/ Meath Masters Swimming Club Newsletter
November 2010 /

1. Aer Lingus Masters Gala – 15th and 16th of October 2010

Well done to all the Meath Masters Swimmers who took part in the Aer Lingus Masters Gala this year. It was great to see so many swimmers from the club taking part in their first ever swimming gala.

As a club we won a grand total of 10gold, 4 silver and 8 Bronze medals.

Here is a look at how all the swimmers did!!

Name / Event / Time / Age Group / Medal
Aisling Ni Mhaonaigh / 100m Back Stroke / 1 : 41 : 65 / 25 - 29 / Silver
Aisling Ni Mhaonaigh / 100m I / M / 1 : 36 : 21 / 25 - 29
Aisling Ni Mhaonaigh / 50m Freestyle / 0 : 37 : 66 / 25 - 29 / Bronze
Aisling Ni Mhaonaigh / 100m Freestyle / 1 : 26 : 58 / 25 - 29 / Bronze
Aisling Ni Mhaonaigh / 50m Breaststroke / 0 : 47 : 24 / 25 - 29 / Bronze
Alicija Naguszewska / 100m Back Stroke / 1 : 38 : 45 / 25 - 29 / Gold
Alicija Naguszewska / 50m Butterfly / 0 : 38 : 72 / 25 - 29 / Silver
Alicija Naguszewska / 100m I / M / 1 : 34 : 64 / 25 - 29 / Bronze
Alicija Naguszewska / 100m Butterfly / 1 : 32 : 66 / 25 - 29 / Gold
Alicija Naguszewska / 50m Breaststroke / 0 : 45 : 79 / 25 - 29 / Gold
Andrew Linsley / 100m Freestyle / 1 :30 : 80 / 35 – 39
Andrew Linsley / 50m Breaststroke / 0 : 44 : 26 / 35 - 39
Brendan Burke / 100m Freestyle / 1 : 33 : 92 / 45 - 49
Martin Bourke / 100m Freestyle / 1 : 23 : 82 / 45 - 49
Nollaig O Maonaigh / 100m Breaststroke / 1 : 46 : 48 / 50 - 54
Nollaig O Maonaigh / 200m Freestyle / 3 : 04 : 07 / 50 - 54
Nollaig O Maonaigh / 100m Freestyle / 1 : 26 : 67 / 50 - 54
Peter Millen / 100m Freestyle / 1 : 25 : 52 / 45 - 49
Roisin Mooney / 50m Butterfly / 0 : 36 : 78 / 18 - 24 / Gold
Roisin Mooney / 50m Backstroke / 0 : 38 : 96 / 18 - 24 / Gold
Roisin Mooney / 50m Freestyle / 0 : 33 : 41 / 18 - 24 / Silver
Roisin Mooney / 100m Freestyle / 1 : 12 : 98 / 18 – 24 / Gold
Roisin Mooney / 100m Backstroke / 1 : 21 : 72 / 18 - 24 / Gold
Ronan O’ Connor / 50m Butterfly / Disqualified / 30 - 34
Ronan O’ Connor / 100m I / M / 1 : 14 : 73 / 30 - 34 / Bronze
Ronan O’ Connor / 50m Freestyle / 0 : 27 : 63 / 30 - 34 / Bronze
Ronan O’ Connor / 100m Freestyle / 1 : 01 : 72 / 30 - 34 / Gold
Ronan O’ Connor / 50m Breaststroke / 0 : 37 : 45 / 30 - 34 / Bronze
Tara Bernie / 50m Butterfly / 0 : 39 : 26 / 35 - 39 / Gold
Tara Bernie / 100m I / M / 1 : 25 : 44 / 35 - 39 / Gold
MMSC Mixed Relay / 4 x 100m Medley / 5 : 48 : 98 / 120 + / Silver
MMSC Mixed Relay / 4 x 100m Freestyle / 5 : 16 : 25 / 120 + / Bronze
MMSC Men’s Relay / 4 x 100m Freestyle / 6 : 10 : 54 / 160 +
  1. LakeZurich open water marathon swim. 8th August 2010-11-08

Earlier this year 4 members of the Meath Masters Swimming Club took part in a tough and unforgiving 26.4km swim across the beautiful lake Zurich.

Swimming the event were John Downes, Martin Bourke, Nick Nally and Mark Farrell.

