Otter in 2nd place with 2 games to go

The Otter 1st team should finish the season in 2nd place or better after winning both their Round Three matches in Liverpool at the end of January. 

The third round of BWPL Super 5 action saw Otter better Manchester 10-5 & Caledonia 12-6, Manchester beat Coventry, & Liverpool win against Caledonia & Coventry. Leaving Liverpool on top of the table with 12 points, Otter in 2nd with 9 points, Manchester in 3rd with 5 points, Coventry in 4th with 4 points & Caledonia in 5th place with 0. 

With 2 points for a win & only 2 games remaining, Otter should finish the season in 2nd place or better. Otter will face Liverpool & Coventry this weekend in Sheffield & will need to win both games to be in with a shot at the title. They will also need unbeaten Liverpool to stumble against Manchester in the final game of the season. If Otter were to loose both their games, and Manchester win both, both teams would finish on equal points in 2nd place.

Looks like it is going to go down to the wire. Good Luck girls.

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Entries for the European masters swimming championships are open

Entries for the European masters swimming championships are now open.  Everything you need for entry can be found here: http://euroaquatics2016.london/masters/

Please note that you will need a digital photograph of yourself ready to upload along with your entry. Please also note that entries are being taken on a first come first served basis, so do not rely on the entry deadline of 4 April as your final date for entering.

The club intends to enter a number of relays. If you would like to be considered for relays please can you email the club captains by midday this Thursday at the latest with the following information: your age (on 31 December 2016), the specific relays you would like to be considered for. Unfortunately we will not be able to guarantee that there will be a relay berth for everyone.

Very best of luck to everyone with their training in the lead up to this competition.

Otter Dinner 2016 Booking Details

The Otter Dinner 2016 will held in the Booker and Turner Suite at Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury, Coram Street, London WC1N 1HT on Friday 18 March, 7pm to 1am. Google maps link here.

Tickets are priced at £48 which includes formal three course meal plus table wine, followed by the President's speech, then disco until 1am.

We'll have our own private room with a separate quiet area and cash bar. Additional drinks can also be purchased from the main hotel bar.

This is always a great Club event for swimmers, men's and women's water polo, non-active members, parents and guests. If you haven't attended before or if you have joined Otter in the past year please do join the recent and long established crowds and come along. It's a great way to fully appreciate the club's history and achievements, and get to know your team mates away from the pool. Feel free to speak to other members or contact me directly for more details.

To reserve your place please email me and our Treasurer, Chris Eden, providing your food options, seating preferences and arrange payment to the club account as follows:

1. Email addresses: davewarren.swim@gmail.com, ottertreasurer@gmail.com

2. Food choices, select one starter, one main and one dessert (please also advise any food intolerances):

Starter

Leek and mushroom tart with red onion confit

Crème of wild mushroom soup

Home cured salmon with honey, mustard and dill

Main Course

Pan fried sea trout, potato pancake, green beans and tender stem broccoli

Grilled pork loin steaks in lemon and garlic, mash potatoes, glazed seasonal vegetable and a creamy grain mustard sauce

Corn fed chicken supreme, baked in soft herbs and filo pastry, steamed broccoli and noisette

Vegetable strudel (V)

Roast vegetable and feta tartlet (V)

Wild mushroom, leek and brie parcels (V)

Lentil and roast vegetable terrine, gratinated with goat’s cheese (V)

Dessert

Strawberry and clotted cream cheese cake

Cloted Cream and Chocolate Cheese Cake

Trio of chocolate served with homemade orange marmalade

3. Seating preferences, any individuals/ groups you want to sit with?

4. Payment of £48 per person to club account, or contact Chris at the treasurer email address to arrange alternate payment:

Sort Code: 60-08-23

Account: 08362998

Please add reference of DINNER plus your name so the Treasurer can identify and confirm your payment.

5. Dress is black tie or lounge suit so dig out your tux, Otter blazer or party dress, look forward to the event and see you on Friday 18 March!

Please let Dave Warren (davewarren.swim@gmail.com) know as soon as possible if you would like to attend. The deadline for menu choices and payment is Sunday 6 March as we need to provide menu choices to the Holiday Inn the following day.

Two more wins for Otter in Liverpool

The Otter 1st team should finish the season in 2nd place or better after winning both their Round Three matches in Liverpool last weekend.

