Swim Wales Open Masters 2016

A team of 17 Otters travelled to the Wales National Pool in Swansea on Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th of March for some Long Course race practice at the the Swim Wales Open Masters. 

Despite being early season there were some good Otter performances. The team won 31 gold, 14 Silver & 15 Bronze over the weekend including; Camille & Jess who, swimming in their first long course meet for Otter, won all of their events. Camille picking up gold in the 25-29 age group in the 200back, 200 breast & 400IM. Jess in the Ladies 30-34 200 & 800 Free.

Enrico won the 200 & 400IM, and the 100 & 200 Breast in the 35-39 age group. Wade won the 200 IM, 400IM, 200 Breast in the 30-34 age group. While Kim took out the 50, 100 & 200 Breast titles in the 18-24 age group. 

Gina, dominant as always, collected 4 golds (400 Free, 50 Free, 200 Back & 100 Back) and a bronze (100 Free) in the Ladies 35-39. Lesley won the 1500 free & 800 free, came 2nd in the 200 IM, and picked up 3rds in the 55-59 years 200 & 100 back. Fliss, swimming a gruelling schedule, finished 1st in the 200IM, 2nd in the 400IM, 200 Fly, 800 Free & 1500 Free, 3rd in the 100 Fly in the 25-29 year age group, and notching up some serious yards. & Lex won the 400 free & the 50 free in a championship record time, & placed second in the 100 & 800 free. 

Emma, Michelle, Olivia & Simon medalled in their respective age groups with Ben, Catherine, Alex & Mike picking up golds over the course of the weekend too. 

Otter teams won the 120+ 200 Mixed Medley relay, the 120+ 200 Mixed Freestyle relay & the 120+ Ladies 200 Freestyle relay. 

Congratulations to all of the Otters who swam on the weekend. Full results from the meet & times can be found here. 

Otter post strong results at U/19s NAG Prelims

Otter & Otter Futura teams were both in action yesterday at the ASA National Age Group Water Polo Girls’ U19 Prelims. 

The Young Otter Futura development team were drawn in Group A, and started the day with losses in their first two U/19s games to Exeter (7-2) & Sussex Marlins (9-3). With two games under their belts the Young Futura team held reining Champions City of Manchester to only four goals (4-1), before giving Caledonia a run for their money before going down (5-3). Undaunted Otter Futura put everything they'd learnt into practice in the last game to finish on a high with a tightly fought victory against Cheltenham (5-4). The team will hope to get a few more wins under their belt at the Plate finals on the 23rd of April, where they will take on Northampton & City of Leeds. 

Meanwhile last years silver medalists Otter U/19s team were having fun on the other side of the draw in Group B. The team cruised to victory vs Hucknall (8-0), Northampton (25-1) & City of Leeds (7-1). The only blip on their radar was dropping their 3rd game of the day vs City of Liverpool (5-3). But it 3 from 4 was enough to see them come second in the group, and qualify alongside Liverpool & Group A winners Manchester, Mid Sussex & Exeter for the Girls’ U19 Qualification Round of the ASA National Age Group Championships in Watford on 9 – 10 April. 

Full results from there prelims here.

Helena defending for Otter. 

Congratulations Enrico

Congratulations to Otter's Enrico Hahn who came 3rd in the 200m Breastroke at the German Masters Nationals last weekend, swimming an amazing Long course PB of 2:38.12. Smashed it. 

Tim Kendall takes on the Rottnest Channel Swim

Good luck to Tim Kendall, who is swimming in the Rottnest Channel Swim tomorrow, Saturday 27th February, in Australia. 

All the money Tim raises will go towards the efforts of the GB Men’s Junior Squad, guided by coach Tim Dunsbee, as they prepare for the European Championships qualifiers in May. 

To sponsor Tim, please click here and mark your donation for “Men's Water Polo Development”.

The Rottnest Channel Swim is the largest open water marathon event in the world, and Tim will be swimming as a duo alongside fellow ex-water polo player, Gary Semini, starting at 6:35am local time.

There’s an app for following the event and you can keep up with Tim's progress here with the details “Otter Westbridge”, team number 373.

Best of luck Tim, from all the Otters!

Warren tops the 2015 British Masters Decathlon

Congratulations to Otter Dave Warren who has won the Mens 2015 British Masters Decathlon. 

