Christmas/End of Year Brunch

Drat! I will be in Whangamata for this day, but the rest of you need to get this in your diaty - 14th December. This is the day we all, except me :(, get together for some nice food (I shall still be doing that), enjoy great company (yes, I'm doing that too) and reminisce about the good times of 2014 (which I will also be doing).

What is a diaty? I have no idea but I have just noticed my typo and decided to just go with it.

This year's  brunch is at the Homestead Cafe. This is a very nice venue so you need to get your name on the sign up sheet lickety split as spots will fill up fast.

Check out the poster below for more details.

Mystery Current at Paihia

November 22nd marked race one of this season's State Ocean Swim Series. The day started out bright and sunny and with flat-as-a-pancake water. The swim was scheduled for early afternoon though and on a low tide so it was likely there would be at least a little breeze and the usual ocean swell or chop by then. Everyone eagerly looked forward to good times.

There was just a smattering of drizzle before the start, nothing major, and then the swimming was underway in balmy, swim-friendly conditions.

I suspect most swimmers will agree that everything went fairly smoothly until only around 400m from shore when something rather mysterious happened. Swimmers could see the finish gantry and knew that it wasn't far to go. Then what? They all started heading south instead of west. Not on purpose mind, nor was there a floating barman south of Paihia handing out free beer. In fact, it was somewhat frustrating with so few metres left to swim to find yourself heading away from the finish.

Eventually the swimmers made it in to shore though. Most found their times were 8 to 12 minutes slower than year's times. To the credit of the organisers they extended the cutoff time to allow for the extra minutes it was taking to negotiate the last section.

South City had 8 swimmers at the race and 4 made the podium so that's a 50% podium hit rate - pretty good huh? Giles came 4th and Pat came 6th so we nearly had 2 others on the podium. Avy, of course, finished in her usual 1st place.

Here are the results:
Avy Judelson          1st in age      (27th female)    1.11.12
Dave Donaldson     2nd in age     (37th male)       1.04.20
Liz Hayes                2nd in age     (39th female)    1.13.37
Deryn McGregor     2nd in age      (18th female)   1.08.03
Giles Walker           4th in age       (52 male)          1.05.43
David Walker          10th in age     (140th male)     1.16.53
Pat Castles              6th in age      (167th male)      1.20.33
Sarah Lodge           14th in age    (102nd female)  1.25.05

There were 638 finishers and ALL our swimmers were well in the top half of the field.

And now for some piccies:

Giles running for the finish

Perennial winner Avy

Silver medalists Dave and Deryn

That's enough swimming, let's sit for a bit

Gotta have some fun after the work

Now I'm not going to mention any names, or who was involved but from this text I guess it could be said that it is very important to look good while you are swimming.

 

Note to self: do hair before swimming tonight

Some Stretching Exercises

 Hi all

We’ve all noticed elite swimmers limbering up and stretching before they race, but we usually don’t do it ourselves. However, a good warm-up and appropriate stretching can help our shoulders and neck stay healthy, and perhaps improve our flexibility in the right way.

Here’s a link to a great article about warm-ups and stretches designed to reduce the chance of shoulder injury in swimmers.
http://www.usmsswimmer.com/201001/swimmer_stretching.pdf

I strongly recommend you give it a read. The warm-ups are quick and simple to do before you get in the water; and the stretches (best done at another time) don’t take long.”

Cheers
Tony
 

Club Night Results Out, Buddy System

Club Night

Firstly, apologies for the delay. I went away for the weekend and although Vodafone claims to have 97% of the country covered, I managed to find the 3% not. As usual there were more slick times swum on club night and another swag of records broken, 6 to the men and 3 to the women.

Swimmer of the month was hotly contested with 3 nominees. For various reasons this was VERY difficult to choose this month as all 3 nominees were very worthy. At the end of the day the vote went to GILES WALKER for his breaking of a very long-standing record in the 50m breaststroke for men 35-39 while at the North Island champs in Whakatane. To put this swim in perspective, the former record holder is currently ranked 2nd in the WORLD for the same event in the mens 50 to 54. This record was the culmination of a lot of analysis and focus. Great going Giles.

