There's Waldo!

The competition is now closed. In the end 13 Kitkat's were handed over. I know I said 10 but I sold the family farm and bought another 3 thus denying my children their inheritance. Let's face it, my children have done nothing to deserve an inheritance anyway so I figure it was money well spent. But moving on to more important things which is where and who was Waldo. It wasn't too hard was it?

That was tinny of him wasn't it, getting right smack in the middle of a photo in an international publication. Sigh....I should be so lucky.

So Tony, or should I say Waldo, sent in the following report from Sunday's Eagle Technology Bays Swim which I've gone to enormous effort to copy and paste below.

Last Sunday, nine of our seasoned swimmers turned up at St Heliers Bay to swim the Eagle Bays Swim put on by Auckland Central Masters and were greeted by rain and a mill pond sea. As the start time approached, the rain stopped, a gentle onshore wind started to roll in and everything looked good for a great swim. By the time we were standing on the beach ready for the start, confused about the course and what to sight on, the wind was warming up fairly well. The swim to the first mark was merely an introduction to the waves that would carry us to Tamaki yacht club (lazy so and so's are supposed to swim - Ed). The wind whipped up the sea into one of the roughest we’ve had to swim in and made it a real challenge for all, including the support people. Navigation was difficult. The course had few buoys along the way and they were small, virtually invisible in the weather, and there is little on the horizon to help. However, the weather was coming from starboard-stern, which allowed those who coped with the waves to achieve good times. Some swimmers, though, were taken badly off course and arrived at the Tamaki boat ramp cursing everything under the sun. The results are:

Dave Donaldson          55:13    16th overall
Avy Judelson               55:46    18th overall
Liz Hayes                     59:56
Pat Castles                  61:55
Waldo Shacklock         61:57
Vince Kirrane               62:13
Angela Tomlinson        71:25
Barry Cribbens            72:52
David Walker               74:49

Thanks Waldo! 

New Photos Posted

If you entered the 'Where's Waldo' contest and didn't hear back from me it's not because I'm rude, it's because I didn't get your entry. It's come to my attention that the email link won't work for everyone. So.......it's not too late to enter - have another try. Go back into 'my complete profile' and click 'email' but this time copy and paste my email address into your email client and send me a private message. If you still don't get a reply from me then whisper your answer to me at training.

There was a great turnout for the sea swim and picnic ant Little Buckland's on the 5th Feb. Some stunning 2km times were posted. Shirley sent in some photos. If you want to see them go to the Photo Gallery page.

Where's Waldo?

Be part of our first online competition. One of our club members was snapped before the start of November's Harbour Crossing and the photo was published in the recent H2Open magazine. Can you correctly identify the club member? I have 10 Kitkats to give away to the first 10 people with the correct answer. To send your answer go to the home page of the blog, click on 'view my complete profile' and then click on 'email'. Here is the photo:

Thanks Jason for spotting the photo and sending it in

Rules of the competition:

1. To be eligible to enter you must be a paid up club member. If you are not a club member you may still have a guess but you may not win one of the wonderful Kitkats that I have paid all of my life savings for.

2. You may have one guess only, so if you are wrong - bad luck! Please put your name on the email; no name = no prize. These prizes will be sought after so I must be fair about it.

3. Competition ends after 15th February. Unclaimed prizes will be eaten by the blogmaster - blogmaster will be angry at competition winners over any ensuing weight gain.

4. No correspondence will be entered into. Prizes, magnificent though they are, are not transferable and not refundable.
5. No permission was asked or given to reproduce the photo and blogmaster doesn't care.  H2Open will not care either since we are not benefiting in any way.

February Birthdays
It's that time again and we get to to celebrate some birthdays. Here are the birthday people:  Shirley Cartwright, Mark Clavey, Anne Faulkner, Christine Fergusson, Mike Harrison, Deryn McGregor, Jan McEwen. and a special mention for Kath Barclay as she celebrates a milestone this month. February is a popular month isn't it, perhaps we should share some cake.

Race Night Results, Trophy's
The first race night for the year was held on Wednesday with the 400 Free proving popular and some very good times being posted. It was noticed that no one opted to swim the 400 IM. 7 Records were established or broken, 2 of them in relays.

Angela T had baked some wonderful brownies which all who stayed for trophy presentation enjoyed. Both the wooden spoon and Swimmer of the Month had several nominations and much umming and errring was had. Gus took out the wooden spoon for his new invention of team-building exercise involving car key retrieval by speedo clad swimmers. I don't think this will catch on in the corporate world (togs togs togs undies).

Swimmer of the month award went to a very hard working Barry Cribbens. Barry has set goal after goal, many of them quite lofty and has achieved them all. In January he not only completed his first half ironman but he completed the swim in a time that was an astounding 5 minutes faster than he has done before, in conditions that were completely conducive to the opposite. He trains night and day (when does he sleep?), swimming, biking, running, biking, swimming, biking, running; I lose track but I have visions of him out running in the middle of the night like ultra-marathon man, Dean Karnazes, and have baffled pizza delivery boys standing out in the wop wops wondering what is going on. Well done Barry.

