising this event again.

There was a good turn out with 30 swimmers plus many guests joining for the barbeque. It was very good to see some water polo ladies and men at this combined club event. The race itselfwas slightly slower than recent years with very little current assistance resulting in a longer timed race which allowed some of the later starters to catch up the earlier swimmers, the top three all started towards the end of the start list, about four minutes after the first swimmer.

Well done in particular to the winner, Nico Barber. The top three were: 1. Nico Barber (start time 3:45), finish time 14:27,  Pip Bennett (4:15), 14:38, and Lex Higlett (4:00), 14:41.

Otter win London League

Otter have won the Division 1 of the London League after finishing the season undefeated. The win was a great squad effort with 16 different players from Otter, Lutra & the U/17 Otter National Age Group team combining over 3 weekends to take out the title. 

Despite the number of players & people playing together for the first time Otter were consistent throughout. Beating West London Penguin 7-0 & 7-1. Mid Sussex Marlins 6-2 & 6-1. Beckenham 8-3 & 8-0. And Chelmsford 12-2. 

Great Britain finish 14th at World Junior Championships

The British women’s U20 water polo team brought the curtain down on their World Junior Championships in Volos, Greece with a battling defeat to European giants the Netherlands.

After finishing bottom of their group, GB bounced back with a mature performance in a 10-4 victory over South Africa in the classifications round to guarantee a top-14 finish  and meet their target for the competition.

The British squad continued in the same vein in their final classification match against the Dutch, one of the ‘big six’ European women’s water polo nations, matching their opponents in the first half before fading in the third and fourth quarters to a 22-7 defeat.  

Massive congratulations to Otter's Brooke & Kathy who represented GB at the tournament. We're incredibly proud of you, and looking forward to have you back at for Otter in the upcoming BWPL season. 

Otter Club Championship

The Otter Club Championship 400 Free & 100IM races were held during training Thursday night at QMSC.

Thanks to everyone who took part & helped time.

400 Free Results - Men's: 1st Dave Warren (4:32), 2nd Josh Sambrook-Smith (4:41) 3rd Craid Gillepsie (4:45). Women's: 1st Lex Higlett (4:55), 2nd Helen Prentice (5:12), 3rd Jess Trevellick (5:24).

100IM Results - Men's 1st Dave Warren (1.04), 2nd Wade Rimbach (1.06), 3rd Craig Gillepsie (1.08). Women's: 1st Lex Higlett (1.14), Helen Prentice (1.17), 3rd Emma Shkurka (1.17) 

The next Club Championships will be the 200IM & 100 Free on 30th July. 50Free, 100Bk & 50 Fly will be on October 29th & the 100Br & 100Fly will take place on November 5th. 

Otters represent GB at FINA World Women’s Junior Water Polo Championships

Congratulations to Otters Brooke Tafazolli & Kathy Rogers who have been selected in the Great Britain Under 20’s team for this weeks FINA World Women’s Junior Water Polo Championships.

The Championships will take place in Volos (GRE) from August 17-23, 2015, gathering 16 teams from the five continents.  Great Britain has been drawn in Group A alongside Russia, Greece, & Japan.

GROUP A: Russia, Greece, Japan, Great Britain
GROUP B: Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, Hungary
GROUP C: Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Australia
GROUP D: Mexico, Spain, USA, Ukraine 

The preliminary round is staged on August 17-19, with GB taking on bronze medalists & hosts Greece on Mon 17th, Japan on Tues 18th & then Russia in the final prelim game on Wed 19th. The Qualification round will then be played on the August 20, with Quarter Finals on the 21st, Semi Finals on the 22nd and the Final on August 23.

Team GB: Lauren Tasker (capt), Brooke Tafazoli (joint vice capt), Rhianne Oscroft (joint vice capt), Kate Read, Megan Gaunt, Rosie Huck, Izzy Howe, Katy Andrew, Kate Parkin, Kathy Rogers, Honor Grimes.

Otter leading London League

After two rounds of play Otter are at the top of the Division 1 London League table. Otter have won all 4 games played, beating: West London Penguins 7-0, Beckenham 8-3, Mid Sussex 6-2 & 6-1. And Chelmsford who forfeited the fixture.

