Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club member Alyson Fordham wins six gold medals at Short Course Masters National Championships

Alyson Fordham won six gold medals and broke 15 records at the Short Course Masters National Championships.

She and her Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club colleagues enjoyed a fantastic time in Sheffield as the team came 27th out of 286 overall and were crowned Hertfordshire’s finest.

Fordham, competing in the 65-69 age category, came first in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle, 50m and 100m backstroke and 100m individual medley.

She became the first European woman in her age group to swim under 30 seconds in the 50m free by clocking 29.45sec.

Her incredible efforts, which also included a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke, saw her set seven East region records as well as four British and European records. In total the Stortford swimmers broke 21 records.

Lizzie Bellinger (45-49) was also on fine form as she bagged three gold medals (50m butterfly, 200m IM and 100m butterfly) and a silver (100m backstroke).

Niamh James (18-24) won gold and silver in 200m IM and 100m backstroke respectively while, in the same age section, Callum Davis took silver in 50m butterfly and Lucy Wheeler earned silver and bronze in 400m freestyle and 200m freestyle respectively.

Jake Lloyd, in the 25-29 category, picked up an individual gold (200m butterfly) and teamed up with James, Davis and Wheeler for the relays as they struck gold in the mixed 4x100m freestyle and earned bronze in the mixed 4x50m freestyle.