9 Races, 8 Trains, 3 Lifetime Bests & 2 New Pools (#730 & #731)
- Apr 13, 2025
- 4 min read
13 April 2025
With my wife leaving London in early April for an extended work engagement in Africa, I decided to distract myself from the emptiness of our quiet house on my first weekend home alone by keeping myself very busy … and taking advantage of the UK’s most excellent rail system to make this all happen.
There were two, single-day meets happening north of me ...
Saturday, April 12th - Yorkshire Swimming Association Masters and Senior Age Group Meet
Sunday, April 13th - Staffordshire Masters Championships
... and when I noticed that Saturday meet started in the afternoon and the Staffordshire meet offered 25s of all strokes, I decided to make a weekend of it, swimming some focus events on Saturday and then just having fun with a sprinty Sunday.
Knowing I didn't want to mess with the cost or hassle of renting a car, I rode the rails for the weekend, taking eight different trains - 6 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday, staying overnight at a pub-hotel in downtown Stafford:
Home to Beverley Totteridge & Whetstone to King's Cross (Saturday AM) King's Cross to Doncaster (Saturday AM) Doncaster to Beverley (Saturday AM) Beverley to Stafford Beverley to Sheffield (Saturday PM) Sheffield to Tamworth (Saturday PM) Tamworth to Stafford (Saturday PM) (Adequate but not recommended) Stafford to Home Stafford to Euston (Sunday PM) Euston to Totteridge & Whetstone (Sunday PM)
(Click images for larger view and route descriptions)
Saturday – Beatific in Beverly
I started on the Northern Line at an eminently reasonable ~7:40am to make the trek north, via King’s Cross and Doncaster before arriving in the lovely little town of Beverely a little after 11:30am, time enough to chug some more espresso at Chugg (across from the station) and to gaze in wide wonder at the Beverly Minster**, a massive almost cathedral that dominates the skyline, before making my way to the East Riding Leisure Centre (now pool #730) by noon, very comfortably ahead of the 12:30pm warmup time.
Though the colour scheme was different, this eight-lane, 25-meter pool could be a mirror copy of my home pool at Barnet Copthall (BC)*** with the same depth throughout, blocks and turn end wall. That made the competition pool solid for racing, though the ~10M long "baby pool" that was maybe 2 feet deep was sub-par as a cool-down facility.
I set my sites on the 100 IM and 200 free during the morning session, and then the 400 free in the afternoon session. I had not rested at all for this weekend, but wanted to compare my performances with racing thirteen months ago when I had rested and raced these events at the University of Birmingham. Though, naturally, I can find fault in each of my performances, the results were solid and satisfactory:
100 IM – 1:07.51 vs 1:07.45 from March '24
200 free – 2:09.06 vs. 2:08.96 from March '24
400 free – 4:33.16 vs 4:32.12 from March '24
What was particularly invigorating, though, is that Swim England Masters meets will sometimes use a formula to age-adjust and standardise results across age groups, developed by Alan Rowson which improved upon a prior Finnish formula. This meant that, for example, while I won my age group and was the fourth fastest swimmer in the 400 free, on an age-adjusted basis, I was the "fastest."
As this age-adjusting formula worked out so that I "won" all three of my events, I think it's a beautiful thing!
I didn't tarry too long after my last race, as I had to make some tight connections across the three-train journey from Beverley to Stafford. I was actually able to grab an excellent seafood-centric takeaway meal from a fine-dining restaurant located at the Beverley station - Cerutti 2 - at a bargain (compared to London prices) so I was well-satisfied and didn't need any top-up when I arrived around 10pm to the hotel/pub in Stafford.
... but, as fine as Saturday was, it was not when I got my three lifetime best times!
Sunday – Sprinting in Stafford
Aesthetically, with its massive windows, the Stafford Leisure Centre (now pool #731) is more beautiful, but it shared the same design of an 8-lane, 25M competition pool fronting a tiny baby pool which doubled as our cool-down facility:
There were two sessions, with each session having two 25 races. I decided to enter all four and to thread in the 50 free (morning) and 100 free (afternoon) for six total races.
AM - 25 backstroke, 50 free, 25 fly
PM - 100 free, 25 breast, 25 free
I'm being a bit cheeky with regards to the lifetime best because I had never competed in a 25 meter backstroke or breaststroke officially in my life, but I had actually swum both the 25 fly back in Guelph (Ontario) in 2019 and the 25 free in Flagstaff (Arizona) in 2013. But, a lifetime best is a lifetime best, so I'll take 'em ... especially when I beat 52-year old Patrick (13.91) with my 13.66 fly performance!
As for the "real races" - the 50 and 100 free - these just hurt, hurt, hurt, especially the 100 free where I went a dismal 1:01.4 (I have been going just under 1:00 the last two times I raced in 2024). The 50 free was marginally better (27.84) versus a 27.36 from last December ... but in each of these races, I slipped pushing off on every turn in the shallow end. I don't think that was just me as I heard a number of other swimmers mention the same thing.
All in all, this was a very fun, very busy weekend ... exactly what I needed to ward off the loneliness of my empty home,
**I’m not a religious type, but I do love a massive piece of architecture, especially one so ornate and impressive.
***though East Riding (ER) was built in 2005 and BC completed in 2019