The wooden spoon was also given out for the month. This had to be one of the funniest wooden spoons so far. Dawn W was in the changing room and saw Tanya getting changed. She went up and starting 'pinging' her undergarment strap and saying 'I've got the same one' (don't we all do that - well, actually, no we don't Dawn!). Anyhoo.......Tanya turned around, ummm except Tanya wasn't Tanya. Nice one Dawn! Enjoy that wooden spoon.

Buddy System

The club is flourishing and numbers are increasing. This is a good thing. However, it can be a little daunting when you are the new club member and don't know anyone or how things work or even what is on offer besides training sessions.

So, committee have come up with a buddy system. We want new members to have designated 'go to' people so they feel at easy with their early days in the club. Of course as time goes on the members are likely to rely on their 'lane mates' for support etc. That would be you. So, although new members have a buddy, it is up to everyone to be supportive.

Here are the club members who will be buddies for new members:

Men <45
Giles Walker
Lapo Nustrini

Men 45+
Tony Shacklock
Dave Bradding

Women <45
Dawn Walker
Fiona Grigg

Women 45+
Avy Judelson
Deryn McGregor 
 


 

Race Night Schedule

Here it is......the schedule for the next few race night's, starting with tomorrow:

November race night
25 brst or free
50 free
100 back
100 IM or free

December race night
25 fly or free
50 brst or free
50 back
100 free

January race night
400 free
400 IM

If you feel like a mellowpuff (eating one that is, not being one) then come along, swim a few lengths then you have a good excuse to eat dessert before your veggies.

Ka-blam! Bazinga! Kapow!

Villainous national records were no match for our swimming superheroes at this weekend's North Island Champs.

Wonder Woman (Avy Judelson) orchestrated a stealth attack on the record for the women's 200 Free. She ensnared the record in her Lasso of Truth, found the record to be a lie, and set the record onto the path of honesty with a new time of 2.46

Giles (Captain America) Walker then noticed a dastardly record that had been lying underground for 13 years. Captain America laid his body on the line and dealt the supervillain a swift uppercut in just 32.03 seconds. KABOOM!

Congratulations to Avy and Giles, our 2 latest holders of individual records (to be ratified).

The whole team had a very successful weekend in Whakatane which for all intents and purposes seems to be a very quick pool.

Overall, there were 17 personal bests swum (6 of them by Tanya!) and Fiona and Giles won silver age group medals and Avy a gold age group medals. But, EVERYONE swum extraordinarily well and swum exceptional times. The hard work at training and on technical improvement has really paid off. No one left disappointed and a great time was had by all. Whakatane ran the meet like a well oiled machine and yes please if they want to put their hand up again.

A special mention also to Rachel who smashed out a 6.03 400m butterfly (holy cow!) and Richard who flew up and down the pool for 1500m in just 18m45 (more cows being holy!)

Swim Programmes Freestyle Clinic - Coming To Us!!!

If you enjoyed the butterfly and breaststroke clinic then hang on to your hats. We have a freestyle clinic coming right up. It will be on the 30th of November in our pool and will be 2 whole hours of lovely freestyle learning. It will be for all levels. That means YOU.

Thomas can take 20 swimmers and it is first come, first served.

All details below but ask Giles if you have any questions.

October Race Results, Swimmer Of The Month, November Freestyle Clinic

It's all happening isn't it.

October races might have been a little while ago but the results were worth waiting for. A bunch of new records were posted and times were quick quick quick. 5 men's and 4 ladies records were broken. Check out the results on results pages and records on records pages. Where else would they be?

Swimmer of the Month was also worth waiting for. In fact we have been waiting 6 months for this one. Our very own magical Mike Harrison was selected earlier this year to compete for good old NZ at the WORLD triathlon champs. The long awaited event finally came around in August and a very excited Mike packed his bags and escaped the New Zealand winter for some Canadian sunshine. If you followed his blog you will know how well he did. Great job Mike, we are proud of you!

