Like Sands Through the Hour Glass, so are the Barbecues of our Lives ...

A large group of Club members gathered at the Riverton Leisureplex this evening for the end of an era – the final social event on the Club’s social calendar and the last barbecue EVER of the Riverton AUSSI Masters Swimming Club.

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well.
(Shakespeare’s oft-misquoted phrase from Hamlet on the fragility of life)

By the end of this year, the Club will no longer exist under a name which has stood the test of time since its inception. However, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the Club will resurrect itself under a new name for 2010 and beyond, and move onwards and upwards.

The evening was balmy, the food was delicious and the camaraderie was evident and it was a great note to end the social calendar for the year. Mark addressed the gathering and reminded everyone about the AGM next Monday evening from 7 pm until 9 pm. Members are welcome to swim from 6 pm until 6.45 pm prior to the meeting getting underway in the crèche which has been booked for the evening. The meeting will commence at 7 pm and will break part way through for a pizza break.

Thanks to Mick and Leanne who cooked up a storm at the final barbecue, delivering everything done to perfection, and thanks to Lea who organised the event.

FUNNY PHOTO TIME
I just HAD to include the following photo. We had an interested spectator behind the glass! A potential new member - maybe!

Christmas Comes Early at Riverton

The Club celebrated its Christmas function last evening at Graeme and Sandy Pow's home in Willetton. Gorgeous pre-summer weather, a lovely outdoor setting and plenty of beautiful food all came together to ensure that the evening was a winner for those members who attended.

Many thanks to Graeme and Sandy for their generosity in allowing us to use their home for our function and being such gracious hosts.

Special congratulations go to Makayla Cocking who won the Christmas raffle dolphin prize.

Thanks to Hilary for organising the function.

You've got that seedy feeling..Whoa that seedy feeling...

"Dad get up i want some weetbix".....Hang on what?? Man i was sure that Curtis went to bed about 30 mins before me, why the heck does he still wake up at 6am then? Ahhh of course he was not consuming alcohol the night before...

What an excellent night it was though, once again the Riverton Christmas party was held at Sandy and GP's place. Again they outdid themselves with decorations, chair coverings and HOW CLEAN WAS THE BBQ???

A great time was had by all, even Steve-O managed to show up without a reminder phone call. Sure he was 90 mins late and bought some weird beer that already had lime in it, hence the reason for my distinct lack of sparkle today, moving on.

Coach Caris popped in on her way to Subiaco for a night out and i am reliably informed that she ignored my request for her to be home by midnight (lest she turn into a pumpkin!) and was in fact not home until 3am....I can only assume that she had taken along some "sensible" shoes to walk in as the ones she was wearing looked lovely, however, i bet the old feet were starting to ache when wandering aimlessly around trying to get a taxi......

Believe it or not i did have a plan to get lots of photos and then do it Kazza style and have this great video to post on You Tube. Sadly my plan did not come together A-Team style as it appears my camera and me don't quite click (get it??) Anyway i managed to get a couple of half decent snaps which you see on this page somewhere.

It would be remiss of me not to thank everyone who came along last night and for the lovely food we all got to sample, the salads and desserts were fantastic and as always El Presidente's lollie jar was quickly emptied thus ensuring a night of sugar highs which kept everyone buzzing.

Again would like to thank Sandy and GP for their wonderful hospitality and ensuring a great night was had by all....

Yours in the Christmas Sprit (and Beer) Damo

PS - Is 8.15pm too early to go to bed??

Lock it in Eddie. Riverton Triumphs at Somerset and Brings Home the Bacon

No Competition Whatsoever for the Somerset Handicap Trophy. Riverton Wins it Hands Down!

At this very moment, newspaper headlines around the world are reporting the latest masters swimming news.

From the New York Times, the front page leads with the headline: 'Is the All-Points-Scoring Riverton Club Captain No Longer Needed in Inter-Club Competitions?'

The Chicago Tribune reports: 'Who Needs State Champions When ‘The Rest of the Team' Can Bring Home the Trophy?'

