Monday, February 28, 2011

Rottnest Channel Swim Results


Dear Swimmers

Firstly, congratulations to all those of you who successfully completed the 21st Rottnest Channel Swim on Saturday 26th February. I know from talking to many of you at the pub afterwards (whether you had done a Solo, Duo or a Team event) that you were disappointed with your times. Me too. I think what made that especially apparent was that everyone's expectations and hopes for a "fast" year for a change were built up by the seemingly "perfect" conditions that we faced. This didn't prove to be the case.

I am still sifting through all the Duo and Teams results and would really appreciate you letting me know how you got on if you raced in these categories.

Adam has posted some excellent photos here for your enjoyment:


As for the Solo swimmers though, we had some absolutely fabulous results!! These can be seen here:


...highlighted in blue are all those swimmers who've been training with us in some capacity over the last 5 months, whether that be in full squad mode, Saturday morning's Rotto Specific squad at Challenge Stadium, or with private coaching. I would like to make a quick mention and thank you here to Peter Tanham, Shelley Taylor-Smith and also to Mary-Anne Paton for their help and assistance with the squad over this time frame also - their input has been invaluable. Thank you.

Ceinwen Williams for the second year in a row proved she's got what it takes by finishing 3rd lady again to two top-class swimmers - we're all very proud for you Ceinwen - you did great! 

As you'll see from the results, we had real depth this year within the squad with ten Solo swimmers from the squad finishing "together" in highly commendable times between 6h20 and 7h00 which is just fantastic. It is the shared goal and camaraderie that was inspired during all the hard training sessions that made this squad so successful this year, so hats off to you guys!

The stand-out performance this year for me had to be that of Paul Downie who first attempted the swim back in 2009 when we first ran our Solo squad with just 13 swimmers in total. That year Paul went through a very rough patch and suffered with very sore shoulders with about 4km to go to record and eventual time of 9h16. This year he absolutely smashed it and recorded 6h51 - nearly 2.5 hours quicker! Truly brilliant. This will give Paul great confidence going into our preparations for our respective English Channel Swim attempt(s) in ~6 months time. Well done Paul! Also smashing his PB with a very well deserved time of 6h37 was Wayne Morris who strung together the "perfect" race finishing superbly strongly with a massive sprint to the finish - nice job! 

Sadly, Susanjane Morrison was pulled from the water with just a few kilometres to go after having inhaled quite a bit of seawater and then being unable to finish. Susanjane was taken to Fremantle hospital where she is now recuperating. We wish her a speedy recovery and hope that she can bounce back next year in a similar manner to Paul Downie from two years ago.

Well done to all our Solo swimmers who took part in the event - your commitment and hard work over the course of the program has been truly inspirational to me and I thank you for the great times we've shared together...it's going to seem like a quiet few weeks ahead! 

Hopefully those of you who maybe did a Team or Duo this year might be inspired to try a Solo next year perhaps?

I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you a few thoughts of my own about this year's race. I hope that these thoughts and feedback can help you analyse your own race. You know me, I love my numbers and this objective feedback as you just can't hide from the reality of what they tell you - good or bad. The key is in learning how and where you can be better next time.

A quick bit of history: prior to Saturday's swim I have done three Duo swims and my first Solo swim in 2009, just 6 days before we had our first baby, Jackson. In 2009 I was really hoping to get close to breaking 5h00 and trained very diligently for it, averaging ~40km per week in training. That year I felt I executed my best possible race and got my nutrition spot on. However, I exited the water in 5h24 and was immediately dissatisfied with my result based purely on my time. In retrospect though, conditions that year saw a strong North to South current in the last few kilometres really slowing progress with the winner only doing 4h40. Like this year, it looked set to be a great day for fast times as well, but sadly this proved not to be the case and most people left feeling a little deflated - but that's what this event is all about - it's totally open to the elements which makes for strategy being a key player in a successful swim.

