Home Page

Beckenham Summer Development Meet 2012

Beckenham SC International Open Meet 2012

BECKENHAM SC INTERNATIONAL OPEN MEET 2012

Level 1 Licensed Long Course Open Meet

On Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th May 2012

At the CRYSTAL PALACE NATIONAL SPORTS CENTRE

Thank you very much for coming to our meet. We hope you had both an enjoyable and successful time!

Results can be obtained by clicking here

I am also pleased to let you know that the following trophies were awarded at the end of the meet:

14/Un Top Girl Emma Cain, Guildford City, 200m Breaststroke

14/UN Top boy Elliot Bertram, Enfield Town, 400m Freestyle

15/OV Top Girl Hanna Rogers , Teddington, 100m Freestyle

15/OV Top boy Michael Gunning, Beckenham, 400 Freestyle

Top Visiting Club: TBC

Portsmouth Northsea SC Easter Swimming Festival

05 - 08 April 2012

Congratulations to Kunmi Ogunfeibo who broke the National Age Group record for the 14 year old 50m Backstroke at the Portsmouth Easter Swim Festival. Congratulations Kunmi!.

Kent County Championships 2012

24th March 2012

Congratulations to all the Club’s swimmers at the final weekend of the Kent County Championships. The final unofficial total of medals was 132 Gold, 72 Silver, 54 Bronze and a further 170 finalists medals.

Subject to confirmation from the County it appears that the Girls duly took the points trophy for the most points scored by any Club and the Club also took the Combined points title.

Well done to all the swimmers and a special thank you to all the Coaches especially Tony and Di for all their hard work with the swimmers. Also a large thank you to Gill Gunning who helped marshall the troops so well on poolside as well as organizing all the entries and those from the Club who officiated and announced at the Championships.

For more information and photos please visit the KASA Results page

Gandy gets another Olympic spot in 200m butterfly

7th March 2012

Ellen Gandy secures her second Team GB Olympic berth with victory in the 200m butterfly final at the British Swimming Championships ahead of Jemma Lowe, with the pair now the fastest in the world this year over the distance. Australia-based Gandy says she had never been so nervous, but held off Lowe in the closing stages, the Welsh swimmer finishing three tenths of a second behind Gandy's winning time of 2:06:01.

Click here for the TV link

GB 100m fly record seals Ellen Gandy's 2012 Olympics spot

4th March 2012

Ellen Gandy seals her place in Britain's 2012 Olympics team with victory in the 100m fly, and breaks the British record in the process. Gandy finished in a time of 57.25 seconds at the British trials at London's Aquatics Centre. Well done Ellen from all at Beckenham SC !!

Click here for the TV link

Duncan Goodhew visits Beckenham SC

13th February 2012

On Monday we welcomed Duncan Goodhew (Olympic Breaststroke Champion and a former Beckenham Swimmer) and the BBC’s Colin Murray (presenter of Match of the Day 2) to the Spa. The evening saw a re-enactment of the 1980 Olympic medal ceremony when unusually the National Anthem was not played. This time Duncan was flanked by Michael Gregory and Henry Knight masquerading as the Russian Silver medalist and the Australian bronze medalist respectively. Coincidentally that bronze medalist was another Beckenham swimmer, Peter Evans. A packed spectator area then blasted out the National Anthem. Duncan then spent a considerable time both on poolside and in the Bar Area answering questions and signing autographs. All in all a great evening.

Many thanks to Kate and all the staff at the Spa, Duncan, Colin and his colleagues from the BBC as well as of course the swimmers and parents (particularly those who brought bunting and flags).

The BBC programme featuring the evening will be broadcast later in the year on Five Live as a prelude to the Olympics. More details and photographs will follow but here is a picture of Duncan with Gold medal in 1980 after the Olympics.

Michael Gunning Brings Home the GOLD in Barcelona!

20 January 2012

With less than 4 weeks until the British Olympic Selection Trials in March, Michael Gunning traveled off to the Catalonian International Winter Open Meet in Barcelona alongside the London Region swimming team, to take part in a 3 day competition against the International prospect.

The standard of the meet was extremely high with two world record holders and one multiple World Champion in attendance and the majority of the Spanish national senior and junior swim squads in action. The swimmers had to be swimming fast in the morning’s heats if they wanted to progress to either the A or B finals in the evening.

