Medal haul for Shannon masters

SHANNON Masters Swimming Club took home 34 medals from the 2013 National Long Course Masters Swimming Championships, which were held in the University of Limerick 50m pool last weekend. Twenty adult swimmers won six gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze medals and took six age group national titles in the process.

In the Blue Riband pool endurance race, the 1,500m freestyle, Andree Walkin (Killaloe) won gold in the 30-34 age group and Jason Fitzgerald (Newmarket-on-Fergus) won a silver medal, with Lisa O’Neill (Shannon), Dave Kelly (Parteen) and Erin O’Donoghue (Ennis) all collecting bronze medals in their age categories.

In the 400m freestyle race, Jason Fitzgerald won the gold medal in the 40-44 age group category, with Aoife Fennell (Sixmilebridge) competing in her maiden gala, together with Stephan Teeling-Lynch (Shannon), winning silver medals in their respective age categories.

In the 50m backstroke race, five medals were won by the club, with silver medals going to Claire Murphy (Newmarket-on-Fergus) and Michéal Rooney (Kilmaley) and three bronze medals won by Hilary Dowling (Ennis), Kristin Onderdonk (Sixmilebridge) and Alison Rooney (Kilmaley) in their age categories.

In the 200IM, Joanne Flanagan (Clarecastle) won her first gold medal in a masters swimming race in the 20-24 age group, while Brendan Hughes (Shannon) won a bronze medal in this event in the 30-35 age group.
Silver medals were won by Joanne Flanagan and Diarmuid Hughes (Shannon) in the 50m butterfly race.

Martina Clancy (Shannon) retained her age group title won at the same venue last year in the 100m breaststroke, with Erin O’Donoghue and Claire Murphy winning silver and bronze medals respectively in their age categories in this event.

The club won their only team relay medal in the men’s 4x50m medley. The team was led out by Brendan Hughes, followed by Stephan Teeling-Lynch, Diarmuid Hughes and Jason Fitzgerald in the anchor leg, winning the bronze medal.

In the second of the long distance races, Stephan Teeling-Lynch won the gold medal in the 30-34 age group in the 800m freestyle, with Jason Fitzgerald coming a close second in the same race in the 40-44 age group.
Joanne Flanagan won her second gold medal of the day in the 100m freestyle race, with Alison Rooney picking up silver in this event in her own age category.

Micheal Rooney collected the only club medal in the 200m backstroke, winning a silver medal in the 45-49 age group and Martina Clancy won her second medal of the meet, getting bronze in the 50m breaststroke sprint race. Silver medals were won by Alison Rooney and Claire Murphy in their respective age categories in the 100m backstroke race, with Micheal Rooney winning a bronze also at this distance.

In the 50m freestyle sprint, Joanne Flanagan won her fourth medal of the day, finishing in third place in the 20-24 age group.

Brenda Cosgrove (Parteen), Edwin Nijs (Killaloe), Paul Horan (Sixmilebridge) and Paddy Quin (Ennis) also competed and had many personal bests at the gala.

Swim Ireland are keen to promote masters swimming around the country and point out that it is not an elite sport, with swimmers from 19-76 years of age and at various competencies, participating in all age categories at these events.

Shannon Masters Swimming Club is keen to involve male/female swimmers in this sport, as long they have a minimum level of swim competence. Further details are available from 086 8121007.