Roll on to 2011 and I had assembled a brilliant crew for my second attempt at getting close to that magic 5h00 boundary. Nathan Thompson was to be my "official" skipper and key organiser as per 2009, Jan Kolbusz was to be my driver and boat owner (a life saver when the original boat "pulled out" 7 weeks previously), Adam Young was to be my faithful photographer and coach, Aaron Milward my brilliant paddler, friend and motivator, and Andrew Hunt my key GPS / Navigator. All of the crew worked seamlessly during the event and without doubt, it was Andrew's superb navigation skills which got us over there in a superbly straight line. I am not yet permitted to reveal exactly how well he was able to do this (?!), but if you take a look at the plot from my GPS (worn on Aaron's wrist), you'll see just how straight that line is, particularly from 3.5km into the event once the kerfuffle of the start is all over:


...this zoomed in a little closer to show the slight deviation at the start of the race:


...and if you're really geeky like me, you might want to have a look at the file in Google Earth etc:


...however, you'll never be a true swim geek unless you can download the file into Training Peaks and extract all the cool data to give you a graph of your speed like this:


...which you can see a little bigger here:


So, why show you all this? Well, I think it's always interesting to know exactly how far you've swum when you've supposedly done a 19.7km swim firstly. As my paddler was wearing the watch, it meant that it was started at ~400m into the event, give or take a couple of runs to the boat to "refuel", and then the final finish where Aaron is not allowed down the shoot, we believe we did a total of ~20.6km. 900m sounds way off course obviously, but I think the general plot on the map indicates this is not the case. I spoke to many swimmers yesterday who claimed to have swum over 25km due to being pushed south by the current.

The speed curve is interesting. I am definitely swimming the fastest I ever have going into this event, having recorded some significant recent PBs over 1500m, 5km and 10km in the last 3 weeks and was confident I could swim at ~14 minutes per km which (with the added fuel stops) would see me averaging out at somewhere around about 14'30" per km to be on target to break 5h00 for the swim. If anything was lacking from my training it was a bit of mileage, with me only being able to consistently swim 22-24kms per week due to work and family commitments, with my peak week being 30km. My 10km result a few weeks back suggested I was well on target with things though. However, as soon as I hit the water I just felt flat and wasn't able to find a good rhythm until between ~4km and 7km into the swim. This may, or may not, have helped me as normally I set off too quick and tend to blow up. After the 7km mark I felt like I was getting stronger and stronger and as reported by my crew was making up good ground and passing a good number of swimmers after my relatively poor start to the race. Looking at the speed curve though we see this though:

  • 0 to 50 minutes = ~14'00" per km (my goal pace, but when I was feeling particularly sluggish)
  • 50 minutes to 3hrs = ~15'30" per km (when things started to pick up and I was holding good form)
  • 3 hours to 4 hours = ~14'30" per km (when I started to peg other swimmers back)
  • 4 hours to 5 hours 23 minutes = ~17'00" per km (when I was powering at my best)
The significant drop off of 90 seconds per km after 50 minutes is very interesting, especially as it happens so quickly and at a time when I was just starting to find my groove too. Could it have been an early current? Who knows. The crew started to feedback to me where I was in the field and who I was chasing at around the 3 hour mark, so maybe this spurred me into action at that point? Without doubt though, I was hammering in the last 90 minutes of the swim and made up 5 places in that time but was "only" doing 17 minutes per km. I think it's therefore a safe bet to say that the current at this point was particularly strong for those of you a little demoralised by your times too.

Was I happy this year? Physically I don't feel like I had my best swim this year, but mentally I felt like I was able to really tough it out which will be very important for when I attempt the English Channel on the 5th September. I've always felt that this has been a weak side to my preparation and racing in the past so it's a good feeling I guess to think that this is maybe getting better as I'm getting older. At the end of the day I didn't get close to the 5h00 marker, but placings-wise I did finish exactly where I thought (hoped) I would and I did manage a 65 second P.B in the process, so it's not all bad.

I'm sure many of you irrespective of whether you did a Team, Duo or Solo might be feeling the same way about your swim if you were off pace with where you expected to be this year. I'd encourage you to go through and spend 15 minutes or so simply jotting down where you could improve for next time. This will be really useful. Looking at my notes after my 2009 race my goal was to see if we could improve my navigation as I felt everything else that year was pretty much spot on for a first attempt. Whilst I don't have the records to prove this was the case though (no GPS in 2009 to compare against), I do feel was achieved and without my crew's awesome support on the day I'm sure I'd still be out there swimming to Mandurah!! Thanks guys, you were great!

