The Australian Masters National Championships were held on 17 - 20 April at Olympic Park in Sydney. Somerset was represented by Helen Urquhart and Eunice Chellew. Eunice put together this report for us:
We arrived at the Aquatic Centre Olympic Park early in the morning of a very overcast slightly wet day. We didn’t really want to get wet until our races but that’s Sydney.
There were 688 competitors for this meet. The youngest was 18 and the oldest 96. They were having a fair bit of fun in the stands when we arrived and it was only 8am! The team from Port Macquarie had more energy than any other club because they danced on and off all day. They should have received a medal for outstanding energy!
The 800m freestyle (196 competitors) had been held the day before and we did not attend; instead we went sightseeing which in Sydney is always enjoyable.
Helen did a PB for her 50 metre butterfly which was a great effort. She also did personal bests for her other swims. Good on you Helen! All that training with Julie has really paid off.
It was interesting to watch all the different swimmers and their abilities. Some were outstanding like Clinton Stanley, a Downs Syndrome young man who broke his 76th world record (age category Downs Syndrome). I think he breaks a record every time he swims. Another swimmer that everyone noticed was Carlos Assumpcao 81 years old from Victoria who competed in an 800m IM. At the end of the first 50m of butterfly I thought he stopped to have a heart attack before moving on! But off he went, slowly to the other end and after another little rest he moved quickly through the rest of the legs. Unbelievable! He competed in 7 events and did well in all of them. Jen Thomasson from Queensland also broke a few records in the 70-74 age group.
Apart from the records being broken, there were a lot of very happy people on the pool deck after their swims. A few people spoke to me while I was time keeping telling me how chuffed they were with their results. One lady had a smile so big because she had broken the 9 minute mark for 400m freestyle earlier that day. Another had a PB in every event she entered which was about 7.
The time keeping was interesting. I had to hold a stop watch and the electronic device and the swimmer hit the usual electronic touch pad. Talk about making sure someone or something registered a time.
There were quite a few people from WA. Claremont had 19 swimmers, Riverton had 6 and there were 1 each from a few other clubs in WA. Somerset had 2! Yay Somerset. I remember hearing a few of the Claremont swimmers breaking some records.
The meet went off with only a few hitches with most of the events taking place on time except the 50m breaststroke which I was waiting for to get it over so I could get out of there. That was delayed by about ½ an hour due to the many heats of the 100m freestyle. The only hitches really were technical so I think the organisers will be very pleased with the work they put in for a well run meet.
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