A big weekend for OTS saw us field a HUGE team at South East Longcourse Masters. 19 swimmers across 2 day dusted off the Post Christmas cobwebs and took part in events which were new to a lot of people. For Ryan Valadas, this was his first competition in over 13 years!
A brave Christophe completed his first ever 200 fly and didn’t give up....even when his arms gave up on him! Steph Ramsay and Tali Link soared through what seemed and effortless 800 freestyle. We had 4 gutsy swimmers take part in the 400IM, Stefano Rigoni had us all amazed as he held on after a strong fly leg to finish with anyone of 5:38! Daniel Hadden was also able to smash a huge personal best in the 200 Breaststroke. Clay Masters managed to snatch and impressive Gold medal in the 100 fly.
For myself, this was my first competition post surgery and was great to be back in the pool amongst an energetic and supportive team. Our strength of numbers has been noticed by other teams in the region and OTS are now a force to be reckoned with.
The next competition stop for our swimmers will be in Amsterdam mid Feb, followed by Bracknell Masters 3rd March. Keep checking the newsletters for details of upcoming comps to get yourselves prepped for Gay Games.
Words by Race Captain Andrew