But Wait, There's More!

We had swimmers in the 1km at Sand to Surf also. Who knew? Apparently not me, but fortunately others did and sent the results in, and they are sterling (naturally, being South City swimmers). More guts, more glory, and again nothing but top ten finishing. Results are:

Denise Munday  19m 58     1st in age 
Adam Munday    20m 15     2nd in age 
Diane Lane         27m 08     6th 

And Now For Something Completely Different 
That heading was purely for Monty Python fans. We have stuff. Club stuff that is. Merchandise. Stuff to wear, stuff to put your swimming gear in. There is a new club shirt, not a nightshirt, it's a day shirt but you can wear it at night if you want. There is a gear bag to put your togs in but it's big enough to put your goggles in too. There is also a sports cap but because you will look stupid wearing that with your goggles every order also comes with a swimming cap. 

All this stuff doesn't come free but it may as well do it's so cheap. Cheap as chips. To get your stuff you need to print out an order form and email it or give it to Avy and pay a (little) bit of money. The order form and other details are below but because I can't add documents to the blog (that would be too easy!) take a screen shot and print that out. It's the same thing. 

Sand to Surf Results

The State Ocean Swim Sand to Surf saw South City Masters turn out in force and once again do the club proud. Due to predicted high swells the swim was over the contingency course in Pilot Bay but was still 2.6km. Every club swimmer posted a top 10 (age group) placing - mighty effort indeed! Here are the results in order of age group placing:

Liz Hayes              41m26 1st in age
Avy Judelson         41m50 1st in age
Dan Feisst              36m35   4th in age
Pat Castles             46m48   4th in age
Dawn Walker         41m03   5th in age
Giles Walker          37m26   5th in age
Dave Donaldson    38m13   5th in age
Mike Harrison       39m37   7th in age
David Walker        44m47   7th in age
Dave Bradding      40m24   9th in age

Just one to go - King of the Bays. Then results of the season will be revealed!

Butterfly Clinic Coming Right Up

We've run stroke clinics for breaststroke, freestyle and backstroke and now it's time for butterfly. The butterfly clinic is going to follow a bit of a different format to the other three clinics. This clinic will still be run over 4 weeks, however, over the 4 weeks there will be a series of 16 progressions (4 progressions per week) designed to take the swimmer from zero (drill one) to hero (drill 16).

At each session swimmers will have 5 minutes warm up and then 10 to 12 minutes to practice each progression after an in-water demonstration by the coach. The coach will stay in the water spotting and correcting. This way swimmers can take as much or as little rest as required.

Although the clinic has been largely designed for those wanting to improve their butterfly it is also very suitable as a 'back to basics' refresher for advanced swimmers who want to re-establish good habits and/or learn new drills. There will be no individual stroke correction in this clinic. As with any of the clinics we run the progressions need to be practiced between each session (i.e. before the next session comes around).

Here are the dates:
Sunday 6th April
Sunday 13th April
Monday 21st April (to accommodate those away over Easter weekend)
Sunday 27th April

Please let me know by email if you intend to come. You can email me via the 'view my complete profile' facility on the blog's home page.

Club Night Results, AGM Reminder

Club night results are out. You know by now where to find them - on the Club Night Results page (where they have always been). There were some cracking good times. Even if you weren't there you should check out the times. There were 15 new records set by the 19 swimmers taking part; 8 to the ladies, 6 to the men and 1 new relay record. Excellent!

Both the wooden spoon and Swimmer of the Month awards were given out. Christine Fergusson earned herself the wooden spoon for having a public announcement over the address system for leaving her car lights on. All of Howick probably heard about it. Swimmer of the Month went to Denise Munday who has been putting in the hard yards. It has well and truly paid off. Denise is getting faster with each swim and has been tackling bigger and longer ocean swims.  Well done Denise.

Please remember the AGM on 26th March before training. It is your chance to have a say.