On a morning of blue skies and warm conditions, seven Riverton competition stalwarts (Robert, Graeme, Shane, Lea, Barbara, Hilary and Kazza) arrived at the Aqualife Centre in Victoria Park to take on all-comers in the final BACC event on Riverton’s 2009 calendar. They were greeted early by the shocking news that Damo, the Club Captain, would not be swimming due to a sore shoulder. Did Graeme, who arrived with his arm in a sling, complain about a minor injury preventing him from putting in for the team? No! Did Barbara, who arrived on crutches, complain about a minor injury preventing her from swimming for the team? No! Why? Because there is no I in TEAM! Riverton Club Captains have passed down that mantra from generation to generation. It’s all about the team and it’s all about the points!

So, what happened at the meet? Let's have the meet report. In another tradition that we’ve followed since the first swimming reporter picked up a chisel and etched a list into a slab of rock, it’s bullet points from here on in.

The Fairly Fantastic
· Robert’s 200 m IM. Poetry in motion and beautiful to watch.
· Shane taking yet another 4 seconds off his 200 IM PB. When is this man ever going to stop improving?!?!
· Barbara’s swag of points from a variety of events. She was happy with her times and is always thinking of the Club.
· Graeme’s 100 m breaststroke. Masterful from start to finish and blitzing the entire field.
· Hilary’s 1.45 in the 100 m freestyle. A brilliant time! So brilliant that she recorded it in her ‘swimming records notebook’.
· The Club’s only relay entry – the women’s 200 m medley. Last event of the day with Lea, Hilary, Barbara and Kazza bringing the team home in fine style.
· Graeme and Lea going head to head in the 100 m freestyle.
· Lea’s sizzling 50 m freestyle in the first heat for that event. She made it to the end before any of the other swimmers had surfaced from their dives. Brilliant!
· Paul putting in a brilliant morning of time-keeping and cheering for the team.


The Fairly Fabulous
· Heaps of food for lunch. Just when we thought that meat, gravy, bread rolls and fruit was enough, plates of gorgeous cakes were wheeled out. We’re no slouches in the pool and neither are we at the food tables!
· A very well organised event from the Somerset AUSSI Club.
· Swimming outside in the sunshine in a gorgeous pool on a warm day.



The Ginormously Brilliant
· The team triumphing in the Handicap Competition. Fling open that trophy cabinet and let’s add another shield to the shelves!!!
· The team of 7 coming in 6th out of 9 teams with 72 points in the overall competition. A brilliant effort!

Barbecue Caps Off Big Training Evening

With no barbecues on the social agenda for over six months and all members suffering withdrawal symptoms, a special Club Night Training event and barbecue was held on Monday 9 November.

Caris put everyone through their paces in the pool with some warm-up laps followed by timed 50 metre races and relay practice as preparation for the club’s final inter-club challenge this Sunday.

Everyone quickly made their way out to the barbecue area for eating and socialising. Presentations were made to Malira, Damo and Shane for setting various state records in the pool this year. (Photo shown below). Special congratulations also go to Robert and Tammy for setting some state records.

While not everyone is a state champion in the pool, everyone is a winner out of the pool. Everyone was presented with a Leisureplex drink bottle and a special RentWA cap. Hats off to Mick whose RentWA company has sponsored the Club.

Another great barbecue was enjoyed by all. Special thanks go to the Social Committee (Lesley, Hilary and Lea) for organising the barbecue and making sure the cooking was done to perfection.

A short photo montage of the evening can be seen here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGrwf06tKZM

Carb Loading Proves a WINNER !

Rolled out of bed, rubbed the sleep from my eyes, looked in the mirror and thought "Not a bad night last night great food, great company (except Shane)".
Gave the wife, kids and dog a kiss (in that order)grabbed AC/DC's greatest album ever - Back in Black - which by the way sold over 42 million copies, and i was off cruising down the new bypass to Mandurah for a 400/800 meet.

3 intrepid Redbacks made the trip, unfortunately Kazza was a late scratching as my spies tell me she was seen kicking up her heels until sunrise at the White Stag Hotel in Northbridge.

So without anymore preamble it is time to get the nitty gritty !!!!

Shane finally put his mind at rest after a tough couple of weeks to swim a VERY GOOD 6.51 for a 400 IM..yes this was WITHOUT FINS !

Lea Munyard/McAskey (who in my opinion greatly underestimates her swimming ability) shrugged off an upset stomach to swim 7.03 for a 400 free. It should be noted this was a negative split 400m this means that her 2nd 200 was WAY faster than her 1st 200...In fact her last 50 free was the fastest 50 of her swim !!

