2021 MSWA State Championships - Thank you from the President

What a meet! Well done, Mandurah Masters volunteers, MSWA officials and competitors, for coming together to create a swim meet that fulfilled the essential objectives of Masters Swimming - Fitness, Fun and Friendship.

What made it such a great event? So many things, but in this post, I will unashamedly focus on us.

First, you couldn't have asked for a better venue or weather. Thanks to Adrian and his MARC team for all their support and assistance over the weekend.

Secondly, you couldn't have asked for a better-organised meet than that implemented by the Mandurah Masters volunteers looking after Registration, Marshalling, and Announcements. A truly experienced, well organised, capable, friendly and super-efficient team.

Typically, I would not single out individuals, but I want to make a special mention of the fantastic efforts of Meet Director and Announcer Steve Crake and Clerk of the Course Barb Pellick.

Steve Crake wore two hats, Meet Director and Announcer, when either is a lot to ask of anyone. While he did a fantastic job in both roles, his role as Announcer ably assisted by Kirk set the event's tone. His friendly, funny and knowledgeable commentary was integral in establishing the casual, fun atmosphere that prevailed over the meet's two days. Well done, Steve!

Far from having recovered from a shoulder reconstruction and very recent hip replacement and without even a break to go to the Ladies over two days, Barb put in a marathon effort to kept the event running smoothly and on time. To achieve that, Barb and her dedicated team marshalled, cajoled and chased up 246 swimmers, 1619 times into 215 heats. Well done, Barb!

But to focus on only those two would be doing a disservice to the too numerous to name volunteers who: helped Steve set up and pack away before and after the event; welcomed every swimmer; registered every swimmer in each event; assisted Barb marshalling swimmers in the correct order and to the right lane; sat for hours on end timing race after race; photographed the event and captured all the smiles. Thank you so much!

Another group led by Sue Mc, with generous donations from so many members, assembled some terrific Raffle prizes, sold millions of tickets, and raised funds for our Club. A massive thank you goes to Mrs Mac (and Deb in her absence) and their lovely ladies.

We must also thank Captain John for his leadership and hard work. Using all his Irish charm, John managed to assemble a 40 strong team of Mannas finest and many not so fine swimmers into a formidable team. Congratulations and thank you, John, for leading us to win the best Country Club and coming oh-so-close to knocking off Claremont.

Last but not least, thank you to all our swimmers. Many had been training for this event for many months. Others adopted a just-in-time training strategy, and some didn't train at all. Thank you, everyone, especially those who swam not for themselves, but for the good of the Club.

We will have more to say about the event in following posts. As soon as we can, we will post the great photos Ivan and others have taken and the Mandurah results and details of State and Club records broken. In the meantime, you can view the Meet Results on the Masters Swiming Australia Results Portal.