Margaret Roberts Wins Derbyshire ASA International Award

Margaret Roberts is a member of the club and a former Club Secretary. Her contribution to swimming locally, nationally and internationally is exceptional. Margaret is both a Pool and Open Water Swimming Official and has represented the sport at the highest level.

Margaret has been associated with the club from the very beginning, with her father being one of the club’s co-founders. As a swimmer, she competed for the club in both competitive and synchro swimming.

Later, at the encouragement of David Hunt, Margaret trained as an official, a role she embraced many years ago. When her two daughters became members of the club, she returned to officiating, initially gaining her pool qualifications and progressing to Pool Referee level. She then went on to take open water qualifications, again achieving Referee status.

At this point, Margaret’s officiating career reached the international stage. She was added to the FINA officials list, which led to her selection as one of the Open Water Officials at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Following this, Margaret officiated at a number of international events, including:

• 2012 European Open Water Championships – Italy
• 2016 European Junior Championships – Italy
• 2017 FINA World Masters – Budapest
• 2018 European Open Water Championships – Glasgow
• 2023 World Masters Open Water – Japan

On Sunday, Margaret was recognised for her extensive international service and was awarded the Derbyshire ASA International Award. She is only one of two Derbyshire officials to have received this honour.

Interested?

By becoming an official, many opportunities become available, including the potential to officiate at events across the UK and internationally.

We would love to have more officials within Rykneld. If you would like to find out more, please get in touch with us at rykneldscenquiries@gmail.com.