A State Record Holder Twice Over

Setting a state record once is no mean feat but setting TWO state records in the same swim meet is an outstanding achievement.

In last month's Nationals, Mark set a record in his age group in the 50m backstroke event, clocking in with a phenomenal time of 30.78 seconds. He also set a record in the 100m backstroke event with a time of 1.06.03 minutes.

Congratulations, Mark, on a magnificent effort!

Busselton Half Ironman: Saturday 7 May

For many months now, Viet Dang, Steve Geiles, Steve Harvey, Mo Johansen and John Janssen have been putting in the hard yards of training in preparation for the recently held Busselton Half Ironman event on Saturday 7 May. The event consisted of a 1.9km swim, 90km cycle, and a 21km run.

Here are Steve, Viet and Mo proudly showing off their ironman souvenir towels.

Not only did these five gentlemen compete in the event, they also COMPLETED it, which is a huge accomplishment. Their times were solid:

• Viet in 5 hours 39 minutes




• Steve G in 5 hours 32 minutes




• Steve H in 6 hours 37 minutes




• Mo in 5 hours 24 minutes and




• John in 6 hours 34 minutes.

Mo also placed 36th in his age group which is a fabulous achievement.

To spend so many hours engaged in top athletic endeavour in three disciplines is an admirable feat. They are all inspirational and we congratulate them on their efforts.

There is no 'half ironman' about any of them. To the rest of us, they are most definitely TOTAL IRONMEN!!!

Kelly's Cafe or Justin Bieber on a Saturday Night?

A tough choice for many, but a group of eight resisted the vocal charms of Justin Bieber at the Burswood Dome and spent a pleasant evening dining at Kelly's Cafe in Canning Vale.




We've never seen so much delicious food plated up in an appetising manner before and only the strongest of us could manage to clear our plates. And then ... anyone for dessert? And what fantastic looking desserts they were!!!

The venue is highly recommended.

Many thanks to Hilary for organising the function.

Nationals Part 2

Yes that's right...Due to creating a wafer thin layer of excitement and anticipation here is the Nationals Blog Part 2.

Yes it is time to present some awards in category's that are obscure, however, the recipients are no less deserving than our own Karl Stefanovic who took home the coveted Gold Logie award the other night at some piss-weak awards ceremony.

Now i am just waiting on our award presenter...oh look here she is. It's Kristy Stevens from Westcoast. Thanks for helping me present these awards.

Theme song please



Finally before we commence remember my GOLDEN RULE of this blog - NEVER MUCK UP A GOOD STORY FOR THE FACTS.

The prestigious PAIN-IN-THE-ARSE AWARD - a VERY close tussle here between England and South Africa, however, the judges decided that the constant bleating about another bloody royal wedding was the clincher so EMMA DOLBY - CONGRATULATIONS !

FLIRT-OF-MEET-AWARD - No contest really for this one. After conducting her poolside interview wearing a rather low-cut top (a wardrobe change happened between getting out of the pool and walking the 10 metres or so for the interview) and listening to the pool announcer call her name about 20,000,000 times. NADINE NEETHLING - CONGRATULATIONS !

PATHETIC -LIGHT-WEIGHT-DRINKER - Again a no contest please see pic below - DAMIEN EYRE - CONGRATULATIONS! (No Damien you only get to shake her hand!)


BEST-EFFORT-TO-GET-COACH-BEATEN-UP - Yelling out the coach's name at 2am whilst in bed with your partner is probably not the best idea. Although allegedly asleep when this occurred TAMMY SOUSTER - CONGRATULATIONS !

FINISH-OF-THE-MEET - After a sizzling 50 Free leg in the men's 4x50 IM relay this chap was so eager to finish that he broke his finger on the touch pad. MARK DAVEY - CONGRATULATIONS (OK Mark you got your award now stop harassing the female presenter!)

BEST-DRESSED-ON-POOL-DECK - Proving once again that crocs and budgie smugglers are always in fashion - GRAEME POW - CONGRATULATIONS (No Graeme wait there i believe we have something else for you)

MOST-ANAL-RETENTIVE-LIST - Another no contest.We all love our blue caps and what better way to make sure that they are received in the same condition as they were handed out in. Yes make a list....GRAEME POW - CONGRATULATIONS ( we still love you big guy !)

BEST-SUPPORTED- SWIMMER - Getting your wife's sister's best friend to sit at a masters meet ALL DAY is pure brilliance - MARK DAVEY - CONGRATULATIONS

GUTSIEST- SWIM-OF-THE-MEET - Another very close decision but this swimmer's effort to swim 100 Fly and then back up for the 200 IM was outstanding. In fact her 100 Fly was so fast that nobody actually saw her swim it. TAMMY SOUSTER - CONGRATULATIONS !

BEST-SHAVED-LEGS-ON-POOL DECK - Despite repeated pleas from his wife to buy some new razors, this swimmer rocked up looking like Jack the Ripper had shaved his legs and then proceeded to BLEED all over the spectator seats. - MARK DAVEY - CONGRATULATIONS.

MOST-SCARY-LOOKING-SWIM - 50 Backstroke has NEVER looked so awkward. GRAEME POW - CONGRATULATIONS (It is also rumoured that upon returning to the stands Graeme was overheard saying "I really should work on my backstroke!")

BEST-WARMUP-OF-THE-MEET - Some of us have it and some of us don't. This swimmer makes us all look ordinary as all he does is actually LOOK at the pool before his race and still swims fast - JASON DAVEY - CONGRATULATIONS ! (eyes up Jase)

and now for the FINAL award of the evening......

