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.