Your correspondent had a great time. After enjoying some quality pasta last night and the last piece of pizza from the other table (thanks Kaz), I managed to bang out a state record for each swim 5.15 for 400 back and 5.46 for 400 Fly and also backed up for an outstanding morning tea provided by Mandurah Aussi.

MMMMMMMMMM lamingtons !

It is also worth noting that Des Seery (ex redback, now member of Mandurah) swum a 400 free sans fins,however Des did not hear the whistle so ended up swiming 450m instead...Solid Effort Des, the comfort for Des was that Shane did this exact same thing last year. Although the jury is still out on just HOW MUCH comfort this was to Des.


So as a club we have ONE MORE meet this year on Nov 15th. Everyone has been training very hard and it would be great to finish the season with a big turnout. Details will be emailed soon

Your in H20

Damo

Severino – that’s Italian for ‘good eating’

Well, not really, but the food WAS fabulous. Having searched the southern suburbs for a suitable Italian restaurant, we settled on Severino Garden Restaurant in South Fremantle where a lively group of 19 met on Saturday to enjoy an evening of tasty food and BYO drinks. Delicious plates of various pizzas, pasta with special sauces and well presented salads were brought to the tables and devoured to the last morsel. The restaurant staff were happy to please by bringing out a couple more pizzas for those diners who just couldn’t get enough. Well done to the table of people that ordered a second round of pizzas and who were able to eat all but one slice which was then quickly downed by a certain club captain celebrating his birthday.

Tutto si è divertito. (That’s Italian for ‘everyone had a good time’.)

More about the Stadium Snappers interclub meet

Further to Karen's blog regarding our last interclub swim meet (at Challenge Stadium), the results of the meet have now been posted onto the MSWA web site.

The good stuff:

• Riverton finished a credible 6th place (out of 10) with 89 points - not bad with 10 swimmers. This is the most points the Club has received at an interclub meet this year;


• Malira and Tammy scored a perfect 12 points in their 3 events (a first place in each one);


• Graeme just behind them with 11 points (2 first places and a second);


• everyone else scored points and contributed overall;


• our Women's Medley Relay team of Tammy, Malira, Uli and Lea won their age group (by 26 seconds!) - great stuff, ladies; and


• our Men's Medley Relay team of Shane, Graeme, Steve & Paul were second in their age group - good effort, boys.

The not-so-good:

Five of our swimmers swam in only 2 out of a permissible 3 events. If they had all done an extra event and received even just one point each for finishing, that would have put the Club on 94 points, moving us up to equal 5th with Leisurepark club. So it would be good if our swimmers in future interclub meets all swim in 3 events to help with overall points (do it for the team!)

Can Too Much Swimming Ever be Enough?

In a week where sport was heavily on the agenda, only the big questions were asked:
· Are Roger Federer’s days numbered?
· Was Kim Clijsters’ US Open tennis win merely a fluke?
· Is the Australian cricket team’s potential 7-0 one-day series whitewash of England really such a big deal?

And the biggest question of them all:
· Is there any AUSSI masters club in Perth big enough to take on the might of the Riverton team at the Stadium Snappers Carnival on Sunday?!?!?

That question and more would be answered on Sunday 20 September when the team of 10 from Riverton were to front up at Challenge Stadium on a day when the skies outside looked ominous, but the pool inside looked inviting.



Since the first pool was built and the first swim meet report filed, the legacy of bullet-point reporting has stood the test of time. Like an Olympic baton, it’s been passed down from generation to generation. We’re not a club to tinker with finely-tuned tradition, so it’s bullet points from here on in.



The Fairly Brilliant
· Tammy’s first outing in fine style with a 36.60 in the 50 m backstroke. A brilliant swim from start to finish coming in on her nominated time. (Picture above)
· Lea and Graeme vying for first place in the same heat of the 100 m freestyle. Beautiful to watch as they touched for first and second place. (Picture below)
· Paul’s 40.04 in the 50 m freestyle. Unfortunately we’re instigating a Royal Commission on that swim because we’ve never seen anything remotely that fast at training before!
· The women’s 4 x 50 m medley relay coming in first on 2.36. On each leg, Tammy, Malira, Uli and Lea progressively increased the lead over the opposition – as well as over our own men’s team who only managed 2.47!


