After a short break from the NSW Short Course Championships last October in Woy Woy, the Vikings were back at the Woy Woy pool on the Central Coast, NSW on Saturday, 11 May 2013 for the Ettalong BPS Meet. Only this time, the weather was cool with light showers most of the afternoon – first time it was not like a sauna for Scott Makin and the other chilled spectators, including Brenda Day’s sister Diane and her husband Barry.

Only a handful of Vikings, but they  managed some reasonable results, with four individual swims each.

Caroline Makin gained a first place in her 200m Freestyle in 2:40.51 and was happy to get a relatively low 39 seconds for 50m Butterfly with her shoulders intact, despite the recurring knot that reared it’s ugliness again that day.

Katrina Burgess was very happy with a swim that picked up first in her 200m Breaststroke in 3:34.89, a first in the 50m Breaststroke and not far behind Caroline for her other two swims.

Brenda Day tackled her favourite (not many other’s favourite!) – the 200m Butterfly – in the same time as Nationals and then changed to the unfamiliar role of sprinter for 25m Freestyle and a couple of 50’s.

Jon McRae provided an excellent demonstration of the old ‘wind up’ start for his 25m Freestyle sprint and demonstrated why this start technique is now obsolete and there is “room for improvement in that area, especially on 25m sprints!”. Jon recorded his first time under 3 minutes for 200m Freestyle and put in his first time racing 25m sprints in a “good many years”.

Unfortunately, Gary Stutsel could not attend the meet as planned, and our relay team was only a scratch job with no point score, but was good exercise anyway including a ringer from the Castle Hill club taking up Gary’s leg in the 4x50m Mixed Freestyle relay.

Jon spent a lot of the day timekeeping including a stint as acting Chief Timekeeper , gaining excellent experience for his official qualification and during which Jenny Whiteley smashed another world record in Breaststroke.

“Our” Opal Eddy managed a couple of first places and the Vikings also watched ex-collaborator, Adrian Davis, now swimming for Port Macqarie club, who excelled with four firsts in his swims.

Full results are available.

Tuggeranong Masters Swimming ACT has been announced the Masters Swimming NSW (Incorporating ACT) 2012 Club of the Year at the Annual General Meeting held on Saturday 18 May 2013, at Sydney Olympic Park. Roger Dietrich was also awarded the Gary Stutsel Award for having contributed the most to the advancement of Masters Swimming in NSW throughout 2012.

The Club of the Year award is one of the most prestigious that can be awarded to a club within the Masters Swimming NSW Branch, and is the result of the MSNSW Board noting the tremendous effort that the club has put into its promotion as well as their participation and camaraderie at swim meets. Their chant of “Go you Vikings!” can regularly be heard on pool deck at swim meets around NSW, with their swimmers supporting one another throughout the event and members taking on time-keeping responsibilities and more recently undertaking officials qualifications.

Tuggeranong Masters are truly the model club, with some great leadership from the likes of their President, Annette Britten; Club Captain, Caroline Makin and Coaching Director, Anne Smyth.  The committee has done a great job helping steer the club onwards and upwards to greater achievements in the last couple of years, with everyone working so well together to make the sport more enjoyable for all their members. Each and every member of the club should be very proud of the club’s recent successes and this award, as well as their own personal achievements and participation – making the club what it is today.

In addition, member Roger Dietrich has also been announced as having won the Gary Stutsel Award for contributing the most to the advancement of Masters Swimming in NSW in 2012.

About two years ago Roger started the planning, and then set up the MSNSW Social Media networks on the platforms of Facebook and Twitter about a year ago and has continued to be the Social Media Administrator.

MSNSW saw the opportunity to use the social media platforms as a promotional tool for Masters Swimming across the state. “It has had the effect of helping the organisation build a valuable sense of community”, Roger said, “without Facebook and twitter members would not have been able to become friends both on Social Media and on pool deck”.

Masters Swimming NSW Board member, Stuart Ellicott said that he does the job so well, “and it has enabled many people to develop friendships with other swimmers around the State and Territory as well as nationally”.