OK, crew, I'll see you all over the next couple of weeks, take it steady and enjoy the hot weather - eeek!

Paul

P.S anyone got any tricks to overcome that horrible salty / swollen tongue problem?






Friday, February 25, 2011

The next few Saturdays...and also the 9.30am sessions

Dear Swimmers

Just a quick note about the next few Saturdays for our 1-2pm squad session at Claremont Pool. Numbers have started to gradually build up again for this one, which is great as I personally think this is the best weekly session for those of you engaged in open water training / racing and triathlon. 

For the next few weeks we have a few alterations due to various events and water polo matches etc:

  • Saturday 26th February = CANCELLED (Rottnest Channel Swim)
  • Saturday 5th March = Claremont Pool with coach Adam Young
  • Saturday 12th March = Claremont Pool with coach Shelley Taylor-Smith
  • Saturday 19th March = CANCELLED (Water-polo tournament) - we are looking at the viability of running a two-part Saturday open water clinic at Cottesloe Beach at 6.30am for those of you doing triathlon and the Half Ironman in Busselton in particular - please reply if you'd be keen on this 1h15 practical open water skills session focused on sighting, drafting, turning and developing open water confidence and speed. The session will finish early enough to allow you to hop on your bike for a ride afterwards and be great preparation for getting used to that transition feeling between swim and bike which is very rarely practised.
  • Saturday 26th March = CANCELLED (Water-polo tournament) - as per notes for last week
  • Saturday 2nd April = all back to normal with coach Paul Newsome at Claremont Pool
Also, for those of you swimming with the 9.30am squad, due to various Carnival events in March / April, please note the following modifications to the next few weeks. The good news is that on the days when we're at Claremont, we should be back to lanes 6,7 and 8 again:


  • Monday 28th Feb. & Wednesday 2nd March (as normal)
  • Friday 4th March (outdoor 8 lane pool at Challenge Stadium with Sandy)
  • Monday 7th March (no sessions - Labour Day Holiday)
  • Wednesday 8th March (Claremont Pool - 25m pool - will be fun, trust me!)
  • Friday 11th March (outdoor 8 lane pool at Challenge Stadium with Sandy)
  • Monday 14th March (as normal)
  • Wednesday 16th March (Cottesloe Beach - open water session - loads of fun!)
  • Friday 18th March (Claremont Pool - 25m pool - will be fun, trust me! With Sandy)
  • Monday 21st, Wednesday 23rd and Friday 25th March (all as normal, with Sandy taking Friday's session)
  • Monday 28th March (Cottesloe Beach - open water session - loads of fun!)
  • Wednesday 30th March (as normal)
  • Friday 1st April (Claremont Pool - 25m pool - will be fun, trust me!)
  • Monday 4th April and Wednesday 6th April (as normal)
  • Friday 8th April (outdoor 8 lane pool at Challenge Stadium)
...I do appreciate that this constant shuffling does prove to be a bit tedious, but please look at it as a bit of variety and chance to try something a little new and exciting. Your support through your attendance will be very much appreciated!


Hope this all looks OK and you can make some of the sessions.

Cheers

Paul


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Squad Shirts have arrived!!

Dear Crew

Just letting your know the Rottnest Channel Swim Squad shirts arrived today and look fantastic! In total there will be 57 of us wearing them on Rottnest Island and given the vibrant blue colour we should all really stand out! Can't wait.

Shirts can be collected from the Claremont Pool on Friday morning. I'll be there from 5.30am to 7.30am and again at 9.30am to 10.30am. Cost per shirt is $30. Please aim to have the correct change as this will help speed up the process. Here's who ordered what:

http://www.swimsmooth.com/pauls_images/Shirt_Orders.pdf

What I shall do is lay out the shirts in piles of sizes and ask you to pay your money owing and collect your shirt from the respective pile (I might bring along a little helper to help me with this on Friday morning!!). We have not ordered any spare sizes, so hopefully everyone is happy with their shirt sizes or can arrange to swap within the group.