The Fairly Tidy
· Barbara’s 200 m breaststroke which kicked the team off in fine style. A time she was happy with and one that added points to our total. (Picture below)
· Steve’s magnificent dive that led the field in the 100 m freestyle (picture above). He pulled off a great time and then brought home an even better time in the 50 m free. One of his best outings.
· Shane’s fabulous 50 m butterfly in a time way under his nominated time, on a day when he was not quite 100%.
· Kazza’s ‘scorching’ (!?!) PB in the 50 m freestyle. A PB’s been a long time coming but it was worth the wait.
· Malira and Tammy going head to head in the 50 m butterfly.
· Graeme’s very strong showing in every event, pulling in first place in just about each one.
· The team placing 6th out of 10 clubs with a total of 92 points. It was a great effort and good to see so many members swimming.
· Great organisation once again by the host club. Smooth from start to finish and heaps of food supplied for lunch.

The Fairly Frustrating
· Another equipment malfunction that cannot be put down to operator error – even though the same member seems to be involved on each occasion! The club will be holding a referendum next month asking members to vote YES or NO to the question: ‘Have we had enough of these latex swimming caps that never seem to stay on?’
· Being beaten for 5th place by ONE SINGLE POINT.
· A somewhat disappointing turn-out by other clubs. Only 6 lanes were operating and the stands seemed totally depleted of competitors.

All up, it was an enjoyable meet and full of team spirit. It was great to see the team being supported also by various family members who came along to watch.

A 2-minute montage of pictures from the meet can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSKtVolArFk

Kublai Cooks up Captivating Cuisine

The latest function on the club's social calendar was held on Saturday 22 August when 17 members, families and friends dined at Kublai Mongolian Restaurant in Leederville. The whole food experience was totally unique. In a nutshell, dining involves a four step process: select your raw food; load up your bowls; hand over your selection to the chefs who cook it for you; and then eat. What could be simpler?

Step 1: Select the food.

Step 2: Load up the bowls.

Step 3: Chefs hard at work.

Step 4: Eat with chopsticks.


Coffee and cake was consumed afterwards at Gloria Jean's, a few doors down Oxford Street, rounding off a great evening.

Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the dining experience. Thanks to Leanne Robb who suggested the venue and organised the event.

Dude where are my goggles????

Well where do i start....How about at the beginning WHOA SNAP !

Ok 36 years ago my mum and dad...oh wait wrong beginning.....

Ok last November at the Club Captains meeting Claremont Aussi put forward the idea of running a short course relay carnival. The idea was well received by all and sundry, and cut my legs off and call me shorty 10 months later it all came together today up at challenge stadium...

Let me say right away that this was VERY well run and organised, there were plenty of swimmers and even the odd record set but more on that later. A great atmosphere as nobody was particularly worried about times...the whole Fitness Fun and Friendship thing that our President is always banging on about (when he wants a rest !) was well and truly on display.

So grasshopper what was that you asked??
What about Riverton?
Well I thought you would never ask !

8 Redbacks made the trek up to Challenge Stadium

GP
Kazza
Tammy (the south african version)
Barbara
McElroy
Steve-O
Malira
Damo

The official results are not up as yet, I will post a link when they are available, however, as always the mighty Redbacks still produced their own highlight reel ! (Bullet points as always!)

• Steve-O first thing was he showed up = 1 gold star, he also swam some excellent legs none better than his 50 free in the mixed 4x50 = 2 gold stars well done !
  
• McElroy (Shane) Dare I say it??? Ok ok it was a PB in the 4x100 Free lead off leg..1.08 nice work, I think it is time to throw away those fins Nemo ! Yes even the little ones !!!!
  
• Kazza stepped up when we were short on personell for a couple of events and ended up with 6 swims...Great TEAM work Kazza
  
• In true team spirit Barbara swam some butterfly and backstroke legs and might I add swam them VERY well ! (Much better than McElroy)
• Who says South Africans are not team players? Considering what I would call a "limited" preparation (and that is a MAJOR understatement) Tammy swam very well with a great 35 for her 50 back and 1.08 for her 100 Free in the 4x100 Free
  
• In contrast GP has had a "SOLID" preparation and it showed. He headed up the Riverton Wrinklies (200+ age group) and swam very well
• Cold feet, cold hands, cold nose too probably - fair to say Malira was cold ! All great swims again and held it together very very nicely in the 4 x 100 free
  

The Highlight for Riverton was undoubtedly our STATE RECORD (unofficial at the moment) in the 160-199 age group we ripped more than 20 secs off the old record. The team of McElroy, Tammy, Malira and Damo layed down a 4.31.20 and the old record was 4.52.30. We won our age group and considering the reluctance of EVERYONE ELSE EXCEPT ME to swim it, I would call it a great result.