Roger said it was a great honour to receive an award named after such an esteemed fellow as Gary Stutsel. “Gary has achieved so much in Masters Swimming and I can only look on in amazement at his achievements” Roger said, “in addition it also an honour as Gary was one of eight people that founded Masters Swimming in Australia in 1975″.

All in all, 2012 was a great for Tuggeranong Masters Swimming, and these awards truly put the ACT back on the Masters Swimming map!

We are running two sessions at 12.30pm and 3.00pm and we are strictly limited to 16 swimmers per session, so you need to get in quick and make your payment of the $50 fee and confirm with Anne Smyth by email.

Our own club coaches (Anne, Brenda, Jeanette, Leisa and Caz) will all be attending the workshop, so don’t worry if you can’t attend, as we’ll be passing on everything we learn to our swimmers during our regular training sessions.

27 Tuggeranong Masters Swimmers competed in the 38th Masters Swimming Australia National Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre from 17 -20 April 2013.

Our club had a fantastic meet with many individual personal best times and truckloads of Gold, Silver and Bronze medals brought back to Canberra. Tuggeranong finished fifth out of 96 clubs nationally and third out of 47 clubs in NSW only narrowly behind Warringah and Seaside Pirates (there were only nine points in it across the three top NSW clubs). We set the pool on fire bringing home 48 individual medals and 3 relay medals!!

Our top Viking swimmers of the meet were definitely Gary Stutsel, Atsuko McGowan, Cassie Lindsay, Kade Howitt, and Anne Smyth who claimed ownership over a large proportion of the our medal tally.

Vikings Medal Tally

Individual performances, in alphabetical order, were as follows:

David Bale swam in the maximum ten individual events and three relays with PBs in the 200m Individual Medley and 200m Butterfly. David’s performance was solid throughout the meeting putting in great times in the majority of his swims. His best performance was probably his 400m Freestyle on the last morning, knocking 2 seconds off his PB, especially as David would consider himself a sprinter much more than a distance swimmer.

Jill Blomeley swam in six individual events and three relays, winning a Bronze medal in the 100m Breaststroke and coming fourth in the 200m Breaststroke. Jill showed yet again how strong a Breaststroke swimmer she is and also a fun person to be around at Nationals.

Thomas Boyce took part in five individual events and one relay and swam a really solid time of 7:13.34 in his 400m Individual Medley. Tom’s best personal performance was probably his nifty 37.94 for 50m Butterfly.

Club President, Annette Britten swam in nine individual events and three relays, putting in a good performance in the 50m Breaststroke for a PB time of 47.62. Annette also swam a slick 100m Breaststroke for a PB as well.  Great stuff for someone who historically has been considered a Backstroker.  Annette swims with a smooth and gliding style in all her strokes and has a super efficient Freestyle and Backstroke turn.

First time Masters swimmer for our club and Kade Howitt’s mum, Katrina Burgessswam in five individual and three relay events and can move through the water quickly. Katrina’s best performances were probably her 400m Individual Medley and 200m Backstroke swims.

Leisa Cass did the maximum ten events and swam in three relays. Leisa has been recovering from broken ribs, so has been working hard to get her fitness back since the early part of 2013. Leisa’s best performance was probably her 400m Freestyle in a time of 6:29.93 and a solid swim also in her 200m Individual Medley.

Second claim member from Molongolo Water Dragons and breaststroke specialist,John Collis swam four individual events and three relays. “All my individual swims were PBs for my current age group.  Not by much, and I’ve only been in this age group since 2012, but I’m claiming it nevertheless”, John said. He was a Breaststroke age champion in Queensland when he was a teenager. John smashed out impressive 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke times and his 50m Freestyle was not too shabby either in a time of 35.08!

Nick Dando had two individual swims and three relays and took home Bronze in the 200m Breaststroke to add to his relay Bronze.  Nick is a very proficient Breaststroke swimmer and it was great to see him competing at his first Masters Nationals and have him in our relay teams with his fast 50m sprint times!

Brenda Day swam eight individual events and three relays and took home a Bronze medal in the tough 200m Butterfly event. Interestingly, Brenda was very quick off the blocks and the first to hit the water in her 800m Freestyle, leaving everyone else standing on the blocks napping.  Brenda put in some really sold swims across the board in all of her events.

