British record holders Jean Howard-Jones and Nic Vaughan led the way as the Dorset Masters team achieved one of its best results in the South West round of the ASA National Inter-County Masters Competition. Hosting the event at the Oxley Leisure Centre in Sherborne, Dorset kept within a point or two of perennial winners Devon for most of the gala, eventually finishing just 7.5 points adrift.
Howard-Jones, 67, the oldest woman in a 33-strong Dorset team whose ages ranged from 21 to 70, swam six times and won all six – the individual Women’s 65/o event on each stroke and two relays with individual 50m times of breaststroke 47.72, backstroke 50.99, freestyle 34.42 and butterfly 43.49. Vaughan, 46, won the 45/o 50m freestyle and butterfly in 26.24 and 28.58 and the 35/u backstroke in 32.72. Laura Bale recorded two individual wins for Dorset in the 25/o 50m backstroke (33.19) and butterfly (32.53). Other individual winners were Robert Lloyd-Evans (65+ breaststroke 46.01), Peter Grounds (55+ backstroke 39.46), Andy Small (45+ backstroke 31.09), Les Jessop (55+ freestyle 31.51), Sarah Meaker (18+ freestyle 28.29) and Tom Cunningham (25+butterfly 27.99).
Dorset also showed its strength in the relays by winning nine of the 20 events, often finishing half a length ahead and lapping the competition more than once, and coming second in a further nine. Race by race results of the ‘virtual’ gala are now available www.swimming.org showing Dorset’s final national placing as 11th out of the 29 counties participating.
Thanks also go to Sue and Andy Smart, our mandatory officials, and to the small group of Dorset supporters who made the journey to Sherborne together with Kirsty Heard, Laura Bale and Elaine Lewis who took on extra swims at a few minutes’ notice.
RESULTS: Devon 212; Dorset 204.5; Wiltshire 158; Somerset 92.5.
DORSET TEAM: Bere Regis – Bob Holman; Bournemouth SC – Kirsty Heard; Bournemouth Dolphins – Tom Cunningham; Ferndown SC – Cathy Hartle, Jackie O’Connor, Andy Small; Littledown Masters – Peter Kirk, Carol Moss (Littledown); Poole SC – Sean Heppell, Jean Howard-Jones, Elaine Lewis, Joe Lewis, Robert-Lloyd-Evans, Judy McRae, Sarah Meaker, Tony Perrella, Rachael Potter, Lee-Jay Robertson, Nic Vaughan, Alan Werring, Karen Yendole; Seagulls – Martin Scott, Kostas Stamatakis; Wareham – Pete Grounds, Les Jessop; West Dorst – Laura Bale; Weymouth – Helen Dickens, Tony Flattery, Becky Kelly; Weyport Masters – Linda Ashmore, Kate Mason, Paul Mason, Murray Shackleford. Team manager: Roger Guttridge.