Location: The Heights, The Broadway Sandown, Isle of Wight PO36 9ET

More details to follow

She continued to swim for another half hour, to enter her finish distance in the British Long Distance Swimming Association ‘One Hour Postal Swim’ for which results are still awaited.

There was also gold for Jenny Ball, who in the 70-74 years age group, swam over 57 lengths – a total distance of 1,445m – to win. Fiona Seymour, in the 40-44 years age group, won bronze with a total distance of 1,875m or 75 lengths, while Lindsey Shenton came fifth in the very competitive 50-54 years age group with 1,880m.

Sprint swimmer Kim Holmes (25-29) was pleased with her first 30 minute challenge with 1,650m or 66 lengths, while Tim Matthews (45-49) improved on last year’s swim with 1,550m.

Taking up the challenge for the first time, Hilary Gibbon swam 1,370m (54+ lengths) in the 45-49 years age group while George Watts (25-29) increased his distance from last year by six lengths, completing more than 74 lengths.

Isle of Wight Marlins came 5th in the team T-30 challenge.

Isle of Wight Marlins Swim Club were delighted to have the opportunity to hold the meet at Medina Lesiure Centre making use of all the new pool equipment which was purchased for last year’s Island Games. We were also thankful that so many of the officials who took part in the Island Games were able to help at this year’s event coming from the Isle of Wight, Hampshire and beyond.

More than 100 swimmers from 23 clubs took part including three clubs from the Isle of Wight – Marlins, West Wight and IW Swim Team with West Wight boasting the largest team and winning gold, silver and bronze in the relay events. We were pleased to welcome swimmers from Italy and Germany making it a truly international event.

Competing for Marlins were Jenny Ball, Linsey Shenton, Barney Miller and Kim Holmes with Kim achieving golds and personal best times in two of her events.

Winning team - Ruislip and Northwood

The winning team for the Heights Perpetual Trophy went to Ruislip and Northwood with Otter and Royal Navy coming 2nd and 3rd.

Top lady swimmers with 24 points each were Gina Hobson (Otter) swimming in C group and Jane Asher (Kings Cormorants) swimming in M group

Both these ladies are holders of masters records, though none were broken at this meet, the first time for 12 years! The beautiful, sculptured glass trophy, donated by Paul Critchley of Diamond Isle Sculptured Glass, was awarded to Gina as she had several swimmers in her age group whom she had to beat. Jane at 81 was the only M group competitor! The runner up with 23 points was Michelle Matson (group B) of Basingstoke Bluefins.

Top male swimmer with 22 points went to Terry Wright (group F) of Kings Cormorants and runner up with 21 points was Peter Stephens (group J) Royal Navy.

Amy Sambell - top female senior swimmer

Awards to top senior swimmers, 18-24 years

Female:  three way tie on points to Amy Sambell 24 (Andover), Samantha Crosbie 22 (Andover) and Jess Trevellick 24 (Otter),  all with 10 points. As Amy had entered the most events, she was awarded the Sculptured Glass trophy, after a difficult decision by the organisers.

Male:  Matthew Barber 19, West Wight with 21 points and joint 5^th place overall.

(L-R) Lindsey Shenton and Jenny Ball - IOW Marlins, Roma Kiely - Spencer, Louise Mittins and Jeannie Roberts - Royal Navy

Click on the image below to view the local press coverage of the 2012 swim meets.

As the committee is keen to maintain the continuity of your swimming and team spirit, a temporary alternative is listed below and it is sincerely hoped that you will all consider joining your team at these suggested times.

There is a great opportunity to continue our swimming at Medina Leisure Centre in early morning lane swimming sessions On Tuesdays and Thursdays these commence at 7.45 am until 9.00am. There are two lanes in the pool -fast and medium, which will easily accommodate a few more swimmers, in addition to the rest of the pool. These are the sessions where it is expected that most Marlins members will attend if you want to ensure that you swim with other club members. Cost is £3.15 unless you are a holder of a One Card.

There are also two lanes in at lunchtime and from 4.30pm -7.00pm although you may find that there are few if any Marlins members at this session.