In the same heat in the 800m Freestyle as Brenda, and whose hands were just entering the water at the same time as Brenda’s feet was Roger Dietrich who swam nine individual events including five Freestyle swims with impressive PBs in each one of them. He sliced the following from his times – 50m Freestyle: 0.63 sec; 100m Freestyle: 3.1 sec; 200m Freestyle: 5.27 sec; 400m Freestyle: 26.4 sec and 800m Freestyle: 42.23 sec. Roger also swam a PB for 200m Breaststroke to better his existing club record.  [newspaper article about Roger's efforts ...]

Richard Flockart took on six individual events and three relays picking up a Silver medal in his 100m Butterfly with a time of 1:27.86 and also won Silver in his 200m Butterfly with a time of 3:33.04. Amazingly, Paul Blackbeard from Claremont WA was over a minute quicker than Richard to take the Gold in both events.  Richard’s Butterfly is pretty impressive being almost as quick as his Freestyle over 50m!

Greg Gourley swam seven individual events and three relays and swam a PB in the 400m split of his 800m Freestyle in 5:55.00 and finished the 800m in 11:54.25. Greg’s best performance was probably his 50m Butterfly in an impressive time of 36.45 – the quickest he’s gone in about 5 years! Greg also knocked out a quick 31 second 50m Freestyle in his relay leg.

Ian Hampton entered five individual events and took back to Cooma a Silver medal for his 200m Breaststroke with a time of 3:30.91. Ian also swam a good time of 7:17.85 in the 400m Individual Medley to pick up a Bronze Medal, and swimming in three relays he took a relay Bronze home with him too.

Paul Hitchman is a pretty fast swimmer for his age and it’s always great to watch him swim. This was pretty much Hitch’s first outing at Masters in a LC pool so he set PB times in all of his six individual swims. It was great to see Hitch and youngster Kade Howitt race in the same heat of the 100m Freestyle – Hitch held Kade until the last 15 metres, when the youngster pulled ahead to finish only 2 seconds ahead of Hitch! Hitch was a key member of the three relays with his speed down the 50m distance of the pool.

Kade Howitt earned much attention throughout the meet as he was the youngest swimmer taking part, and he was nurtured by many of the older swimmers who had great respect for an 18-year-old swimming in Masters competition. He bagged ten medals, three individual of each colour and a relay Bronze. Kade swam an nifty 29.42 50m split in his 100m Freestyle and finished in 1:01.39 and put in four super relay swims.

Kristen Leydon attended the last day of the meet and swam in three events and a relay.  She had a fantastic dive start in the 100m Freestyle and finished in a quick 1:32.75, then did a 1:04.45 for another PB in her 50m Breaststroke. Kristen also put in a solid relay leg on that single day of swimming after her 200m Butterfly ‘Iron Person’ event.

Adelaide based swimmer Cassie Lindsay who used to swim for Tuggeranong, represented our club for the second time at Nationals and notched up five individual medals including two Silver, three Bronze and one relay Bronze with eight PB times from her ten individual swims. Cassie is a fantastic long distance Freestyle swimmer with a beautiful smooth stroke, and proved to be a valuable asset in her three relays also.

Our Club Captain, Caroline Makin competed in nine individual events and three relays.  Caz put in a huge effort in her 800m Freestyle with a 21 second PB and a 400m PB in her split along the way, leading out her heat by a significant distance in the first 200-300m.  Caz also secured a PB in her 100m Freestyle finally breaking the 1.15.00 she had swum twice in the last 12 months with a 1:14.80.  Narrowly missing out on the Bronze in the 400 Individual Medley by only 1 second, she secured an individual Bronze medal in the last event of the meet in the 200m Butterfly. Caz also claimed a Bronze relay medal.

Nicolee Martin swam in eight individual and three relay events. She had a very quick 100m Freestyle knocking almost 4 seconds off her PB with a 1:15.91, and setting a PB in her 50m split along the way.  She also swam PBs in her 50m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley. Nicolee also achieved a 100m PB in her split in the 200m Breaststroke. Nicolee’s best swim of the meet was probably her 200m Breaststroke.

