EUROPEAN MASTERS DAY 2 WRAP UP

Day 2 was a massive day for Otter at the European Masters Championships. The team picked up 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals, 2 British records & 7 Club records. 

100 Fly
Roger Lloyd-Mostyn & Derek Parr picked up Otters first gold medals of the championships in the 100m fly. Roger won the 75-79 age group in 1.36.50 which was also a new Otter club record. Derek won the 70-74 age group in 1.21.35. Guy came 9th in the 55-59 in 1.08.47, Catherine got a lifetime PB of 1.09.97 to finish 15th in the 25-29years. Ollie also set a new club record of 1.02.52 for the 30-34 age group finishing 18th. Michelle finished 21st in the ladies 35-39 years.

200 Free
Dave Warren picked up his second silver medal & second GB record of the meet, and set a new club record with a 2.01.74 in the mens 40-45 years 200m Freestyle. Lex Higlett was 4th in the 30-34years with a 2.16.26, Peter Kirk was 7th in the 60-64 with a time of 2.26.19, Catherine Demont finished 11th in 25-29 after winning her heat comfortably in 2.16.52, Jane McMenemy broke the Otter club record for the 45-49 with a 2.29.57 to finish 15th. Josh Sambrook-Smith was 22nd in the 30-34 in 2.08.06, Jess Travelleck was 29th in the 25-29 in 2.23.90, Etienne Cambier was 42nd in the 25-29 in 2.11.87, Liz Shaw was 47th in the 50-54 in 2.47.75 & Gergely Orosz was 78th in the 30-34 in 2.22.62. 

50 Breast
Fiona Marshall Staines & Craig Gillespie were the lone Otters competing in the 50m Breaststroke. Fiona picked up an Otter record with a time of 37.35 to finish in 13th, while Craig swam a rapid 30.68, finishing 17th, and breaking the Otter record in the 25-29 years age group.

And then it was time for the 4x50 free relays.
The 160+ Ladies team of Gina Hobson, Emma Shkurka, Jane McMenemy, Fiona Marshall Staines smashed it with 4 impressive swims to take silver in 1.56.41. 

Not wanting to be outdone the Otter 120+ team of Lex Higlett, Olivia Reynolds, Laure Kearns, Catherine Demont took to the pool. The team went into the last 50m in a tight 4th, but Catherine chased them down in a strong anchor leg to finish second in 1.54.55, 0.2 behind by the Italians. However an early take off by the Italian second swimmer got the team disqualified & Otter rightfully took the gold!

The mens 200+ teamf of 1.51.88 Mike Reys, Simon Williams, Peter Kirk, Guy Davis finished 16th in 1.51.88, while the 120+ team of Ollie Caldwell, Wade Rimbach, Ben Pardoe, Josh Sambrooke-Smith won their heat in 1.42.95 to finish 18th. 

Huge congratulations to everyone who swam today. So many brilliant individual and team swims. Keep it up Otters!

EUROPEAN MASTERS DAY 1 WRAP UP

Plenty of Otters in day 1 action at the European Masters Championships today.

200IM

Dave Warren kicked off the champs with a massive swim in the 200IM. Dave's time of 2:14.94 saw him pick up a European silver medal in the mens 45-49 years age group, an Otter club record & set a new masters PB for Dave.

Dave wasn't the only Otter swimming PBs, setting records & getting top 10 finishes in the 200IM. Emma Shkurka swam a 2:40.91, to place 8th in the ladies 30-34 age group. Craig also set a new club record in the 25-29 years, 2:19.52, finishing 10th. Wade (12th) & Enrico (16th) both posted impressive times finishing 12th & 16th in their respective age group whileEtienne (28th), Lesley (29th), Camille (30th) & Oliver (31st) all had great swims.

800 Free

Haley Davis stormed the 30-34years 800 free taking Bronze in an Otter club record time of 9.58.03. Jess Thorpe was 8th in the same age group with a time of 10.18.52. Pip Bennett was 17th in the Mens 30-34 with a time of 9.50.57. Meanwhile back in pool 2 Jess Trevellick went out hard in her 25-29 years and then just kept going, winning her heat easily & finishing 26th, while Anne-Marie finished 56th in the same age group. 

Congrats to all Otters who braved the lines, crowded warm ups and swam. Brilliant results from everyone.
 

LEN EUROPEAN MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS THIS WEEK!

After a whole lot of faffing it is finally time for the LEN European Masters Championships here in London! The competition kicks off bright and early on Wednesday morning with the 200IM, and promises to be a massive week of swimming. Good luck to all of the Otters competing. And remember: Dive like Craig, streamline like Wade, turn like Gina, FFS spot your finishes & above all else have fun like Jess.

Schedule and start lists can be found here

Access to training for swimmers competing at the Championships is available from 12 noon till 20:00 on Monday the 23rd May and from 08:00 till 20:00 on Tuesday 24th May. This will be managed with a limit of 200 in pool 1 at any one time and 160 in pool 2 at any one time. 

Reminder that all athletes swimming in the 400m & 800m Freestyle must reconfirm their intention to race by 18:00 the day prior to the race. This can be done online or at a terminal located at the Sport Info desk.

And what would a masters event be without the social events? Organised by the lovely Gina Hobson, the welcome social event for the GB Masters swimmers will be held at The Royal Inn on the Park pub (111 Lauriston Road, E9 7HJ, overlooking Victoria Park) from 5-10.30pm on Tuesday 24th May. More information about the event & tickets can be found here.  And once you've finished your swims on Sunday 29th come on down and celebrate of a successful week of racing (& make the most of the Bank holiday which follows.) More info on tickets for that one here.

LETS GO OTTER! 

