Report by Club Captain – Katrina Burgess
The 2019 MSA National Championships were held in Adelaide from 19-23 March at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, Oaklands Park. Over 400 swimmers from all over the country competed, as well as a few visiting Masters swimmers from NZ, USA, UK and Canada.
Tuggeranong Vikings were represented by a team of ten swimmers (and supporters!), consisting of Katrina Burgess, Leisa Cass, Donna Campbell, Brian Curtis, Lisa Haureliuk, Paul Maggs, Caroline Makin, Ann Reid, Anne Smyth and Ron Watkins.
As well as enjoying the social aspects, all swimmers swam well with numerous PB swims and multiple podium finishes. Overall, the club ended the meet in 13th position from a field of 86 clubs. Not too shabby!
As well as the women’s medley and freestyle relay team, notable individual results included triple gold to Caz Makin in the 200, 400 and 800m FR as well as another gold in the 50m BK , and Ron Watkins’ gold in 50m BU.
For those that just couldn’t get enough, the meet also included, unusually, a 1.5 or 3.0km open-water swim at Brighton Beach on day five following completion of the four days of competition in the pool. Both Caz and Anne took the plunge in the choppy 1.5km event – cheered on by some Vikings who stayed dry and comfortable on the jetty – with Caz taking home a gold, and Anne a silver medal.
It was a particularly strong meet for the Canberra women, with Caz taking the crown as National Champion in her age group, and Lisa gaining equal second overall in her age group, and both Ann Reid and Donna Campbell swimming the maximum allowable twelve individual events over the four days of competition.
Full event results are at the Masters Swimming Australia website. Next year’s event will be run in Short Course format at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC). For the first time ever at our Nationals, multi-class participants will be able to swim in their own multi-class categories within the program. Just enough time to get training!