Atsuko McGowan, backstroke extraordinaire and 34-year-old pocket rocket swum her heart out at her first Nationals, earning nine medals from ten individual swims, including five Silver and two Bronze as well as two relay Bronze medals from her four relay events.  In doing so, she knocked out PB times in her 50m and 200m Freestyle, 50m,100m and 200m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley and took a massive five seconds off her 100m Freestyle PB finishing in a very impressive time of 1:07.99, which was probably her best performance of the meet!

It was nine out of nine PBs for Jon McRae in his individual swims and he said “I think I am now fully fit, and any further PBs will now have to come from improved technique!” Jon’s best performance was probably his 100m Freestyle in a time of 1:16.91. Jon also put in three solid relay swims.

It was three individual medals for Backstroker Liz Needham who won Silver in her 50m Backstroke and Bronze in her 100m and 200m Backstroke events. PB times hit the board in her 100m and 200m swims. Liz did five individual swims, taking on the 50m and 100m Freestyle events as well. Liz also took home a Bronze relay medal.

Mary-Liz Partridge, another second claimer from Molongolo Water Dragons hit the PB button seven times out of eight individual swims and had an exceptional swim in her 400m Freestyle dropping her time from 6:49.87 to 6:31.63, as well as a solid 800m Freestyle swim on the first day.  Mary Liz has a lovely Backstroke style, and looks a bit like Annette swimming Backstroke!

Ann Reid swam PB’s in her 400m and 800m Freestyle events smashing her 800m time from 13:01.07 to 12:44.05 – probably Ann’s best performance of the meet. Ann also smashed her 100m Butterfly time by three seconds and swam in her first 400m Individual Medley ever. Ann took home a Bronze relay medal for her Freestyle leg.

Anne Smyth won two Gold and two Bronze medals from her seven individual swims. Anne upstages considerably younger swimmers in her long distance Freestyle and Medley events and her Butterfly swims in particular.  Anne is not known as a sprinter, but she swam a PB of 35.13 in her 50m Freestyle at this meet and swam in three relays.

74-year-old Gary Stutsel won a swag of medals from his ten individual events with four Gold, one Silver and two Bronze along with a relay Bronze. This man is a machine and swam 50m Freestyle in 33.01 upstaging many that are considerably younger than him.

Marianne Tweedie swam eight individual events and four relays and and picked up a Bronze medal in the 800m Freestyle in a time 11:47.95. She also swam PB’s in her 50m, 100m and 400m Freestyle events as well as 50m Backstroke. Marianne’s 100m Freestyle was probably her best performance other than her 800m Freestyle, where she put in a super swim finishing in a time of 1:11.20. Marianne also took home a Bronze relay medal.

Relays

In the relay section it was the story of medals again with the Vikings winning three relay Bronze medals.

• In the very first relay of the meet on day two, the 100+ 4 x 50m Mixed Freestyle relay team of Nick, Atsuko, Marianne and Kade won Bronze behind the Victorian Power Points and the Sydney Seaside Pirates in their age group setting the scene for a great relay competition. The team each put in a great swim with a sub 2-minute time of 1:58.19.
• Later in the day Liz, Ian, Gary and Ann stepped up to the blocks in the 240+ 4 x 50m Mixed Medley relay and also won the Bronze medal in their age group behind Blacktown and the Victorian Malvern Marlins.  Their final time was 2:43.33.
• Late on day three, Caroline, Cassie, Marianne and Atsuko secured a further Bronze behind the two Victorian clubs, Power Points and the Casey Seals in the 120+ 4 x 50m Women’s Freestyle relay. The two older ladies lead off with Caroline taking it out in 33.62, followed ably by Cassie in 34.54. The youngsters brought it home, with Marianne in a 32.02 and Atsuko powering to the finish in 31.50. The final time for the ladies was 2:11.68.

Full results are available.

It took David just over two and a half years to achieve his million metres, which is a pretty impressive time period in which to achieve this award. David said that his 5+km swims of a morning with Steve and the Woden swim club kids contributed tremendously to his getting there in such a short time period. David’s desire to reach that million mark resulted in his high level of fitness at that during that period.

