Din Din's

South City Masters is holding a dinner to which everyone is invited. It will be held on Sat 28th May at 7pm, at Spices Thai, 123 Ormiston Road, Botany South (just down from Celsius). Fully licensed & BYO Wine. Menu is below ($32 version – with dessert, no soup). The evening will be subsidized with a rather generous subsidy for club members; so the evening will cost $15 for club members and $30 for non-members.

Please confirm your attendance by May 21st. There will be the usual sheet by the side of the pool at training sessions for you to do this. Anne Legg will be collecting payment in advance (nice one Ann, this makes it easy for everyone). 

Maximum of 45 people, so first come first served.

Banquet Menu

Entree

Chicken Wing

Curry Puff

Money Bag

Chicken Satay

Main Courses

Panang Curry with chicken

Beef with oyster gravy sauce and veg

Pork with chili, garlic and veg

Chicken with ginger and veg

Pad Thai noodle with chicken

Steamed Thai jasmine rice

Dessert

Banana rolls with strawberry sauce, icecream, cream

Filtered coffee or tea

Prince of the Bays - Son of KOB

16th April was the date for the annual King of the Bays swim. Unfortunately the weather was not being kind to the organizers or the swimmers. Nasty wind and rain meant that the normally 2.8km swim was shortened to 1.5km. It was so rough in fact that the organizers didn't even let the swimmers venture out into open water and they only swam twice around the 750m course and even then it was rough. 

Undercover Detective wasn't hang-gliding but did have 360 degree goggles on and saw everything. I don't know how many swimmers were entered (they usually get around 1300) but 651 swimmers cheated certain death and recorded a time. Here’s how our swimmers did.

JASON GRANT                  00:16:48            35th
RICHARD SMITH               00:17:06            40th
DAVID DONALDSON         00:18:20            87th
RACHEL RICHARDSON    00:18:25            93rd
ELLIOT CRAWFORD         00:20:03            194th
LIZ HAYES                         00:20:07            199th
TONY SHACKLOCK          00:21:40            289th
ANGELA TOMLINSON       00:21:45            294th
ANGELA OLIVER               00:22:31            342nd
DAVID WALKER                 00:23:54            408th
BARRY CRIBBENS            00:25:35            484th

What's this? Tony and Angela T 5 seconds apart again. That's the same margin as last time. I'm starting to think this is deliberate and conspired. To quote Angela 'only a fool breaks the 5 second rule'. It's really not necessary guys, it's not like there's food on the floor. To make matters even more confusing Elliot and Liz finished just 4 seconds apart. Now I've heard of tethered cycling but not tethered swimming. I'm sure this kind of thing is against the rules.

Undercover Detective - next time perhaps you could wear your head-mounted waterproof video camera and take some video. Or at least get some photos. I promise that the head-mounted gear won't add any drag and slow you down.

Satellite Spies - Lookout, They're Everywhere

That ocean swim that makes even Chuck Norriss run for the hills was on again today. Yes, The Rangitoto to St Heliers 4.6km swim. Roving Reporter wasn't there but Satellite Spy was and here is how South City members and honorary members did:

Richard Smith 1:01:12 (7th)
David Donaldson 1:09:52
Elizabeth Hayes 1:12:16
Rachel Richardson 1:12:51
Elliott Crawford 1:18:11
Pat Castles 1:22:00
Tony Shacklock 1:22:39
Angela Tomlinson 1:22:44
Mike Wansink 1:23:19
David Walker 1:29:02
Ross Faulkner 1:30:16
Barry Cribbens 1:41:06
  
Brilliant conditions: Partly cloudy, light wind, flat water. South City was well represented with 10 club members swimming. No one won a spot prize though. What's with that? Going on times it looks like a few people were holding hands throughout the race. Are Tony and Angela conjoined twins? They were just 5 seconds apart. I might need a spy-in-the-sky next time to check that one out. You can volunteer for spy-in-the-sky position if you like, it is unpaid but you get to learn hang-gliding.

Didn't they all do well.

Build A Better Mousetrap.........

and they shall come. And they did! 30 Masterful swimmers enjoyed their races on Wednesday with lots of short stuff to keep the sprinters happy. There was 25 Fly or Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast and 100 Free. Some great times were swum and 7 swimmers who had swum the 100 free last round managed to lower their own times and lower their own record or break records set by others in the previous round.