Both these sessions are highly recommended. Weekdays only.

Waterside pool also has early morning lane sessions from 6.30am Monday, Wednesday and Friday only, and from 9.00am on Sunday. Cost £4. Since setting up the Waterside Community Trust to run the pool, they need all the support they can get.

The Committee sincerely hopes that we can keep some club cohesion going, especially as we are hosting a Masters Meet this year at Medina pool in February.

Ruth was delighted to receive the award “It is a great honour. I have to express my thanks to my swimming friends for all their support and particular thanks to Rebecca Wills for getting me into open water swimming. Without her, I would not have contemplated ‘swimming’ in the sea at all. And, to Ian Butler for all his coaching and patience in helping me overcome my fear of cold, deep, open water and swimming at night. I am now looking forward to new challenges in 2012″.

Jane is passionate about making swimming fun for people of all ages. She continues to teach swimming to children but also travels the world inspiring older swimmers to learn new techniques that help them to maintain their performance.

Wight Marlins Club President Joan Kidd, 84, said “Jane is one of the truly great masters swimmers. We were delighted that she agreed to hold her clinic at one of our regular club sessions at The Heights. I have competed with Jane at many international events and she always takes time to encourage swimmers of all ages and abilities. She believes it’s one of the very best ways for anyone to keep fit and get the most out of life.”

Jane Asher was invited to become a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2006. For more information about Jane, including a short film of her swimming career, please click here.

The 59^th Sandown to Shanklin Sea Swim organised by the Isle of Wight Marlins Swim Club as part of Shanklin Regatta took place for the first time in its history on a Saturday this year.  It was held on 13^th August 2011.  The main organisers were Gordon Osborne and Nancy Godwin assisted by a team from the club and local residents.

The day dawned very overcast after a night of near torrential rain and with the promise of high winds.  After the experience of the swim of 2008 which was cancelled due to such promises and the Shanklin Deep Sea Angling Club unable to launch their boats, a contingency plan was put in place to run a race over half the distance which would have been held in two parts of men’s’ race first followed by the ladies’ race.  However by 9.00am the sky had changed to a beautiful blue and the winds had failed to keep their promise to blow leaving us with near perfect conditions once again in which to hold the race.  This year there was a record number of entrants with the first maximum number of places being filled within the first two weeks and a further 40 entrants on a waiting list. The swim took place on the weekend between Sandown Regatta and Shanklin Regatta which meant that it attracted a substantial number of spectators at both the start and the finish.  We had 117 swimmers start the race and all but one successfully finished. This swimmer was pulled out of the water on the approach to Shanklin feeling tired and cold and was rushed to the finish line by Sandown Lifeboat, treated by the Red Cross for mild hypothermia and later released.  To avoid congestion at the first turning mark, the men started first but this year they were only 1 minute ahead of the ladies which added to the excitement of the competition with the ladies hot on the men’s’ tails.

The first swimmer to complete the 1¾ mile course and land at Shanklin Rowing club, near where the old Shanklin Pier used to stand, was Ben Pennington of Spencer Swim Team in a time of 29 minutes 57seconds.  Last year Ben was narrowly beaten by Peter Dixon in an exciting finish where Ben tripped up in the run up the beach to the finishing line.  This year, however, Ben stamped his authority by winning the race nearly two minutes ahead of the second place swimmer.  Unfortunately for Peter history repeated itself and he again had a battle in a run up the beach narrowly missing second place by a mere second to Gavin Barlow of Spencer Swim Team. The first lady was Katie Butcher, of Arundel Trinity, who crossed the line in a time of 33mins 28secs.  The first  Island Lady to finish was Amy Rickards in a time of 36 minutes 44 seconds and first Island man to finish was Gary Kurth in a time of 32 minutes 40 seconds which was a spectacular 2 minutes faster that his time for last year and 5 minutes faster than his time of two years ago.  This year Gary was a casualty of the fast return of entry forms making him well down on the waiting list and seemingly without a swim.  However with some very late cancellations it was possible to offer Gary a place only the day before the swim which he accepted and then went on to complete a great swim.   The oldest competitor taking part was Raymond Blount of Eastbourne Swimming Club aged 76 and he finished in a time of 49 minutes 20 seconds.  Raymond only just claimed this prize by being older than Terry Lyons of Richmond Swimming Club by just 4 months.   The 116^th and last swimmer safely made the finish line in 63 minutes 40 seconds.  On finishing all swimmers were given hot soup, a bread roll which was kindly provided by the ladies of Shanklin Rowing Club.

