A team of swimmers with a combined age of 240 set a new world record during a national competition.

The City of Sheffield team set a time of 1:52:06 in the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay at the GoCardless Swim England Masters National Championships on Friday.

The time, set at the city’s Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, broke last year’s record for its age category (also set by a team from Sheffield) by six seconds.

“All we could say to each other was ‘wow,'” said team member Jonathon Saunders, 58, admitting that his plan had been to break the record all along.

The City of Sheffield swim team, made up of 47 swimmers aged between 18 and 75, broke five British records over the weekend.

More than 400 competitors from clubs across the UK took part in the overall competition.

Two members of Sheffield’s world record-breaking team, Dawn Kissack (61) and Lindsey Gaywood (63), have been swimming together for the club since they were 13 years old.

“We swam down to Sheffield at the old Park Baths and then Dawn went to Scotland,” Ms Gaywood said.

Ms Kissack, who traveled from Scotland for the competition, said swimming with the team was “worth the trip”.

The team’s newest member, 58-year-old Andrew Moore, has been racing for a year.

Mr Moore had been swimming since the age of eight but had “retired many times”.

He said the win was down to team coach Abbie Whiting, who joined the team in 2021.

“He’s been behind us all this time,” he said.

“He’s really good at getting the best out of us.”

Ms Whiting said: “Sheffield has great facilities and the club invests well in grassroots swimming, but we are lucky to have the facilities we have.”

While the team loves competing, Ms. Kissack said it’s also “about friendship and staying healthy.”

Mr Saunders added: “It’s not just the four of us, the team is one big family – a friendly, welcoming community.”

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