A surprised Peter Winter was recently awarded the prestigious Masters Cherriman Award for 2023.
The annual award is given to an exceptional individual who inspires others or works tirelessly behind the scenes to help the Masters community and Peter is someone who has been doing exactly that.
As member of Newmarket Swimming Club and Team Anglia, Peter was the brains behind the idea of integrating para swimming into the Swim England National Masters Championships, a project which has now gone onto be introduced at the British Championships too.
He received the honour at Ponds Forge during the recent GoCardless Swim England National Masters Championships – two years on from when he first implemented para swimming into the competition.
Speaking on receiving the award, Peter said: “I was so surprised that I was named the Cherriman award winner. It was lovely to receive the award with my baby boy, Theo, wife Emma and team mates present.”
As an S10 classified swimmer himself, Peter has always been an active member of the aquatic’s community as the Disability Manager in our Region and as a life-long swimmer.
From his schooldays, he has been a member of Newmarket Swimming Club and took part in the qualifying events for the London 2012 Paralympics.
It’s through his own experiences of why he was so passionate to create a platform for para swimmers to continue to compete where they are still recognised based on both their age and classification.
“The idea started more than nine years ago, where I was seeing para swimmers leaving the sport when they no longer felt competitive at the top end of para swimming.
“There was no competitions for older classified swimmers and I was seeing this was having a health impact. I felt I needed to stick my head above the parapet, to shout that we needed a competition to keep us all strong fit and healthy.”
He reached out to Jeroen Peters (Swim England Masters Leadership Group Chair) about his idea and they set to work on designing the new concept.
Peter worked tirelessly behind the scenes with Alan Rowson to find a solution to create an age adjustment formula as part of the para swimming results calculator and were able to pilot the system at the National Masters Championships in 2022.
Since then it’s gone onto grow and the Championships attract more para swimmers each year. The system is also now implemented into Sport Systems and is close to being available for clubs, counties and regional meets across the UK.
Looking forward to the future, Peter is hopeful that the system can soon be used to encourage para swimmers across the world to take part.
“I’m immensely proud that the para side has grown year on year.
“In 2024 we had two Paralympians swim and take part, one of them competing this year at Paris 2024. The competition also has got people looking around the world at the model being used.
“I would like to see it grow further and that we’re able to use the model when Great Britain next host the world or European Championships to encourage para swimmers from all over the world take part.
“Thank you to Jeroen for giving me the time and energy, to present my case for a para championship at the Masters Nationals.
“To Alan for assisting me with a working solution combining, his age adjustment formula, with the Para Swimming Points Calculator. Thank you also to Graham Spratt for incorporating this into the latest edition of Sport Systems and finally to Bernie Buck for giving me the belief that one day it may happen.”
