Midwinter Dinner Doubles as Awards Night

Photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/72194999@N03/

It was almost standing room only at the Thai Flame on Saturday night for the club's midwinter bash. The Thai Flame is a large venue but this annual event has become so popular that if you don't want to miss out next year you'd better be VERY quick getting your name down. There was a marvelous array of attire and it seemed that red bow ties were the order of the evening. However, whether a frock or a tie or a t-shirt was worn it didn't matter at all since at least no one was wearing togs.

A well kept secret was that this year's dinner was also an Awards Dinner. That was a bit of a surprise wasn't it? The club formally acknowledged a few teams that have broken NZ records over the last year and Avy Judelson, Giles Walker, Dawn Walker and Andrew Simpson had their NZ record for the 200+ Free set in May acknowledged and received their certificates. Andrew Simpson's individual record for the 50m Free, also set in May, has now been ratified.

Three trophies were also awarded to individual club members.

Club Member of the Year: Sally Walker
Sally totally epitomises the club spirit, giving freely of her time, she is always on hand to collect the money, timekeep, collect the money, work on the desk at meets, collect the money,  and do pretty much anything that needs doing, especially collecting money. Sally is the 'go to' person when you need something done.

Most Improved Swimmer of the Year: Denise Munday
Denise's improvement has been nothing short of astounding. She has paid attention to technique and turned up to training sessions and has been spotted doing sneaky extra sessions. The results are clear for all to see. Denise keeps moving up and up lanes with alarming regularity. We will run out of lanes for her to move into if she keeps this up.

Swimmer of the Year: Deryn McGregor
Deryn has been working extremely hard for about 3 years on her breaststroke technique and it all came to fruition over the last season with the snaffling up of all 6 NZ records in her age group for breaststroke. You might think she is going to retire quietly to her rocking chair now to crochet but NO! There will be new goals - just ask what they are.

As usual, the Thai Flame did a lovely job with the food and I don't think anyone left hungry though I have a sneaky suspicion that some people may have got two desserts (but I won't dob them in).

Dave Walker also did a wonderful job as photographer. It's fantastic having a club member who is happy to fulfill this role and provide us all with the means to so easily access such great photos, and we don't need to think about taking our own cameras, we just need to be ready to photo bomb. Thanks Dave, you do a grand job!

Pool Closure Dates

Sunday is the last of training at LEP before it closes for it's annual maintenance. The pool is only shut for a couple of weeks and then it's back to normal. John T has arranged some swimming at Papatoetoe pool (thanks John) and our friends at Manukau Masters have invited us to swim with them at Manurewa pool, Sykes Rd, Manurewa on Mondays (thanks Manukau Masters). So there is no need for you to miss your weekly fixes of swimming training. And it's FREE while we are away from home. What could be better than a free holiday?

Don't forget the mid-winter dinner at the Thai Flame on the 26th July. There has been some mention of 'frocks 'n' crocs' for the ladies and tuxes for the men. Just kidding...... but I think we are not supposed to wear our togs to this.

Race Night Results Are Up and Date Set for Next Race Night

Last night's races saw 17 swimmers brave the cold and show up for some really fantastic racing. For some reason numbers are down a little. I was busy visualising the bottom of the pool - you would think that after 40 years of swimming I had some idea what it looks like but you are WRONG, I am clueless! So that's my excuse, what's yours? If it's the cold, well the news is that last June was the warmest June on record. So come along, if for no other reason than the mellowpuff at the end of it.

These 17 swimmers produced 19 records between them. That's more than a record each, that's an amazing effort; 16 to the men, 2 to the men and 1 relay record. Check out the record pages, they are looking quite impressive.

Tanya (is that Queen Tanya) Sutton was crowned Swimmer of the Month. Tanya has shown a great deal of discipline and enthusiasm and is very eager to learn everything she can to improve her swimming. The pay off has been extraordinary - she has moved up 3 lanes and is delicately poised for another lane shift. Well done Tanya (or is that Tanz when you come from Oz?).

Finally, please note in your diaries that next race night will be on 13th August due to the annual pool closure and a few regular race night attendees being out of action while they attend the Samoa Swim Series (most notably the person who compiles all the results so I think we all agree a delay is in order - hear hear).