Otter success at National Swimming Championships

The penultimate weekend of October saw a contingent of 42 Otters travel to Sheffield to take part in the National Short Course Championships. There were many excellent performances, and a full list can be found here.

It was great to see many new faces representing the club for the first time, including Catherine Demont and Jessica Safir who swam strongly in the sprint freestyle events. The club was also well represented in the youngest age group by Alex Fraser and Dontony Gill-Nasadi. Special mention also goes to Aeron Brown who managed to fit a number of speedy swims in between assisting Steve Bratt on the coaching side.
 
Many swimmers had very busy schedules indeed, including Nico Barber who swam all the freestyle events bar the 1500, picking up a silver in the 800m and a bronze in the 400m. Craig Gillespie showed his versatility by swimming a range of events in the extremely tough 25-29 year age group, picking up a bronze in the 200IM. Lex Higlett also had great freestyle swims in the women’s 30-34 year age group, including a gold in the 200 and a bronze in the 400.
 
Both Dave Warren and Gina Hobson came back with a haul of medals. Dave won 10 individual medals(!), including seven golds. Gina won nine individual medals, including an excellent gold in the 100 free.
 
In the older age groups we also did very well, in spite of not having some of the usual 50-60 year-olds. In the women’s events, Liz Shaw swam a PB in the 200 breast, and there were solid swims from Martha Dean and Lesley Davies. 
 
We were very strong in the 240+ relays with two golds and one bronze for the men, and a gold in the mixed 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relays. In the men's 280+ relays we were virtually unassailable with three gold and two silver medals.
 
Individual male performances of note include Ted Evans, who swam in four events and won gold in all of them, just missing a couple of GB records. Roger Lloyd-Mostyn with a gold and three silvers out of five events, and Mike Wake's silver and four bronzes from six swims were also very impressive, especially since they are both at the top end of their age group. However, they were overshadowed by Derek Parr, who swam in three relays and nine individual events and managed not only to win six gold and three silver individual medals, but to take out the GB records in the 50 and 200 fly!
 
Well done everyone!
 

Otter qualify for Super 5's

There's a familiar look to the top women's division of BWPL again this year with Liverpool Lizards, City of Manchester, City of Coventry and Otter all qualifying once again for the Ladies Super 5s places.  Caledonia's 12-7 victory over Penguin Emperors on Sunday earned the Scots the final Super 5s spot but only once defeats were confirmed for immediate rivals Sheffield Sharks (beaten 19-10 by Otter) and Leeds Sharks (who lost 11-6 to Coventry).

Otter came away with 2 wins from 2 games for the second weekend in a row, beating Coventry 11-9 & Sheffield 19-10. In both games Otter lead from the first goal to the last, controlling the game throughout to get the wins. Both games were solid team efforts, and the team are now looking forward to taking on the best in the country once again in the Super 5's. The first games will be in Leeds December 12th & 13th. 

Otter scorers v Coventry 11-9: Claudia 4, Lex, Peggy & Hannah 2 & Izzy 1. 

Otter scorers v Sheffield 19-10: Lex, Izzy, Kathy 3, Holly, Turny, Claudia, Hannah 2, Kate & Peggy 1. 

Izzy Dean attacking for Otter. 

Otters compete for Middlesex

14 Otters were selected to compete for Middlesex at the annual inter counties competition on 15 December. We traipsed to Barnet to join our team mates from Teddington, Barnet Copthall and beyond, to take on teams from six other counties in the South East region. A gruelling lactate session of multiple 50m sprints followed (with swimmers competing in 18+, and then 10 year age bands from 25+), with some of us lucky enough to compete in multiple age groups and in the 12x25m squadron at the end.

This year we saved our best results until last and it was only with the final race that we over took leaders, Hampshire, to win the trophy. It was a fantastic team effort by all involved, with swimmers willingly stepping up to swim their unfavoured strokes so we gained valuable points. Thanks to Aeron Brown, Catherine Delmont, Gina Hobson, Laure Kearns, Kim Liu, Derek Parr, Olivia Reynolds, Wade Rimbach, Dave Roberts, Michelle Senecal, Ben Thomas, Neal Thompson, Dave Warren and Oli Wilson and here's to retaining the trophy next year!

Middlesex 2015 Inter counties team

Otter TO CHALLENGE IN London League Play Offs

The Otter Men have finished the London League season as runner ups in Division 1. According to the London League Rules Otter has now the right to challenge the second team from the bottom of the table in London League Premier Division. And challenge them we will. 

Otter will play Sutton & Cheam on Monday 14 December in a winner takes all playoff. Should Otter win that match we will be back in the top league in London in 2016. Good Luck Otter!

Otter Men to play in BWPL Championship 3

Otter Mens team have finished phase 1 BWPL in 6th place, narrowly missing a place in the Championship 2. Otter will now take on Championship 3 in the second half of the season, which kicks off in Liverpool on Saturday 28th of November.

You can check out all the results from Phase 1 here. And the fixtures for Phase 2 here.  

Otter on the attack against Bedford. Photo: Trevor Hyde.

LUTRA THROUGH TO CHAMPIONSHIP 1

Otter Lutra are on track to defend their Championship 1 title for a 3rd year in a row after  two wins this weekend in Walsall saw them qualify for the second phase of the competition. 

Lutra, who knew they needed one win from their two games to secure their place in the Championship 1, started their first game vs English Roses Masters strongly jumping out to 3-1 lead in the first quarter. Two goals in the second quarter to Bugsy & Anna saw Lutra go into the main break winning 5-2. And from there Lutra controlled the game, adding 3 more goals in each of the remaining quarters to win 11-5.

