The Otter handicap competition continues in the pool this week with the 150 Free. The dates for the remainder of the handicap event are provisionally as below, each to be held during a Thursday QMSC session as above, where there are two events in the same evening this will obviously take slightly longer.
Thu 20 Aug 2015: 150 Free
Thu 24 Sep 2015: 200 Free
Thu 15 Oct 2015: 100 Free
Thu 19 Nov 2015: 125 Free & Vets 50 Free
Thu 17 Dec 2015: 50 Free & 400 IM
On August 2nd, the Otters went to a sunny and blustery Rother Valley Country Park near Sheffield for the ASA Open Water National Championships. It is a pleasing indicator about the way the sport is going that there needed to be two waves in the Men's 3km race to accommodate all the entries. Despite the warm water and hints of sun through threathening clouds one half of the course was quite taxing with rough water blown up by the wind.
Not to be deterred, Pip Bennett (30-34) and Dan Bullock (45-49) went on to become National Champions in their age groups and also were 2nd and 4th overall, only beaten by a 20 year old who had recently represented the country. In the women's race the weather continued to deteriorate but Jess Trevellick (25-29) and Michelle Senecal dealt with the conditions well to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively in their own age-groups.
Next year we aim to take a bigger team and bring even more medals home.
Nick Buller and Tim Dunsbee have been appointed as head coaches of the England women’s and men’s U19 water polo squads respectively for the 2016 season.
Both teams will be aiming to qualify for the European U19 Water Polo Championships with the women’s event taking place in Gouda (women’s) and Alphen (men’s) in the Netherlands next summer.
Buller guided the Great Britain 1998 women’s squad through qualification for the inaugural European Games and to an 11th place finish at the Games in Baku.
“I’m pleased to have been given the opportunity to show what this squad can achieve,” said Buller. “This is an exciting time to be involved with the national team as the level of players is improving all the time. The Baku European Games was a good starting point and future teams will only learn and build from that experience. I’ll be looking closely at not only those who went to Baku and those going to Greece for the Under 20 World Championships in August, but also the many emerging talents coming through and the players who maybe only just missed out on selection previously. Our goal is to build a strong outfit and perform well at next year’s Championships, and with the talent available I’m confident we can achieve that.”
Buller will appoint the remainder of his coaching team in the next few weeks in conjunction with Water Polo Management Group performance lead Phil Winstanley and England Water Polo manager Ian Elliot.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