Otter, playing without regular goal keeper Tracey Allen got off to a slow start vs Manchester in Saturdays game trailing 1-0 at the first break before solid defence and an adjustment to the style of the game saw Otter turn the tables & score 4 to Manchesters 1 to be up 4-2 at half time. Otter then kept the pressure on in the 3rd maintaining, rolling with the ebbs & flows to maintain their two goal buffer before running away 4-1 in the last quarter to win 10-5.

Once again Otter spread the scoring around, Claudia, Hannah & Brooke all netted twice, while Turny, Mhairi, Peggy & Kathy got on the score sheet with 1 goal each. 

Lefty Hannah Patchett was on fire this weekend netting twice in both Otters games. 

With captain Peggy & speedster Holly were sidelined with illness, Otter took the opportunity to practice different combinations in game two on Sunday. Otter took control of the game from the very first minute with a brilliant counter goal from Lizi Dunn. Hannah Patchett slotted away the teams second, Lex Higlett got a pair in the 2nd, before Otter hit their stride scoring 4 in the 3rd, and a further 4 in the 4th while keeping Caledonia to 1 goal a quarter. 

Turny scored in both of Otters games, showing her versatility in Extra man & on the counter. 

Special mention to emergency goal keeper Vivi Castagna who temporarily came out of retirement for the weekend to fill in for Tracey in goals & was absolutely brilliant between the posts all weekend. Thank you, we couldn't have done it without you. 

Goal scorers v Caledonia: Lex 5, Kathy 2, Hannah 2, Holly, Turny, Kate 1. 

The team will be joined by Gari & Sophie, and travel to Portugal Wednesday for the LEN European Cup. Before returning for the final BWPL weekend on the 13th & 14th Feb in Sheffield. 

4 big BWPL games this weekend for Otter & Lutra

Lots of BWPL action this weekend with both the ladies Super 5 & Championship 1 games being playing in Liverpool. 

2nd ranked Otter take Manchester & Caledonia again & will be hoping to win both their Super 5s games again this weekend.

Lutra's first game is against 2nd placed Hucknall, who are currently 2nd on the Championship 1 table. The last meeting between the teams was ended in a 4 all draw.  Lutra will go into their 2nd game of the weekend vs the Welsh Wanderers full of confidence, after winning their phase 1 fixture 15-7. 

Game times are: Sat 30th January  - Lutra v Hucknall @ 17:00, Otter v Manchester @ 18:05, Sun 31st January - Otter v Caledonia @ 11:30, Lutra v Welsh Wanderers @13:40 

Good luck Otter & Lutra. 

London Otter Women’s Water Polo team competing in European League competition Feb 5-7 Porto, Portugal

London’s premier women’s water polo team is heading into European competition next week with the start of the LEN 2016 Women’s European League in Porto, Portugal. 

Britain’s only representative team in European senior water polo competition in 2016, London Otter Women’s water polo team is a blend of new talent and established senior GB internationals. Based at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre and led by barrister and senior GB player, Peggy Etiebet, & Otter club stalwarts Lizzie Dunn & Rebecca Mulcahy. London Otter’s team also includes five GB junior internationals (Brooke Tafazolli, Kathy Rogers, Mhairi Nurthen, Izzy Dean & Sophie Jackson) 4 of whom represented their country last year at the inaugural European Games in Baku. Australian international players, Lex Higlett, Tracey Allen and Kate O’Brien, Scottish international Holly Campbell and Italian Claudio Ferrone.

The London Otter team face four very strong professional sides in Porto, including the hosts who make up the majority of the  Portuguese national team, the defending European champions Olympiacos from Greece, Vouliagmeni also from Greece, and last year’s LEN Trophy winners Padova (ITA),

Head coach Nick Buller says: “Only the top two teams will go through from the Euro League to the knock out stages, and the competition will be extremely tough for our talented London athletes. We will be facing teams of paid professional players in Porto, however the experience will be invaluable for our players and for London Otter as we continue to develop the premier centre for elite women’s water polo here in London.

Captain Peggy Etiebet says: “Having played water polo professionally in Hungary with a team that won the Hungarian Championships I know how difficult the competition will be, but we are keen to meet the challenge. We are excited to be the only GB club side appearing on the European stage in 2016”

London Otter has recently secured sponsorship from London’s  leading physiotherapy and sports injury clinics, physio in the city, enabling the team to start their European journey.