Coaching With Tony
Tony has posted an updated schedule on the Coaching Corner page so check it out. If you want help from Tony, you know where to find him.

A Few Site Stats
The blog has been running for a year now so just for those stat-heads who are interested, here's a few stats from the 12 months:
Total pageviews: 7839, which equates to 21 per day; so either 21 people a day are having a look or Mike Wansink is looking 21 times every day (!)
Views from 10 different countries, most popular is NZ (go figure)
Most Popular Pages (in order) are: Records Men, Records Women, Photo Gallery, Swim Programmes
Most Popular Posts (in order) are: Fame!, Where's Arthur, Prince of the Bays, Good Night Out Had

However, popular posts will now be hard to gauge since people now subscribe and don't have to click in to individual postings, so it may no longer be a fair reflection of popularity.

Sea Swim and Picnic Sunday 5th February

Need something to do on a lazy Sunday evening? Why not combine exercise and food - coz they go together, right? My mother always told me to wait an hour after eating before doing exercise so because we are a sensible bunch, and I still do what my mother tells me, we will swim and then eat. Problem solved.

Meet down at Little Bucks at 6pm on 5th Feb for a swim (as long or as short as you like) and then we will eat at around 6.45pm. High tide for those who like knowing that kind of thing is 6.27pm. Bring as many non-swimmers as you like.

Bring a picnic or you will starve.

Cambridge Swim Meet
This has been cancelled. If you were going to this meet - don't.


Race Night
First one for the year is this coming Wednesday 1st Feb. It is 400 free. We will keep 2 or 3 lanes available for those who want to do general training.

Technical Posting
There is a new posting on the Technical Tips page. It's all about swimmer's shoulder, how to overcome it and how to avoid it. Everyone who swims should read this article.

Coaching With Gary Hollywood, First Race Night of 2012

The first race night of 2012 is on Wednesday 1st February at 7pm. We are holding the 400 Free so all you enduro swimmers who like swimming long will want to be there. If you have a nomination for either swimmer of the month or the wooden spoon please contact me. You can contact me from the home page by clicking on the 'view my complete profile link' then click on 'email'. Remember, in advance of race night Avy is holding coaching on basics and starts in place of relays (one lane only) on Sunday 29th.

Technical Coaching
Gary Hollywood starts his most excellent technical sessions on Saturday 4th Feb at 11am at the Pakuranga College pool. He is starting with a block course on the ever popular freestyle. If you don't know Gary he is Head Coach with HPK Swimming Club and is a rising star of NZ Swimming having been coaching assistant for NZ Swimming for several tours during 2011. He really knows how to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse and if you haven't been to his sessions yet it's about time you came for a look. $10 per session payable directly to Gary. This is NOT training, this is 1 whole hour of technique, people give their right arm for this. Full information below.

What Will You Pay? Nothing, Zero, Nada, Zip.

Before I get to the free stuff my Satellite Spy has sent in the following report from the Round the Mount Swim:

"Dave Walker, Angela Oliver, Tony Shacklock and Ross Faulkner (supported by Anne) traveled to Mt Maunganui for the annual Round the Mount swim. It was a first for Ross & Angela and they both swam well. Dave didn’t actually swim, however, due to some planning and execution difficulties ;-) ((is this a wooden spoon moment? - Ed)) As usual, the Mount Lifeguards turned on great organisation and support for the swimmers, including loads of spot prizes and barbecued bacon & egg rolls. It did seem that there were fewer entrants than last year (about 150) but the spirit was good. The swim offered something for everyone – cold water, jellyfish, sea weed, strong currents....((how is this for everyone? - Ed)). Although the air temperature had dropped, there was no rain and the water was flat, offering the chance of good times. The fastest time was just under 50 min and ours were in region of 1 hr 10 min plus.

Ron & Dawn Tomlinson showed up for the prize giving. I suspect Ron thought he’d wander up and claim a prize or two. ((and he probably did! - Ed))" Thanks Tony, er, I mean, Assistant Reporter.

Did Dave forget his togs? Great swimming team!

Now For The Free Stuff!

Our skills coach Tony The Professor Shacklock is available for intensive/video/one to one coaching on Monday nights; HPK Head Coach Gary Hollywood runs block courses on Saturdays but WAIT, there's now more.

Avy has offered to present short bursts of coaching for those interested during the Sunday 15 minute relay time, to be held in one lane set aside for that purpose. These 15 minute sessions are confidence building sessions rather than comprehensive ones.

We though that it would be most valuable to conduct these sessions on the Sunday morning before each Club Night, especially for starts and turns. So, below is the proposed schedule (also posted on the Coaching Corner page for later easy reference). If you wish to have more intensive coaching, please see Gary on Saturdays or Tony on Monday nights.  

Wait, what? Where's the breaststroke? Have we left it off because we don't like breaststroke? Not at all, we love breaststroke. Deryn (hang on, that's me) is planning to run an intensive in the winter on breaststroke for all those breaststroke lovers out there. Meantime, there is all this wonderful free, yes FREE coaching on offer from Tony and Avy. Get in there! 

