Cally Masters

On Friday 15th August, 10 Cally Masters swimmers (joined by a ‘support crew’ of friends and family), descended on the French Alps for the Traversée du lac d’Annecy 2025. After only three of our swimmers attended the event last year, the promise of ‘the most beautiful swim of your life’ was enough to convince seven uninitiated to join the event for its 93rd year!

The event brought a total of 2,000 swimmers to the lake’s shore and was run by a 200-strong team of volunteers. A balmy 24 degrees in the water (and up to 28 degrees on land) led to wetsuits being banned on the day and combined with the incredible views of mountains in the distance, as well as the crystal clear, blue water, the event certainly lived up to the hype. That isn’t to say that it didn’t have its challenges: some sections of the route were thick with pond weeds and other organic material, which kept the swimmers on their toes. The first section of the 5km (and second leg of the 10km) swim was also very choppy, creating conditions similar to a sea swim (hopefully someone brought the Kwells!), and the buoys were placed far apart, making sighting difficult. And, what’s more, the entire event was conducted in French, a language in which none of our swimmers are fluent! At least they now know their ‘gauche’ from their ‘droite’.

Cally Masters swimmers competed across four different distances: 1km, 2.4km, 5km and 10km. The 1km swim was completed by Ella Snell while 7.5 months pregnant (no easy feat!), while the 2.4km event was done in style by Nirmal Kalirai, Mari Williams and Leti Cantù (for whom it was her first ever open water event!). Then there was the 5km swim, which was smashed by Jess Noske-Turner and Bethan Cash, who both swam the event last year and finished in the top 10% of their age category. And last, but certainly not least, was the mammoth 10km event, for which we had beyond impressive performances from Joe Geary, James Sawyer, Gary Butler and George Turner. A special shoutout to Joe for his first open water 10km, and an even louder shoutout to George for her first 10km swim of any kind!

Huge congratulations to all those who took part, and a big thank you to everyone who supported both lakeside and from home. We will no doubt look to return to Lake Annecy ‘l’année prochaine’!

On Sunday 18^th May, 32 swimmers from Cally Masters, aged 23 to 78, once again took to the hallowed waters of Barnet Copthall Leisure Centre to battle it out against 11 other clubs for the title of Middlesex Masters Champion. 

After six hours of tight races, impressive comebacks, and sheer grit and determination, the team secured its greatest win yet, not only by coming first in the Women’s and Overall categories for the fourth year running, but also by winning the Men’s category for the first time EVER! Cally Masters’ Overall score was 1,490 points, with second place going to Camden Swiss Cottage with 811 points, and third place going to Haringey Aquatics with 548 points. 

Necks aching from wearing the many medals won throughout the day (19 bronze, 36 silver, and a whopping 67 gold medals!), the team took to the Lord Palmerston pub in Tufnell Park to celebrate. No doubt the club will be back next year with their eye set on retaining the title!

Congratulations to the entire team for their fantastic performance, and a special shout out to the following swimmers:

· Sophie O’Keefe for officially being the fastest woman of the day, winning every race she entered and achieving the fastest women’s time for each one. What a champ!

· Amy Barton for achieving the fastest women’s time for 200m IM (amazing!).

· Joe Geary for achieving the fastest men’s time for 50m backstroke (you legend!).

· George Turner for competing in their first ever swim meet and doing a fantastic job.

·  Nicola Stanbridge and Julia Plume for returning to the racing world after decades away, and smashing it.

· Sara Perry for bringing in the most points for the team (60 for individual events and 24 for relays) – superstar!

· Ella Snell for doing Cally proud as a timekeeper.

· Dominique Clement and Paul Botham for their fantastic work organising the team and ensuring no one missed their races (no small feat!)

Finally, a big thanks to all those involved in organising the Middlesex Masters competition. Until next year!

On Saturday 6th July, nineteen swimmers from Cally Masters made their way to Llanberis in Snowdonia, Wales, to take on the Big Welsh Swim: an open water swim of either 3km, 6km or 9km across Llyn Padarn. Admirably, for six of the Cally swimmers, it was their first ever open-water event, and four of those took on the full 9km – such an impressive feat.

While the weather was typical for a British summer’s day (wet and cold), it did little to dampen the sunny disposition of the team as they each took on their respective events. For those swimming the 3km and 9km events, the swim was preceded by a much-anticipated ride on the Llanberis Lake Railway: a tiny steam train that took participants from Gilfach Ddu to the opposite side of the lake, where their events began.

A total of 176 swimmers took on the 3km event (one length of the lake), with our very own Yael Lichter (a first-timer) coming in 1st in her category and 3rd overall, closely followed by Linda Slapakova, Naz Masraff, Freya Mohamed, Malou Visser (another first-timer), Honor Sangster (who braved the swim without a wetsuit), Mari Williams, and Steve Lorimer, all coming within the top 7 of their categories and top 46 overall.

In the 6km event (two lengths of the lake), Anthony Mason came in 1st in his category and 6th overall (out of 86), followed by Ella Snell who came 2nd in her category.

In the not-for-the-faint-hearted 9km event (a massive three lengths of the lake), Nils Young came in 1st out of 52 swimmers, followed by Joe Geary, Humberto Juarez Rocha (both swimming in their first event), Flora Hanson, Marian Phillips (in her first event), Bethan Cash, Rachael Ferguson, George Turner (yet another first-timer), and Gary Butler.

Big shout out to Linda Slapakova, Yael Lichter, Nils Young, Flora Hanson, Marion Phillips and Honor Sangster for successfully making it onto the podium for their respective events and taking home a coveted wooden train whistle as their trophy!

Thanks also go to the organisers (Love SwimRun) for putting together a wonderful event (and for recognising our relentless enthusiasm as the loudest cheer squad on the day!).

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend in Llanberis and there’s no doubt we’ll be back again soon.

This weekend, Cally Masters returned to the Barnet Copthall pool where they made waves to retain the Middlesex County Championship title for the third year running.

It was a strong victory, with Cally Masters scoring a massive 1,499.5 points (a new record high), compared to second-placed Camden Swiss Cottage, who amassed 1249 points. Third place, out of the 13 teams competing, went to Barnet Copthall with 845 points. Cally also took home the title of top women’s team.

Cally’s 34-strong squad consisted of 9 first-time racers and spanned 14 age/gender categories, from 23 years of age to 77, which just shows the depth of swimming abilities Cally Masters caters towards. 

Highlights included 6 gold medals for breaststroke expert Sara Perry (67) and 5 golds for all-round sprinter Marian Phillips (35). Plus the herculean team effort to pull together 34 relay teams. 

A huge thank you to the officials and the volunteers that make these hugely fulfilling events possible. 

Congratulations to Brandon High, a Cally Masters swimmer, who took part in the Swim Serpentine Festival in Hyde Park last weekend. Brandon, who is disabled, swam a mile loop of the Serpentine in just over an hour.

Brandon was swimming to raise funds for Pimlico Penguins, a swimming club for people with physical and learning disabilities in Westminster. The club is run by volunteers and is dependent on donations for things like bespoke swimming aids and accessible transport to the pool.

So far Brandon and a fellow swimmer have raised 90% of their £1500 target. If you have not donated already, you can do so here.

Congratulations Brandon!