See you tomorrow morning then!

P.S we will not have too much provision to lug a load of shirts over to Rottnest on Saturday, so please (if you can) make an effort to collect them from the pool on Friday - thanks!

Paul

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Quick tips for Saturday - Just Keep Swimming!

Dear Swimmers

I just wanted to extend a huge message of "Good Luck!" to all those of you competing in the Rottnest Channel Swim this Saturday. It's going to be a great day and I wanted to offer you 5 simple tips for your race whether you're doing a Team, Duo, or Solo. Here goes, hope they help:

TEAMS:

  1. Bring lots of towels - swimmers get cold in this event not when they're in the water but when they're exposed to the wind on the boat deck (even on warm days). A nice, dry towel is always nice to hop out to rather than a sopping wet flannel.
  2. Ideal transition (swim) times would be somewhere between 3 and 8 minutes. After the first swimmer has done the first 1000m off the beach, my recommendation would be to slot into rotations of ~8 minutes or 4 to 500m. Anything too much longer than this and you'll see a noticeable drop-off in speed. Anything much shorter than this and you run the risk of tiring through constantly hauling yourself out of the water. The elite teams will rotate every 30 seconds to 2 minutes but this is totally full on, and may be a little too extreme for most teams.
  3. Keep it chirpy on the boat deck - it's a fun event and you should really approach it as a team, even if you don't know some of your team-mates too well. You'll be amazed how good you feel giving someone a well deserved compliment on their swimming and likewise what this feels like to be reciprocated.
  4. Stay off the grog until you reach Thomson's Bay - 'nuff said! :-)
  5. Use a rope with a bouy on the end to haul your finishing swimmer's into the boat once they tag the relay swimmer - they'll appreciate the effort saved here and it'll improve your torpedo position in the water too!

DUOS:

  1. As per note # 1 for the Teams, bring lots of dry towels and also some warm jackets too. Silver foil emergency blankets are also very good for those concerned about losing too much heat.
  2. Eat and drink well - roughly aim for ~600 to 750ml fluid per hour as well as ~60g of carbohydrates per hour too. This might break down as a biddon of Gatorade per hour as well as a couple of halve banana sandwiches (or similar) washed down with plain water. If you run low on fuel you will rapidly start to cool down - watch out for these symptoms!
  3. Transition times for Duos should be similar for Teams. Last year myself and my wife Michelle after the first 1000m did 4 rounds of 10 minutes each, then down to 4 rounds of 8 minutes each, then down to round of 6 minutes each until the finish as a rough guide of what you could try.
  4. Use a small white board to write messages of good luck to each other or commend your partner on their stroke. The irony of a Duo is that you never actually speak to each other for the whole event - leaving a message like this can be really motivational and fun!
  5. Be prepared to tow more than your fair share - hopefully both you and your partner will balance the swim out nicely and you'll each do your fair share, but the cold, shoulder niggles etc can all throw best laid plans off course and you could find yourself doing more than you had bargained for - don't panic - just get on with it!

SOLOS:

  1. Aim to stop roughly every 1500m or 25 minutes for fuel and drink. My personal plan is alternating every 1500m with 250ml gatorade and then a gel and ~150ml of water at the next stop, but each to their own and you should know your own formula by now from training practice.
  2. Don't try ANYTHING new on race day - better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
  3. Expect to feel crap at points during the swim, but realise that these low points (both emotionally and physically) will pass if you keep focusing positively and just completing one stroke at a time to get you across there.
  4. Have confidence that all the hard work has now been done, look forward to having a great experience, keep a smile on your face at all times and especially enjoy the sunrise which is totally memorable I found on my first solo swim!
  5. Don't get grumpy with your crew. Like Dory says, Just Keep Swimming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmyUkm2qlhA

See you all at the pub!

Cheers

Paul



Anyone fancy a DUO swim at the weekend?

Dear Team

Please reply to Cameron on cagnew@wafc.com.au if you feel prepared to take on a Duo swim this weekend across to Rottnest:

Hello Everyone,
 
A friend of mine living in Kalgoorlie is aiming to do a duo swim this weekend's Rottnest swim.
 
