Report by Katrina Burgess
Four Viking young ladies Caz Makin, Brenda Day, Donna Campbell and Katrina Burgess attended the Pan Pacific Masters Games which were held in the Gold Coast with the swimmers competing at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre from 4-7 November 2016.
The weather was sensational for the entire competition and perfect for sight seeing and defrosting from the Canberra cold. We spent time with our NSW Masters Swimming friends in the spectator stand.
Each Viking provided a summary of their most memorable moments from the Games experience.
Katrina Burgess: “I enjoyed the atmosphere that was created by the swim meet being held in an outdoor facility and had a giggle when watching the video of my backstroke and bumping from one side of the lane rope to the other. I achieved three PBs and silver medal (200m Butterfly) and 2 bronze medals (400m Backstroke, 100m Butterfly).”
Donna Campbell: “Completing all 8 swims and achieving my best results in Breaststroke and of course winning silver in 400m Breaststroke. Watching everyone else achieve and celebrate their goals and spending time in the sun and surf.”
Brenda Day: “Despite coming in 6th place, my highlight was my 100m Freestyle – over the moon with my time. I managed to get gold medals in 400m and 200m Butterfly, silver in 200m Individual Medley and bronze in 400m Individual Medley. In atrocious conditions, which required some serious help from Helen Reddy’s “I am woman”, I came in silver medal place in the 2.5km Ocean Swim at Mermaid Beach … Lake Burley Griffin has never seemed so inviting!”
Caroline Makin: “Wonderful sunny weather, swimming outdoors and meeting a lovely kiwi in my age group in all of my Freestyle heats in the pool. The competition was exceptionally tough in the the F45-49 age group, but managed to achieve medals in 400m Breaststroke with a massive PB – Silver, 50m Breaststroke – Bronze and also in the 2.5k Ocean Swim – Silver + 4th Overall Female. I was relieved to get out through the rip and the break at Mermaid Beach without getting swept back to shore or losing my goggles and finishing 4th overall female just behind the top 3 – it was a close swim the whole way with the top 4 females finishing within 1 minute of each other and 6 minutes ahead of the next swimmer. The chop was big and the buoys were very small … which made navigation extremely challenging!”
Results for the pool events available at http://mastersgames.com.au/ppmg/sports/swimming/ and for the ocean swims at http://mastersgames.com.au/ppmg/sports/swimming-ocean-swim/.