Giant haul for Otter at Crawley

A team of eager Otters travelled down to the K2 pool in Crawley at the weekend for their first competitive outing of 2016. It was the first opportunity for the team to test their long course racing prowess after the Christmas break. The long course season has taken on more significance this year as the European Masters Championships take place at the London Aquatic Centre (which famously hosted the Swimming competition at London 2012 Olympic Games) with Masters swimmers from all over the UK and Europe looking for race practice ahead of the big event at the end of May.

The select team from Otter consisted of Craig Gillespie, Wade Rimbach, Enrico Hahn, Ben Thomas, Christophe Amardeilh, Dave Warren, Pete Kirk, Peter Rae, Tony Ray, Paul Goudie, Jessica Thorpe and Youri Schwatz.

It was a very encouraging meet for all those racing especially so early on in the season. Coach Steve was on deck throughout to offer guidance and advice to all those competing. After a fantastic short course nationals at Sheffield last year Craig showed he hadn’t lost any of his speed by posting some very quick times in his Breaststroke swims considering it is still only January. There was a great Otter head-to-head between Wade and Enrico in the 400m IM with Wade just piping Enrico on the last length. Dave Warren again showed his class by claiming his first British Record in the 45-49 year age group in the 200m butterfly, beating the previous mark by a whopping 7 seconds. Congratulations Dave!

With the racing extending all the way into Sunday this gave further opportunity for the Otters to demonstrate their early season form. The highlight of Sunday's racing was Dave Warren comfortably claiming his 2nd GB record of the weekend in the 200 IM. Otter was well represented across the remaining events over the course of the day with Jess Thorpe bringing the weekends racing to a close with gold in the gruelling 800 Free event. Over the weekend the Otter team brought home a giant haul of 50 medals comprised of 30 gold, 14 silver and 6 bronze. 

The competition at Crawley was a sell out with entries filling up in record time, so if you are considering racing this season keep an eye out for emails from your captains and get your entries in early to avoid disappointment!

Dave Warren broke two GB records at the meet.

Dave Warren breaks British 200 Fly record

Dave Warren broke his first British Record of 2016 this weekend at the ASA South East Region LC Masters Competition in Crawley. Dave went 2:17 in the 200 fly, smashing the old 45-49 record by 7 seconds. Keep up the good work BOD. 

Otter in 2nd halfway through Super 5's

Otter returned to BWPL Super 5's this weekend with games vs Caledonia & Manchester. Otter started out slowly in the first quarter vs Caledonia (2-2) on but picked it up in the second quarter jumping out to a (6-3) lead. From there Otter controlled the game outscoring Caledonia 8 goals to 3 to take win 14-6. Mhairi Nurthen opened her Super 5's scoring account, netting four times for Otter in the win. Claudia Ferrone & Holly Campbell both got their hatricks with Hannah Patchett & Lex Higlett rounding out the scoring with 2 goals each. 

Otter scorers vs Caledonia: Mhairi 4, Claudia & Holly 3, Lex 2, Hannah 2.

Mhairi scored 4 for Otter vs Caledonia. There was a 5th but it was disallowed. 

There was nothing between the teams in the first quarter and neither team were able to break through to register a score. Manchester were the broke the deadlock 3 minutes into the 2nd quarter, before Otters movement paid off earning them an exclusion which Kathy Rogers converted on the post levelling the score 1 all. Shortly after Otter scored again, this time with a brilliantly executed 4 on 3 counter, scored by Holly Campbell, her 4th counter goal of the weekend. The third quarter was all Otter. Otters press kept Manchester scoreless, while down the other end Claudia finished off a dangerous 3 on 2  counter with a very cheekily placed shot to go 3 -1 before Brooke finished the quarters scoring with a calmly executed lob. It was more of the same at the start of the 4th with Lex breaking on the counter & crossing to Peggy who tapped the ball into the next for a 5-1 lead. The final minute of play saw Manchester claim two consolation goals thanks to an extra man goal & late penalty, but it was too late and Otter took the win 5-3. The win saw Otter jump to 2nd on the table, with 4 games left to play. 

Otter scorers v Manchester: Kathy, Claudia, Holly, Brooke, Peggy.  

For more scores & current standings see the BWPL website. 

Brooke, Otter Vice Captain and #8

Otter will be hoping for more of the same when they return to Super 5 actions next weekend in Liverpool. Where they will take on Manchester again @6:05pm, before playing Caledonia again Saturday @11:30am.