This year we had the added interest of John Clark’s 50^th birthday celebration.  John, who is a member of the London Polytechnic Water Polo team, had actually reached his 50^th birthday a month before but decided that the sea swim offered the perfect backdrop for a weekend of celebrations which included a beach party near the finish line of the race and featured music from local singer Derek Sandy making a fun time for all.

Safety support for the swim was provided by Sandown Lifeboat who acted as the control boat, the Shanklin Deep Sea Angling Club with 10 boats and close swimmer support was provided by 24 local Kayakers led by Adrian Brown.  The British Red Cross were in attendance but their services were only required for one minor case of medical assistance.  To all of these groups we send our grateful thanks.

Three, Jane Dodd, Jenny Ball and Tom Rooney have signed up for the British Gas 2011 One Mile Great East Swim. Jane and Jenny had enjoyed this event in 2010 but were the thousands of disappointed entrants in the Great North Swim last September, when Green blue algae in Lake Windermere, caused the cancellation of the 2010 event.

Having raised nearly £300 in support of Cerebral Palsy Sport for the swim, in car boot sales, garden parties and sponsorship, Jane and Jenny swum their One Mile in Sandown Bay rather let the event pass them by completely!

Two intrepid club swimmers joined a team to take part in the Cold Water Championships at Tooting Bec Lido in January. In a water temperature of just over 3 degrees centigrade, Ruth Carroll and Rebecca Wills swam their 30m. leg of the race.

Both had been regularly taking a dip at Shanklin in the sea throughout the winter months to accustomise themselves to this temperature, with a positive result for their perseverance – brrrrr!

At the very successful Christmas Charity Swim at Gurnard, arranged by the staff of the Little Gloster Restaurant, three hardy Marlins took the dip, with Michelle Lock taking third prize in the freezing waters over a 300 metre distance.

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The first competitive, indoor competition of the year was the South East Region Masters Long Course (50m. pool) at Crawley. Jenny, being one of only two ladies in the 70-74 years age group, won 7 of her events and gained a sliver medal in the eighth. Old ladies are prone to falls and unfortunately two had had this misfortune just prior to the event, thus depleting the opposition! Nevertheless Jenny was pleased with her times in 800, 400, 200 and 100 freestyle and 50, 100 and 200m backstroke.

With no Isle of Wight Masters meet this year, our next events include the Royal Navy meet at Millfield School in Somerset and Guernsey Open Masters. Weather permitting, Duncan Heenan and Gordon Osborne will sail there to the Channel Island!

The Marlins Club plan to enter two teams, as last year, in the Sandown Lions Charity Swimarathon at the Heights on Saturday April 2nd. Each team of 5 or 6 people swims for 55 minutes, all swimmers completing a two length lap in turn, aiming to complete the most in that time. Last year we won the 16+ years team!

Duncan 50-64 years age group, swam 400, 200 and 100m freestyle events, winning two silver and a bronze medal. In the two breaststroke events, he took bronze and in 50m butterfly probably swam his best time, winning another silver medal.

Rosemary 70-74 years,swam steadily throughout the weekend winning four silvers in back and breaststrokes and three bronze in 400, 200 and 100 freestyle events.

Jenny also 70- 74 years, won golds in all but one of her ten events, the silver being in 50 freestyle.

The weekend concludes with a Sunday lunch at one of the Island’s premier hotels, after which everyone takes to the beach at Cobo Bay, where several intrepid swimmers take an icy dip in the sea!

This, his 20th meet as promoter, was the last for John Eyre, who retires and hands the organization to Pauline Hogg. Both will be coming to the Isle of Wight to join the team of officials for the swimming event at the Island Games in June.