Redhill & Reigate Swimming Club Hall of Fame
The following three RRSC swimmers have already achieved national and international success. Watch this space for future champion swimmers!
Alison Streeter MBE grew up in the Redhill area and swam for RRSC. She and her mother Freda have been involved with RRSC for many years. They have both been active members of the RRSC committee (most recently Alison was our Treasurer) and are Honorary Life Members of the club.
The following profile of Alison is taken from Wikipedia:
Alison Streeter MBE (born 1964) has conquered the English Channel 43 times, more than anyone in the world and earning her the title of Queen of the English Channel (The title was previously held by Cindy Nicholas - the King of the English Channel is currently held by Kevin Murphy with 34 successful crossings). This total includes a triple-channel swim. She also completed seven Channel crossings in one year, a feat made more difficult because she mounted her challenges against this 21 mile body of water one at a time on separate attempts of about one every ten days. Alison is also the fastest woman from France to England (8 hours 48 minutes), a record she established in 1988. She was the first (and so far only) woman to swim the Channel three ways non-stop in 1990 taking 34 h 40 min for the feat. Only 2 other men have succeeded (Jon Erikson, 1981 in a time of 38 h 27 mins and Philip Rush 1987 in a time of 28 h 21 mins).
The Queen gave Alison the MBE in 1991 for the above and charity fundraising. In May 2006 she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale. She worked as a currency trader all her working life in London until last year, and now spends part of her life in Adelaide, Australia and the summers in Dover in her beloved English Channel as a fully qualified Boat Pilot.
Latest news:
Sixteen year old R&RSC and Great Britain disability swimmer Louise Watkin took one silver and three bronze medals at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.
On 8 September 2008 Louise Watkin came a superb second place second behind South African Natalie du Toit in the S9 category 100m freestyle at the Beijing Paralympics, with a time of 1:03:85.
Louise's second event, on Wednesday 10 September, was the 100m breaststroke. She finished in 1:26.10 seconds, behind New Zealand's gold medallist Sophie Pascoe.
On Thursday 11 September she swam in the 200m IM and gained the bronze medal in a time of 2:40.31, improving her PB by nearly a second!
Friday 12 September saw Louise placed 5th in the 400m Freestyle in 4:47.14 (a 2.64 sec PB).
On Sunday 14 September Louise swam her final race, the 50m Freestyle, taking the bronze medal in 0:29.80.
Redhill & Reigate Swimming Club congratulate Louise on her outstanding achievement.
Previous success in 2008:
Louise Watkin claims European record
RRSC and Kelly College swimmer Louise Watkin smashed the European record in the S9 category on the final day of the British International Disability Swimming Championships in Sheffield. The women’s 100m Freestyle saw Watkin take a record on 27 April, the final day of the competition. Watkin swam an excellent race in a time of 1:05.15, lowering the European record and claiming the silver medal with a total of 824 points. “I was aiming for the European record going into that event,” Watkin said. “I was really close to it at the British Championships so I wanted to come here and take it." For further information please see http://www.britishswimming.org and http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1
Last year:
Louise Watkin took 10 British records over the year up to 31 July 2007 and is steadily moving up the world rankings. We congratulate Louise for obtaining the New European and World Record on 100m IM achieving a time of 0:76:81 in November 2007. In addition Louise took her first European record in the short course championships with a New British and European Record in the 400m Freestyle event in a time of 4:56:13 on 3 November 2007. This fantastic result is listed on the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) website at
http://www.paralympic.org/release/Summer_Sports/Swimming/Records.
Jim Green
Jim is the only member of RRSC who currently holds both Australian and British records for swimming. He was first associated with RRSC in 1964 and only started swimming competitively at the age of 67! He currently swims in the 80-85 age group. He achieved records for 100m and 200m Breaststroke short course at the Nationals in Sheffield when he was swimming in the 75-79 years age group and still remains unbeaten. He is also the current holder of the Australian National 100m and 200m breaststroke titles for his age group as well as the Great Britain long course records for 100m and 200m Breaststroke which, ironically, he achieved while in Australia. In February 2008 Jim set a new British record in the 100m Breaststroke, clocking 2.00.70 for the 80-84 years age group at the Isle of Wight meet. Many congratulations Jim! Along with this fantastic result Jim also secured 3 more Gold medals in the following events:
· 25m Breaststroke – 23.57
· 25m Backstroke – 27.83
· 200m Breaststroke – 4.31.29
Jim went to Perth, Australia again to compete in the Fina World Swimming Championships in April 2008. He is an inspiration to all of us and proof that you can never be too old for competitive swimming!