Report by Cecelia Kaye
This event is billed as the Sensational Summer Sprint Meet at the ‘best address on earth’ which attracted six ladies eager to participate in just the second BPS meet of the year at North Sydney Olympic Pool. Several of these swimmers have been before and thoroughly enjoy it.
It was a beautiful evening for swimming on Saturday, 16 February 2013 uder the Sydney Harbour Bridge, being warm with a few clouds hanging about. The skies were drizzling on the Vikingsd as they arrived, so finding some cover was a priority just to keep their gear dry. It cleared up quickly and after a warm-up it was time for the fun to begin.
This sprint meet moves very quickly which possibly spurs everyone on. There is always a large group of swimmers in the marshalling area — which is noisy and friendly. Everything seems to fly along, as it is run very efficiently and makes for a very enjoyable night.
Our results were as follows in the 50m races that make up this meet:
Catherine Alexander — having been away from the pool for a few weeks decided to enter only two events only and claimed 3rd place in both her Freestyle and Breaststroke swims.
Mandy Coggins — finished up 2nd overall in her age group with a strong Freestyle (2nd), Butterfly (3rd) and Backstroke (4th). Well done Mandy!
Leisa Cass — since she was in Sydney for the weekend anyway and although recovering from a cracked rib, thought she would enter and swim. She ‘took it easy’ and still managed to swim fairly respectable times. Great effort Leisa 🙂
Cecelia Kaye — someone who really enjoys the 50m races and swam some reasonable times with a limited preparation. She was equal 3rd in her age group, which had some very strong swimmers at this meet, her results being: Freestyle (7th); Backstroke (3rd and a club record) and Breastroke (2nd).
Ann Reid — a very strong supporter of this BPS. Ann swam well enough to claim equal 4th in another highly competitive age group; her places were Freestyle (4th and a club record), Backstroke (5th) and Butterfly (5th). Ann also helped to officiate at this meet as well as swim, which is tricky but very much appreciated.
Pauline Rohan — surprised herself by entering and then proceeded to swim some faster than she expected times in her three swims. Her freestyle was an especially pleasing (54.11). In fact every swim was a new club record for her age group. Her places were Freestyle (10th); Backstroke (6th) and Butterfly (3rd).
The women’s medley relay team was comprised of the four oldest swimmers from the club who were there, which just put them into the 240+ age group category. The team set a club record for this age group in a 50m LC pool, since there wasn’t one previously! How nice is that? The team consisted of: Pauline — Backstroke; Catherine — Breastroke; Mandy — Butterfly and Cecelia — Freestyle. they finished second in their age group with a 12-second improvement on their entry time — so perhaps there is some truth that you swim faster in salt water.
Our swimmers managed to finish 11th overall out of 27 clubs and collected 115 points for Tuggeranong. The large Sydney clubs were there in big numbers, so this was a very respectable result.
The evening finished with pizza on the deck, then drinks under the bridge with everyone from Tuggeranong enjoying a very successful and entertaining evening. Sydney is a beautiful city with the lights on, so it makes for an amazing back-drop. We do believe we will be back again next year!!
Full results are available.