In the Womens there were four (4) record changes as follows:

25-29 age group  Angela Tomlinson reduced her own record from 1.24.32 to 1.22.31
40-44 age group  Elizabeth Hayes reduced her own record from 1.17.47 to 1.15.11
55-59 age group Avy Judelson set a new mark of 1.20.19 from old record of 1.44.15
70-74 age group Cathy Fagerstroem reduced her own record from 2.03.99 to 1.54.28

In the mens there were three record changes as follows:

45-49 age group Michael Harrison reduced his own record from 1.14.60 to 1.09.30
55-59 age group Ron Tomlinson set a new mark of 1.09.47 from the old record of 1.22.70.
65-69 age group Barry Davies reduced his own record from 1.39.77 to 1.38.99 

Checkout the Overall Results page to see what times were swum by whom and then have a look at the Records pages to see who holds what records.

There are now 33 different club record holders. The most hotly contested category is the men's 50-54 age group which now has 5 men holding records. Myself, I think they are just being far too nice to each other and sharing it around. Sharing is caring, so I've heard. Maybe they have a pact; one for me, one for you.....

The next race night is pegged for Wednesday 4th May, 7pm. If you are not the sprinting type and it takes you 20 minutes just to get up on the start blocks then you will like what's in store because I believe it might be the 400 Free (or IM if you are fast enough to finish an IM before 8pm bowls around). This is to be confirmed yet though. So if you like the longer stuff then start dusting off those enduro-goggles.

Busy Weekend of Competition For Club Members

Roving Reporter was kept busy during the last weekend of March keeping up with the activities of club members competing around the country.

First event kicking off for the weekend was the Long Course Nationals in Hamilton which ran from Friday 25th March to Sunday 27th. 6 Club members made the trip to the lovely Waikato - Mark Cowling, Barry Davies, Ross Faulkner, Mike Harrison, Avy Judelson and Deryn McGregor. By the time they returned to the Big Smoke they had bagged themselves a pretty impressive 10 gold, 11 silver and 1 bronze medal. With only 2 women there were no women's relays but placings were gained in both men's relays and both mixed relays; 2 firsts and 2 seconds in total. Deryn managed to get an extra relay swim when she was invited to the flying squadron relay which this year was won by the South with the Northern region coming in second place. It wasn't all swimming though, almost all the South City contingent attended Saturday night's Dine and Dance and, not to be outdone, John T officiated at the meet and ensured he was well looked after by convincing the meet organizers that he was Fina's official representative, there to check that all ran smoothly (much to the hilarity of the South City members).

Go to the Gallery page to see more photos 

from the LC Nationals.

Out of the pool now and into the sea. So we're off to Mt Maunganui for sun, sand and surf. Sun? It's raining! Oh never mind, what's a little rain when you're swimming? Great times were posted by South City swimmers in this awesome event. It's 2.8 km and not for softies! Here's the results of Saturdays swim:

Jason Grant, 5th in age group (age 30 to 34), time 36m50
Patrick Castles, 3rd in age group (age 60 to 64), time 43m19
Tony Shacklock, 15th in age group (age 50 to 54), time 47m03
David Walker, 20th in age group (age 55 to 59), time 50m52

If the Roving Reporter has left anyone off the Ocean Swim results, sincere apologies. Send your results to southcitymasters@gmail.com so the posting can be amended.

If you still want to do an Ocean Swim this season it's not too late to get your entry in for King of the Bays which is on 16th April and if you aren't too keen on swimming 2.8 km then why not try your hand at the 1.0 km option.

SOUTH CITY MASTERS SWIMMERS CLUB - SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

LLOYD ELSMORE POOL  WEDNESDAY 30TH MARCH 2011

STARTING 7-00 PM

AGENDA - (SEE BELOW)

(a)   REVIEW FINANCIAL POSITION AS AT 1 JANUARY 2011

(b)   APPROVAL OF CONSTITUTION AND RULES FOR CLUB -  (AVAILABLE ON REQUEST PRIOR TO SGM, OR SEE THE EMAIL SENT OUT)

(c)   ELECTION OF OFFICERS / COMMITTEE

(d)   APPROVE INCORPORATION OF CLUB

(e)   OTHER BUSINESS (IF ANY)

MEETING WILL BE HELD AT POOL SIDE.   AT CONCLUSION OF MEETING BACK TO SWIMMING

NO CHARGES THIS NIGHT

SOUTH CITY MASTERS SWIMMERS CLUB

SPECIAL  GENERAL MEETING

DATE:                  Wednesday 30^th March 2011                                     

LOCATION:     Lloyd Elsmore Leisure Pool Side

QUORUM:   Ten (10) members                                                       

TIME:                  7-00 PM

PROCEEDINGS

1.     Welcome and review.   (Interim  President  Mike Wansink)

2.     Financial Position  as at 1 January 2011 (Interim Treasurer J Trubnick)

3.     Adoption of a Constitution and rules for the Club (Interim Secretary Barry Davies)

(a)   Overview

(b)   Questions / clarification

(c)    Amendments (if any)

MOTION

“ That the South City Masters Swimmers Club adopt Document ‘A’ as their Constitution and Rules for the Club.”    (Davies /Judelson)

4.     Election of Officers (Nominations called for)

(a)   President

(b)   Secretary

(c)    Treasurer

5.     Election of other Committee Members  (Nominations called for)

(a)   Up to five (5)  members.

