Xmas Swimming Hours and Our Pat

Xmas Swimming Hours

Firstly, a very Merry Christmas to all our club members. Wishing you all a relaxing time and happy holidays.

Here are the swimming times of the Christmas/New Year period:

Normal swimming Monday 23rd (tonight). There will be no swimming on Wednesday 25th December - in case you hadn't heard it is Christmas day and you really should have something else to do. Go to the beach if you really want a swim. There will be 'normal' swimming on Sunday 29th and Monday 30th. Some of our members swim more normally than others so take that as you like. On Wednesday January 1st we have 3 lanes from 5.45 pm to 6.45 pm for those who are sufficiently recovered from the night before. Sunday January 5th and onwards we are back to normal. In a nutshell....

Monday 23rd - Yes
Wednesday 25th - Seriously? Of course not!
Sunday 29th - Yes
Monday 30th - Yes
Wednesday 1st - Yes, 3 lanes from 5.45 to 6.45
Sunday 5th and onwards - back to normal

Famous Pat

If you were swimming in the Russell to Paihia swim on the 7th December you would have noticed Pat wearing a different coloured cap from everyone else and it had the number 3 on it. The cap was to really make him stand out and the 3 was because he was part of a very distinctive family; 3 generations of his family were taking part in the swims that day. Pat's daughter Helen and her twin sons were swimming along with Pat.

As many of you know, Pat's daughter Helen is a reporter for TV One so TV One were up there recording this auspicious event. The New Zealand Herald also took up the story and featured an article and here it is in full so you can read it for yourself. Pat, you are a superstar!

South City Do It Again!!!!

This weekend saw round 2 of the State Ocean Swim Series, the Bay of Islands Classic, which is a 3.3 km swim from Russell to Paihia. This is also the longest swim of the series and is the only one that is more than 3 km.

The weather looked fairly ideal at breakfast time but as swimmers boarded the ferry to cross to Russell the wind started to pick up and faces started to fall. On Russell village green swimmers started putting on their wetsuits if they hadn't already done so and it was not a moment too soon as the rain started to come down and the marker buoys on the course began to have a mind of their own. The waiting crowd began to feel a little anxious over being able to sight the course and threatened to storm the beach (slight exaggeration) but Scott Rice took control with a gentle 'shush' and then it was down to the start line. Right on cue the weather cleared just in time for the start hooter. In spite of the earlier squalls the weather remained calm throughout the swim and the water was only mildly choppy - very good swimming conditions indeed. The sun even came out in time for the finish.

Predictably, South City Masters covered themselves in glory with 4 swimmers on the podium - Dawn and Avy both won their divisions (again!) and Liz and Pat came second in theirs. A big shout out to the 4 of them - doing the club, and themselves, proud. Out of the 12 swimmers that went to Paihia, 10 members finished in the top 10 of their age division, an amazing result.

A mention should also be made that Richard and Rachel both made the podium in their age groups in spite of being only in togs. Unsurprisingly, they both won their respective non-wetsuit divisions.

Fun Fun Fun

Last Club Night Of The Year

Xmas is nearly upon us and that means that next race night is a FUN night so you better get on down to the pool at the usual time of 7pm on Wednesday 4th December for Crazy Relays. Everyone gets to swim and don't be surprised if the relays make no sense whatsoever and no winners are declared! It's all in the name of fun and you might get to eat a chocolate fish or two.

Relays will finish at 7.45pm, giving you a few minutes to get changed and then there will be a supper at 8pm and a few certificates given out - you will need to come to find out who is getting them and why.

Calendar Of Events

Below is a calendar of swim events that are on the horizon. Kohi swims are in black, State Ocean Swims in blue and other swims in red.

Christmas Brekky

South City will be having their Christmas breakfast at Ara Tai Cafe in Half Moon Bay (same place as last year) at 9.30 am on Sunday 15th December. Pay as you go (I believe). Anne will have a sign up sheet at the pool this coming Sunday so you can start adding your names to it. Anne says people have been asking her for a date but why she wants her personal life published on the blog is a mystery to me; never mind, done now.

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves.....

The State Ocean Swim Series kicked off yesterday with perfect conditions for the 10th anniversary of the 2.9km Harbour Crossing. The sun shone, the wind stayed down and the water was warm and flat as a pancake. How much better can it get? Quite a lot! Roving Reporter was there to watch (from the middle of the pack, with binoculars) as ocean swimming divas Dawn and Avy took line honours in their age groups.

This was no mean feat; nearly 1600 swimmers signed up to swim across the harbour and only 100 of them chickened out, so there were around 1500 people splashing, kicking, guggling, swiping and biting. Well, the biting may be total fiction, and possibly the swiping and perhaps guggling is just a word I made up to describe being swum over but there sure was a lot of splashing going on.