Despite being in heavy training, in preparation for the Olympic Selection Trials, Michael Gunning gave the race of the meet in the 400m freestyle, winning gold in the event from the outside lane, leading all the way and was rewarded with a new personal best time and another British Champs/Selection Trials qualifying time of 4.00.20. This was good enough to earn Michael the 6th place award in the Best Male Performance overall in the competition. The following evening Michael never failed to impress with another outstanding performance after picking up a bronze medal in the 200m fly with a time of 2.04.89, posting the fastest 18 year old time on the European Rankings, so far this year!!

Good luck at the trials Michael! You can see how he does via the British Swimming Website from 3rd – 10th March.

Also flying the Beckenham flag was Lauren Walton and Natasha Sinha, with Lauren Walton making her way into the evening finals in the 200m freestyle B final, going onto achieving a new personal best time in 2.05.59. Lauren also took part in the Woman’s 4 x 200 free relay where the team managed a podium place with silver in a time of 8.28.37. Natasha qualified for the B finals in the backstroke and butterfly events, achieving a national qualifying time in the 100m backstroke event.

Well done swimmers!!

Ellen Gandy London 2012 Progress

January 2012

Ellen Gandy, a life-time member of the club, who won silver in the 200M fly at the World Championships last year, continued her success recently in the important turn of the year Melbourne Meet. Ellen struck gold on the opening day of the Victoria State Championships in Melbourne; she qualified fastest for the 50m.

Butterfly final before taking gold in a personal best 26.54 – just 0.3 seconds short of Fran Halsall’s British record. Ellen underlined her impressive form with a personal best in the 800m Freestyle, touching in 8:47.43 to scoop bronze. She also won the 100m Butterfly title in Melbourne and qualified fastest for the final in 2:10.47, but followed her British teammate, Jessica Dickons, home for silver in 2:11.39. Follow Ellen’s progress via www.britishswimming.org and then click on the section on GB’s swimmers.

Ellen Gandy claims 200m butterfly silver in the World Championships

27th July 2011. Shanghai

Ellen Gandy wins the first World Championship medal of her career, taking 200m Butterfly silver in 2:05.59. The 19-year old missed out on gold by just 0.04 seconds.

Congratulations Ellen - from all at Beckenham SC !

RISING STAR: Ellen Gandy, still only 19, won 200m butterfly silver at the World Championships in Shanghai

Click here to see article from the Telegraph

Click here to see the video

DOUBLE GOLD and SILVER for the Gunning Brothers!

29th July 2011.

Following Luke Gunning’s victory in the 200m Butterfly earlier in the week, Luke ‘doubled up’ to take the 13 year old 100m Butterfly crown in a much closer race in the National Age Group Championships! The Double National Champion was neck and neck with his closest rival and despite turning in second at the halfway point, Luke fought back to overtake his opponent and touched first by a tenth of a second.

Gunning said “After winning my 200m Butterfly earlier in the week, I did not want to celebrate much because I still had my main event to come. I knew that all the swimmers would be out to get me so I had to work twice as hard to get the gold again. I love racing and it was such a tough race and when I hit the pads I had no idea that I had won in such a good time, and I was over the moon!!”

Michael Gunning, after savouring his brother’s golden success, took to the water himself and impressed in the National Youth Championships starting with the Open Water Swimming race. The 2000meter Swim was held in Rother Valley Country Park, and there was no keeping Gunning from rising to the top claiming a National Silver Medal in this swim.

Having only started Open Water in the past year, a thrilled Michael said “Having another National Medal this year is fantastic and I’m so happy with that swim. I have not long been swimming Open Water and to get in this meet for the first time and win a silver medal is great! Obviously I would have loved to get the gold but I tired my best and I can’t change anyone else’s performance so I am happy.

Open Water swimming is different in general because there are so many other factors to consider. The water was 17oC and it was so cold and I am not used to the water being so cold. I have been on many Open Water camps but nothing can prepare you for the race itself, you have just got to do it! I kept pushing through the race and finished in 21min so I’m pleased. I also got called for drug testing after my swim and I did panic a bit because they kept following me around everywhere until I done it. I tried to keep calm and it was successful even though it took ages, and my party had to wait for me.” The National Silver Medallist also said “During the week of competition, we all received some good news over from the World Championships in Shanghai, and Ellen Gandy had won a World Champs Silver Medal!! We were all so proud and it really was one of the highlights of the week.”