The British Swimming Masters Decathlon is a true test of versatility over the course of the season.
Swimmers’ performances from Masters competitions throughout the year are assigned points and each swimmer is awarded an overall tally based on their top points scores from 10 of the 18 individual events. All swims from Masters competitions in the British Swimming Masters Rankings database are automatically entered into the competition. There is no age group split in the Masters Decathlon; instead points are adjusted depending on age to ensure a fair comparison. With prizes are on offer for the top individual swimmers as well as the top club.

Otter's Dave Warren was the top male swimmer in 2015 with 6815 points. 6 other Otters finished in the mens top 100. Derek Parr came in at number 26 with 5258 points, Craig Gillepsie was 36th with 5050 points, Wade was 42nd with 4895 points, Nico Barber was 53rd with 4745 points, Enrico finished 85th with 4244 points & Neal Thomson was 96th with 4090points.

Otter had four of the top 100 female swimmers too. In 18th place was Gina Hobson with 5436 points, Laure Kearns was 32nd with 5027 points, Helen Prentice was 40th with 4799 points with Michelle Senecal in 58th with 4443 points.

A full list of results from the decathlon can be found here.  Congratulations to all swimmers who competed. 

National long course championships

Entries are filling up very quickly for the national long course championships in early April. If you want to enter and haven’t already done so we suggest that you get your entries in as soon as possible, and do not wait for the 9 March entry deadline. Everything you need for entering can be found here: http://www.swimming.org/britishswimming/calendar/british-masters-and-sen...

Relays: We will be utilising coach Steve’s expertise to help with relay selections for this meet. Therefore, in a slight change to usual, if you would like to be considered for relay swims could you please email Steve (stevebratt@mac.com) with your preferences, and cc in the captains (ottercaptains@yahoo.co.uk) by 5p.m. on Friday 19 February at the latest. Please clearly mark the subject of your email as “National long course relays”. Information Steve will need: 

- your age as at 31.12.2016
- specific relays you would like to swim in
- if a medley relay, your stroke preference

Please note that we cannot guarantee relay swims for everyone.

Good luck with training in the meantime.

Otter battle Europe’s best in LEN Euro League 2016

London Otter took on some of Europe’s best domestic teams in Group C of the LEN Euro League February, 4th - 7th. Competing in the ‘group of death’ in Portuense, Portugal, Otter put five goals past defending champions Olympiacos in their opening match and held 2015 LEN Trophy runners-up Padova to a 15-3 scoreline in their final game. “We knew the games would be tough but we improved from game to game,” said Otter captain and Great Britain international Peggy Etiebet. “To net a score of 15-3 in our last game against Padova who are the LEN Trophy and LEN Super Cup runners-up as well as the Italian champions in 2015, was a fantastic achievement.”
Otter kicked off their campaign with a 27-5 defeat to Olympiacos with goals for Tafazolli, Etiebet, Izzy Dean, Lizzie Dunn and Lex Higlett. Kate O’Brien scored the team’s solitary goal in a 19-1 loss to another Greek side, Vouliagmeni, before a narrow 12-8 defeat to Portuguese hosts Portuense with goals coming from Claudia Ferrone (three), Dunn (two), Rogers (two) and Tafazolli.
Ferrone, Rogers and Tafazolli all scored again in the team’s final 15-3 loss to Padova.

Otter return to domestic action at the British Championships in May. 

Top 2 finish for Otter

Otter have finished the 2016 BWPL season in 2nd place, behind City of Liverpool. Otter needed 2 wins from two games & for Liverpool to stumble against 4th placed Manchester on the final weekend in Sheffield to win. Two strong starts but disappointing 2nd quarters saw Otter go down to Liverpool 10-5 on Saturday, to Coventry 9-5 on Sunday. Claudia, Mhairi & Kathy scored for Otter in both games. The team are now looking forward to British Champs in May, where they will play Coventry in the 2nd vs 3rd play off, with the winner progressing to the final against the winner of 1st v 4th game between Liverpool & Manchester.

Otter Lutra finished their Championship 1 season on a high with two wins from two games. Lutra beat West London Penguins 11-8 in Saturdays game. Sarah Bennett scored 4, Sarah Tollefson & Emma Shkurka scored hatricks, while Lindsey Williams also netted for Lutra. Lutra also won Sundays game against Mid Sussex Marlins 8-6. Sarah Tollefson was once again on fire for Lutra socring another hatrick, with Gari Mulcahy top scoring for the game with 5.

Congrats to both teams on a brilliant season. 

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.