Out of the 1500 Dawn was 125th overall (27th woman) and Avy was 248th overall (59th woman).

Sisters are doing it for themselves,

standing on their own 2 feet, ringing on their own bells

South City put up 15 swimmers this year,  a record number and representative of around 25% of club membership, proving how popular ocean swimming has become. It seems that 7 and 9 are lucky numbers for South City with 6 swimmers achieving either 7th or 9th placing in their age group. 10 Of the club's swimmers finished in the top 25% of overall which also confirms that South City are as strong in the ocean as in the pool. Another fun fact - we have a lot of Dave's.

To top it off a number of our swimmers achieved unprecedented improvements over last season's times: David (what is his secret?) Spencer slashed his time by a whopping 10 minutes (not a typo!); Anne Smith wiped 9 minutes off her time; Dave Walker had a big smile with 7 minutes off last year's time and Liz Hayes improved by 5 minutes. Wow!

Here are the results in order of finishing time:
Giles Walker 45.36
Dave Donaldson 46.22
Mike Harrison 46.39
Dawn Walker 46.50 - 1st in age group
Dave Graham 48.14
Grant Sykes 48.31
Avy Judelson 50.19 - 1st in age group
Deryn McGregor 51.36
Vince Kirrane 52.02
Liz Hayes 52.57
Dave Spencer 55.25
Dave Walker 55.58
Pat Castles 57.01
Anne Smith 1.11.06
Tania Allan 1.25.45

Apologies if I've left anyone out. Big ups to everyone involved!

Papa-Paparazzi

The paparazzi have been following Dawn, Giles and Dan around lately what with articles in MastersCrawl (twice!) and now in the Howick and Pakuranga Times. We were all dismayed to hear the Slam the Dam swim in Lake Mead was canceled but we know they had a great time in Rotovegas. Whenever our swimmers make the news it's time to warm up the scanner and get it up on the blog so if you missed seeing the front page article in the H&P Times here it is in living colour.

(Don't forget the backstroke clinic starts this Monday 4th November, also all the NISC photos are now up on Flickr).

That's a Wrap!!!

Before I forget - the backstroke clinic starts next Monday so if you want to be on it but haven't let me know yet please do so pronto.

North Island Champs Done & Dusted
They were very successful weren't they? Here is why:

• A very hard working committee who knew what to do, how to do it and quietly and efficiently got it done
• Counties Manukau officials who mysteriously (or not) turned up and did a truly fabulous job. They don't get paid by the way, they do it because they love it.
• All you wonderful club members, family members and friends who turned out in force as volunteers: marshaling, timekeeping, registering, cooking and taking care of refreshments, recording, running, announcing, lap counting, photographing (David is still tirelessly working on our behalf uploading photos to our Flickr account while we are resting), providing spot prizes and, of course, cheer leading.

YOU are what made it happen. So from every swimmer who attended - THANK YOU you are AMAZING!

The Good News
This meet was successful in terms of results also. Virtually everyone swum the swims of their lives with many, many PB's being achieved. For the club, as far as NZ records were concerned 2 individual ones were broken and one was equalled (which I'm confident will be recognized), and 3 relay records were broken. Suffice to say there were a lot of smiley faces for all swimmers achieving PB's and records.

Now The Other  News
If you've been enjoying Speedwork Monday's.........sorry folks but it's noses to the grindstone now. Ocean swims are around the corner and for the next month the focus will be on endurance.

Yum Yum's and Up Coming Backstroke Clinic

Food for the North Island Short Course Champs
For the prize giving, to avoid having too much of some things and not enough of others, Fiona's put together this suggested food list. If you can provide any of these, put your name on the list or talk to Fiona.
If you want to make something different, by all means, just add it to the list or let Fiona know.
We’ll add sausages and / or pizzas as numbers and timing dictate.”

Backstroke Clinic
We had breaststroke, we had the freestyle and now it's time for the BACKSTROKE clinic. This will include 4 one hour sessions to be held on Monday's during normal swimming time (7pm to 8pm) and will be taken by yours truly. So if you don't know how to do backstroke other than lie on your back on the water and throw your arms around then this is the clinic for you.

We will be covering: correct body and head position, kick, body rotation, effective catch and arm pull and finish with individual stroke correction.

The dates for the clinic are 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th November - all Mondays.

If you want to attend please email me, for no other reason than to give me an idea of numbers.

Idle Ramblings

I don't remember how it came up but Wednesday night at training Stu mentioned that he remembered milk being 4 cents a bottle. This is when milk came in 1 pint glass bottles, 1 pint being 600 ml, and the bottles had foil on the top. There used to be a great big layer of cream on the top since we didn't get the homogenised variety. I never got any of the cream however, since I would go to the fridge and every single one of the 4 or 5 bottles of milk in there had been opened and a 'mouse' had sucked the cream off already. That mouse being my brother of course.