… if you are new to the club, why not start logging all the swims you do at training and in endurance and race meets.  All of these count towards your Vorgee Million Metres Awards which are open to all registered members of Masters Swimming Australia.

Fifteen swimmers travelled to Blacktown Aquatic Centre in Sydney’s West to the NSW State Long Course Championships on 24 March 2013 for a great day of swimming and camaraderie. The weather at Blacktown was fine and sunny which was a bit different to the last couple of meets, however this meet was indoors and the last couple have been out doors under adverse conditions.

This year’s State Championships were held in conjuction with Blacktown club, over only one day instead of the normal two days which are usually held at SOPAC as the National Championships were coming up a few weeks later.

The club finished second in the average points per swimmer and eighth in the overall meet point score.

First time swimmer for our club 18-year-old Kade Howitt had a great day at his first ever Masters meet and took home two gold medals in the 100m Backstroke and the 50m Butterfly. Kade was a little disappointed in his 50m Freestyle swim but none the less won a silver medal and was out touched by 0.3 of a second by Stephen Nguyen of Merrylands. However Kade’s time of 27.82 is nothing to be sneezed at and he has a PB in the low 26 second range. Kade was equal first in his age group with Stephen.

Meanwhile, Atsuko McGowan won three gold medals to earn maximum points and won her age group in her three Backstroke events, the 50m 100m and 200m. Atsuko was also a little disappointed in her times and was some 9 seconds away from her PB in one of these events. However she still looks as relaxed as can be and is the clubs powerhouse in the water.

In the same age group, Marianne Tweedie picked up medals of each of the three colours in her 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle events, Gold for her 100m, Silver for the 200m and Bronze for the 50m. Like Atsuko, Marianne is going from strength to strength and finished fourth in the age group.

Caroline Makin had been suffering with a virus for a couple of weeks prior, and a seized neck and shoulder since the day before the meet, but Caz would still swim even if her arms had suddenly fallen off!!! She managed to win three Silver medals in all her 100m events, Butterfly, Breaststroke and Freestyle. Caz finished fifth in her age group.

Anne Smyth finished equal first in the age group and won two Gold medals and one Silver medal in her 200m events. Anne swam the 200m IM, 200m Butterfly and 200m Freestyle. Anne is a real inspiration and gives great advice in her coaching in the lead up to these big events.

Three medals also were won by Ann Reid in her events in the same age group with Silver’s in the 200m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle and a Bronze in the 200m Freestyle.

Also in the same age group as Anne and Ann, Liesa Cass won a Gold medal in the 200m Backstroke and a Bronze in the 100m Freestyle. Liesa came fifth in the 200m Freestyle and finished eleventh overall in the age group.

Catherine Alexander brought home a silver medal for her 50m Breaststroke and two Bronze medals for the 100m and 200m Breaststroke. These were great swims considering that Catherine is up against Jenny Whitely from Ryde who broke the National records for the 100 and 200m Breaststroke on the day. Catherine finished sixth in her age group.

Cecelia Kaye ad Brenda Day both came equal fifth in their age group with both ladies winning a medal of each colour for their events. It was Gold in her 100m Backstroke, Silver in the 50m Backstroke and Bronze in the 50m Breaststroke for Cecelia and Brenda won Gold in the 200m Butterfly, Silver in the 200m Backstroke and Bronze in her 200m IM.

In the men’s section, Gary Stutsel won maximum points for our club and won his age group and took home three Gold Medals 50m Freestyle, Butterfly and Breaststroke. At 74 years of age, Gary is a valuable freestyle swimmer for our club as his 50m time on the day was a vigorous 33.57.

Luke McGowan had a mixed day. He finished equal eighth on his age group but won Gold in his 50m Breaststroke and a Silver medal in his 100m Breaststroke. Luke was placed sixth in his 50m Freestyle with a zippy time of 30.83.

David Bale won Silver in his 200m Butterfly and came fourth and fifth in his 100m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle finishing equal eleventh in his age group.

Ian Hampton won a Gold medal in his 100m Breaststroke and won two Silver Medals in the 200m IM and 200m Breaststroke. Ian finished equal fourth in his age group.

