BUCS Long Course 2025
This year, BUCS Long Course weekend fell across Valentines Day. While usually selfless lovers, this Valentines Day the members of OUSC were set on finishing first. Eleven swimmers made the journey to Ponds Forge in Sheffield and between them they made 9 finals and broke a whopping 9 records.
Racing began on Friday with a double whammy of records: Charlotte broke her own record in the 100 Back with 1:05.69, then Jonathan broke the 200IM record by 7 second with 2:06.00. In the second session, Eirinn and Weiqi blitzed the 50 breast and 200 free respectively. Ioan also took a blues time in the 100 fly with 58.43. In the evening, Charlotte finished a mighty impressive 9th place in the B Final of the 100 Back and Jonathan a spectacular 8th place in the A Final of the 200IM. The Mixed Medley Relay of Charlotte, Jonathan, Ioan and Sophie presented some magnificent swimming to place 5th in the B Final. After guzzling many burritos at Street Food Chef, the team headed back to the AirBnBs for a sweet treat and a well-deserved sleep.
Day 2 saw some more club records tumble: Sophie with 9:40.22 in the 800 Free (very long and strong and goggles stayed on), Charlotte with 29.45 in the 50 fly, and the Freestyle relay team consisting of Jonathan, Christian, Ioan, and Max with 3:35.28. Ioan’s phenomenal third leg earnt him the title of Mr Ketchup (the perfect 3rd layer in a man sandwich). Jonathan’s leading leg also took the 100 Free record, with an exquisite 51.54. The team returned in the A final that evening, dropping even further to take the record again with 3:35.10.
The day also saw very strong swims from Nani in the 400IM (just 5 seconds off the Oxford record), Ioan in the 50 fly, Caterina in the 50 fly and 100 free, and Molly in the 100 free. The Women’s Freestyle relay of Charlotte, Caterina, Nani and Molly had a strong swim but unfortunately they were disqualified by a trigger-happy official, meaning they couldn’t proceed to the final. For dinner, the team headed to Noodle Doodle, and while dangerously close to Bierkeller, drinking ban was respected and they headed home after dinner for another early night.
Super Sunday started off with a bang, with Christian taking the 50 Free record with 24.34. Sophie was next in the 400 free with another record (4:41.36) making her the proud owner of the 200, 400, and 800 OUSC long course records. She was accompanied in the next lane by Weiqi, who also had a terrific swim with 4:53.30 and managed to secure the Seconds Team record for the event! Molly, Caterina and Max were also strong in the 50 Free, with Caterina a mere 0.07 seconds away from the Blues Time. The Women’s 4 x 100 Medley of Caterina, Charlotte, Sophie and Molly swam strongly in the heats to secure a place in the B final, where they finished in 8th place.
Ioan and Jonathan had beautiful 200 Breast and Fly swims respectively, with both proceeding to the finals in the evening. Charlotte also had a superb 50 Back to qualify for the B final, where she finished in 4th place with a very rapid 30.19. In the 200 Fly B Final, Ioan dropped 2 seconds from his heat to finish in 7th place with a classy 2:11.68. In the 200 Breast A Final, Jonathan Rutter was once again smooth as butter and took a resplendent 5th place with 2:17.93.
Club Records:
- Jonathan Rutter: 100 Free (51.54) and 200IM (2:06.00)
- Sophie Lawrence: 800 Free (9:40.22) and 400 Free (4:41.36)
- Charlotte O’Leary: 100 Back (1:05.69) and 50 Fly (29.45)
- Christian Sax: 50 Free (24.34)
- Weiqi Feng: 400 Free (4:53.30 – Seconds Team record)
- Jonathan Rutter, Christian Sax, Ioan Cressey-Rodgers, Max Anderson Loake (4 x 100 Freestyle Relay, 3:35.10)
A Finalists:
- Jonathan Rutter: 200 Breast (5th), 200 IM (8th)
- Jonathan Rutter, Christian Sax, Ioan Cressey-Rodgers, Max Anderson Loake: 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay (10th)
B Finalists:
- Charlotte O’Leary: 50 Back (4th), 100 Back (9th)
- Sophie Lawrence: 800 Free (6th)
- Charlotte O’Leary, Jonathan Rutter, Ioan Cressey-Rodgers, Sophie Lawrence: 4 x 100 Mixed Medley Relay (5th)
- Ioan Cressey Rodgers: 200 Fly (7th)
- Caterina Vanelli Coralli, Charlotte O’Leary, Sophie Lawrence and Molly Aspinall: 4 x 100 Medley Relay (8th)
Overall, what a fantastic weekend! Such a gift to spend Valentine’s weekend with the ones we love (each other) doing the thing we love most (swimming very speedily).