So I have waffled on a bit but it was a great morning with a fantastic atmosphere and I am sure that everyone who participated had a great time.

See you in the pool !

Cheers
Damo

Dude, Where's my Bowling Ball?

The Coen brothers may have immortalised the sport of bowling in their movie 'The Big Lebowski', but the Riverton AUSSI Masters members, families and friends have taken it to even greater heights. The latest event on the club's social calendar was bowling at AMF Cannington on Sunday 26 July.


Some stellar footwork and arm action was on show by all 14 bowlers that made up 3 teams of adults and kids and some very fancy scores were recorded. Everyone that attended had a great time and enjoyed the fun. Many thanks to Lesley for organising the event.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Attached is the flyer for the SHORT COURSE RELAY CARNIVAL

WHERE – Challenge Stadium

WHEN – SUNDAY 16th August 9.15am Start

WHY –This is all about swimming together as a CLUB. There are NO individual swims. Only 25 and 50m relay swims.

4x25 Free, Medley and Mixed Relays
4x50 Free, Medley and Mixed Relays

That’s it !

COST - $5 INCLUDES POOL ENTRY AND FREE LUNCH AFTERWARDS !! -

WHAT NEXT – Simply click on the reply button and type “Damo I am in” Then click on send.

I strongly encourage anyone who has thought about having swim to enter, it’s all about having fun, No PB’s to worry about, just dive in and swim !

Yes or No by 6th August.

Sensational Swimming at Swan Hills

A very early start on a cold morning saw six intrepid Riverton swimmers take on all comers from ten other clubs in a sensational morning of great swimming.


In a tradition that has been etched in concrete since time immemorial, here is the run down of the meet in the all-too-familiar list of bullet points (with a few sporting clichés thrown in for good measure!).

The Brilliant

• Robert’s sizzling 2.18 PB in the 200 metre freestyle. Absolutely sensational! Does it get any better than that?
• Graeme’s three relay legs on the trot after three other fantastic events. He dug deep and gave 110%.
• Lea’s ‘first place in her age group’ 50 metre freestyle in 38 seconds. Fabulous swimming from start to finish and she remained focused for both laps.
• Barbara’s herculean 25 metre butterfly to cap off a weekend of birthday celebrations. After a huge night of partying, she took the meet one heat at a time and came out a winner.
• Uli’s 33 seconds in the 50 metre freestyle. She’s got to be happy with that!
• Kazza’s ‘second place in her age group’ 25 metre backstroke, complete with a PB. She finally got the monkey off her back and gave backstroke a go.
• Riverton’s 4 X 50 metre freestyle relay team of Uli, Graeme, Lea and Robert. There’s no ‘I’ in team and they say that records are made to be broken. A pity there were no points for this event – it was beautiful to watch. Uli led the field at the first leg. Graeme increased the lead in the second leg and then Lea further increased the lead in the third. Robert brought the team home and showed a lot of heart in lapping one other team completely and almost lapping two other teams. In a word - simply sensational!!!

The Wrap-up

• Good venue and great organisation.
• The team placed ninth out of 11 teams and with only 6 competitors was a brilliant effort. I can honestly say it was a total team effort. A short movie of the action can be seen here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vn8SwO_JqQ

The movie shows Robert in action, Graeme and Barbara swimming, and then Lea handing over to Barbara in one of the relays.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Seven Spices

The latest event on the club's social calendar was an evening at Seven Spices restaurant in Applecross where a small group met for dinner on Saturday 20 June. The Indian and Sri Lankan food that was prepared was fabulous and we tasted a wide variety of dishes from the buffet table. A lovely ambiance, fantastic food and great company all combined to make a very pleasant dining experience.