The only swimmer to not win a medal was Roger Dietrich; however he smashed 3 seconds off his PB in the 200m Freestyle and picked up a club record in the 200m Breaststroke. Roger also swam more than 23 seconds faster than he did at Campbelltown in the 200m Freestyle a few weeks before taking on board Ian Hampton’s comment in the Campbelltown meet report and swimming about 13,000 metres in training the week before this meet.

RELAYS

In the Womens 4 x 50m Freestyle Relays the Womens 160+ team of Caroline, Anne, Marianne and Atsuko came third in this division and secured a new club record, whilst Leisa, Brenda, Catherine and Ann won their 200+ division.

In the Mens 4 x 50m Freestyle Relays we had a very fast team of Kade, Gary, David and Luke who came fifth in the 160+ age group in a slick time of 02:05.18.

The Mixed 4 x 50m Freestyle Relays were next with Kade, Atsuko, Marianne and Luke finishing fifth in the 120+ age group. Caroline, Anne, David and Gary came second in the 200+ age group and setting a new club record.  Finally, in the 240+ age group, Brenda, Cecelia, Roger and Ian came sixth also setting a new club record.

Full results are available.

A group of Vikings headed to the coast 8 to 10 March 2013 to participate in the Wollongong “Trithegong Triathlon Festival”.

Having arrived in Wollongong earlier than expected on the Friday afternoon, Atsuko McGowan decided on a last minute entry to the opening event of the Trithegong festival —  for the 1km ocean swim.

Joining 35 male and female swimmers, Atsuko completed the 1km circuit course in Wollongong harbour in 15 minutes 25 seconds. The strong performance saw Atsuko place 1st in her age group, 3rd of all females and 9th place out of all swimmers.  Full ocean swim results are available.

On the Saturday, it was Luke McGowan’s turn to enter the water as part of the beginner level triathlon known as an Enticer Triathlon.  The event began with a 300m open water swim in Wollongong harbour.  After the initial shock of his first plunge into an open water swim and dodging elbows and legs everywhere, Luke completed the course in a leisurely 6 minutes 13 seconds.  Luke went on to complete the 7km bike ride and 2km run in a total time on 35 minutes 21 seconds placing 15th in his age group and 84th out of 129 male competitors. Full enticer results are available.

On Sunday, Atsuko McGowan headed back to the harbour accompanied by Caroline Makin and Nicolee Martin for the Sprint Triathlon.  Caz and Nicolee headed out first completing the supposed 750m course in 8 minutes 17 seconds and 8 minutes 26 seconds respectively.  Caz was the first female over 40 (all those 40+ ladies swimming in one wave) out of the water and this saw Caz place 1st in her age group and Nicolee place 2nd in her age group  in the swim leg. Caz’s watch recorded her swim as 495m, so just less than two-third of the standard swim leg in a Sprint Triathlon.  It was apparent as the ladies swam in this wave through the boats moored in the harbour, that the second marker buoy had moved much closer towards the beach then it should have been and thus the greatly reduced distance and fast times for ’750m’.

Atsuko’s age group headed out two waves behind the older ladies.  It was unclear whether it was a result of the Japanese “Devine wind”, a strong current, the buoys moving closer to the beach, or a favourable timing chip, but Atsuko and the rest of her wave recorded impossibly fast times for the ’750m’ course. Atsuko stormed through to record an official time of 6 minutes and 20 seconds and placing 3rd in her age group in the swim leg.

With their favourite but shortest leg of the triathlon over, the ladies headed out of the water for the 20km bike ride which included a steep hill at the start and end of the 7km course, which they rode 3 times and then onto the 5km run.  To make matters more difficult for our swimmers against the triathletes, the run course was unusually long at 5.5km and much of it across grassy trails rather then pathways.

All three Vikings performed well, but found themselves much lower down the rankings than normal due to the reduced swim distance on their strongest leg, and the skightly longer than usual run leg.

Final results were Nicolee (7th in age group), Atsuko (32nd in age group) and Caz (21st in age group), registering official times of 1 hour 31 minutes 54 seconds, 1 hour 35 minutes 40 seconds, and 1 hour 38 minutes 26 seconds respectively. Full sprint results are available.