Well done the Gunning Brothers!!!

GOLD for Gunning at Day 2 of the National Championships!

22nd July 2011.

Day 2 of the National Championships is well and under way and Beckenham Swimmer Luke Gunning seals a GOLD MEDAL in the Final of the 200M Butterfly swam earlier this evening. Luke qualified for the final in the heats this morning ranked in 1st Place, after achieving a phenomenal time of 2.15.50 shaving a tremendous 5 seconds off his personal best, and stood up to the mark in the evening session at the finals! Gunning touched in 2.11.29 making him the TOP BRITISH SWIMMER IN HIS AGE GROUP!! The gold-medal winning performance by Luke was commentated by World Record Holder and Commonwealth Champion Sarah Price who witnessed this stunning performance! Luke Greenbank came 2nd with Matthew Stevenson coming in third.

“I’m really pleased with that,” said Gunning. “Last year I came 4th in this event and to come back this year and to win a gold medal is fantastic!

“I felt really good in the heats this morning so I just wanted to get in and give it my best shot in the final. It was a hard field and I just went out so fast so I was in a good lead but the last 50m hurt so much and I just came back strong and just went for it! It was amazing to hear the applaud at the end and it was a great moment! I’ve got a day off tomorrow and I’ll be back in the water for my 100m Butterfly on Sunday so just looking forward to that now! I have received so many good luck/well done messages and I would like to thank everyone for all the support back home. It means a lot.”

Gunning finished 4th place last year in the 200m Butterfly at the National Championships in 2010, brining home a bronze medal in the 100M Butterfly, his main event that he has still got to swim later this week!

You can catch the action on the British Swimming Website on the LIVE results.

On Day 1 of the competition, Kunmi Ogunfeibo competed in his best event, the 100m Backstroke, were he happily qualified for the final in a cracking time of 1.02.98! His race was the 7th Final of the evening where he finished 8th place in 1.03.46. Kunmi was among the four boys who were competing in the 4X100m Freestyle relay team consisting of Kunmi Ogunfeibo, Harold Pearson, George Chan and Luke Gunning. The Beckenham boys managed to come 27th out off all of the National clubs competing.

Well done boys, and well done for Luke’s Gold medal!!

Big Beckenham call up for Sheffield event

20th July 2011

BECKENHAM Swimming Club members will notch up another national success this summer when 13 swimmers take part in the annual national age group and youth championships in Sheffield.

The action at Pond’s Forge will take place over July and August, with Beckenham SC head coach Tony Beckley delighted with the big call up for his swimmers.

The action at Pond’s Forge will take place over July and August, with Beckenham SC head coach Tony Beckley delighted with the big call up for his swimmers.

With more than 300 members, Beckenham SC has gained success swimming at county, regional, national and international levels.

Current GB star Ellen Gandy is a lifetime member of the club and credits her success to the dedicated training and support she received from a young age.

“The swimmers making their way north to Sheffield will no doubt wish to emulate her success,” added Beckley.

Read the report in the Newshopper.

"Members of the 13-strong BSC 'Beckley dozen" off to Nationals". BAGCATS: Harold, Kunmi and Luke. (Not photographed George) Youths: Michael, Lauren, Rebecca, Henry, Sophie, Natasha and Fearn (Not photographed Steffi and Rachel).

GB Water Polo teams going to the Olympics

14th March 2011

Great Britain will have two water polo teams at London 2012, British Olympic Association officials have announced. Despite winning four golds in the early part of the last century, it will be 66 years since Great Britain last participated in the water polo events at the Olympics, when they finished seventh out of eight.

The decision follows consultation between Team GB and British Swimming to ensure both team's would produce credible performances worthy of a host nation invite. However, water polo saw its UK Sport funding cut at the start of the Olympic cycle with the majority of the funds pumped into the more successful women's team, which is based in Manchester ...

... click here to read more

... click here to read the comments of GB captain Craig Figes on WaterPoloUK

If Sean King stays fit and in contention, he could well become our first Water Polo Olympian!!!!