Swan Hills Meet

Where - Swan Park Recreation Centre – Gray Drive, Midvale (25m Indoor heated pool)

When - SUNDAY 5th of JULY Time: 8.00am Warm-up, 8.30am Start (pool opens at 7.30am)

Cost: $4.30 Pool entry for swimmers ($3.40 Concession) - $1.30 Spectators

Entries must be in to me by Tuesday 24th June


THE PROGRAM

Event 1 200m Free (Choice)
Event 2 100m Breaststroke
Event 3 100m Butterfly
Event 4 50m Free (Choice)
Event 5 25m Back
Event 6 25m Free
Event 7 25m Breaststroke
Event 8 25m Butterfly
Event 9 4 x 25m Mixed Medley Relay
Event 10 4 x 25m Mixed Freestyle Relay
Event 11 4 x 50m Mixed Freestyle Relay (Not for points)

Swimmers may only compete in 3 individual events.

Stadium Snappers 1500 metre Event: 30 May 2009

On Saturday 30 May, a keen quartet of Riverton members arrived at Challenge Stadium to participate in the Stadium Snappers 1500 metre long course event. It was a very well organised event and there was some great swimming completed.

Damo swam the distance in a time of 18.24 – yet another PB. Is there no end to the PBs this man can gather? Very strong swimming from start to finish in the first heat of the afternoon. Great effort!

In a later heat, Iain’s 20.14 was also a brilliant swim. Great swimming for the entire distance. Well done!

Kazza’s 32.29 was smooth from start to finish, despite swimming with goggles full of water and not being able to see where she was going. Two jinxed experiences at Challenge Stadium in as many outings doesn’t augur well for the next one. They say things come in threes!

Shane did a great job of time-keeping (as did Damo, Iain and Kazza). Much appreciated!

Some footage of Damo and Iain in action can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmSZrRNJR9s

Malira Dives into the Record Books - Again!

Congratulations to Malira Cocking for her OUTSTANDING achievements at the State Swim held at Challenge Stadium over the weekend of 16-17 May. Malira was the Female Winner in her age group, 40-44, with a tally of 55 points from a possible 60 in her events:

• 100 m breaststroke
• 50 m backstroke
• 50 m breaststroke
• 200 m breaststroke
• 50 m butterfly
• 50 m freestyle

as well as the mixed freestyle relay.

In two of those swims, Malira broke the existing state records which had been held by the same swimmer for about 10 years. Malira shaved 0.02 seconds off the 50 m breaststroke record and 0.38 seconds off the 100 m breaststroke record. This now gives Malira a clean sweep of the 50 m, 100 m and 200 m breaststroke state records in her age group.

In anyone's language, that is a fantastic achievement. Congratulations!!!

A Champion in our Midst

Congratulations to Damien Eyre for his HUGE achievement at the State Swim, Challenge Stadium, last weekend. Damo was the Male Winner in his age group, 35 – 39, through scoring 60 points out of a possible 60 points for the 6 individual events he entered:
· 200 m freestyle
· 200 m backstroke
· 200 m butterfly
· 100 m breaststroke
· 100 m backstroke
· 50 m backstroke.
In addition, Damo swam in the mixed freestyle relay and the ‘Have a Go News’ relay, and still had time to encourage and motivate the rest of the team.

This is a fantastic achievement. Well done!!!

State Swimming Championships, 16-17 May 2009, Meet Report

State Swim Report: Saturday 16 May

by Damo




I will dispense with my usual waffle about what a nice fine day; kissed the family etc as you ALL know it now. I COULD spice things up a bit; however, it is a family program so I will keep it clean.

So in the interest of shaking things up a bit, I am reporting on Saturday and Kazza will be chiming into the forward line and reporting on Sunday’s effort. No bullet points either as there was a relatively high level of swimming produced; I feel the need to expand on these performances with a few more words!

So onto the swimming!

Uli – Our newest member to the club had a great swim in the 200 Free.
Back again on the Sunday

Kazza – Not the start she was looking for in the 200 Free, however, with a smile on her face and hair out of her eyes, came back in the 50 and 100 Breast with a couple of great PB’s, also led off the relay in fine style. Back again on the Sunday

McElroy – AKA Shane – Very solid 200 Free, 50 Breast and a PB in the 100 Breast! Also, managed not to get overtaken in the relay. Back again on the Sunday

Malira – Good Swim in the 100 Breast (I still kicked her butt though :-) ) followed up by relay and 50 back and 50 Breast swims. Back again on the Sunday

Damo – Busy day for yours truly. 8 swims. 200 Free, Back and Fly. 100 back and breast, 2 relays and 50 back…Phew made it all through ok.

