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.