Miami Masters ‘Swimmen Wimmen’ Relay Team Smashes Three World Records
By Suzie Ryan, Swimming World Intern
The Miami Masters ‘Swimmen Wimmen’ relay team, with a combined age of 320 years, has broken three FINA Masters World Records in the 320-359 years category this year. Made up of four Gold Coast women, Margaret Fittock (80), Denise Robterston (86), Margaret Watts (78) and Carole Simpon (76), the foursome broke their first world record (4x100m freestyle; short course) back in June at a Masters meet at the Chandler Aquatic Centre in Brisbane.
The relay team broke the previous world record held by a team from Japan by an incredible 25.10 seconds.
“It was amazing. I had never dreamt of being a world-record holder and it took until I was 80, but it truly is such a great achievement for not only me but the whole team,” said Fittock.
“It was a fantastic experience. The whole crowd was cheering for us and to do it at a stadium like Chandler was incredible,” said Watts. “The icing on the cake was having Channel Nine news, both the local and national channels, wanting to interview us.”
There was no stopping the Miami Masters Relay team at one world record, as the women got straight back to training to attempt breaking two more world records, the 4x200m freestyle relay and 4x100m freestyle relay in long course.
“After breaking that first world record at the short course meet, I started to focus more on doing a bit more endurance work,” Simpson said. “I started getting used to not running out of energy over four long course laps.”
“I didn’t change my training too much. I was just a bit more careful to protect my weak bits, like my shoulders, so I knew they could last for the next two record breaking attempts,” said Robertson.
On November 27, at the Swimming Gold Coast Relay Championships at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, the Miami Masters ‘Swimmen Wimmen’ relay team broke two more world marks, fulfilling the goals they set. The women smashed the 4x200m record by 1:49.10 and the 4x100m record by 16.32 seconds, both previously held by a team in Japan.
“It was absolutely fantastic to break another two world records after breaking the short course one earlier in the year,” said Simpson. “I knew we had a fair shot at getting them both since we train in a long course pool, but to actually get them was just great.”
“It was such a relief to break both world records for two reasons, firstly because we all had some health issues in the weeks leading up to our attempt,” said Robertson. “And, secondly, because I had gone against the wishes of our masters committee to organize the swim at the event. So it was a great feeling breaking both records.”
4x200m Freestyle Long Course
Previous World Record: 16:54.29
Swimmen Wimmen Time: 15.05.19
Margaret Fittock – 4:06.76
Denise Robertson – 3:34.78
Margaret Watts – 3:59.37
Carole Simpson – 3:24.28
4x100m Freestyle Long Course
Previous World Record: 7:10.67
Swimmen Wimmen Time: 6.54.35
Margaret Fittock – 1:53.86
Denise Robertson – 1:40.18
Margaret Watts – 1:45.99
Carole Simpson – 1:34.32
4x100m Freestyle Short Course
Previous World Record: 7:05.93
Swimmen Wimmen Time: 6.40.83
Margaret Fittock – 1:48.57
Denise Robertson – 1:36.87
Margaret Watts – 1:43.62
Carole Simpson – 1:31.77
Absolutely fabulous four !!!