Credit must go to all the team as we always had someone helping out with the time keeping which was awesome considering there were only 4 of us there for most of the day. Stay tuned for Kazza’s report from Sunday!

State Swim Report: Sunday 17 May

by Karen

Sunday’s weather was absolutely perfect to be outdoors, especially considering we are in for rain for the rest of the week. For the intrepid Riverton team, though, being outdoors was the last thing on our minds. Challenge Stadium was the venue and serious swimming was on the agenda!

Being unwilling to tinker with a time-honoured tradition for meet reports, it’s bullet points from here on in.

The Fairly Outstanding

· Shane’s 200 m IM. A brilliant swim from start to finish and done 18 seconds faster than the nominated time. What more can I say?
· Malira’s sizzling 50 m butterfly. Ahead of the field coming out of the dive, she led strongly all the way to finish first in her heat. Brilliant from start to finish in record time.
· Graeme’s 50 m butterfly. Where did that come from?!? We’ve never seen that at training before! Hopefully we'll see it again.
· Lea’s 50 m freestyle anchor leg in the medley relay. A fairly scorching swim to bring Riverton home in third place in the heat.
· Uli’s 100 m freestyle with no warm-up other than a fairly quick sprint down the pool deck to the blocks. Adrenalin was pumping like you wouldn’t believe.


The Fairly Tidy

· A number of PBs for Shane and Graeme.
· Malira’s 50 m freestyle - a scorching lap of the pool.
· Uli’s 50 m backstroke leg in the medley relay. Got the team off to a great start.
· Lea’s first 50 m in the 100 m freestyle heat. A fabulous swim! (Sadly, the second 50 m couldn’t match the first but there is always another carnival to get it right.)
· Kazza’s breaststroke PB. When you haven’t done the event before, it’s a guaranteed PB!
· Great management by the organisers of the event.


The Fairly Memorable

· A goggles malfunction in the 200 m breaststroke. Sadly, it was a weekend of equipment malfunctions but we refuse to believe it could possibly be operator error.
· Damo’s ‘Have-a-go’ relay team missing out on the ‘closest to nominated time’ prize because Damo didn’t swim slowly enough. Can you believe it?!?

A movie of the weekend's action can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OhKZVcUYDs

Barbecue Tongs - 2, Dropped Sausages - Nil

The last barbecue of the 2008-2009 summer season on Monday evening saw an unprecedented attendance of 21 people, with one member even coming from interstate especially for the event. The weather was wonderful, the food once again was magnificent, and the company was fabulous. Special thanks to Hilary Vaughan for organising the occasion and to the other members of the social committee for ensuring that the evening was a success.

Thanks, also, to Mick and Shane for their barbecuing skills.

So far this year, we've taken advantage of the warmer weather in scheduling barbecues after training into the club's Social Calendar. With the start of a new calendar year, it has been great to see so many members attending the planned functions so far. The club now moves into its winter calendar of events where the focus will change from outdoor venues to indoor venues.

A Message of Thanks From Afar

Malira received this message earlier in the week. It's worth sharing with everyone.


Hi Malira and the gang at Riverton Masters

I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to your club for the hospitality and friendship your club extended to me in my recent stay in Perth.
You will recall I was assisting my son with renovations on his house at Yangebup and joined your training sessions for a few weeks. By the third week I was exhausted from the building works as I was starting on the site at about 6.00am and finishing most nights at 7.00 then in bed by 9.00pm.
I am back in Noosa and training but I have lost most of my competitive edge and do not expect to do very well at the State and National Titles to be held in Chandler Aquatic Centre Brisbane commencing this Thursday and finishing Sunday.
I will attend and swim but will mostly enjoy the friendship.

Thank you again and hope to see you in Noosa soon.
Bob Morse
Noosa AUSSI Masters

Osborne Park 400m/800m Report

Saturday 18 April dawned cool and damp with a forecast of possible afternoon thunderstorms. The intrepid Riverton team was hoping that storms wouldn't eventuate and dampen our enthusiasm for the Osborne Park 400m/800m swim at Beatty Park that afternoon. At 1.15 pm, I carried out a local weather check in Willetton by putting my head out of my car window and looking towards the sky. Hearing no thunder and feeling no rain, I thought we would be OK with the weather and set off for Beatty Park for the impending 2 pm start.