Anyhow, Denise also remembered milk being 4 cents a pint and her father earning around $6000 a year. This all got me to thinking (always dangerous), do we complain about milk being so expensive now because it really is or is it just inflation in action? The price of milk varies depending where you go but Countdown sells 2L for 3.39. So I did some mental calculations and was left gasping - even taking inflation into account, milk is around 3 times more expensive now than it was in 1975.

But maybe Denise's dad was a CEO earning mega. Time for Dr Google. Please bear in mind that this isn't an academic article - it isn't the time or place, just a thought-provoking 'thingy' on the price of milk so my only reference was www.stats.govt.nz/infoshare (since you asked!). Numbers are averages not medians and no account has been made for that almost certainly there are more women in the workforce today than there were in 1975 which will skew income data. But all that (and more) aside.....

In 1975 the average weekly wage was $95. By the way, Stats NZ says that $95 in 1975 equates to around $850 in 2012. Let's call $95, $2.88 per hour, just for the sake of argument.

In 2012 that average weekly wage was $860 (roughly). Let's call $860, $21.50 per hour. It doesn't matter if it's before or after tax since we are treating both 1975 and 2012 the same.  Accountants may disagree with me on that, I'm not an accountant as you know.

How much milk could we get for our money? In 1975, $2.88 would have bought us 43L of milk. In other words you could buy 43L of milk for every 1 hour worked. Sounds pretty good. In 2012 $21.50 buys around 13L of milk, so 13L for every hour worked. Turns out my mental arithmetic wasn't far off the mark. Milk is roughly 3 to 3.5 times more expensive than it was 40 years ago.

Race Night Results Out

Wednesday was the last race night before the North Island champs. There were 19 swimmers and from these swimmers 17 new records were set, nearly 1 record for every swimmer in attendance. Records were from 9 men's races, 5 women's races and 3 in the relays. There were some very good times posted so it seems that the preparation for the North Island Championships is on track.

The wooden spoon wasn't presented so somebody hurry up and do something stupid! Swimmer of the Month was John Grigg. This came as no surprise. John has been a member of our club for only a short time but he has made jaw dropping progress and is always smiling. Keep it up John

Finally, please get your entry in for the North Island Champs. Barry has to process the entries and it would be helpful to him if they didn't all rush in at the last minute.

And now for a message from........

.....the committee.

CRUNCH TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. TIME FOR ACTIONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

The NISC 2013 is set to go on Saturday and Sunday 26^th and 27th October 2013 – LABOUR WEEKEND.  

South City competitors. 

We need a great turnout of South City members for this meet.  In 2010 we had 23 from South City – need at least 30 this time around.  It’s your chance to get a nationally recognised time, compete against others in your age group, have some bragging rights and (the best of all), have a great time. 

Entry form and schedule of events now available:

(a)   obtain copy from Sally at swimming training  (OR)

(b)   go to www.nzmastersswimming.org.nz/competition

We need the entries in by 17^th October so that the paper work can be done.  The sooner you can action YOUR ENTRY the better.

Volunteers

Thank you for those who have already volunteered.  Still need time keepers etc.  Sally has a schedule for volunteers – please complete as soon a possible.

Tony Shacklock will also need help in food preparation for the prize giving on Sunday afternoon. He will organise a list of what's needed so that you can choose what to bring.  More on this closer to the big event.

Social function - Saturday Night 26^th October.

There is a social function / dinner being held at Wellington’s Restaurant & Bar, Waipuna Lodge,

Waipuna Road, Mt Wellington over looking the Panmure Basin.  Cost of function is $40.  7-00 pm for 7-30 pm start.   Cash bar.   This function is for anyone, competitors, club members, friends and family.  Great way to mix and mingle.

Competitors can include social function on their entry form.  Non swimmers can use the entry form (complete relevant parts only) or complete schedule held at the Pool and give money to Anne Legg. 

We will need to know numbers attending by 21 October 2013

Spot Prizes

We require suitable items as spot prizes to be awarded to competitors during the meet. If you have any suitable objects see Tony Shacklock, Barry Davies or John Trubnick. 

Perhaps your employer has something that could be used.  New towels, swim gear, wine, useful gadgets, un-wanted presents, something you wanted to give away for ages – now is your chance.

Ribbons Galore At Taupo Spring Fling

It's club night on the 2nd October - there will be 50's, 100's and relays to help with preparation for the North Island Champs which we are hosting.

9 Of our club members made the trek to Taupo for the 'Brown Trout Spring Fling' (no trout were flung, I promise). Taupo is a very fast pool and if you want to swim good times or break a record then it's the place to go. Everyone, and I do mean everyone swam exceptionally well with so many PB's being swum that I don't know how many there were - let's just say truckloads and leave it at that.