John Downes undertook the major challenge of completing the distance as a solo swimmer, completing the gruelling 26.4km well within the events cut off time. John has taken part in open water events before and has conquered many tough open water swims but none with the distance and prestige as Zurich. Completing this event is a testament to all his training and hard work. John is planning to swim the English Channel next summer also so we wish him all the luck in the world on that one!!

Martin, Nick and Mark joined forces in a relay team to finish the event. Each swimmer spent an hour in the water before handing over to the next swimmer. This was the first major open water event any of the lads had ever taken part in and to finish such a punishing distance well within the cut off time is a credit to them all. Since this event Martin went on to take part in the Liffey Swim in Dublin in September. Brave man swimming in that water.

*If you are interested in taking part in open water swimming or just braving the cold Irish waters for an unforgettable experience you can join John and the lads every Sunday in Portmarnock, Co. Dublin.

For more information just email or

  1. A big MMSC welcome to all the new members.

Meath Masters Swimming Club would like to welcome all the new members to the pool for the 2010 / 2011 season. It is great to have you on board and any questions or input you have into the running of the club please don’t hesitate to put it to any of the below committee members.

Ronan O’ Connor / Tara
Bernie / Andrew
Linsley / John
Downes / Martin
Bourke / Steven Lynch
  1. Many thanks to all members for a successful membership renewal drive.

Thank you to all MMSC members for making this years renewal process a simple process. The quick return of all fees and forms to Ronan and Andrew saved a lot of the usual hassle with Swim Ireland and allows the club to concentrate fully on the swimming side of theclub (as it should be).

  1. Change of club secretary.

Due to work commitments Roisin Mooney has had to step down as club secretary. MMSC would like to thank Roisin for all her work during her time in this role.

Tara Bernie has stepped in to take over the position and will no doubt do a great job.

Tara can be contacted at or or any club related information or questions.

  1. Meath Masters swimming league – Autumn 2010-11-08

The introduction of monthly time - trials and a swimmers league table this year has been an overwhelming success. We are now on month 2 of a 3 month time period and the majority of the swimmers taking part in the event have either improved their times or held them pretty much steady

Here is how the league table looks so far. (Remember it is 1 point per 4 sec increase on 400m / per 2sec increase on 200m / per 1sec increase on 100m and a 30sec increase on 50m.

A 1 point deduction is awarded for any decrease be it 1sec or 30 secs)

Swimmer / 400m Time / Difference / 200m Time / Difference / 100m Time / Difference / 50m Time / Difference / Points Earned
Tara / Bernie / 02;58;00 / -9 / 00;37;81 / -2 / 7
Martin / Bourke / 01;30;02
Brendan / Burke / 03;28;00 / -5 / 01;35;00 / 0 / 2
Brid / Downes
Cormac / O' Toole / 02;59;00 / -10 / 00;35;65 / 0 / 5
Peter / Garry / 03;06;00 / 0 / 00;33;91 / +0.5 / -1
Andrew / Linsley / 07;20;00 / -16 / 00;41;91 / +1 / 3
Stephen / Lynch
Peter / Millen
Ronan / O'Connor
Siobhan / Payne
Alicja / Naguszewska / 02;58;00 / +2 / 01;23;38 / +4 / -2
Roisin / Mooney / 02;46;00 / +1 / 00;35;39 / 0 / -1
Aisling / Ni Mhaonaigh
Nollaig / O Maonaigh / 03;13;00 / 01;31;77 / 40;13

(Some swimmers have not completed their 2nd round of time trials – no points above) – (Highlighted swimmers did not take part in the 1st time trial in October)

  1. Eleanor Murray’s success at the World D.S. Swimming Championships in October.

In May of 2010 the Meath Masters Swimming Club undertook a marathon challenge to raise money to help send the Irish Down Syndrome swimming team to Taiwan to compete in the 5th World Swimming championships. This event took place in October of this year and brought with it huge success for Team Ireland.

The team won a total of 3 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 5 bronze medals.

One of the team members, local Trim girl Eleanor Murray contributed to the medal tally winning one Gold medal and one Bronze medal. She is now ranked 11th in the world at the 100m Butterfly and 19th in the world at the 100m front-crawl.

Her biggest achievement though was being named the ‘best overall junior swimmer’ at the 2010 world games….Watch this space I’d say, she is one for the future.

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Always remember swimmers, should you need any assistance in your swimming or have any question or input into the way the club runs please don’t hesitate to let us know at

Happy Swimming.

Ronan O’ Connor

MMSC Chairperson.