 

 

 

 

Otter Ladies remain undefeated in London

The Otter Ladies social team won all 3 of their games last night at Whitgift to remain undefeated in Division 1 of the London League after 2 rounds of play. The team shared playing time & goals around with everyone getting on the scorecard on the way to wins vs Mid Sussex Marlins 6-2, Basingstoke 8-1 & Penguin 7-4. The league now has a 1 month break, before the final round of games are played on Sunday 10th of July.  

Hannah, Kathy & Lily selected for England '97s

Congratulations to Otters Hannah, Kathy & Lily who have been selected in the England 1997 women's squad to compete at next month's EU Nations Cup in Prague:

The 15-strong team depart for Prague on the 16th June where they will compete against the Czech Republic, South Africa, Slovakia, Israel, Switzerland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Austria.

The tournament (17th-19th June) will take place at the city's largest swimming centre, the outdoor Podoli Swimming Pool Complex, which is located by the Vltava River and is a 10-minute tram ride south of the city centre.

Prior to the competition, the England squad will meet for a one-day training camp in Northampton on 28th May, followed by an intensive weekend camp on 11th/12th June in Manchester. 

The squad is: Hannah Patchett - Otter, Kathy Rogers - Otter, Lily Turner - Otter, Izzy Howe - Manchester, Rosie Huck - Manchester, Steph Whittaker - Manchester, Anya Clapperton - Manchester, Becky Lee - Manchester, Kate Read - Liverpool, Beth Bolton - Liverpool, Verity McCoy - Liverpool, Hayley Price - Tyldesley/Liverpool, Milly Wordley - Exeter, Katy Cutler - Basingstoke/Exeter & Robyn Greenslade - Devonport. 

Otter 2nd at British Champs

Congratulations to Otter who are runners up at the 2016 @BritishWPC women's champions after an exciting 8-5 final vs City of Liverpool this weekend.

Otter finished the BWPL season in 2nd place so went into the Championships ranked 2nd & were drawn to play 3rd ranked Coventry in the 1st semi final on Saturday. It was a tightly fought match with only a goal or two between the teams. But Otter held tight to win 10-9 & progress to the final. Top ranked Liverpool steamrolled 4th placed Caledonia in the other semi final 20-2.

Sundays final vs Liverpool was played without coach Nick Buller on the bench, as he had received a red card in the semi final the day before. Liverpool jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, before a big penalty save from Otter goalie Tracey Allen really got Otter going. Lizzie Dunn scored from the outside in extra to take the score to 3-1 before Liverpool pegged one back 4-1. Otter then stepped up their defence, frustrating Liverpools attack & holding Liverpool scoreless. Sharp shooters Claudia Ferrone & Brooke Tafazolli found the the back of the net for Otter with outside shots in extra, & youngster Lily Turner scored a long range lob that beat the buzzer & England goal keeper Rosie Morris to take the game to 4-4. Liverpool struck back to take the lead 5-4, but Otter answered straight away with a sweet CF goal from Kathy Rogers off a lovely cross pass to level the score 5 all going into the final break. It was tense end to end play for much of the 4th quarter, before Liverpool got a decisive steal on extra man for a 1 on none counter to take the lead again 6-5. A penalty call against Otter extended Liverpools lead 7-5, before Liverpool scored off the drive to take the game 8-5. 

Massive congratulations to the Otter team who showed a lot of fight & determination in a tough game & congratulation to Liverpool. Next season should be a good one!

Final rankings Liverpool 1st, Otter 2nd, Coventry 3rd, Caledonia 4th. 

BWPL to live stream British Championships

The Otter Ladies Waterpolo team will be competing in British Championships this weekend at Gloucester. The team finished the British National League in 2nd place this year and are now looking to go one better & win the title.
 
Otter's first game of the weekend is at 2:30pm on Saturday Vs Coventry. 
The team will then play in either the Gold Medal match on Sunday @ 12:30pm or the Bronze medal match @9:30am.

While we'd love for you to come out and support the team in Gloucester, we also understand that most of the club are based in London, not Gloucester. But never fear.... For the first time ALL games will be streamed on the BWPL website. http://www.bwpl.org/
 
Further information about the weekend & live streams of the games can be found by going to https://twitter.com/BritishWPC or by following @BritishWPC.  
In advance of the event and in an attempt to generate as much publicity and promote the sport as much as possible we'd be grateful if you would circulate, like, and/or follow the following pages of the teams competing in the event. 
 
Much appreciated
The Otter Ladies Waterpolo team. 

Otter Ladies lead the London League Div 1

Otter ladies kicked off their defence of the Division 1 London Summer League title at Whitgift school last night winning all 3 of their matches.

The Otter team, which is a social team made up from a mix of the Otter 1st, Lutra & NAG junior team kicked off their campaign in style with a 14-0 win against West London Penguin. Before beating Mid Sussex Marlins 5-3 and Basingstoke 13-8. The 4 teams will face each other again on Sunday 22nd May & then again on Sunday 10th July. 

Massive thanks to super Otter supporter Daryl Nurthen who did the table for most of the night & helped set up the pitch too. Cheers Daryl. We think you're ace. 

 

 

Norfolk County ASA Open Masters

A small team of Otters travelled to UEA this weekend to compete in the Norfolk County ASA Open Masters & to see if the University of Ben, Babies, Bondy & Hayley was everything it was cracked up to be.  (It was.)

The team picked up a total of 30 medals at the meet, 18 Gold, 9 Silver & 3 Bronze. The times weren't all fast. But it was great to get some last minute Long Course race practice in before the European Masters Championships in London later this month. Thank you Norfolk County for hosting the competition & having us. 

Otters Michelle, Nico, Gina, Hannah, Olivia, Ben & Ollie. 

Otters Michelle, Nico, Gina, Hannah, Olivia, Ben & Ollie. 

Full results from the meet can be found here.