News From Annette Stewart

Many of you will know former club member Annette Stewart who is nursing in the wop wops of Australia. She is keeping us up to date with dramas of daily life in the outback. Here is the latest 'Dear Diary...'

I, along with three others, worked through covering the clinic. A lot of the locals go away, mainly to drink! So it was fairly quiet although there is never a week goes by without some drama. A murder in another community resulted in a round of payback on the perpetrator's family so broken bones and knife wounds. When that all calmed down we had a run of gastro - rotten roo tails and emu were the culprits. In 40+ degree heat it doesn't take long for meat to go off!!

For us whitefellas Xmas was a sedate affair - all the rushing round, last minute shopping and general panic was something that we watched on the TV. Ours was more of an old fashioned Christmas where we all gathered at one of the houses, everyone brought food along, if there was any gift giving it took the form of baking or a plant that someone had grown. After a sumptuous lunch (people out here are great cooks - something to do with having to fill in your spare time!) most of us walked the airstrip and then went for a swim before gathering together in the evening for dessert and a DVD. It was lovely considering that nobody wants to be away from home at Xmas.

New Year we had a camp fire and live music - two of my work colleagues play the fiddle and guitar. At midnight wandered over to the church where the locals had a hymn, come country and western come kareoke thing on the go - so something for everyone including the thirty or so dogs milling round and scrapping and howling. Midnight came and went, 2013 serenaded in by two young men standing under a string of bare light bulbs singing along rather tunelessly to a key board and beatbox!! They made up in enthusiasm what they lacked in talent!

Am busy organising my next trip home - three weeks in March and will definitely make it to swimming this time - my last visit was rushed due to selling the house and re-homing the dog. Have to say am looking forward to some cooler weather - even the pool is luke warm. Swim there in the evenings but no good for any training sessions as they have the scavenger roaming round with its long hose attached and there are usually other whitefellas in enjoying a loll in the water. One day last week it got up to 48 C - the hottest temperature ever recorded here since records began - could feel my eyeballs drying out!!

Am also planning a trip to Germany in June and then either somewhere in Aussie September time although am also considering Burma/Myanmar - will have to see. I know that I will be moving on from here in the next year or so which is not unusual - work life expectancy for a whitefella (or woman) is about two years and I think that that will hold good for me. Where to then I don't know but that is part of the fun!!

Well Annette, I'd have to say rather you than me. We hope you can drop in to the pool in March and we all look forward to seeing you.

 

Heads Up!

It's being bandied around that on 20th January the tides will be right to have a club training sea swim followed by a byo picnic. Once we have finalised the time and location we'll get the word out. Watch this space.

Here are the birthdays for January: Krystal Deets, Barry Davies, Stu Graham, Michael Norton and David Main. Lucky them, they get a summer holiday AND birthday cake. Life is sweet.

Lastly,

Happy New Year to all members of South City Masters Swimmers.  May 2013 be everything you want it to be.

Subs Are Due Please And Handicap Swim Coming

Subscriptions Due
It's that time of year and annual subscriptions are due. Subscription for the coming year remains at $60, same as this year. Please put your $60, cash or cheque, in an envelope with your name on it and hand it to John T by the end of the year. He only needs your email, phone and address if they have changed since you last gave them to John. On that note, if you have not been receiving emails chances are there is something wrong with the one we have for you (or our ability to read your handwriting). Please provide your email address again.

Open Water Handicap Swim and Picnic
You might want to put the 10th March in your diary, go do it now. On this date at Little Bucks we will be having our annual handicap o/w swim and picnic that we have been holding every year since next year. You can swim either 1 km or 2 km with or without a wetsuit and we will have trophies and spot prizes. Entry will be free but you will need to submit a 400m free time for handicapping purposes. Don't worry yet as there will be more info on entering coming later. The swim will be at 5.30pm and the bbq and prizegiving will be at 6.30pm. It would make it a whole lot simpler to cook the meat if there was a barbeque at the location so if anyone has a portable barbeque that would be suitable for cooking large(ish) quantities of meat could you please have a word to John?

Race Night Results Are Out

If you were at race night last night these are now posted on all the right pages (I hope!), results are on the results pages, records on records pages etc. We had 20 swimmers which is the usual numbers and 2 free lanes for those who wanted to do 'other stuff'.  3 New men's records were set, 2 ladies records and 1 relay record (good call do the medley relay by the way!).

While admiring some of the amazing times our men swam I looked up some of the NZ records for the men's 400 free. There was one thing that stood out in particular, the men's record for the 30-34 year age group is 4.23 and the record for the men's 55-59 year age group is 4.24. There are 25 more years and only 1 second difference. Think about that for a bit. Quite astounding really. This nicely illustrates that you don't have to slow down as you age, the challenge continues.

Swimmer of the Month
Denise Munday is our November Swimmer of the Month. Denise has lined up for the first time for the Kohi Swim Series and done it style, returning for more swims in the series. Denise has inspired others to take the challenge. Nice job Denise.

This Week's Club News

Max Fagerstroem
A 'send off' Cath Fagerstroem's husband, Max, will be held this coming Friday at 1pm at Maraetai Boating Club. Everyone is very welcome to attend and have a glass of champagne and a few nibbles while honouring Max and memories of him. Cath would be delighted to see you there. Maraetai Boating Club is at 188 Maraetai Drive.

