Seven clubs win gold as National Masters Championships draws to a close

A competitive and fun-filled day at the GoCardless Swim England Artistic Swimming National Masters Championships concluded with seven clubs winning gold.

This afternoon saw each of the Free Duet, Free Mixed Duet and Free Team events with Out to Swim London winning each of the Mixed Duet events.

Their pairs of Martin Harding and Justin Morelli and John Kelly and Susanne Innes took home each of the golds which began with Harding and Morelli’s 30-39 Years title.

They landed first place for their routine to ‘Lost in Music’ by Sister Sledge which scored them 55.2666 points.

It was a display that impressed Morelli who said that the new paring aimed to have fun with their fast-paced performance.

Speaking after the swim they said: “This is our second competition competing together. A few months ago, we started training and agreed that our mixed duet routine would be to do disco!”

Their teammates Sai Li and Neve Harrington were the runners up with a routine scoring 48.6000.

Kelly and Innes, also representing Out to Swim London, produced a wonderful routine to ‘Hallelujah’ in the 50 – 59 age group, which scored 50.0333.

That gave them the gold to give the angels a clean sweep of medals in Mixed Duet competition.

Duets kickstart final session in style

City of Leeds’ Scarlet Garland and Rosie Barrington, won the 18–24 age group for their performance which scored 63.5333.

Although Natasha Howard and Leah Meyer from City of Preston Aquatics were incredibly close to securing the top spot with their score of 63.4667, they were awarded with silver medals. Laurel Allen and Rosie Railings secured third place, which earned City of Bristol Artistic Swimming Club another medal.

The Nevard’s – Freya and Lois – battled against Eleanor Monks and Fiona Currie to win the 25–29 age group duet. However, Freya and Lois grabbed first place with their Hip-Hop routine to Boom! Shake the Room, earning a second medal for Norwich Synchro Club.

In the 30–39 age group, Charlotte Hughes and Emma Knight from City of Bradford Swimming Club topped the leaderboard with a score of 60.5333 for their routine.

Elizabeth Winter and Natasha Rukazenkova-Ceaverly came second for their performance, which meant that Elizabeth has now earned three medals in today in the National Masters Championships. In third place was Kirsty Coupe and Kelly Hubbock who scored 57.1000.

There was another gold for Rushmoor in the 40-49 years event with Louise Ross and Rachel Davies adding to their medal tally for their energetic routine.

Performing to ‘Walking on sunshine’ by Katrina on the Waves, they scored 61.9000 as the Aldershot based club continued their winning streak in Sheffield.

They finished around six points ahead of a strong performing Aquavision duet of Magdalena Olewinska and Yoshiko Fullwood.

They earnt a score of 55.9333 with Cheltenham Artistic Swimming Club’s Sarah Pullan claiming her third bronze of the day to round out the podium with her partner Samantha Fancourt.

Out To Swim’s male duet of Mark Hollis and Craig Brimmer performance to ‘I would do anything for love’ saw them end in fourth spot.

The 50-59 Years Duet event was split by just 0.2000 of a point with Rushmoor’s Janice Bignull and Karen Nightingale coming out on top.

The pair swam incredibly well together with good flexibility which impressed the judges, who gave them a mark of 54.9667.

Narrowly behind them was Aqualina Artistic Swimming Club’s Jane Jarvis and Alina White, who had to settle for silver.

They took on an upbeat routine to ‘Let’s Groove’ by Earth, Wind and Fire which gave them a well-earned silver medal.

Rounding out the Free Duet was Rugby’s 60-69 Years pair of Joyce Williams and Ruth Maccallum, who scored 51.3333 to the delight of their coaches and teammates.

It gave them the clubs first gold medal of the day as they follow on from yesterday’s Combo Cup winning squad.

Aquavision at the double to round out the competition

The Free Team event rounded out an exciting day in style at Ponds Forge where Aquavision took two of the three golds on offer.

They began with the 18-24 age group where Aquavision took gold ahead of Walsall Artistic Swimming Club.

Swimming first, they kicked the competition off with a fast paced that saw them finish just over six points ahead of the Walsall squad.

They scored 64.8333 with the highest scoring routine of the competition which was all that could stop Walsall from taking the crown.

It meant they had to settle for silver despite a strong score of 58.2667 for themselves.

The winning Aquavision team was represented by Alicia Day, Christina Maciejewski, Danielle Cooper, Katerina Sage, Margaret Steinbach, Natalija Ambrazaite, Orla Khan, Yessane Rimbon and Ainhoa Comino

Walsall’s team included, Isabelle Watkins, Madeleine Bayliss-Cox, Chalani Appuhamilage, Laura Burt, and Philippa Dolby.

They then followed that up in the next age group up, setting a total of 63.5000 for the 25-34 Years event.

Unlike in the 18-24 Years they had to wait until last to swim but held their nerve as they became the only side to break the 60-point-mark.

Aquavision scored 63.5000 with Aqualina edging out a three-way battle for silver.

Their teams swim themed around the tune from the ‘red light, green light’ game from Netflix’s hit show Squid Games saw them narrowly take top spot ahead of Out to Swim London and City of Bradford Artistic Swimming Club.

Also swimming first, Out to Swim set a strong benchmark for the rest of the competition but they missed out on top spot in the end by less than a point.

Their energetic routine featured a number of impressive lifts throughout, whilst Bradford put in a fierce display to round out the podium places despite being just 0.8667 off the winners.

Out to Swim scored 58.2333 with Aqualina just ahead on a total of 58.9667 and City of Bradford unlucky to miss out the podium with 58.1000.

Representing the winning Aquavision side was Alecia Gould, Elizabeth Winter, Gabriela Rosales Ardon, Kendra Semple, Madeleine Berry, Naomi Gould, Natasha RukazenkovaCleverly, Romy Keur, Yixin Zeng and Ainhoa Comino.

Eloise Heathcote –Sharif, Jayne Jarvis, Charlotte Lea, Frances Mann, Heather Mann, Iris Rowland, Eloise Sewell, Alina White made up Aqualina’s team with Eleanor George, Martin Harding, Justine Morelli, Alice Boilini, Rebecca Phipps, MaryBeth Flaherty and Matina Prapa for Out to Swim.

Rushmoor Artistic Swimming club took home their final gold medal of the day. Their strong routine to “Innuendo” by Queen scored 58.2333. Their team of eight consisted of Emma Adams, Janice Brignull, Rachel Davies, Francesca Feast, Carolyn Macdonald, Tara Mcmanus, Carrie Nightingale, Grace Reukers, Louise Ross and Francesca Warwick.

Brighton Dolphin Swimming Club were our last swim of the GoCardless Swim England Artistic Swimming National Masters Championships. They finished the day with a routine which included a range of Pop hits. Miriam Dowding (Battye), Laura Rogers, Marion Grimes and Victoria Gimson scored 52.533 to take second place.

Bramcote Swimmers Amy Baker, Kathy Banadaki, Zoe Eatherington, Karen Grant, Lena Krasnova, Dorota Robotham and Sally Poon performed their routine to an 80’s mix of songs such as ‘Take on me’ by A-ha and ‘Don’t you want me’ by The Human League. Their score of 47.3333 meant that they would take home bronze medals.

You see all the scores from the GoCardless Swim England Artistic Swimming National Masters Championships here.

Image: Will Johnston Photography.