Report by Anne Smyth, Head Coach
What a fantastic two days of racing it was for the Tuggeranong Vikings at the NSW State Long Course Championships on 20/21 Marchs 2015 at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre! It was a great team effort with the club winning the trophy for the highest average points/swimmer.
We had some terrific relay swims winning gold in four events, showing the Sydney clubs that we are a force to be reckoned with. Marianne Tweedie’s last lap of the 4 x50m Mixed 120+ Medley Relay with Caroline Makin, Dan Guthrie and Kade Burgess, was a highlight of the meet, with Marianne mowing down two swimmers to take gold by a fingernail of 0.1 seconds on the wall. This same team also broke the long standing 4x50m Mixed 120+ Freestyle Relay club record set 18 years earlier back in 1997!
The hard work in training from our team is really starting to see results and, for the swimmers going to Nationals in Hobart from 8-11 April, this was a great lead-up! It was a fun meet and despite swimming hard, it is always a great time to catch up with friends, meet new people and enjoy the atmosphere around the pool. On the Friday night we enjoyed a meal and a few wines/beers at the pub after the racing and recounted tales of our exploits in the pool as well as sharing our thoughts for what lay ahead for our races the next day.
Many of our team won medals and these are some highlights from our 14 competitors …
It was great to have our new super-fish Dan Guthrie competing and he powered through his 50m events — big incentive now to get some training under his belt — look out for him at State SC Championships in Canberra in October!
Otto Benda had a great first State meet with some strong swims on Saturday and Donna Campbell is really getting into racing, producing some good PB’s such as her 50m Backstroke.
Leisa Cass had a strong 50m Freestyle swim and Brenda Day had a top meet, winning her 65-69 age group.
Ian Hampton showed guts and power in finishing a very fast 50m Butterfly and Jon Mcrae had some excellent swims, notably his 100m Backstroke.
Marianne Tweedie had a superb meet and was on fire in her 200m Backstroke and 200m Freestyle swims in in her snazzy new suit.
Katrina Burgess and Caroline Makin showed they were in great form and ready for Nationals with Katrina turning in impressive 200m Backstroke and 200m Individual Medley times and Caz was delighted with PBs in her 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle swims and ecstatic at breaking 32 sec for 50m.
Kade Burgess is hitting his form – all his extra training is paying off with fast swims and winning his 18-24 age group. Gary Stutsel recorded strong swims, proving as usual that age is irrelevant to speed — love that double-arm backstroke!
Anne Smyth was very happy with her 200m Butterfly – a good practice swim for this event at Nationals and David Bale produced a fast 100m Butterfly PB and is turning himself into a Backstroker with a great time in the 100m Backstroke!
To top off the meet Anne Smyth was presented with NSW Coach of the Year Award for 2014. This is great news for our club and our team of coaches working with Anne to make our club one of the top in NSW. Our club growth and retention of swimmers, the improvement of swimmers’ techniques and times and our enthusiasm and support of one another is something to be proud of. Well done all club members and our coaching team from 2014 led by Anne – Brenda, Leisa, Jeanette and Caz.
Full results are available.