Unfortunately his swimming partner has been diagnosed with a heart condition. As a result they are not able to do the swim.
 
So, if you know of anyone eager (and fit) to do the Rotto swim in a duo, there is a vacancy to be filled.
 
Everything else for the day is sorted – boat, paddler etc.
 
Spread the word if u can and any candidates can let me know.
 
Many thanks!!
 
Kind regards,
 
Cameron Agnew
General Manager
Senior Metropolitan Community Football         
West Australian Football Commission
PO Box 1306 West Leederville WA 6901
T: (08) 9287 5522


Friday, February 18, 2011

Training this Weekend and Suits for Sale

Dear Swimmers

Sorry this will reach your inbox a little later than expected!!

Just a quick one to say sincerest apologies to those of you who swam at 5.30am this morning (Friday 18th February) - apparently the Duty Manager overslept this morning (!!), hence the delay in getting you all into the pool. I do hope it didn't affect your session too much. Thanks also to the 6.30am crew who waited patiently whilst the 5.30am crew finished off their over-run session. Not ideal, but hopefully we made it all work and you enjoyed the challenging session.

So, this weekend we have:

  1. Saturday 7am - Cottesloe Beach swim (meet in front of the pylon) 2 to 5km loosener before next weekend's Rottnest Channel Swim
  2. Saturday 1pm - squad session at Claremont Pool. I'll personally be back on pool deck this week and have great little set lined up this week. Please note there will be NO Saturday session next week (26th February) owing to the Channel Swim.
  3. Sunday 7.30am - North Cott SLSC have a similar swim to our Saturday one going out from the SLSC buildings at 7.30am prompt.

For all of those of you keen to swim next Friday, yes, these sessions (5.30am, 6.30am and 9.30am) will all still be running with a very specific steady set for those racing on Saturday and something a little more challenging for those who are not. My advice would be to have a complete rest day on Thursday and use Friday as a chance to loosen off and get rid of any lethargy. Those who've ordered our super cool Rottnest Squad shirts will be able to pick them up on Friday morning (payment in cash of $30 per shirt is required for collection - thanks!).

Finally, the Rottnest Swim will be here and gone before we know it. I'd be very keen to hear from you if you're planning to take a bit of a break after the swim, so that I can let those people our waiting list for the squad know that they can come along, as I am expecting a bit of a drop-off post-Rotto.

Super-fast suits for sale:

Anyone keen on bagging a cheap BlueSeventy speedsuit (Rotto legal) or a BlueSeventy wetsuit (perfect for the Busselton Half Ironman) should contact Guy Crawford at guy@blueseventy.com or 0457005443 - here's what he has available:

  1. WS PZ3 1 = only been used a few times .. in new condition..( Size is Womans small, weight 50-55kgs ish, but weight range is rough..)  = price = $150
  2. WS PZ3 2 = brand new ( tag attached ), never been worn( Size is Womans small, weight 50-55kgs ish, but weight range is rough..)  = Price = $200
  3. Helix WS = Near new again, only been worn twice ,( Size is Womans small, weight 50-55kgs ish, but weight range is rough..) = price = $300
  4. Apex Orca = Worn a bit , has cut arms and legs for quick exit, ( Size is XS, roughly 50-55 Kgs, but weight range is rough ) = Price $100

...you can see approximate images of them online at http://www.blueseventy.com/store/nz/home.php - the first two suits are what you see all the Solo swimmers wearing and the second two are great triathlon wetsuits - the Helix in particular is fantastic and a bargain at $300.

Cheers and have a great weekend!

Paul



Thursday, February 17, 2011

Rotto SOS! 2 x paddlers and 1 x swimmer needed!

Dear Team

Just got this from Katrina on katrinasykes@yahoo.com.au or 0413 86 99 88 (please reply to her):

"I am sending out SOS messages, my sisters are in a team and found out this morning that their paddler and 1 x swimmer have pulled out.  They are making the trip up from Bunbury.  If you know of anybody who may be interested in joining please let me know.  They are great fun and love a laugh!"

