What do Freestylers do at the weekend? Well, to add to the mountain bikers, the rowers, the runners and the road racers, 3 of us went swimming this weekend.
Not the outdoor, triathlon, open water type but the nice, warm chlorinated variety, the opportunity kindly supplied courtesy of the ASA British Masters Championships in Sheffield.
From Friday afternoon onwards Paul, Alan and Suzanne raced in individual and relay events, in backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle against other swimmers aged from 18 to 85. Masters swimmers are classified in 5 year age groups and in Paul’s first comeback competition since he gave up swimming in 1902(!) he nailed a gold in the 35-39 age group for the 200m Individual Medley – way to go, Paul!
Saturday saw Suzanne, as part of a four ‘girl’ team with combined ages of 160+, deliver the unexpected bonus of not just winning events but doing it in style, with a British Record in the medley relay and a British, European and WORLD RECORD in the Freestyle relay! With a few other medals in the bag for individual events, Monday morning’s return to running the Midland’s largest digital agency was enhanced by the clang of medals – needed to verify it hadn’t all been a dream!