Good luck to Otter who are playing the final round of fixtures on Sunday July 12. The team will take on Beckenham, West London Penguins & Chelmsford, and are hoping for a clean sweap to take out the London League title. 

Success for Otter at national long course championships

Following on from our success at the Middlesex championships, 26 Otters made the trip up to Manchester for the annual national long course championships. There were a number of European and British records achieved, as well as a large haul of medals of all colours.

The 200+ relay team of Mike Reys, Paul Goudie, Pete Kirk and Dave Warren broke the European record in the 4*100 free, and also broke the British record in the 4*200 free. Individually Dave Warren won 4 golds, breaking British records in the 200IM, 100 free and 200 free. Derek Parr managed 5 golds, a silver and a bronze in an impressive medal haul, whilst Roger Lloyd-Mostyn picked up 4 medals including a silver and 3 bronzes. Lex Higlett and Gina Hobson both became national champions in their respective age groups, with Lex winning the 50 and 200 free, and Gina winning the 50 and 100 free. In the men’s 30-34 year age group newcomer Wade Rimbach picked up a gold in the 200 back and bronzes in the 100 back and 400IM. In to 18-24 year age group Ollie Wilson won the 50 free in a fantastic British record, and also picked up gold in the 100 free. Neal Thompson also picked up a bronze in the 50 free in the same age group. Doubling up in a very tough first session Pip Bennett won silver medals in both the 800 free and 400IM. This is just a small selection of a set of great swims by the team, with the club overall winning 23 golds, 10 silvers and 13 bronzes. Well done everyone!

Jessica Trevellick wins the Otter Mile Handicap

The Otter Mile was held at Windsor on Friday 26 June. It was a fantastic evening, the weather was great and the water temperature was just right. The after-event food and social made the evening even more enjoyable. Many thanks to Tory Thorpe who organised the event. The top three for each category were: 

Men's Scratch Race:

1. Dave Warren (21:00)

2. Pip Bennett (21:14)

3. Dave Roberts (21:36)

Women's Scratch Race:

1. Lex Higlett (21:46)

2. Jess Trevellick (22:27)

3. Gina Hobson (23:35)

Handicap:

1. Jess Trevellick

2. Dave Roberts

3. Lex Higlett

Congratulations to everyone who swam, helped or supported.

Otters break British & European Records at the 2015 British Masters and Senior Age Group Championships.

The Otter 4x100m Freestyle Relay set a new 200+ European record of 4.00.97. Otter had two swimmers from the previous 200+ Yrs British record in the men’s 4x100m Free Relay in the shape of David Warren and Peter Kirk. Mike Reys and Paul Goudie joined forces with them to establish the record. The same team of David Warren, Peter Kirk, Paul Goudie and Mike Reys also set a new British record in 200+ 4x200m Freestyle Relay touching in at 9:08.24. And Young Oliver Wilson broke the GB Senior Age Group record in the 50m Freestyle with a very speedy 23.46.  Congrats to all the Otter GB & European record holders. A full report from the weekends competition to come soon.

GB Captain & Otter Izzy Dean looks proudly back on Baku 2015 Games

Team GB water polo captain Izzy Dean insisted the Brits’ could be proud of their Baku 2015 European Games campaign after finishing 11th overall. 

The Brits defeated Isreal 10-5 in their last match of the Games to finish their challenge on a high after seven matches in as many days. Defeat to Serbia in their penultimate game ultimately cost the Brits a top 10 place – their target going into the tournament, having snuck through the qualifiers on goal difference earlier in the year. 

Dean was adamant the team would only take positives from their experience in Baku, having played three of the top six European water polo nations in the form of Greece, the Netherlands and Hungary, for the first time in the careers of all but one of the squad. “We learned so much,’’ said Dean. “It was just an invaluable experience for us all. “It was our first time competing in such a high multi-sport event, and only one of us had ever competed in a European Water Polo Championships before. So it was definitely a great start for our water polo careers.”