6.     Election of Auditor (If necessary)

7.     Election of Hon. Solicitor (If necessary)

8.     General Business

(a)   Incorporation of the Club

MOTION

“That the Committee takes steps to Incorporate the South City Masters Swimmers Club under The Incorporated Societies Act 1908”  (Wansink / Trubnick)

(b)   Other (if any)

NOTE:   The proposed Constitution and rules were an attachment to the E Mail  dated Monday the 14/3/2011 notifying this meeting.  Please bring a copy with you to this meeting if possible.

MEETING AT SIDE OF POOL. AS SOON AS FINISHED BACK TO SWIMMING UNTIL 8-00 PM. SO BRING YOUR  SWIM GEAR

NO POOL CHARGES BEING LEVIED FOR THAT NIGHT

 

Great Turnout At Second Race Night

On 2nd March 2011 we held our second race night and 25 people showed up to splash and dash their way up (and down) the pool - some several times, often in quick enough succession to cause Master Starter John to call for a 3 minute break a couple of times so the swimmers could catch their breath.

A big thanks to John and our other volunteers who manned stopwatches. I noticed a few future masters swimmers practicing their timekeeping techniques and a fine job they were doing too.

Times for the recent race night are now posted on the 'Overall Results' page where they will remain till next race night and any records that were created have been posted on the records pages. So take a gander and enjoy seeing your name up 'in lights'. It's good to see so many different names on the records pages; I only have 10 fingers but if I've counted right then 29 club members hold club records so that's more than half the club!

Next race night will be on Wednesday 6th April at 7pm (to be confirmed) and the events will be 25 Fly, 50 Breast, 50 Back, 100 Free; also to be confirmed. That's a lot of confirming isn't it? So you'd better watch this space.

Next Club Race Night Wednesday 2nd March 2011, 7pm

Just a reminder that it is Club Night on Wednesday the 2 March 2011 starting 7-00 pm.   As usual a warm up from 7pm to 7-10 pm.  The events being held are as follows:

(a)  25 m   Breaststroke
(b)  50 m   Freestyle
(c)  100 m  Backstroke
(d)  100 m  IM or Freestyle

For those swimmers who don't like using the starting block, you can either start from the edge of the pool or push off from pool wall.

Any non swimmers, friends etc who would like to volunteer as time keepers, this would be appreciated

First Club Night A Success And Records Created

Click on the tabs, men's records or women's records to view club record holders.

It Worked!

My gadget in iGoogle got updated within a few minutes. Unfortunately I didn't get an email though so I think for anything really important or urgent club members should still get an email even if it's just one directing them to the blog. So how can people set it up so they know there is a new posting? Several options:

1. Don't do anything fancy but just be diligent in checking the blog twice a week.
or
2. Save the South City Masters blog as your homepage in your browser.
or
3. I use iGoogle as my homepage so things like news, weather etc automatically show every time I open my browser. It's a bit more fiddly to set up but isn't as hard as it looks and is worth it once you are done. You need a google account but we'll get to that.
Firstly, go to the blog (http://southcitymasters.blogspot.com), scroll to the bottom of the page and click where it says 'Posts (Atom)'. You will be taken to a new page. In the yellow box you are given a drop down menu with the default being Google. I suggest you stick with Google. You can choose another option but you are on your own instructions-wise. Hit 'subscribe now'. Now click 'Add to iGoogle Homepage'. If you have a Google account, use it; if you don't, then create one using your email address and a password of your choice.
Now, open Google in your browser. On the top right of the screen you will see a menu. Click on 'iGoogle'. Sign in using the email and password of your Google account. Bob's your uncle! You should see the South City Masters Gadget on the page with the 3 latest postings. Click on the + to read the post or the words 'South City Masters'  in the blue band to go straight to the blog.
You can rearrange iGoogle so your gadgets appear on the page where you want them (just drag them around), you can add and delete gadgets (Add Stuff link) so you can keep your eye on several blogs at once, Herald news etc, and of course you can set iGoogle as your homepage so you can have a quick squizz at things that are important to you every time you open your browser.

Phew! I think we are done now. That's pretty much it for the mock up.