Atsuko and Luke’s kids also took part in the MiniMan Triathlon where they swam 100m in the harbour, cycled 3.6km and then ran 600m on the Saturday morning – what a family of triathletes the McGowan’s are turning out to be!

The Endurance 1000 results for 2012 were published in February. Once again, our swimmers should feel proud of their achievements. We placed 5th nationally and 2nd in NSW on Total Points Gained. Talay Masters placed first nationally with 21,340 points and Campbelltown placed first in NSW with 15,606 points. Tuggeranong gained 13,352 points.

On Average Points per Member, we placed 4th in NSW and 10th nationally. This is a very sound effort as we are quite a large club with 70 members in 2012. Five of the twenty eight female swimmers and one of the thirty one male swimmers who gained maximum points were from Tuggeranong.

Swimmers who gained maximum points were: Brenda Day, Lily Gilroy, Atsuko McGowan, Jon McRae, Pam Munday and Ann Reid.

Andrea Teunisen also completed all possible Endurance swims.

Everyone is welcome to participate and it is a good way of increasing your fitness, so get involved in 2013!

This table shows our aerobic/endurance results for the last ten years:

On Saturday 9 March 2013, one lone Viking (Greg Gourley) was to take on the Riverina Rush’s 10km open water swim in Lake Talbot, Narrandera.

The morning started at 6am by wakening for a breakfast of super food – something that would provide enough GG power to last 3 hrs.  What was this super food – one small tin of baked beans, a small tin of fish and the must have – instant coffee.

Only 4 swimmers, one from Sydney (who was training for a channel swim), one from Port Macquarie (Adrian’s Club), one from Melbourne and GG.  Many more swimmers (wimps) were to take on the 5km (middle distance) and the 2km (warm-up) swims.

The Before

Oh! What have I entered?

The picture shows straight line the 1km up and 1 km return course that we needed to swim 5 times.

Lake Talbot before the swim

The During

A friendly red belly black decide to join the swim.After the event we were told that snake was chasing one of the swimmers (that’s called drafting).  The snake didn’t pay its entry fee so one of the paddlers gave it a swipe and sent it back to shore.

Lake Talbot late entry

The End

After 3 hrs and 4 minutes GG finished the 10 kms.  Coming in 2nd in the open and 1st in the veterans.

The lovely people of Narrandera provide prize money for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the open – so GG picked up $50 which was quickly donated back to support the event next year.

The 10km Open Finish

Footnote: The Riverina Rush offers Open Water Swimming, Cycling, Triathlon and Running Events – sadly it clashes with similar events elsewhere that run on the same weekend.  Anyhow Mij and GG had a wonderful time and will be back new year for another 10km.

– a beautiful set of numbers, and then…….

Report by Ian Hampton

These splits make up a beautiful set of numbers:

100 m                      1 min 42.49s
200 m                      3 min 41.68s
300 m                      5 min 44.74s
400 m                      7 min 45.07s

Excellent, brave consistent swimming – this was Caroline Makin’s successful attempt at breaking the NSW State record for Female 45-49 400m Butterfly; which stood at 8:19.23.  Many at the pool were happy for Caz and her achievement.  However, the following evening Caz was informed that there was a problem with her record attempt as the Campbelltown pool has not been resurveyed since its refurbishment.  Huge disappointment – as Caz had clearly advised MSNSW of her intention to attempt the record, including a first enquiry on the 10 February.  The better news coming out of this is that Campbelltown are going to have the pool resurveyed and Caz’s record will be approved retrospectively if the survey works out.

Two other really notable swims on the day – Gary Stutsel swam 33.05  for 50m Freestyle for 631 FINA points, and Anne Smyth swam 2:40.52 for 200m Freestyle for 595 FINA points.  Any swim around 600 FINA points is a really good one, and both of these swims are listed in the national Top 100 swims for all strokes/distances/long course and short course for 2013.