Otter scorers: Bugsy 5, Anna 2, Linds 1, Helena 1, Gari 1, Izzy 1.

Lutra started strongly again in their second game vs Welsh Wanders. Lutra scored four goals in each of the first two quarters while holding the Welsh to one goal per term to have the 8-2 advantage at half time. The second half was a closer affair but Lutra always looked in control winning the second half 7-5, to take the match 15-7. 

Otter goal scorers: Gari 3, Helena 2, Linds 2, Anna 2, Busgy 2, Heather 1, Sasha 1, Izzy 1, Emma 1. 

Anna in defence. 

OTTERS ROAM FREELY AT LA SANTA, LANZAROTE

Otter returned to La Santa in September 2015 for the annual training camp. Nearly 40 club members made the trek to sunny Lanzarote for a week’s worth of training and sunbathing in the work hard/play hard Otter tradition.

As always, plenty of other sports were on offer, with Otters excelling in pretty much everything they took up, especially on the tennis courts and the duathlon and triathlon events. With most days having a morning and afternoon session at two hours a piece, many also spent their free time sunning themselves on deck, enjoying one of La Santa’s many restaurants, or cooling off in their flat. All were pleased that Coach Steve made the trip again and provided everyone with challenging sets and plenty of useful, welcome advice.

On the Wednesday night the locals and tourists in Puerto del Carmen were treated to the Otters donning the red and white stripes of Where's Wally, ensuring that anyone’s hopes for a quiet candlelit dinner and nightcap were duly shattered. 

Many Otters competing at Nationals later in the year took advantage of the week at La Santa to peak before a well deserved taper, with others carrying on with the normal training schedule on their return to the UK. Chris Sutton (aka Ginger Babies) did an unbelievable job in organising the trip and making sure that the week ran smoothly for everyone. Thanks Babies!

OTTER DOMINANT AT SHORT COURSE NATIONALS IN SHEFFIELD

Congratulations to all the Otters who swam at the ASA National Masters Short Course Championships in Sheffield last weekend. There were many fantastic Otter performances with tonnes of medals, PBs, and even a few first competitive master swims. Huge thank you to our wonderful Otter coaches Steve & Aeron.  Full recap of the meet to come. In the meantime all results from the meet can be seen here and a list of Otter results can be found here. 

Some of the Otter Short Course team. 

London Otter win the 2015 U15 Girls National Water Polo Championships

London Otter ’01s claimed the girls’ title after a thrilling day of action at the ASA National Age Group Water Polo Championships (U15) at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

Otter entered two teams in the championships the older Otter ’01s & the younger Otter '02s. It was the first time either team had played in the Championships and it was another brilliant result for our Otter juniors, who now hold the 2015 U/15, U/17 titles, and were runners up in the U/19s age group.  

The Otter '01s opened their 2015 campaign with an immediate display of strength, a commanding 21-1 victory over last year’s champions, City of Manchester, before posting posting emphatic wins in all remaining group games, Cheltenham (23-2), Rotherham Metro (7-2), and Tyldesley (13-2), to finish top of the Group A
 
The semi-final action saw London Otter ’01s overcome Welsh Wanderers 12-5. 
Before coming up against City of Liverpool in the final. Liverpool jumped out to an advantage, scoring two quick-fire goals in the first three minutes of the final before London Otter ’01s responded quickly, equalising in less than a minute before scoring a further two goals to set the scores at 4-2 heading into the break. Despite strong attacks from City of Liverpool in the second half of the match, London Otter ’01s held their nerve & scored 3 more times sealing their U15 Girls Water Polo Championships 2015 title 7-3 with a final goal in the last 10 seconds from Drew Goold. 
 
Otter '01 captain Lily Turner was named Most Valuable player of the tournament, with Barbola Toth named best Goal Keeper. “I am delighted. I couldn’t be happier for the team,” said Lily Turner. “This is the first time we have competed here so it feels great to leave as national champions. ”Our older age group won the Under 17 championships earlier this year and I think that really spurred us on as team.”
 
The Otter 02's also performed extremely strongly, finishing 6th overall after posting wins over City of Manchester (10-1) & Cheltenham (9-1) in the 5th-9th Place Playoff Group. A brilliant result from a very young team in their first National Championships. 
 
U15 GIRLS WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS 2015 OVERALL MVPS:
•    Highest Goal Scorer – Nia Sanders (Welsh Wanderers)
•    Goal Keeper – Barbola Toth (Otter ’01s)
•    Overall Most Valuable Player – Lily Turner (Otter ’01s)

Otter win two from two in Grantham

Otter won two from two this weekend in Grantham. Beating Caledonia 14-9 on Saturday before running away with a 21-2 win vs Leeds on Sunday. Both games were solid team performances, with every field player netting v Leeds.

There's a familiar look to the top women's division of BWPL again this year, with Liverpool Lizards, City of Manchester, City of Coventry and Otter all lining up for the Super 5s places - with a weekend of competition still to be played. Sheffield Sharks and City of Leeds are best placed to challenge for the final slot. 

The final rounds of Phase 1 will be played on November 14th & 15th in Matlock. Where Otter will face Coventry & Sheffield.  

Otter scorers v Caledonia:  Claudia & Izzy (3), Holly & Mhairi (2), Kate, Brooke, Peggy & Hannah (1). Otter scorers v Leeds: Lex & Holly (4), Lizi, Claudia & Izzy (2), Mhairi, Brooke, Emma, Peggy, Kathy, Hannah & Kate (1).

Holly in action, top scoring for Otters over the weekend with 6 goals over the two games.