Wildern Masters make waves at Hampshire Masters Championships
Six Wildern Waves masters’ swimmers took part in the 2023 Hampshire Masters Championships in Portsmouth with Wildern finishing 8th overall and every swimmer winning a medal.
Masters’ debutant Don Thacker (70-74 year group) won 4 Gold medals in the Men's 25m, 50m, 100m, and 200m Freestyle.
Teammate Alistair Garmendia (Men’s 35-39 years age group) won Gold in the Men's 200M Free and 50m Breaststroke, as well as Silver medals in both the 50m and 100m Butterfly.
Ian Feltham (Men's 35-39 years group) won 3 Gold medals the Backstroke and Individual Medley, and a Bronze medal in the 50m Butterfly.
Lucy Johnston won a Bronze in the 100m Backstroke, and secured 8th place in the hotly contested Women's 50m Freestyle (18-24 years group), with Iveta Burian, securing 7th place in the 45-49 years age group for the same event.
Kelly Thomas (35-39 years group) won Gold for Wildern in the 25m Backstroke and 25m Breastsroke. Iveta joined her with a Silver medal in the 25m Backstroke.
Kelly also won Silver in the 100m IM, and Bronze in the 100m Free.
Iveta also won Bronze in the 50m Butterfly.
In the mixed medley relay team the team earned 5th placed out of 9 against some of the biggest masters teams in Hampshire. The highlight was the last leg when Kelly swam a blistering final freestyle leg to close a gap of over 5m and touch ahead of Basingstoke Bluefins.
Last, but by no means least, was the mixed Freestyle relay which Wildern Masters entered for the first time. The team was delighted to get a Bronze, finishing ahead of 7 other teams from across the county!
In total, Wildern masters In total the team brought home an amazing 10 Gold medals, 5 Silver medals, and 5 Bronze medals, with all 6 members of the team bringing home a medal.
Wildern masters placed 8th of the 17 Hampshire clubs, a fantastic achievement considering the top 3 clubs each had more than 20 swimmers taking part across multiple events.
If you would like to find out more about the master’s squad, please contact us.