December Birthdays
We have quite a bunch this month. Here are our birthday babes for December: Mark Cowling, Elliott Crawford, David Donaldson, Vince Kirrane, Lapo Nustrini, Angela Tomlinson, John Trubnick and Dawn Walker. If I've added up correctly that's 8 members blowing out candles this month. By my reckoning that's a cake being eaten every 4 days or so.

Race Night
The last race night for the year is this Wednesday the 5th. We are going long. Brace yourselves for the 400 Free (or IM). There will be a couple of spare lanes for swimmers to do their own training in.

State Harbour Crossing
We had what might well be a record number of entries from South City with 14 swimmers entered. Here are the results of our swimmers (apologies to anyone left off):

Giles Walker  49.15
Dave Donaldson  49.52,  3rd in age group
Grant Sykes  51.10
Dawn Walker  52.52, 3rd in age group
Avy Judelson  54.37, 1st in age group
Jon Flatley 55.40
Elliott Crawford  56.01
Liz Hayes   57.13
Tony Shacklock  1.01.20
Angela Tomlinson  1.01.55
David Walker 1.02.23
David Spencer 1.05.27
Angela Oliver 1.06.29
Anne Smith 1.20.42

Condolences

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the loss of Max, much loved husband of good friend and club member Cath Fagerstroem. Our thoughts are with Cath during this difficult time. Flowers are being sent to Cath on behalf of all club members.

Pool Closure Over Christmas Period

Seasonal Pool Closure
The word on the street is that the pool will be closed on December 24th, 26th and 31st. There was no mention of the 25th but presumably no one is going to be wanting a swim that day anyhow. Right?

Kohi Swim Series
This is on every Thursday evening at Kohi Beach. Last week we had a very good turnout with 10 swimmers there and swimmers in the 1000, 1500 and 2000m categories. There is also a 500m category if you want to have a crack at it but aren't too sure. I won't be posting individual results each week as it is a 16 week series so the season is long but suffice to say all our swimmers did a grand job and no doubt will be back for more.

Christmas Function - Be In! Russell to Paihia Results

Christmas Function
It's that time of year again and Christmas is sneaking up on us. It's a good excuse to get together in something other than togs and goggles. It could be difficult to recognise each other with dry hair, maybe we should think about name tags (?). Anyhow, Anne, our social controller, has been working behind the scenes on a venue and has asked me to pass on the following:

You are invited to South City Christmas Brunch

10.30am on Sunday 16th December

Ara-Tai Cafe, 1/C4 Ara Tai Road, Half Moon Bay

Pay Your Own Way – Cold Cabinet or Menu Board

There will be a sign up sheet at the pool on Wednesday. Please put your name on it (only if you are coming to the brunch - duh!) because we need to know numbers.

As an aside, I just this minute received an email in my inbox that told me to 'say NO to socks this Christmas'. I'm thinking if that's all I have to say 'no' to it's going to be a very happy Christmas this year.

Russell to Paihia Ocean Swim

We had a strong contingent of 8 swimmers make the trek north this year and they all did the club proud. Four of our swimmers medalled which is a 50% hit rate, excellent by any standards. Here are the individual results:

Dave Donaldson   56.43     3rd in age group

Giles Walker         57.06     2nd in age group

Dawn Walker       1.00.27   2nd in age group

Dave Bradding    1.01.51 

Grant Sykes         1.02.38

Jon Flatley           1.03.22

Liz Hayes            1.03.49    2nd in age group

Anne Smith         1.45.27

Great work, we are looking forward to seeing our swimmers on the podium at the end of the season (no pressure!).

Club Night Results Out

Results from Wednesday's races have now been posted to the Results and Records pages. There were 20 swimmers in attendance. 12 New records were set, 5 by the men, 6 from the women and 1 new relay record. A big thanks as always to our dedicated timekeepers who give up their time to make sure our swimmers racing always have enough hands on deck.

Swimmer of the Month award was most deserved (isn't it always?). As most of you will know, unless you live under a rock, Jo Cook has has been powering away all year for the World Triathlon Grand Finals here in Auckland. This involved biking, swimming, running, swimming, biking, swimming over and over and over and doing all this in between work and family commitments. Superwoman! She did this through illness and injury, one injury during the taper phase. Grand Final day came and Jo finished an extraordinary 39th in the stunning time of 1 hour 43. Well done Jo, we are all proud of you.

Kath, I believe, is very attached to the wooden spoon.

November Birthdays, Kohi Swim Series

November Birthdays
November is a busy month for birthdays. Here are our special people celebrating this month: Rochelle Gebbie (milestone - we'll keep that to ourselves though won't we Rochelle?), Colleen White, Dave Bradding (also a milestone but doesn't he look so much younger than he is?), Jo Cook, Julie Devonshire, Neil Finnigan, Jon Flatley and Anne Smith. Now, if all those people could just slip me a bit of their birthday cake........

Kohi Swim Series
As a club we would like to win the points trophy this season. Everyone earns points no matter where you finish and it's a lot of fun. There will be lots of us there so come and join us. The Kohi sea swims are every Thursday at Kohi beach with a break over Christmas. The start time is 6.15 pm. You can enter online or at the beach that evening, and the entry is discounted (for online) if you enter before the Tuesday prior to the swim. You can also pay for the whole series at a less expensive per-swim price. Distances are 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 metres. You can mix up the distances so you can do 500m one week and 1000m the next etc. There is boat support and good spot prizes, some to the value of your entry for the whole 16 weeks. Make sure you select South City Masters as your swimming club so your points count towards the trophy for the winning club.

Here is the website Kohi Swim Series