The Campbelltown BPS Meet which was held this year on Saturday, 2 March is traditionally an excellent lead-in meet for the NSW and National Championships because of its timing, it is long course and because it sometimes provides challenging weather conditions.  Overall, there were 13 Vikings at the meet on a somewhat cool-sometimes rainy day; which was compensated by our usual good spirits and excellent hot showers.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Annette Britten – 50m Backstroke 46.94, 100m B ackstroke 1:42.47, 200m Backstroke 3:45.61, 100m Breaststroke 1:48.84; equal third in 40-44 age group.

Brenda Day – 100m Freestyle 1:35.82, 400m Freestyle 7:36.77, 100m Backstroke 1:57.35, 200m Butterfly 4:33.21.

Roger Dietrich – 50m Freestyle 41.54, 200m Freestyle 3:45.98, 400m Freestyle 8:03.95, 100m Breaststroke 2:08.85.  Roger looks good at the start of all his events – just needs to get in some more training (we know this is difficult when he is running a sheep farm).

Ian Hampton – 50m Breaststroke 43.79, 100m Breaststroke 1:38.69, 100m Butterfly 1:32.20, 200m IM 3:33.75, first in 65-69 age group.

Ian thinks he now has a formula for keeping warm on a cool day at an open air pool; namely – after each event immediately do 100 m swim down, followed as soon as possible by a hot shower, then (the secret “weapon”) put underpants on over the wet swimmers and then tracksuit pants on top.  The method in this madness is that the underpants (or some other absorbent clothing) stop the trackky pants from becoming damp and then getting cold in the wind.  Anyhow – worked for Ian, and it is easy to disguise the underpants in marshalling by a smooth removal of trackky pants and underpants together!!

Caroline Makin – 50m freestyle 34.24, 100m Freestyle 1:15.00, 400m Butterfly (in 400m Freestyle event described above), 50m Butterfly 40.33 (a PB), third in 45-49 age group.

Nicolee Martin – 100m Freestyle 1:19.58, 400m Freestyle 5:55.65, 50m Breaststroke 47.27, 200m IM 3:26.90.

Atsuko McGowan – 50m Freestyle 33.34, 100m Breaststroke 1:40.96, 200m IM 2:58.26.

Luke McGowan – 50m Breaststroke 36.00, 200m Breaststroke 3:23.18. 200m Breaststroke is NOT Luke’s event; however he earned a “medal” by keeping up a good pace and something like a smile to keep faith with his kids’ enthusiastic encouragement.   On the other hand – 50m Breaststroke IS Luke’s event in which he turned out a typically fast time.

Mary-Liz Partridge – 100m Freestyle 1:32.01, 400m Freestyle 6:49.87, 100m Backstroke 1:50.79, 200m Backstroke 3:59.04.

Ann Reid – 50m Freestyle 35.90, 100m Freestyle 1:24.18, 400m Freestyle 6:17.07.

Anne Smyth – 50m Freestyle 35.47, 200m Freestyle 2:40.52, 400m IM 6:36.38 – 589 FINA points (another cracking swim competing in the 400m Freestyle event), 50m Butterfly 39.87.

Gary Stutsel – 50m Freestyle 33.05, 100m Breaststroke 1:46.62, 100m Butterfly 1:43.68, 200m IM 3:40.22, second in 70-74 age group.

Marianne Tweedie – 200m Freestyle 2:46.34, 400m Freestyle 5:51.75, 50m Backstroke 43.43, 100m Breaststroke 1:50.68; equal first in 30-34 age group.

RELAYS RESULTS

Atsuko McGowan, Caroline Makin, Anne Smyth and Marianne Tweedie starred, winning the Women’s 160+ age group and setting a new club record.

Annette Britten, Ian Hampton, Gary Stutsel and Nicolee Martin finished a credible 2nd in the Mixed 200+ age group to a classy team from Blacktown.

Mary-Liz Partridge, Luke McGowan, Ann Reid and Roger Dietrich finished 2nd in the Mixed 160+ age group.

TROPHY RESULTS

Vikings finished a clear second in the total club points to Campbelltown and won the trophy for best scoring visiting club. Great work!

SUMMARY

The Campbelltown meet is always enjoyable as it is run with a nice spirit and they always put on sausage sandwiches at the end.  It also provides good competition experience in the lead up to the NSW State and (this year) the National Championships at SOPAC.

Full results are available.