Five swimmers won their age group (on points) - Dawn Walker, Giles Walker, Barry Davies, Mike Harrison and Avy Judelson - well done guys (and gals). They have the ribbons to prove it, check out the photo below.

Congratulations also to John Grigg who was swimming in his first meet. Not only did he beat wife and seasoned competitor Fiona in one race but he won his heat in the 25m Free with a show of blistering speed.

Postal Swim - Be In!

If you want to take part in the 800/1500 postal swim just let John T know and he will make the arrangements for you. You can choose between 800 or 1500 and I think you may be able to have a split taken at the 800m mark on your way to the 1500m which means you can enter both (John to confirm).

These are fun events and are a chance to pit yourself against others from all around the country without even having to leave the city.

Be in to win!

Accolades and Queue Jumpers

Results from Wednesday's race night have now been posted. 18 Swimmers were in attendance as were 9 officials. A big thanks to the officials as these race nights can't go ahead without them. In all there were 9 new records set - 5 to the ladies, 3 to the men and 1 new relay record.

Personally, I would like to make mention of the time that Giles swam for his 100m Free - 1.00.47 - that is really knocking loudly on the door of a sub-60 swim, so we shall be looking for that milestone some time very soon (no pressure Giles!).

Swimmer of the Month went to Anne Legg. This was very deserved. Anne works tirelessly in the background arranging social events for all of us to enjoy. Thanks Anne and now you can enjoy looking at the trophy on your mantlepiece for a few weeks.

The wooden spoon was also given out. This one is a bit of a case of 'you had to be there'. But it went to our very own Barry Davies (aka B-Dizzle). Not to be out-shone by Audrey and Rachel, Barry heard 'take your marks, GO; so he did'. Unfortunately, it wasn't his race. Or perhaps he thought Audrey and Rachel were drowning and being ever gallant he was simply diving in to save them - sounds good anyway doesn't it Barry.

Don't forget to vote on what you prefer in the way of a t-shirt for the North Island Champs. There are only 2 days left before the survey closes so please cast your votes now. Thank you.

We Want Your Opinion

The North Island Champs are coming up quickly and the committee are working hard. One of the things they are working on are t-shirts. These will be a must-have so we can all be part of the South City 'family' and also to commemorate the event.

It would be very helpful to the committee to have some idea of what you want in terms of fabric and what you think you are likely to buy. You will see in the right hand margin four survey questions. Please take a minute to answer them as best as you can.

Thank you.

Speedwork Monday's

Monday Night Training

As we start the countdown towards the North Island Champs we are going to start focusing a bit more on speed. Monday night sessions will be put aside for this with everyone doing more or less the same session. The champs are still a little more than 2 months away and not everyone will be entering the sprint events so the plan is to start off by easing into the speed work and over the next 9 weeks the what and how will get gradually shorter and faster. To start with you may not even notice all that much difference other than a slight drop in mileage.

Because we have a couple of teams bidding for relay records at NI's there may be a bit of speed work and relay practice being done by a small group on Saturday's also. Bear in mind that speed sessions may have less mileage attached to them but because they are done at speed these sessions are taxing. So, Sunday's focus is going to be on longer, easier work to gear you up for the hard speed based work being done on a Monday. Wednesday's will be business as usual (largely middle distance, fitness work).

Now For A Request

You may (or may not) have noticed that on Monday nights either Sally or Christine, sometimes they share, gather up the programme, separate the sheets, toss out the paper and bring the plastic sheets to the exit side of the pool. What we are thinking is that if one person in each lane dealt with their programme (tossed out paper, brought plastic sheet over) then it would be much quicker. Good thinking? Thanks for your assistance.

Taupo Spring Fling, Aquatics Ribbon Day

Taupo Spring Fling
A few of us are heading to Taupo for the Spring Fling carnival which is held on 21st September. Why not join us? It seems like a wonderful opportunity to practice our race skills ahead of the North Island's and have some fun at the same time. From memory this has been a sanctioned meet in the past but this year it is a non-sanctioned meet, meaning you don't have to be a registered Masters swimmer to enter. It is all about FUN!! You can enter up to 5 events.

Those of us going will be traveling on Friday afternoon or evening and will be staying at the Silver Fern Lodge so it makes sense if we all book the same accommodation. If you want an entry form email me and I will send you one. Email me anyway if you are going so we have some idea of numbers.

Aquatics Ribbon Day
This is in support of Special Olympics Howick-Pakuranga and Tamaki. The Aquatics Ribbon Day involves swimming races for the athletes and is between 2pm and 6pm on Sunday 1st September. They need volunteers to assist with timekeeping and possibly IOT. A few of us went along last year and I'm sure would all agree that it was a lot of fun.

If you can help out this year please give your name to John Trubnick.

