Swimming
Swimmers star in Sheffield

RUGBY Swimming Club had plenty of reason to celebrate when competing in the British Masters Long Course Championships in Sheffield over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Ross Turner, 32, Karen Bates, 40, and Simon Rigg, 45, were in action in the Olympic-sized 50m pool and all three took home medals from the prestigious meet.

Turner stole the show by winning both the 50m and 100m breaststroke in the 30-34 age group. His 50m time turning out to be good enough to record first place across all age categories.

Bates, as always, was the most prolific in terms of races and medals, claiming a silver and three bronzes.

Rigg’s first individual entry in a long course meet for over 25 years saw him claim his first ever national medal, a bronze in the 50m freestyle, backed up by fourth, fifth and sixth placed finished elsewhere.

First into the pool was Bates, finishing second in the 50m backstroke in 35.80, followed closely by the 200m butterfly where she won bronze.

Rigg was next into the water in the 100m freestyle and despite missing the magical one minute barrier, the short course conversion of 58.9 equates to his best time in a quarter of a century.

He went to record another best when completing the 100m backstroke in 1-20.3, but he was eclipsed by Turner two heats later who clocked 1-10.27 to take gold.

Saturday’s action got off to a flying start with Bates winning the 100m backstroke.

Rigg was the club’s sole representative on Saturday afternoon but he did not let them down, setting a new lifetime best over 200m freestyle.

It proved a good warm up for the 50m freestyle in the evening where Rigg took second in 26.41 out of over 180 competitors.

All three were back in action on Sunday and Bates started things off by taking bronze in the 200m backstroke after finishing in 2-51.12.

A tenth of a second cost Rigg a medal in the 50m breaststroke as he finished in 34.21 but he remained at the finish line to roar Turner home as he won his age group with a bit to spare in 30.49. Bates finished off a successful meeting with a lifetime best fourth in the 800m freestyle.

All three would like to thank RSC and head coach Hemesh Chohan for their support and assistance.

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