Kohi Swim Points, First Notice AGM

Thursday Kohi Swims

There are only 4 swims to go and South City are leading on points but Manukau Masters are only a little squeak behind. If you have any compulsion to swim in the sea instead of the pool get yourself along to Kohi on Thursday evenings and sign up (around 5.30 registration for 6.15 start). Distances are 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000m. The longer the swim the more the points. Better yet, it's a lot of fun and good endurance training.

First Notice of South City Masters AGM

The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the South City Masters Swimmers 

Club Inc will be heldat the Lloyd Elsmore Pool (Entertainment 

Room) commencing at 6-30 PM on Wednesday the 26 March 2014.

Agenda:

1. Minutes AGM 2013 

2. Review of year 

3. Treasurer's Report    
4. Election of Officers for 2014 year (President, Secretary, 

   Treasurer, Committee (5)
5. Election of Auditor and Hon. Solicitor 

6. General Business 

Any nomination for Office bearers / Committee to be advised to 

secretary (using form available on request) prior to or at the 

meeting.  A hard copy of this notification will be made 

available at Poolside training from 23 February 2014.

Members with items for discussion under General Business 

should (where possible) advise the Secretary in writing or by 

E Mail by 13th March 2014 so that a considered response can be 

given by current committee.

At conclusion of meeting swimming as usual - no charges apply.

Barry Davies Secretary 19 February 2014

Annual Cambridge Sanctioned Meet

Yesterday marked the 29th anniversary of the Cambridge long course annual meet. It's a lovely outdoor pool surrounded by big trees and is always a swim meet that is fun to go to. The club gazebo went up in double quick time and provided some welcome relief from the sun which was shining quite ferociously by early afternoon.

Dan and Dawn arrived at Cambridge pool for the early session to swim the 800/1500 double and both did great times; Dan winning his heat with ease and Dawn smashing out a 22 min 1500 which was almost a minute off October's short course time.

During the interval between sessions supporters Sally and Julie took advantage of the break and got in the pool for a dip. But they weren't going to be tricked into racing! It was fabulous having John, Sally and Julie there providing encouragement and support to those racing. Thanks guys.

The afternoon session bought some fabulous racing, there were literally flames flying off the back of some our swimmers. Two more NZ records were nabbed, Deryn in the 100 breaststroke and Avy scorched up the pool in NZ record time in the 50 freestyle. Avy also got agonisingly close in 100 freestyle, missing the record by a measly 0.3s.

Lots of PB's were swum and everyone had fun. After the swimming was done came the joy of removing the compression suit and then off to prize giving in which South City was covered all over in glory. The club easily won the Club Points Competition. Every swimmer from South City placed in their age group and earned themselves a piece of metal, be it gold, silver or bronze and those tinny Walkers even managed to nab a spot prize.

Here are some photos:

The whole team - swimmers and supporters. Happy bunch!

Mike Harrison-Ford relaxing between races.

Jump contest

Sprinter Avy is so fast she has jumped in, got out, run around and is ready to go again.

And the winner is - Ross 'stumpy' Faulkner

 One last thing. Today Manukau Masters super swimmer Katrina Price swam the entire length of Lake Taupo. That is a staggering 40.2 km. Katrina has trained for months to do this and it is a truly amazing feat. Katrina is truly a superwoman!

Record Turnout For Club Sea Swim And Picnic!

The forecast may have been for dismal weather but we put in a request for something better and better we got. The sun did it's thing, eventually turning on a brilliant day for the club's annual sea swim and picnic. The swim was shifted from Buckland's Beach to Eastern Beach just to make things EVEN nicer. Everyone enjoyed the wonderful family atmosphere. It was a record turnout resulting in standing room only on the patch of grass at the end of the beach and there were reports of some clubees having to park up to 6 streets away. It was also overheard that muscle-man Tony hefted a bbq onto a trailer all on his own, though it hasn't been substantiated.

Two handicapped events were held, 2km and 1km so there was something for everyone. In the 1 km event the winning male was Martin Ellis and the winning female was Jeannie Smith. In the 2km event the winning male was Vince Kirrane and winning female was Dawn Walker. Congratulations to all winners!