July Race Results

Results from Wednesday's races have been posted. Numbers were a little down on usual, probably owing to rather less than clement weather (is clement the opposite of inclement, I don't know, maybe I made that up). The 16 swimmers and the extra people who kindly helped with timekeeping etc enjoyed themselves though and some good times were posted.

In all, 13 records were set - 6 for the men, 5 for the women and 2 for relays and that's quite exceptional for just 16 swimmers.

As per usual a light supper was then enjoyed. Tony was the lucky recipient of the wooden spoon - most notably for having forgotten it was wooden spoon night (doh!).

Din Din's

It's mid-winter and we all know what time that is - mid-winter dinner time! We have a booking at the Thai Flame, 333 Ti Rakau Drive on 27th July. This is a lovely big venue that can hold pretty much everyone who is likely to want to go. So dust off your glad rags and get your name down on the list. Money in by Wednesday 24th July please (details below).

Annual Pool Maintenance

It's that time of year again. The pool will be closed for a couple of weeks so it can have a bit of a spruce up. As per usual John has been busy securing arrangements at Papatoetoe pool for those who simply can't have a break. Also Manukau Masters have very kindly invited us to join them at Manurewa Pool (Sykes Rd, Manurewa) on the Monday evenings that LEP is closed. Here's the full details on dates etc:

Sunday 28th July, 4th August and 11th August - Papatoetoe  pool 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. No charge
Wednesday 31st July, 7th August - Papatoetoe pool (3 lanes)  8 p.m. to 9 p.m. No charge
Monday 29th, July 5th August - Manurewa pool (with Manukau Masters) 7.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. No charge

In keeping with age old traditions we will pop across to Hunters Corner for coffee (or whatever takes your fancy) after Sunday training at Papatoetoe. 

A Pranking We Will Go

A swim at South City, $3. A flat white at Splashes, $4.50. Goggles, $18. A new pair of togs, $45. The look on John's face this morning - priceless.
There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Pranks R Us. Happening everywhere.

Big Wednesday!

Last Wednesday's races saw the largest turnout we've seen for a long time. 28 Swimmers showed up and enjoyed some friendly competition. The large number of swimmers also led to some great times and lots of records falling - 18 in all with 10 new records to our men and 8 to the women. Great show!

A big thanks to Fiona who is putting the supper together, and a fine job she is doing. Everyone looks forward to it and, speaking for myself, it goes something like this: 1 length sprint = earn 1 mellowpuff; swim 2 lengths = earn 2 chocolate bikkies.

Next up Tony handed out the awards. Swimmer of the Month went to yours truly for the 2 NZ records broken at the Roskill swim meet.

It was good to see the wooden spoon handed out again and a very worthy recipient for it was Vince Kirrane. Vince was very keen to have a few races at the Roskill meet so put in his entry form. Race day arrives and the rest of us show up at 1pm for warm up. The meet is nearly over and Vince finally puts in an appearance at 4pm. Why? That's the time he thought it was starting. Good job Vince! Let's just say you were doing a really thorough 3 hour warm up.

Race Night Wednesday - You Know You Want To

It's June already and the North Island champs will be upon us before we know it. If you want to get some race practice in or just enjoy some healthy competition then we have race night this coming Wednesday. Events are:

25m Breaststroke or Freestyle
50m Freestyle
100m Backstroke
100 IM or Freestyle
Relays if time

As per usual there will be a couple of lanes for general training for swimmers who prefer. A light supper will follow.

Also, some of you may not have seen the last few blog posts. Have you subscribed by email? On the home page of the blog on the right hand side you will see an option to 'subscribe by email'. Pop your email address in here and submit. Bob's your uncle. 

I know, I know, here t'is

Yes, I have been very slack with the blog lately haven't I? You can blame the tax man for that. Eventually I will have that out of the way though and I won't need to spend my far too short weekends doing that kind of stuff.

However, Tony has ridden up on his white steed and written a piece on the recent Roskill meet held last weekend, complete with photo. What would we do without you Tony? Here it is:

Auckland Short Course Championships 18th May 2013

Eighteen of our swimmers competed very successfully at the Auckland Short Course Championships hosted by Roskill Masters Swimmers at the Cameron Pool. The meet was very well organised, the racing was exciting to watch and the atmosphere was great.

Many of us achieved personal best times, which is always satisfying. There were a couple of incidents of people slipping on the walls during turns and a pulled muscle or two, but overall we all enjoyed it.

There were a couple of notable achievements: Fiona Grigg has been improving steadily over the few years she’s been swimming seriously, and to prove the point she swiped a whole 10 seconds off her previous best 100 m freestyle time. Well done!