PUTTING-THE-COACH-IN-HIS PLACE AWARD - My spies tell me that the group pictured below hatched an evil plan. This plan was devised through a set of circumstances that were NOT the coach's fault. Sure he should have double checked the combined ages of the relay team. He is ONLY human ! This error also escaped his trusty off-sider. (GP you are fired - until the relay meet in August). ANYWAY they all bought the coach a gift. The coach was utterly taken aback and extremely humble until he opened the gift - SQUASH - BACK IN YOUR BOX COACH !
The sneaky crew....Note the VERY sneaky guy in the green shirt. It's always the quiet ones...


The suprise !
THE SLEDGE - Yes that's right a F***ing calculator !


Well that concludes our awards ceremony. Thanks for attending and i truly hope you all had a wonderful time.

Yours in Watered Down Sucrose

Damo

Nationals Part 1

Ladies and Gentleman,

Phew...What an exhausting 4 days it has been both in and out of the pool. So let me start by welcoming you to the first installment of the Nationals blog report. This will focus on the happenings "in the pool" so will be a little more "serious" than Part 2 which will be used exclusively to re-live some very funny moments "out of the pool".

Let me start with a little background so you know what i am talking about. Masters swimming holds a national meet every year in a different capital city. It was Perth's turn this year so 564 swimmers from QLD, NSW, VIC, TAS, NT, SA and WA converged on Challenge Stadium to get a healthy dose of Fitness, Fun and Friendship.

Some people get a little over whelmed and think that Nationals is different from the regular meets that we attend here in WA. It is not. The oldest competitor was a 93 year old and the youngest was 19 years old. So there was a rather large age range and watching an 81 year old lady complete a 200 Fly is just as inspirational as watching a 26 year old male crank out 55.74 for a 100m Freestyle.

The mighty Riverton Redfins entered a team of 15 swimmers which in itself is fantastic. However the best was yet to come as every single member of the team swam more PBs than you could poke a stick at and represented our club with distinction.

So without further waffling let me introduce the members of our team.....Remember this is the serious blog so there will no jokes or poking fun at anyone....NO GAGS......No sorry i cannot do it so here come the nicknames ! (In no particular order !)

Emma "The Relay Queen" Dolby - an awesome 50m breast swim and swam in all the relays she could. Was often found sitting behind the coach and hanging shit on him.

Tammy"You had better SMS me directions" Souster -All Tammy's swims were fantastic, the highlight for me was her 2.47 in the 200 IM. i think she even surprised herself...Tammy was facing some VERY tough opposition in her age group but managed a gold medal in the 50 back !

Nadine"Pool Announcers Pet" Neethling - Every swim a PB. Fantastic! Pick for me was her 2.52 for 200 Free that was 13 secs off her PB. Look for more of Nadine's escapades in Vol II of this blog.

Malira "One leg" Cocking - Again some great individual and relay swims. Gold Medal in the 200 Breast despite the coach telling her otherwise - GOTCHA !. Coach's pick was her 200 IM - very solid swim.

Pauline"The comeback Queen" Southall - I had the pleasure of watching her 200 Breast and it looked rather effortless and was 47 secs UNDER her entry time. Coach's pick was her 50 Free leg in the relay i did not know she could swim that quick !

Maria"The quiet Achiever" Tarandetti - Maria has been training hard over the last 6 months and seeing as she set PB's in all her swims, it was clear that all the hard work has payed off. Coach's highlight was her 200 Free which was a 13 sec PB !

Nola"50m is my specialty"Byrne - Nola again set PBs in all her swims and when drafted into a relay at short notice swam a great leg. Coach's pick was her PB in 50 Free !

Susie"2nd Claim"Taylor - Susie joined our club to swim some relays with us and that she did, plus a huge program including the 2km open water swim. Coach's pick was her Freestyle Leg in the relay which kept our team in 3rd. A wonderful effort.

Jason"I am sure these 10 year old speedos will still fit" Davey - On a truly limited preparation which consisted of tonsillitis and gastro, Jase still produced some very quick times and was a key member of the male relay teams. Coach's pick was his lead off leg in the IM relay 31.8 for 50 back....pretty quick !

Graeme"Give me back the cap or you are dead" Pow - GP had a massive meet, which included the 800 and 400 Free. He topped this off nicely with a PB in the 200 Free which also gets the coach's pick !

Tom"Do i really have to do Breastroke"Lee - Yes you do and he did- THANK YOU :-). In 2 relays actually and also a very solid individual 50m Free. Coach's pick was his Free leg in the Mens 4x50 Free Relay - a fantastic 28.1.

Steve"What day is it?"Wills - Where do i start Steve-O?....I know 2 awesome swims - 31.5 for his 50 Free and an incredibly gutsy 2.38 for his 200 Free - can't split 'em so they both get the coach's pick. Top stuff!

Steve"No the other one" Jakubans - 2 PBs. 50 and 100 Free....Coach's pick was 100 Free as he followed my pre-race instructions to the letter !

Mark"I am STILL going to belt someone" Davey - Suprised himself i think with some very quick swims. Coach's highlight was his 100 Fly,1.05 on the wall was a fantastic swim. Anchored the mens 4x50 Free and IM relays.

Damien"Beer Goggles" Eyre - Happy with all his swims except the 800 Free but will discuss this more in Nationals Part 2 !

So from a swimming perspective it was a very successful meet. The final results are not available yet but in the interim you can look here -

http://www.portal.aussi.org.au/meets/index.php?EventId=152009&filter=*&split=no&js=on


Stay tuned for Part 2....No names will be changed to protect the innocent !

Yours in Frozen Raspberry Staminade

Damo