Unsurprisingly, after the swimming and prize giving everyone was hungry and enjoyed a feast of sausages, salads and assortment of sweets. There was a lot of food and there was no complaining about getting to take something yummy home.

A big thanks to all the helpers who turned out in force, too numerous to name but you know who you are. These things never go ahead without those who donate their time and energy.

Dave W was out and about with his camera and took some truly wonderful photos. You are going to want to see these. So to see them and download to your heart's content, go here:
South City 2014 Sea Swim Photos

Club Night Results Posted

Wednesday saw the first club night of the year and 20 swimmers turned out to swim as fast as they could. 10 New records were smashed out of the park - 6 for the blue team and 4 for the pink team. Some of the times were truly jaw dropping! As always, a thanks to our team of timekeepers who show up to make racing possible, we can't do it without our volunteers.

Then it was on to food and drink - that's why I go! Swimmer of the Month was announced. We have a number of Walkers in the club and Giles is the tallest but that wasn't why he earned Swimmer of the Month. Giles performs outstandingly both in the pool and in the ocean and is truly supportive and encouraging of all other club members and helps everyone to achieve their personal bests. Well deserved.

Jeannie has been trying to offload the wooden spoon for some time and was starting to despair of ever getting rid of it when she snatched a last minute victory by remembering Shirley's moment of 'slight lack of coordination'. How was it Shirley that your dog managed to stay on the stand-up paddleboard while you fell in? Can you give me a heads up next time so I can video it? Our Shirley is the current holder of the wooden spoon and would love it if someone else could earn it off her.

Final Sea Swim And Picnic Reminder

We are having the handicapped sea swim and picnic on Sunday 9th. No, you don't need to wear a wooden leg for the handicapped swim, all will be explained at the briefing which is at 4pm Buckland's Beach. If no one is at Buckland's Beach, you will either be the winner of the solo swim.........or head on over to Eastern Beach because the wind has turned and the racing will be there.

The 2km event starts at 4.30 and the 1km event is at, actually I've forgotten...a little while after the 2km event so don't be late.

After the swimmers have scorched up and down the track there will be a prizegiving and picnic. The club is putting on sausages and salads and you don't even need to bring a plate or fork. HOWEVER, please bring something sweet (I don't mean yourself, I mean sweet to eat) that can be shared.

Also, if you have a roll up table that food can be put on that would be helpful.

Great Results In This Weekend's Ocean Swims

This weekend saw some much better weather for ocean swimming than last weekend's swim in Wellington. It was glorious for both Saturday's Bean Rock Swim and Sunday's annual Bays Swim. Naturally, South City took advantage of the sunshine and fronted up to both.

Congratulations to Chrissy Penney and Denise Munday who were in their first official 'non-Kohi' ocean swim. Awesome. As for Vince Kirrane and Dave Spencer, they are suckers for punishment, turning up for both swims - legend!

We had swimmers placing on both days, Denise getting 1st place in her first race, you speedster you!!! Here are all the results and thanks to Professor Shacklock for sending them in:

Bean Rock Lighthouse Swim - 3.2 km
Vince Kirrane     52:33
Dave Spencer   1:00:05
Christine Penny 1:13:03

Bean Rock Lighthouse Swim – 1.6 km
Denise Munday 34:43    1st in W40-49

Bays Swim
Giles Walker      57:18    1st in M35-39
Mark Cowling     57.20   1st in M50-54
Dawn Walker     1:01:09 1st in W40-44
Vince Kirrane     1:03:54 2nd in M55-59
Patrick Castles  1:10:52 1st in M65-69
Dave Spencer   1:15:30 11th in M50-54

Wow! Out of 10 swims we had 6 placings, of which 5 were 1st placings. It doesn't get better than that.

Now for a few photos to commemorate the weekend. 

Team South City - bunch of winners!

Denise winning her first race - you go girl!

Pump those arms Giles and don't cut your feet. Pick it up Mark, you can do it.