Magnificent (Vikings) SEVEN at 37th Masters Swimming National Championships
Report by Ian Hampton
We had a good representation of SEVEN Vikings who flew and drove to Adelaide for the Masters Swimming National Championships – held in Adelaide over the 14-18 April 2012. They were: Jill Blomeley, Philippa Rickard, Caroline Makin, Cassie Lindsay (who now lives in Adelaide), Brenda Day, Pam Munday and Ian Hampton.
We did a lot of swimming over the four days in the beautiful new SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre that you saw during the National Olympic trials in March …. This is a deep-fast pool and just about everyone did fast swims except when they ran out of gas or the piano dropped on their back. All round – this is an outstanding centre – great natural lighting, perfect clear water, good air-conditioning, pleasant dressing-shower-toilet rooms – a big advance over SOPAC in a space of about 12 years.
Basically, everyone did well as can be seen below:
- Jill – eight swims – including two 2nd placings and one 3rd place. A number of PBs and possibly her best was 200m B reaststroke in 3:32.66 for 2nd place. Jill was overall 3rd in her age group.
- Philippa - seven swims – our Viking superstar – including two 1st place finishes – 50m Butterfly in 31.68 (737 FINA points – outstanding) and 100m Freestyle in 1:07.10, four 2nd places and one 3rd place; coming overall 3rd in her age group.
- Caz – eleven swims – with four 5th places including two very satisfying Backstroke swims – 50m in 39.84 and 100m in a nice PB of 1:27.82. Caroline was overall 4th in in a pretty tough age group made tougher because this group included team mates Philippa and Cassie and superstar Linley Frame.
- Cassie – six swims – for two 3rd places including 800m Freestyle in 11:15.60.
- Brenda – nine swims for two 2nd places including 400m Freestyle in 7:23.15 and four 3rd places; overall 2nd in her age group.
- Pam - five swims – completed with her usual super high standard in Breaststroke and Butterfly with 1st place for 200m Butterfly in 3:40.15s, one 2nd place and two 3rd places.
- Ian – seven swims – two 2nd places and one 3rd. Ian swam two Butterfly PBs – 50m in 38.05 and 100m in 1:31.86.
Our 4x50m Women’s Medley relay team of Caz, Pam, Philippa and Brenda was outstanding and won the GOLD MEDAL in the 200+ age group.
Our 160+ 4x50m Women’s Freestyle relay came in 5th in a really hot field.
Probably the outstanding swimmer at the meet was Linley Frame who competed in four events including 50m Breaststroke in 33.09 (World Record), 100m Breaststroke in 1:12.74 (World Record), and an outstanding 200m Breaststroke 2:41.53 (National Record). This 200m swim was completely memorable as Linley swam side-by-side with Paul Lemmon (who was judged to be Swimmer of the Meet competing in the Men’s 45-49 age group). The two were never separated by more than 0.9s. At 150m Linley was 0.41s behind Paul and gradually ate into this margin over the last lap to finish just 0.14s behind. Linley is great to watch – she has a simple “clean” Breaststroke style with a great kick.
Overall – Tuggeranong Vikings came 13th out of 80 clubs – a pretty impressive result!
The ‘Mediterranean’ Adelaide weather was just great – and Glenelg is a great place to stay…. HINT – it is better to ask the friendly locals about which restaurant to go to …. some in the higher profile tourist area at the end of Pier Road are simply ordinary.
Full results are available.
Ian Hampton received some news coverage in his local paper the Cooma Monaro Express. The Masters in the Pool article is also published on the MSNSW website.
A Cooma based Tuggeranong Swimming Master has taken the Masters Swimming National Championships by storm. Ian Hampton, who says he does a lot of his training in Cooma, made an exemplary performance in the 65-69 age bracket. …. Mr Hampton said the social atmosphere at the Championships was great and described Master Swimmers as “people who take it seriously but don’t take themselves too seriously”.
