Full Report of Record-breaking weekend for Woking Masters at SC Nationals

Woking Masters swimmers were out in force at  the Swim England Masters National Championships at Ponds Forge International Pool this weekend,  28th – 30th October.

A fabulous weekend of racing  by all of the squad that resulted in many medals and PBs :

14 Gold, 9 Silver and 2 Bronze medals along with 6 British Records and 4 European records 

A year on from the creation of the squad, Woking masters continues to dominate in the pool with the recent Swim England Masters Nationals Championship demonstrating the strength of the team.

Day one of racing in Sheffield started with the 1500m freestyle, where new recruit Patrick Allen finished in the top ten of his age group.

Medal collection started early for Woking, strong swims from Michelle Ware, David Bryant, Mike Hodgson and Jennie Clarke resulted in a 4x100 Medley team gold medal, along with British and European records in the 200+ age category.

Team captain, Michelle reflected: “We knew we had a good chance of beating the British/European records in both 200+ medley relays but it was a big surprise to lower the 4x100 record by six seconds.

“Our goal next year is to try and break the long course World Records in both the 4x50m and the 4x100m.”

Relay medals continued to be added to Woking’s collection as the day progressed, with the men’s 200+ and 120+ 4x50m Freestyle teams coming away from their races with silver medals.

Later in the day, Allen, Simon Dyson, Clarke and Hannah Angell competed in the 200m freestyle, all finishing in the top 15 of their age brackets.

The first individual medals of the weekend were won by Henry Goodlud (silver medal) and Bryant (silver medal) in the 50m Breaststroke. Jerry O’Riordan, Ben Smith, Connor Brunt, and Crystal Brownett also competed in the event, all finishing in times faster than that they entered. 

Day one of racing was wrapped up by Dean Blackman, Angell, Hodgson (British Record and gold medal) and Ware in the 100m Butterfly (gold medal). 

Angell kicked off day two of racing at Ponds Forge with a brave swim in the 200m butterfly.

Following her into the pool in the 50m backstroke was Blackman and Amy Hodgson, who both swam impressive personal bests, and Ware, who claimed a gold medal.

Woking added to their collection of individual medals in the 100m breaststrokes, with Hodgson coming away with another British record alongside a gold medal and Goodlud with his second silver medal of the weekend.

Relay success continued into day two in both the men’s 200+ and 100+ 4x50 Medley team, the 200+ team adding to the medal haul with a silver.

The afternoon session saw O’Riordan, Bryant, Smith, Hodgson, Goodlud, Alice Reeves-Turner, Clarke, Ware and Amy compete in the 100m IM. There were gold medals for Goodlud and Ware in the event, alongside Hodgson who additionally secured his 100^th British record of all time.

Hodgson said: “Having finished 2021 with 77 National Masters records and moving up into the next age bracket, I set myself a very ambitious target of reaching 100 by the end of 2022.

“This required me to swim a wide range of strokes and distances, both long and short course over the year at a record-breaking pace!

“I was elated to achieve it at the home of master’s Swimming in Sheffield last weekend in my favorite event; the 100m IM.

“Now I need to think of a new goal for 2023!”

Distance swimmers Angell and Allen wrapped up the afternoon session in the 400m freestyle

The 50m freestyle and 200m breaststroke saw the squad add further silverware to Woking’s total medals with Ware claiming silver, and Hodgson gold- along with another European record- in the freestyle, in addition to Goodlud collecting a silver and Clarke a bronze in the breaststroke.

A tired but determined squad dived into the final day of racing at Ponds Forge, and it wasn’t long before Woking masters were once again dominating the pool; Hodgson took home gold medals in the 50m fly and 100m freestyle, Goodlud added a gold to his collection in the 100m IM, and Ware won gold in the 50m fly and silver in the 100m freestyle.

Arguably the highlight of the weekend came in the form of the final relay of the weekend, which saw Michelle Ware, David Bryant, Mike Hodgson and Jennie Clarke team together for the second time in the weekend, this time in the 4x50 Medley relay where they once again claimed both a British and European record in the 200+ age category.

Allen, who was the first swimmer to represent Woking on Friday, wrapped up the weekend with the 1500m freestyle.

Congratulations to all swimmers who took part and huge thanks to all of the coaching team for their support this past year.

 A fantastic weekend of racing all around.