 

Club Night Dates	Date of Sunday Coaching	Area to be Coached
1 Feb 2012	29 Jan 2012	Basics & Starts
7 Mar 2012	4 Mar 2012	All Turns  (as requested)
4 Apr 2012	1 Apr 2012	Free Body Positioning
2 May 2012	29 Apr 2012	Free kick
6 June 2012	27 May 2012	Free arms (& whole stroke)
4 July 2012	1 July 2012	All turns (tumble & open)
1 Aug 2012	29 July 2012	Back Body Positioning
5 Sep 2012	2 Sep 2012	Back kick
3 Oct 2012	30 Sep 2012	Back arms (& whole stroke)
7 Nov 2012	4 Nov 2012	Fly kick
5 Dec 2012	2 Dec 2012	Fly arms (& whole stroke)

January Birthdays, Better Late Than Never (I Hope!)

Well I have an apology to make don't I? I'm very, very sorry to be so late with the January birthday announcements, what with being too obsessed with my own holidays. So here we are halfway through the month already. I hope that doesn't mean these important people only get half a birthday. Of course not! Here are the special people celebrating the most important day of the year:
Tim Aitchison
Mick Norton
Stu Graham
and celebrating a milestone birthday is our very own Barry Davies

Big ups to these people.


Club Tee Shirts - Get Yours Now

Don't know what to wear to the ballet that you have tickets for? We have the perfect answer. To kick off the new year we have club tee shirts available for purchase so you can now proudly show off that you are a swimmer/supporter of South City Masters Swimmers. These tee shirts are high quality, are light blue in colour and have the club logo on the front and back. Forgotten what the club logo looks like? Scroll to the top of this page. There it is.

Tee shirts have the option of men's or ladies necklines for the discerning customer (that would be me). His and hers. Maybe you need something special for that someone special.

I nearly flipped my lid when I saw how cheaply we are selling these. Truly, we might as well give them away - $10!!! What are we thinking? That's a measly $10 for your first tee shirt and a still very reasonable $17 (cost) for any further tee shirts. I'm a messy eater so I will be buying at least 2 so I still have one to wear while the other is in the wash.

Mike W will have sample sizes at training over the next couple of weeks so you can try before ordering. Orders please before the end of January.

News on Coaching Corner Page

Tony has given us a schedule for Monday night coaching for the next few weeks and this is now posted on the Coaching Corner page. You need to check into this page yourself each week to see what is coming up as I won't always be posting on the home page (meaning no automatic notifications sent out) unless there is a special coaching event.

Gary Hollywood's Saturday sessions will start back on 28th January, 11am with freestyle. More on this as we get closer to it.

Have you worked off your Christmas pudding yet?

If you were at training on Wednesday you would have received this announcement already "there will be swimming as normal on Wednesday 4th Jan". Previously we were only to have 3 lanes at 6pm but now on 4th Jan we can have all lanes at 7pm as per usual. So, the pool is closed Sunday 1st (being New Year's Day of course), then we have 3 lanes at 6pm on Monday 2nd Jan and thereafter everything is back to normal. Wednesday 4th is also the cutoff for getting your name down for the breakfast on the 8th Jan so you are going to want to do that if you haven't already done so.

You may have noticed there is a new page on the blog called 'Coaching Corner'. This is where we will post all the news on what is coming up in the coaching arena. Tony, who is our on-deck skills coach, will be keeping us up to date on what is coming up on Mondays, who is due for video, what is around the corner etc. I will also be posting here what is happening with Gary Hollywood's Saturday advanced technique sessions. For those who don't know who Gary, he is HPK's Head Coach and has been receiving all kinds of accolades and being sent overseas with swimmers to various events as a Swimming NZ assistant coach - high praise indeed. He recently was named Counties Manukau Coach of the Year 2011. I will be meeting with Gary soon to plan the 2012 sessions - more on this after I've met with him. Posting on the Coaching Corner page will be done between mid-day and evening Friday most weeks so you can check after that what is happening for the next day's Saturday session with Gary and for the following Monday with Tony. You will need to take it upon yourself to check this page yourself as the only postings that get sent out automatically are those that are posted on the Home Page. Postings on other pages aren't 'postings' as such so you will need to keep an eye on these pages yourself.

For those of you who are contemplating attending swim meets. When you enter you will be asked for an estimated time for each event you enter. While I may have records from race night's past, if there are a lot of you wanting to look back for your time it could become quite a time-consuming task. I would suggest that anyone interested in meets buy themselves a little notebook and start keeping a record of their times. Not only does it make it quick and easy to look up times when entering a meet but it's a great exercise to see the progress over time.

You are going to need to swim this one off

If you are around early in the New Year there is another social function - breakfast at GBS on 8th January. The sign-up sheet will be at the pool, but GBS want orders so that they can purchase to cover, so it would be helpful if you could look at the menu and make a decision on whether or not you will be attending and sign up or not sign up. We are not collecting money in advance for this one.

A big thanks to Shirley & Kevin for organising this.

Here is the menu:


mmmmm yummy