Deepings Swimming Club compete at the 2023 Swim England National Masters Championships at Ponds Forge National Pool in Sheffield

Deepings Swimming Club had a successful weekend at the 2023 Swim England National Masters Championships.

A quintet of ladies were competing at Ponds Forge National Pool, Sheffield, where they broke Lincolnshire county records, won medals and achieved numerous personal bests.

Masters' squad members competing across the three-day event were Bethany Croker, Laura Hardy, Helena Waters, Alice Pinney and Alice Grant.

Grant, swimming in the 60-64yrs category, and who has already had a remarkable year breaking several county masters records, continued her impressive form, with an outstanding silver medal in the 200m butterfly and a fifth place finish in the 50m butterfly.

She also broke her own county masters records in the 50m freestyle and 50m fly, which she had set earlier this month at the County Championships.

Pinney, competing in the 20-24yrs age group, also enjoyed a fantastic weekend of swimming.

In her first event, the 1500m freestyle, she smashed her personal best by more than 33 seconds, taking bronze and setting a new Lincolnshire county masters record.

Pinney did not stop there, as she also took 32 seconds off her 800m freestyle time, finishing seventh, and improved her 50m butterfly time by 0.7 seconds, finishing fifth.

She also led the ladies to a fourth place finish in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay. To cap off her amazing championships, Pinney achieved another personal best in the 400m freestyle, improving by 17 seconds.

Hardy was another star performer, slashing her times in four events.

She improved by more than three seconds in the 200m freestyle, over a second in the 100m freestyle, 0.6s in the 100m individual medley, and 0.7s in the 400m freestyle.

After a period of absence from the pool, Waters demonstrated her consistency and resilience, swimming the fastest times she has done since Covid in all her events.

Off the back of her Lincolnshire Counties success last month, Waters showed both speed and stamina in the freestyle events, setting a new personal best of 0.5 seconds in the 50m race, and finishing 19th in her debut 200m race.

Waters, Hardy and Croker formed the core of the relay teams, together with both Pinney and Grant.

They came close to medalling with their fourth place finish in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay in the 72+ age group and finished seventh in the 4 x 100m freestyle and medley relays.

Croker set a new personal best time in the 50m backstroke as the lead off swimmer in the medley relay.

In the last relay race of the day, the 4 x 50m freestyle, Grant stepped in to swim with Croker, Waters and Pinney, with the team finishing 13th.

Deepings Swimming Club is proud of all its swimmers who participated in the championships and represented the club with excellence and will be looking forward to East Midlands Regional Championships next month.

Deeping Masters Squad compete in both pool and open water competitions, along with members who train for fitness.

They are always looking for new members so if you are interested in coming along for a free trial at either Stamford Leisure Pool, Stamford Memorial Pool or Stanground, Peterborough please visit www.deepingssc.co.uk