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.

March Birthdays, Rangitoto Results

March Babies
March babies are a little thin on the ground but that makes their birthdays no less special. Here are our club members blowing out candles this month:
Bronwyn Dent, Jason Grant, Angela Oliver, Grant Sykes and Mike Williams. Many happy's on your big days.

Rangi Report
We've had a glorious summer with day after day of cloudless skies and never-ending sunshine. Some parts of the country are officially in drought. So perhaps it was sod's law that the weather chose to completely close in and rain quite hard right at the moment when this landmark 4.6 km open water swim was about to start.

Spectators on the St Helier's side could only look in the direction that they knew Rangitoto Island to be in and wonder if the race was starting on time or if it was starting at all. Swimmers at the start line could see...well, nothing. The race got underway but conditions were not conducive to fast times.

South City Masters were well represented with about 12 swimmers taking part in this legendary swim. We don't have everyone's results but we did have 6 swimmers finish in the top 5 of the men's and women's Masters Wetsuit table, see below:

Giles Walker - 1st Masters Wetsuit
Elliott Crawford - 2nd Masters Wetsuit
Vince Kirrane - 5th Masters Wetsuit

Dawn Walker - 1st Masters Wetsuit
Avy Judelson - 2nd Masters Wetsuit
Angela Oliver - 3rd Masters Wetsuit

How's that - 1st and 1st to husband wife team Giles and Dawn Walker, woop woop.