A trio of Viking ladies left Canberra early on the morning of Saturday 3 December 2011 to compete at the Wests Auburn Long Distance Meet.

With Suzie Gunning at the driving wheel, the trio of Suzie, Pam Munday and Caroline Makin had not only a lot of metres of swimming ahead of them, but also a lot of Kilometres of driving for the day trip  to Sydney.

The sun was shining for this long distance meet in the 50m outdoor pool at Auburn, and the ladies were ready to put in the laps in the crystal clear water.

 First off the blocks was Caroline in her first ever attempt at a 1500m Freestyle race, finishing in 3rd place behind two of the top ranked freestyle swimmers in her age group, and setting a new club record in the process.

 Next up, Suzie took on the 400m Freestyle event and came home gallant in 1st place in her age group.

 The 400m Breaststroke event saw Pam and Caroline swimming in the same heat in lanes next to each other! Caroline took off in her usual ‘sprinting’ fashion over the first 100m. Caroline touched just ahead of Pam at the 200m mark, and then Pam showed her aerobic power and experience and her excellent pacing skills over the second half of the race, pulling ahead at the 250m and pushing on hard to finish 6 seconds ahead of Caroline. Pam placed 1st in her age group, setting a club record and a NSW state record. Caroline also finished 1st and set a new club record in her age group.

 Suzie followed up her 400m freestyle swim with an 800m Freestyle, again finishing in 1st place – a double freestyle first place header for Suzie!

 Finally, Pam finished the day off with another 1st place, club record and NSW state record in the 800m Breaststroke. Congrats to Pam on two more well-deserved NSW state records to add to her collection.

The triumphant trio headed back to Canberra tired from racing 4,300m between them in one day!

Full results available.

Home meet caps successful year for Tuggeranong Masters Swim Club

Meet report by Caroline Makin

Our very own Pam Munday won the 2011 Tuggeranong Challenge held at the Lakeside Leisure Centre Pool on Saturday 26 November.

Our club holds this meet each November, and this year the meet attracted Masters swimmers from the Vikings, the other two Canberra Clubs – Molonglo Water Dragons and Gininderra Club – and from three Sydney Masters’ Clubs.  The “Challenge” rewards the swimmer who, over three swims – 50m, 100m and 200m – each in a different stroke - consistently swims closest to his/her nominated times – it is a challenge for the thinking swimmer rather than the fastest.

In winning the overall event, Pam Munday swam 100m Backstroke in 1:46.04 (only 0.04 seconds slower than her nominated time), swam 50m Butterfly in 46.29 (0.29 s slower) and completed a 200m Individual Medley in 3:33.26 (1.74 seconds faster).  Consequently, Pam’s total time difference was only 2.07 seconds, the smallest of all the competitors.  Second place was awarded to Philippa Rickard with a total time difference on 2.68 seconds, and third was Ann Reid (winner of the challenge the last two years) with a total time difference of 4.19 seconds.

 The Event 1 winner for the 100m event, was Pam Munday with a difference time of 0.04 seconds compared to her nominated time. In second place was Atsuko McGowan with a difference of 0.10 seconds and in third place Ann Reif with a difference of 0.23 seconds.

 The Event 2 winner for the 50m event was Philippa Rickard with a difference time of 0.12 seconds compared to her nominated time. In joint second place were Ian Hampton and Mark Patterson with a difference of 0.16 seconds.

 The Event 3 winner for the 200m event was Cassie Anderson with a difference time of 0.05 seconds compared to her nominated time. In second place was Yvette Cotton with a difference of 0.20 seconds and in third place Jeanette Droop with a difference of 1.44 seconds.

This swim meet is also well known for its fun events of a ‘Muddled Medley’ event where competitors swim a 100m Individual Medley in a muddled order as presented to each competitor as they go to the starting line;

Donning the Vikings Hat

Starting the Novelty Relay

a ‘4x50m Novelty Relay’ which is a fun event where competitors don Vikings hats in the spirit of this meet.

Novelty Relay

The finale of the meet is the ‘Shoot Out Relay’ which is a handicapped event with swimmers being placed in teams on the day, swimming the same stroke as their 50m choice (as entered in the individual 50m event).

Annette Britten - President of Tuggeranong Masters Swimming ACT