As many of you know, Deryn has been working on a training plan for over a year aimed at breaking the NZ age group record for 100 m breaststroke. She treated the 50 m breaststroke as a warm-up and came within a gnat’s whisker of the NZ record. Despite her being a little annoyed at not trying harder, it set her up well for what was to follow. In the 200 m breaststroke she smashed the NZ record by nearly 12 seconds (with 3:12.92) – a fantastic achievement. But did she have enough left for the 100 m? She proved she did without any shadow of doubt by taking nearly 5 seconds off that record too (1:28.65). It was a job very well done, making all those watching very proud!

We didn’t manage to retain the Joan Monahan Relay trophy (Mixed 200 m Freestyle), but that didn’t seem to cause much distress – there’s always next year…

At the presentation after the meet many of our swimmers won ribbons for points in their age groups. All in all, it was a great meet for South City.

What a good looking bunch!

 

Race Night Results

Race night results are up and WOW what results. There were 19 swimmers in attendance and a whopping 18 new records were set. I think that might be a record of records (if there is such a thing). All the records are on their respective pages, women's on the women's etc. One day I will put the men's on the women's page and vice versa just to see if you are looking.

Then of course we had supper. Loving those chocolate biscuits. I have to reign myself in so there are some left for others. The Swimmer of the Month went to our very own Barry Davies. So well deserved. He bagged so much silverware at the Nationals in Dunedin that I think he set off all the alarms at the airport. And of course, there is all the amazing work he does behind the scenes that few of you know about. Big pats on the back.

Race Night Wednesday

We have a race night this Wednesday 1st May. Events on the menu are 25m backstroke or freestyle, 50 butterfly or freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 200m any stroke. If there is time there will be 4 x 50m relays and as usual there will be refreshments afterwards.

See you there.

NZ Masters Top 10, 2012

John Trubnick has extrapolated our race swimming times to the NZ Masters Top 10 list and produced this list of swimmers whose race times would qualify them in the top 10 in the country in their event for 2012.

Men's Long Course

45 - 49 Mike Harrison - 50 Free 1st, 100 Free 1st, 800 Free 5th, 1500 Free 4th, 50 Back 1st, 100 Back 2nd

50 - 54 Mark Cowling - 50 Free 3rd, 50 Breast 1st, 100 Breast 1st, 50 Fly 2nd, 100 Fly 1st, 200 IM 1st

Men's Short Course

35 - 39  Giles Walker - 200 Free 2nd, 50 Fly 3rd, 100 IM 2nd

50 - 54  Mark Cowling - 50 Breast 1st, 100 Breast 1st, 100 Fly 2nd, 100 IM 2nd,
              Ross Faulkner - 50 Breast 3rd, 100 Breast 3rd
              Dave Bradding - 50 Breast 5th, 100 Breast 6th, 50 Free 9th, 100 Free 5th
              Dave Donaldson - 50 Free 7th, 100 Free 4th, 50 Fly 6th
              Mike Wansink - 100 Free 8th, 200 Free 5th, 50 Breast 8th
55 - 59  Ron Tomlinson - 100 Back 1st, 100 IM 2nd
60 - 64  Dave Jamieson - 50 Breast 1st, 100 Breast 1st
70 - 74  Barry Davies - 50 Free 1st, 100 Free 1st, 200 Free 2nd, 400 Free 2nd, 800 Free 1st
           
Women's Long Course

40 - 44  Fiona Grigg - 50 Free 4th, 50 Back 3rd, 200 Free 5th, 50 Fly 7th, 100 Fly 3rd, 800 Free 6th

45 - 49  Deryn McGregor - 100 Back 3rd, 50 Breast 1st, 10 Breast 1st, 200 Breast 1st, 400 IM 1st

60 - 64  Avy Judelson - 50 Free 1st, 50 Fly 1st, 200 Free 2nd, 400 Free 2nd, 800 Free 2nd, 1500 Free 3rd

 Women's Short Course

25 - 29  Angela Tomlinson - 50 Free 4th, 100 Free 2nd, 200 Free 3rd, 50 Back 2nd

40 - 44  Dawn Walker - 100 Free 4th, 50 Fly 4th, 100 IM 3rd
             Fiona Grigg - 50 Back 2nd, 50 Fly 8th, 100 Fly 3rd, 100 IM 8th

45 - 49  Deryn McGregor - 50 Back 2nd, 50 Breast 3rd, 100 Breast 1st, 200 Breast 1st

50 - 54  Kath Barclay - 50 Free 1st, 100 Free 2nd, 100 Back 1st, 50 Back 2nd

55 - 59  Jeannie Smith - 50 Free 3rd, 100 Free 4th, 50 Back 3rd

60 - 64  Avy Judelson - 200 Free 2nd, 50 Fly 2nd, 400 Free 1st, 50 Free 2nd, 1500 Free 1st, 800 Free 2nd

Phew! What a lot of work. Thanks John. If my observations are correct, we seem to be most successful at freestyle and breaststroke.