If you missed out on swimming / paddling this year, this would be an awesome chance!

Also, Kathryn Granheim's team are looking for a paddler too (they're coming over from Melbourne). Please contact Kathryn on 0403 068 011.

Cheers

Paul



Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Room to rent or house to sit?

Dear Team

I'm very pleased to announce that Coach Adam from the UK will be returning to these shores for 8 weeks from Wednesday 23rd February onwards - just in time to be part of my crew for the Rottnest Swim!

Adam's accommodation has sadly just fallen through right at the last minute and so he's desperately trying to find somewhere until the 20th April as a room / unit to rent or house to sit. If anyone has or knows of anything, please contact Adam directly on adam@swimsmooth.com

Many thanks - we can't wait to have him back!

Cheers

Paul

Monday, February 14, 2011

Rottnest Shirt Design for the Squad


Dear Team

For all you budding squad Rotto swimmers (and groupies!), I have done up some sketches for a squad long-sleeve polo shirt (same brand / company as makes the official Rottnest Channel Swim shirts) and am planning on sending the artwork to the printers this afternoon for delivery just prior to the race. Given that we've all trained so hard together over the last 5 months, I thought it'd be great if we could all be wearing squad shirt over there on the island and when we're celebrating post race etc. 

If you're keen on one of these shirts the cost is just $30.00 and payable in cash to me upon receipt of the shirt. You might even like to buy a couple extra for your support crew perhaps? I'll be doing this for my team. I need to let them know all the sizings by midday Tuesday 15th February (i.e. tomorrow!) so please let me know as soon as possible. They'll make a great momento for you of all the hard work we've been putting into this event.

I would like to thank Caroline Claydon for her help in the initial stages of designing this shirt - we have decided to go with a different design in order to keep the cost of printing down, and this new design is something Caroline has kindly helped proof for me and give her expert artistic opinion on it. Thanks Caroline!

The idea behind the design is that everything we have been doing in training this last 5 months has all been about getting you to become as efficient as possible over long distances, culminating of course with the Rottnest Channel swim of 19.7km in just under 2 weeks time. Some of you may feel like you've lost a bit of top-end speed in the process but have traded this for the ability to cruise for extended periods of time without blowing up. This is exactly what you need for Rotto! I liken this to developing your body's "engine" into that of a diesel engine, rather than a fuel injected petrol number!! I have a favourite t-shirt from the UK which is designed to look like the front cover of a Haynes motoring manual (it's for a VW Combi van) and is basically an exploded diagram of all the component parts. What better I thought than trying to use this idea as an exploded diagram of a swimmer's "engine" that has been trained specifically for the purpose of the Rottnest Channel Swim. 

I do hope you like the idea and design and so if you could get back to me asap with your sizing (go with what you chose for your official Rottnest shirts and bear in mind that the sizings are generous and not that fitted and are available in XS to XXXL...I have done a preliminary sizing check of everyone and I reckon everyone would be suitable up to L or a max of XL, but this depends on your preference of fit I guess - I'm going for a Medium).

Here's the design - let me know:





Thursday, February 10, 2011

Training this weekend...

Dear Swimmers

Well, the countdown is now fully on for the Rottnest Channel Swim - just 15 sleeps to go!

Just to let you know what training options we have available this weekend for those wanting to sharpen up their open water swimming skills:

  • Saturday 6.15am meet for a 6.30am start. Meet at Trigg SLSC tower for a ~10km Rotto "Rehearsal" swim, heading south for ~5km and then turning around and heading back. Plan is for people to bring their paddlers with them if at all possible and practice proper race nutrition. This is our last major swim session before the event. Even if you're not doing the solo swim this year, you might like to try doing part of this swim, say down to Scarborough and back (total = 3.6km) or if you fancy paddling I know there are a few soloists whose paddlers can't make it this Saturday and would appreciate the support.
  • Saturday 1.00pm. Claremont Pool. Squad session in the pool ideally focussed on developing your openwater skills for ocean swimming and triathlons. It's a good one this week and would really suit the duo and team swimmers this weekend! Come along and give it a try!
  • Sunday 7.00am. North Cottesloe Beach. North Cott SLSC have an ocean swim heading out bang on 7.00am with IRB support. Choose your distance - 2.0km to 8.0km and celebrate a 40th birthday swim with Coach Adam! Sure to be a fun one!

