Report by Marianne Tweedie
Two Vikings represented the 2012 NSW Masters Swimming Club of the Year at the Wett Ones BPS Meet at the University of Sydney on 25 May 2013 – the last LC 50m meet until later in the year.
Driving up from Sydney a bit later in the morning as neither were swimming the 400m Freestyle, Caroline Makin and Marianne Tweedie arrived on the pool deck as those swims were just finishing, and therefore not leaving much time for a warm up (they’d become accustomed to the numerous heats at Nationals!) Thankfully the walk from the hotel in the Sydney heat (with a detour due to poor map reading) assisted the Vikings get ready for their three swims each.
Caroline swam a decent 50m Breaststroke in 45.42, which helped her to get ready for her impressive 200m Breaststroke in 3:37.16. Many fellow swimmers told Caz they thought she’d gone out too fast — but she had great form and was able to finish strong.
Marianne’s 50m Breaststroke was on par with pervious performances at 48.39. She tried an experiment in swimming the 200m Backstroke and was very happy with her time of 3:15.68 as a first try.
As in previous years, the meet ran late by approximately 30 minutes. Marianne and Caroline were both in the final heats of the final event, the 100m Freestyle. Caroline’s hopes of breaking her Nationals time in that event quickly faded on examination of the numbers in the marshalling area. Caroline’s heat for the 100m Freestyle had three people out of six, with Caz away in lane 6 and unable to see the other slower ranked competitors in lanes 1 and 2. Without any one to race with directly, pacing was tough. Although very disappointed with a time of 1:16.35, she did note it was basically just a time trial swim rather late in the day, when she could have been having a beer!
Marianne’s heat was even more pathetic, with two people across the six lanes. Thankfully she could see her single competitor just one away and a similar speed and therefore was able to race a time of 1:13.39. If he hadn’t been there, she likely would have given up at 75 meters, as that is when the lactic set in and her legs just seemed to stop working.
After the strange experiences of the final event, the ladies took the train from Redfern station to Circular Quay to enjoy some company, wine and delicious food. Inadvertently they also got to see VIVID, a festival of light and public art, as well as deal with the associated crowds. All in all, a rather nice social weekend for the Vikings, with a couple of decent swims each!
Full results are available.
