Hawaii 5-0 and Saturday Swimming

IMPORTANT NOTE: Saturday Swim Sessions - change of time to 12pm for 6 dates - please note!

On the following Saturdays in September through November, it has been necessary to bring the Saturday afternoon squad swim session forward by 1 hour due to water-polo fixtures at the pool. I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and hope you are still able to attend. These are the dates (I shall email out on the Wednesday prior to each one as a reminder, but please make a note for your diaries):

1.                   19/09

2.                   26/09

3.                   17/10

4.                   31/10

5.                   07/11

6.                   28/11

Dear Athletes

We have some very special news for you today...Rob Newman who trains with the group in the 9.30am Monday, Wednesday and Friday swim sessions has successfully qualified for the Hawaii Ironman on the 10th October 2009. Rob has had his fair share of ups and downs in the lead-up to this event, starting off with a long string of niggling injuries which look set to prevent him from even competing at the qualifying event over in Penticton, Canada this last weekend. 

Showing an amazing degree of consistency and perseverance in his training regime, Rob got himself to the start line at the weekend. Rob competed in the very competitive 45-49 yr category with 313 athletes in his age group all fighting for just a few places to go to Kona. Exiting the water after 3.8km in 90th place Rob knew he had some work today, but rather than lose his head, worked steadily through the field to finish the 180km in 36th place and then ran a brilliant 3:37 marathon in very tough conditions to work his way up to 9th place. A tremendous result! Rob actually finished 142nd out of 2595 athletes who had qualified just to race Ironman Canada and finished in a very commendable 10:25. Rob said of the race:

"I have qualified, which is awesome.  I am very excited.  Thanks for all of your support - you got me there.

 

My big lesson out of yesterday is "never give up".  I thought I had blown the race after my swim, which was quite slow.  I also thought I had really blown when I was 36th off the bike and I felt like crap at the start of the run.  But I hung in there and came good for most of the run.  Once I started passing people, I knew I had a chance.  But 9th was a real surprise when I finished. 

 

I have celebrated with pizza and beer :-)"

Well done Rob - we're all very impressed with your effort! Coincidentally this will be Rob's first ever assault on the Kona World Championships and also the first athlete I have personally coached in entirety right the way through to the event...so we're both chuffed to bits at the moment!

Cheers

Paul