See you out there in le Grand Bleu!

Paul


Monday, February 7, 2011

Awesome results from the squad this weekend!

Dear TEAM

Congratulations to all those of you who competed in the Cottesloe to Swanbourne Classic Swim and / or the Busselton Jetty Swim this weekend. You probably couldn't get two more contrasty races to be fair - a massive southerly pushed swimmers to superbly fast times in Saturday's 2.2km race and dealings with copious numbers of stingers, whereas a massive easterly on Sunday down in Busselton saw some very tough conditions and very slow times for the 3.6km round the jetty swim. Travis Nederpelt (winner of the Jetty Swim) claimed it was the hardest open water swim he had done - so if a multiple Olympic swimmer claims that, you know it must have been tough had you survived it!

Results for Saturday can be found here:


...and Sunday here:


My Female Swimmer of the Day from the squad on Saturday was Ceinwen Williams who finished 7th overall and 2nd female and despite the average times for this superbly fast swim being in general 60-75s slower than 2 years ago (when we last all raced), Ceinwen actually swam pretty much the same time. Nice job! 

My Male Swimmer of the Day from the squad on Saturday was (coincidentally) also the Male Swimmer of the Day for Sunday, Simon Bedbrook who is coming into some amazing form finishing 9th and 17th respectively for the two events - amazing work Simon!

Lastly my Female Swimmer of the Day for Sunday was Nicole Hodgson who is also swimming brilliantly at the moment and finished 7th female and 28th overall - watch out for Nicole in 2.5 weeks time over to Rotto - she's going to go very well!

Well done everyone, you all did very well and it was great to see 15 of you finish in the top-100 on Saturday and also some great first-time finishes for those fairly new to both the squad and to open water swimming! Well done all - your coach is proud! ;-)

Cheers

Paul




Thursday, February 3, 2011

iiNET Team Sprint Cup for Autism West

Dear Swimmers

Just to let you know the 2011 iiNET Team Sprint Cup will take place on Sunday 20th February at 3pm in aid of supporting Autism West at Christchurch Grammar School Pool.

Teams are comprised of 6 x 50m relay sprints and categories are broken down into:

  • Over 180 years
  • Over 270 years
  • Open Men's
  • Open Women's

Cost is $210 for a team and can be entered at http://teamsprintcup.com/

We did this in 2008 and it was a LOT of fun and for a great cause.

Kind regards

Paul

Paul Newsome
Head Coach
World Class Coaching in Your Language!
Tel. +61 (0) 431 540 980



Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Anyone popping down to Busselton early...

Just a quickie Crew - celebrated marathon swimmer and coach Shelley Taylor-Smith is running another of her OW Swim Clinics in Busselton on Saturday for those keen - looks good, here's the info:


Cheers

Paul



Training and Racing this weekend...

Dear TEAM

Busy weekend ahead this weekend in terms of training / racing, we have:

  • Cottesloe to Swanbourne Swim (2.2km) on Saturday. Enter at: https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?ID=3376 - registration is 7 - 7.45am, briefing at 7.30am and start at 8am. We'll meet down there for those keen at 6.45am for a short swim and stretch loosen-off and for those super-keen will also swim back following the race.
  • Saturday 1-2pm squad swim. I'm anticipating small numbers this week (due to the racing) but if you can make it down to Claremont Pool, that'd be great.
  • Busselton Jetty Swim (3.6km) on Sunday. Enter at: http://www.busseltonjettyswim.org.au/ - registration is 6 - 7am (no clear briefing / start time but I'm thinking 7.15am and 7.30am respectively?). Again, we may do another lap of the course (steady) for those solo swimmers wanting to get in a little more distance.

Hopefully see some of you out there...3 weeks to go until Rotto!

Kind regards

Paul

Paul Newsome
Head Coach
World Class Coaching in Your Language!
Tel. +61 (0) 431 540 980