The Riverton team

In the club's time-honoured tradition of swim meet reports, it's bullet points from here on in.

THE FANTASTIC

• Damo's 800 m medley swim in a scorching time of 11.41. Magnificent! He looked powerful all the way and couldn't believe the timekeepers when they told him his time. (See pictures below.)
• Damo being asked to compete in a mixed-club, mixed-age-group relay at the state championships.
  

THE NOT-SO-BAD

• Kazza's 800 m freestyle swim in a respectable time of 16.50. We're still aiming for 16.30 by the end of the year!
• Not having to wait around TOO long to swim. The organisers did a good job of getting through the early nominated events.
  

THE DOWNRIGHT FRUSTRATING

• Being the first competitors to arrive at the venue half an hour before starting time and finding 12 other names from the host club are already on the board to swim before you.
• STILL going at 4.30 pm!!! Doing a good job early on meant there was plenty of time for people to swim more than once. I'm sure some swimmers did EVERY possible combination of distances and strokes.
• Kazza being honked at in the car park, turning around expectantly and realising it was only Damo!
  

Melville BACC Report

Well Well Well,

The year is certainly flying by, so stand by for a NO HOLDS BARRED report from the Melville BACC held last Sunday 5th April.

Sunday morning again dawned bright and clear (would not mind some bloody rain for a change!). I left Curtis, Darcy and Bodi (the dog) with their Grandma (God bless her) and headed off to Booragoon. There were 179 swimmers representing 13 clubs. Riverton came 6th in the overall point score with 59 points, which was an AWESOME effort.


A full list of results can be found here


- http://www.mastersswimmingwa.asn.au/events-pool.htm

The Team

As you all know I am a lazy typist so it's bullet points from here on in - ENJOY !

The GOOD

All Rob's swims, just getting faster the less training he does....Also looks great in a blue wife beater !

Lea fronting up for her 100 Free after suffering from a nasty cold all week. Apparently chocolate can cure anything !

Barbara again notching some great times and for providing us with a bag of glucose replenishment !

Kazza tackling some new swims and despite being seeded in much faster heats due a clerical error swam really well.

GP again showing that warm ups are a waste of time

Lee after a hard night pulling beers and dealing with drunken idiots, turned up and swam a solid 50 breast and an excellent breaststroke leg in the relay

Shane managed to finish his 50 fly in a VERY respectable time of 38.7, he has now been BANNED from using fins for fly during training !

Our men's relay team won their race - I have asked Kazza for a more colourful description of this event (See below)

The kids not wrecking the joint whilst I was out swimming.

The BAD

• White wife beaters


• Dimly lit swimming pools


• Why do I ALWAYS need to wee right before every race???


• Shane's jumper


• Shane's sandals


• Shane


• 7 heats of the 200 breaststroke - Shame on you !
  
  

The UGLY

• The guy who walked around in a white wife beater all day flexing his biceps....
  

All right folks next meet is STATE on 16/17 May. I will email all details soon...remember our goal is still 100 club points

Yours in H2O

Damo

Men's Relay Team Report

You’ve heard of the Mean Machine ... You’ve heard of the Awesome Foursome ... But none of those Australian teams can hold a candle to the newest kids on the swimming blocks: the Riverton Rockets! (Not intended as a metaphor for starting off with an almighty bang and fizzling out at the end).

In the el supremo event of the meet – the 4 x 50 metre medley relay – Dashing Damo, Leaping Lee, Racing Robert and Sharpshooting Shane stood ready to take on all comers (Melville to be exact). Damo took the team out to a handy lead in the first leg, shown in the picture below. As Lee and Robert cemented the team’s lead with scorching times in their relay legs, Shane dived in to bring it on home for the club in the final freestyle leg. (See picture below). The Riverton spectators (all 3 of them!) were on the edges of their seats yelling out encouragement as Melville edged up to within striking distance of Riverton in the final 50 metres. Could they possibly snatch victory from the jaws of what-once-was inevitable defeat?!?!? Could the Sharpshooter touch first?!?!? In an absolutely nail-biting finish, Shane (we knew you could do it!) touched the wall a fingertip ahead of his rival. Yes, 0.17 seconds ahead of Melville in a time of 2:13.59!!!