The wooden spoon has been on short hiatus but was given out this month to none other than.........me! For getting things back to front, or was that front to back. I'm still confused.

The excitement never ends - see below:

***NOVEMBER FREESTYLE CLINIC***

We are looking to run another swim clinic with the assistance of Thomas Ansorg. This will be a FREESTYLE clinic, aimed at technique and efficiency. The clinic is limited to 20 people (only Masters swimmers from South City) and the club will pay 50% of your tuition fee. We are waiting to confirm a few things but the likelihood is it will be a 2 hour clinic, with 30 minute debrief, and you will need to pay $30. This is really excellent value.

We need to get 20 swimmers, and lock in the date so we can get the pool time. The available dates are:

- Sunday 2nd Nov
- Sunday 9th Nov
- Sunday 30th Nov

Start time approx. 6.45am in the water at Lloyd Elsmore.

If you are interested, please talk to, or email Giles (gileswalker@rocketmail.com) with your date preference - if it makes it easier please list only the dates you can make, and then your preference. We will move with a majority vote. Remember first come first served.

(Just for those interested in knowing about date clashes, the Russell to Paihia State Ocewn Swim is Saturday 22nd hence the Sunday 23rd date is being excluded.)

Club Night and Postal Meet

The next club night is Wednesday 1st October. Club night is free so why not come along and give it a go.

There is also a postal meet coming up for 800m and 1500m which you can try your hand at. What is a postal meet? That's a good question, I'm so glad you asked. Sometimes a swimming club would like to hold a swim meet but for whatever reason they are unable - perhaps they don't have enough club members to help out or the cost of hiring the pool would be too great. So they conduct a postal meet. The swimmer gets to swim in their home pool and has a timekeeper time them (with the current event it is 800 and/or 1500 Free). The timekeeper must record splits so that the time can be verified. Then the timekeeper posts the entry in. The officiating club compiles all results and figures out who won each category and sends out results. Boom!!! Generally, there is around a one month period in which the swimmer gets to do the swim and so can work out with their timekeeper when is a good time to get together. At our club John Trubnick generally does all the timekeeping on one night (sometimes with a helper if there are lots of swimmers) and swimmers are allotted a time to go into the designated postal meet lane to do their 'race'.

The current postal meet will be timed on Monday 6th October between 7pm and 9pm. If you want to enter, please see Fiona. It is possible to do both the 800 and the 1500; they will run concurrently - in other words you will swim 1500m and a split will be taken at the 800m mark and then an entry put in for both events.

September Race Night Results Posted, New Swimmer Of The Month

It was the long-awaited 400's challenge at the most recent race night and some rip-roaring times were swum. Three swimmers even took on the decathlon of swimming - the 400 IM. 14 Swimmers took on swimming a 400 and everyone looked rather pleased with their times. A few even had enough energy to race over another 50m afterwards. Why? Because they can. However, a few exhausted swimmers were already heading for the showers leaving only 8 swimmers to tackle the relays.

Only 1 woman's record and 3 men's records were broken and no relay records were harmed in the making of this post. However, traditionally the number of records broken on 400's night has always been low given that there is only 1 event on the menu. A mention should be made of Rachel Richardson's rather spectacular swim in the 400 IM, going under 6 minutes. As a member of Manukau Masters Rachel is unable to break or hold any of our club records, however any woman of any age swimming under 6 minutes for this event deserves applause. Well done Rachel.

Then it was on to the Mellowpuffs (sometimes I stoop to eating a piece of fruit). Swimmer of the month was also announced. Unless you have been buried under a rock you would have heard that Dawn managed a hugely impressive 2nd woman overall placing at the Samoa Swim Series in spite of being very ill with swine flu. This is a really serious illness and racing 12km over 3 days in difficult weather conditions took enormous guts and determination. You will be pleased to learn that Dawn is slowly on the mend and getting back in the water again.