Photos From LC Champs in Dunedin

Our wandering photographer has returned from his sabbatical and supplied some great photo memoirs of the champs in Dunedin. Great job Tony!

Great Results From Masters Nationals; Honours For John

Barry D, Avy and Deryn attended the Nationals held in Dunedin during the weekend of 12th/13th of April and all 3 experienced success in their respective events.

Barry swum all (yes all) the freestyle events - 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 and earned himself some mighty fine looking silver medals in each event. Nice one Barry! Your medal cabinet must be looking pretty full now.

Avy swum all the freestyle events barring the 100m which she opted to replace with one of her pet events - the 50m butterfly. It was not surprising that on the back of her amazing success in the ocean this season that she won gold in every event in Dunedin and topped off a spectacular summer of swimming. Furthermore she was just 0.6 seconds away from the NZ record for the 50m Free.

Deryn couldn't make it to Dunedin in time for any swimming on the Friday evening so just swam the 3 breaststroke events on offer on the Saturday. Gold in all 3; including very close to NZ record in the 200 Br and an agonising 0.1 seconds outside the NZ record in the 100 Br.

Clearly this is a club that doesn't suffer too greatly from doing all it's training in a short course facility.

A big thanks goes to Tony and Kaye who were in Dunedin visiting family. They came along to support at each session and Tony has taken a swag of photos which will be posted when our peripatetic coach finds his way back north.

On to the evening function. Tony and Kaye joined for a drink before heading off for their own dinner then it was upstairs for prizegiving and dinner. It was during the prizegiving that the real highlight of the weekend occurred. NZ Masters Swimming has awarded our very own John Trubnick Life Membership. This is very prestigious and if I'm not mistaken has only been awarded to 3 other people. Well deserved! If you ask him nicely he might show you his badge.

Ocean Swim Season - It's A Wrap!

King of the Bays marks the end of the ocean swimming season for 2013 and what a season it has been. This would have to be the most successful season in this reporter's aging memory both in terms of results and in numbers of club participants. It was great to see so many of our swimmers get out there and have a go at a sea swim, be it in the weekly Kohi swims, the State Ocean Swim series or the club's own weekly training swims or handicapped races. Next season will certainly be something to look forward to.

Here is Tony's report on King of the Bays and some photo's that were sent in by Shirley.
Today saw a dozen of our swimmers in the King of the Bays swim from Milford Beach to Takapuna Beach, the last ocean swim of the season. Although it was cold and wet before the start, the conditions of the water were nearly perfect. During the race, the sun came out and many enjoyed a pleasant day at Takapuna while the shorter races were swum. Everybody swam great times and three of them achieved medal placings. Dawn Walker and Liz Hayes both came 3rd in their age groups and Avy Judelson came 1st. 

Not only was it the last swim of the season, but it completed the State Ocean Swim Series, so the series results were also announced. Again our swimmers were well represented on the podium with Giles Walker coming 3rd, Liz Hayes coming 2nd and Avy Judelson coming 1st in their age groups. Dave Donaldson and Dawn Walker narrowly missed the accolades coming 4th. Well done all.

Photos are also on the gallery page so you can find them easily at a later date. 

Race Night Results Are Up; Swimmer Of The Month

Race night and new records have been posted. You may notice that the results page has a bit of a different look. Barry is now sending them to me in a form that can be pasted directly. This is saving a considerable amount of work on my part so a huge thanks to Barry.

We had 19 swimmers which is a great turnout for 400's night. There were 5 records - 1 for the men, 3 for the women and 1 relay record.

As per usual following the racing everyone enjoyed a light supper followed by the awards. John M is enjoying the wooden spoon (making muffins no doubt) so he still has that. As for Swimmer of the Month, Tony sent in this report:

"Another month has passed with some brilliant swimming achievements, so choosing the swimmer of the month wasn’t easy.
-         Avy Judelson finished 4th woman overall in the Summer Swim Series at Kohi and completely blitzed her age group.
-         Giles Walker swam a blistering Rangitoto swim finishing first in the Masters wetsuit male category.

However, the Swimmer of the Month was awarded to Dawn Walker, also for her Rangitoto swim. She swam with Avy to give Avy the confidence she needed to do the swim and the pair of them still finished 1st and 2nd in the Masters wetsuit women category (despite seeing Rangitoto in front of them when the mist cleared!). Great sportsmanship and a great result. Well done."

Don't forget to get your entries in for the Roskill Meet (Auckland Short Course Champs). 

