Race Report: Chlorine & Club Beats in Swindon (Pool #787)
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 12 hours ago
18 April 2026
Just like last weekend, I lined up a full "Swimming Saturday" ...
3,200 meter morning Barnet Copthall masters team workout
Gargantuan chicken caesar salad at the Silver Service Cafe for our team breakfast/brunch
... and then, starting from the end of the Northern Line at Mill Hill East, a tube, train and bus to head out to Swindon's Link Centre for an afternoon of racing
This massive, if dated, facility has come to closest to reminding me of a Canadian community / leisure centre. It was't just the fact they had a hockey rink (though a good Canuck centre would have two), it was also the scale of the facility, with a massive indoor gymnastics and trampolining area, multi-floor weight and cardio workout rooms and huge hallways with soaring ceilings. It seems the only thing they scrimped on was the pool - just a basic six-lane, 25 meter pool with a bit of 2 meter depth at the start end before sloping quickly to 1.2M and then 1.0M at the turn end. Also, practically no deck space.
But, what the pool (now #787 on my #1001Pools list) lacked in architectural and aquatic character, the host Tigersharks Masters amply overcame with one of the most fun competition atmospheres I've ever been to. Was this a swimming competition or a day rave?
The tracks they were dropping were so great, the announcers were so energetic and the swimmers and fans in the packed stands were so engaged, it was a blast on the deck:
What was probably the most fun throughout the day (except the swimming, of course), was when they did their randomly selected "Hot Heats." Those got announced with a loud horn sound from the DJ/announcer and those lights you see in the video above would go ablaze. But, they took it one step further: they would announce each of the swimmers behind the blocks like it was an Olympic final. And most of the competing swimmers got into it - waving to the stands, raising both arms in the air, fist pumping and generally acting like they were in that Olympic final. People on the pool deck cheered. It was super-fun.
As for my racing, with no extra pool for cool-down or re-warming-up, my goal was to swim a solid 200 freestyle and then hang on for the rest. I did that ... and then was pleasantly surprised that my last race was my best of the day.
200 free - 2:10.31 versus
2:02.37 Masters best from 2005
2:06.43 "50+" Masters best from May 2022
2:08.56 to 2:09.56 range since moving to the UK
Only 1.3 slower than I was almost exactly a year ago
Max HR = 159 BPM
100 IM - 1:09.96 versus
1:02.91 Masters best from 2013
1:06.03 "50+" Masters best from December 2022
1:06.75 to 1:09.34 range since moving to the UK
But faster than my previous "Masters Worst" of 1:11.89 from September 2017
Max HR = 154 BPM
100 free - 1:00.22 versus
55.72 Masters best from 2010
59.33 "50+" Masters best from March 2019
59.89 to 1:01.44 range since moving to the UK
But faster than my previous "Masters Worst" of 1:02.09 from November 2019
Max HR = 154 BPM
On the 200 free, while my goal was to see how close I could get to 2:10 (and so I was happy with the result), I was clearly too cautious going out the first 100, especially given my 100 result later in the meet. The 100 IM came up only 30 minutes after the 200 and I felt decidedly "unfresh" for that ... the only good part of the race was that I was able to hammer the freestyle and eek out a slight win in my age group ... but the most interesting part is that, almost as soon as my heart rate had calmed down to normal again, I felt like I was ready to race again. As the 100 freestyle was at the start of the second session, I had about two hours to rest, call my parents, and do another short warmup. The 100 truly felt like the only event I raced with race-intensity throughout, though I'll admit that turns #2 and #3 were not snappy, but I was very happy with the time.
Speaking of warmups, rather than the general "free for all" style of warmup sessions at either USA or Canadian Masters meets, every competition I've gone to in England parses out the session by age and gender. Their 13 minute sessions was incredibly precise:
To be brutally honest, this is one facet of racing in England that I really dislike. I generally need A LOT of warming up time to get ready to race, even moreso during an "in-season/non-taper" event, so these micro-sessions are far from optimal.
It's something I'm learning to live with and/or developing work-arounds to, as I'll demonstrate for next Saturday's racing!
