President's Prattle
It has been good fun getting involved in the recent pool events, and both the recent swims at Swan Hills meet and this weekend’s State Relay Challenge saw some terrific swims. It is always good to share these events with ‘first-timers’, but also to watch some of our excellent swimmers in action. As has been reported by Captain Mike (and others still flushed with the sweet scent of success), we did extremely well at the relay carnival. It is a Captain’s job to pester folk to participate and Mike was an excellent “encourager” for this event (just ask Ingrid and Erica..), getting 24 swimmers into the pool. These included first eventer Trent, long lost pool swimmer Jen, recovering swimmer Pauline, some guns in Anwar-the-shark, Ryan, Adam, and Jen(sorry Steve) …strong coaching participation from Mike, John and Des and a plethora of we others trying our best not to drown. There were some great swims with a fingernail loss in the ‘dash for cash’, and 4 state records set by our team. Ken has accepted honorary status as a Steve to be able to continue with we three other Steve’s in a gun relay team?? Our overall team finish in a very close SECOND place was the most Claremont (the meet organisers) have been pushed for a while. Well done US!!
After some quiet training nights, we have had some good recent numbers in the evening swims. Continue to commit, and get yourselves into the water. Even on these winter nights the water is good to swim in. Don’t forget that we have a special in-club mini-carnival this Sunday at the pool followed by a bring-and-share morning tea. Hope to see a good crowd of excited participants for this. I am sure Mike and John will have “fun” front and centre for this one.
Congratulations to those still braving the ocean currents. The beautiful warm, calm waters are continuing to seduce a number of hardy souls to get in. Some of the rougher days have been a lot of fun, though the role of “beach spotter” has sometimes enticed more participants than the numbers actually swimming. It seems this role provides an equal right to a post-swim coffee, although not, a cup of Paul’s hot soup!!
It was heartening to have 10 of our members at St Johns for a refresher on CPR and use of our defib. Following this training a popular beach song is now the Bee Gees “Staying Alive” which seems to have the perfect beat pattern for chest compressions. (Check out the Vinnie Jones video clip if you want to get more on this. It is instructional and funny!). Our improved safety processes are providing swimmers with extra confidence and have been well received.
The Open Water swim sub-committee Chaired by Wayne, is already well into the planning for our next Australia Day Swim. Once again we have big hopes for this event. Let Wayne know if you can help in any way. Wayne is also getting the Club involved looking after the beach area on which we swim. I’m sure there will be working parties required for this as time goes by.
Well, keep swimming and look after each other.
Steve C