Freestyle Clinic - One Week To Go

Just one week to go and the Freestyle Clinic kicks off so if you haven't signed up it's not too late. Let me know by email or in person on Wednesday if you want to come along. It's FREE, and let's face it, what's free anymore? The freestyle clinic is over 5 Monday's, same time as usual swimming and here is what you will learn:

Session One: Body position, kick - the foundations of swimming are laid right here.
Session Two: Arms - these are a swimmers oars, are you using them to best advantage?
Session Three: Arms (Advanced) - Early Vertical Forearm (EVF). What is it, why do it, and now the how. A series of progressions to help you achieve EVF and dramatically improve your speed.
Session Four: Breathing and Timing - The glue that binds it together. The finer details that turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.
Session Five: Individualised stroke correction - each swimmer will be given one or two personalised key drills that they should do during training to help them improve their freestyle.


Here are the dates:
Monday's 8th April, 15th April, 22nd April, 29th April and 5th May.


Tony will still be bringing his enthusiasm and expertise for video analysis and one on one sessions during this time.


It's all laid out for you. Be in to win!

Auckland Short Course Champs

This is a fun meet that is suitable for everyone of every level. It would be great to get a large number of us attending, have a good time having a few races each and then head off somewhere for somewhere to eat and have a bit of a social time.

This event is on the 18th May so pencil it in your diary. 

Here is the link to the entry form:
http://www.nzmastersswimming.org.nz/event/80/Auckland-Short-Course-Championships

Sand to Surf; Freestyle Clinic Dates Set

Sand To Surf
As we have come to expect our swimmers covered themselves in glory at the Mount Maunganui State Ocean Swim. Competition was very stiff indeed and a top 10 finish was not to be sneezed at. Most of our swimmers achieved this and top performer was Avy Judelson who came home with a win in her age group.

Thanks Giles for sending this photo:

Freestyle Clinic

You've been asking for it and here it is. The dates have been set and I will be running the freestyle clinic over 5 weeks, 1 hour each session, in the coaching lane on Monday evenings (Tony will still be available for video etc during this time). You need to sign up for it (see below). Here are the dates:
Monday 6th April, 15th April, 22nd April, 29th April and 5th May

What will be covered?
Session One: Body position, kick - the foundations of swimming are laid right here.
Session Two: Arms - these are a swimmers oars, are you using them to best advantage?
Session Three: Arms (Advanced) - Early Vertical Forearm (EVF). What is it, why do it, and now the how. A series of progressions to help you achieve EVF and dramatically improve your speed.
Session Four: Breathing and Timing - The glue that binds it together. The finer details that turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.
Session Five: Individualised stroke correction - each swimmer will be given one or two personalised key drills that they should do during training to help them improve their freestyle.
Sign up. So I have an idea of numbers please let me know by 30th March if you plan to attend.

More Picnic Photos

Sea Swim Results, Club T-shirts

Handicapped Sea Swim
After all the horrible weather of last summer, the weather gods were smiling this year and played nice. It was a little breezy but sunny and warm. A great time was had by all.

27 swimmers took part in all which is a magnificent turnout and there were at least 3 times as many again on the bank looking on and enjoying an evening at the beach. Here are the results:

2 km - 1st-Lapo Nustrini,  2nd- Tony Shacklock, 3rd Ron Tomlinson.
Then in order Pat Castles, Dawn Walker, Adam Jaidin, Avy Judelson, Giles Walker, David Donaldson, Vince Kirrane, Deryn McGregor, Angela Oliver, Liz Hayes, Mike Harrison, Mike Wansink, Mike Williams,  Heather Legg.
1 km - 1st Barry Cribbens, 2nd Jeannie Smith, 3rd Barry Davies.
Then in order Carolyn Rohm, Christine Penney, Denise Munday, Amy McCauley, Fiona Grigg,Julie Devonshire, Diane Lane.

Congratulations to Barry and Lapo on their wins - well done.

A big thanks to all the helpers on the day - these events don't go ahead without you. So thanks to our helpers on the water who kept our swimmers safe, to our sausage sizzler who kept us fed, to the people who set up tables etc and those who helped figure out how to put up the gazebo (we know now, it will go up in a jiffy next time) and to everyone who bought all that delicious food.

Giles has sent some photo's so here they are:

Club T-Shirts 
We have 5 club T-shirts left to sell at $10 each, Mens 1 each M,L,XL and Womens 2 large, see Mike W if you want one. If there is huge demand we will look at placing an order.

Club Night Results Out, Photos

Club night results and records have now been posted. It was a successful night with 23 swimmers in attendance and 15 new records set - 10 for the men and 5 for the women.

Both awards were also presented. The wooden spoon went to John Manning. This was no surprise. He needs some lessons on how to dress himself after being spotted wearing his togs inside out. Yes John, the seams go on the insides.

Swimmer of the month went to Pat Castles. Pat, as everyone knows has had to endure some major heart surgery. While this is no mean feat for anyone, Pat has done this not only with amazing courage but also his trademark good humour. A worthy recipient if ever there was one.

Thanks to Shirley we have some photo's from the Rangitoto swim (below) and Giles also sent this one of Tony in from (I think) the Kohi swim series.