Impington Swimming Club

A friendly Masters Swimming Club just north of Cambridge

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2008

Friday nights at the tri club - Open Water Training

Here's what some of us do on a friday night with our friends at the Cambridge Triathlon Club.


Created with flickrSLiDR.

It's pretty cool getting open water swimming training from a local channel swimmer. Notice Richard is already prepared for the channel swim being conspicuously without a wetsuit (I think it was about 15 degrees C). Posted by: litsl (30.5.08)

FINA XII World Masters Championships (Perth, Western Australia)

The World masters 3k Open Water race was held on Friday 25th April (ANZAC day) in the Swan river on the centre of Perth This was the last event of the championships.

The weather was brilliant, 26C bright sun and a water temperature of 21C. The course was a straight 1.5k against the current turn then 1.5k back.

There were some 700 swimmers so registration and numbering took some time. The event was swum in age groups so all the youngsters were registered and away and back before our age group. There was electronic timing, unusual for o/w swims we all had two sensors on our wrists and before the start had to pass them over a pad then at the end bang on a board to stop them.
We all entered the water through the rowing club boat shed ready for the in water start. It is very unusual to swim exclusively with your own age group with swimmers from all over but particularly from Oz.


Off we went on the first 1.5k no dramas, bumped into a few jellyfish, non stinging type, but a bit odd, you just push them aside but they don't feel too nice. Round the turn and back. Only slight difficulty was swimming with the sun directly ahead which made spotting a bit difficult especially near the finish when you had to get through the buoys.


Had a good tussle with a South Africa, from Duirban, though, obviously, I didn't know who he was at the time. We did a bit of bumping and banging before I managed to get ahead a couple of hundred metres from the finish.

Good race I think.

Time 58min 43sec which is my quickest 3k
Position in age group 65-69, 19th of 36

Overall I was pretty pleased with that. The guys at the front were 10mins ahead. How they do that I don't know. I guess I've just got to train harder. Maybe I overdid the tapering in the last week and also overdid the carbs. But a great experience anyway and roll on Sweden 2010.

Richard Posted by: litsl (5.5.08)

Queensland Camtains Cup 4k Open Water Swim

Hi again from Queensland,

Well you know when you go on holiday in Europe, say the Med. or Aegean or places like that and the sea is nearly always just about as flat as it can be well why isn't it like that when I come here?

Report

Camtains Cup 4k Open Water swim, Glenelg, Adelaide, South Australia Sunday 30th March.

This is the last swim, they don't call them races, in a 10 event series run by various Masters Clubs in and around Adelaide.

Usually the course is a straight 4k from Brighton jetty to Glenelg jetty but this year, because of an international beach vollyball tournament it meant that we had to swim 3k straight then turn back for the last 1k.

1030 start and 43 intrepid swimmers prepared to enter the sea. Any normal person who thought I'll just pop down to Brighton for a quick dip would have taken one look turned round and gone back to bed, or at least for a cup of coffee. Until the previous week Adelaide had had a record breaking heatwave with no wind the sea temperaturers had been 23-24 degC. By the time I got ther the temperature had dropped to 18-19 and a strong wind was blowing. More like Eastbourne than Adelaide.

Immediately on entering the water a nasty littlish rain squall blew across so it was a good job the starter had an air horn. I would describe the conditions at the start a somewhat akin to an aquatic assault course. Big waves everywhere. Off we went, any attempt at swimming correctly was a non starter it was more a matter of survival. There were several occasions when I turned my head to breath only to be confronted with a breaking wave descending on me and bouncing me about, then consider ones arm recovery, this is normally done clear of the water, not always possible here as the water was on top. We survived this first part of the swim, though iI never even saw the 1k marker buoy. Eventually the 2k buoys, they call them cans, came into sight and things started to calm down a bit, the sun even came out. Generally the wind and current were with us for the first 3k so we got to the 3k turn round the cans and back 1k into the wind and current. This was, probably, the toughest 1k I have ever swum and so to the finish on the beach at Somerton Surf Lifesaving Club.

All 43 swimmers completed the course, they are pretty tough these South Aussies. The winner was, I think about 15.
Position 33 of 43
Position in age group (60-69) 3rd. If it had been 5 vr. age band position would have been 1st.
Time 1hr 32.59

I'm not sure if it was fun but it certainly was a challenge.

Otherwise training is going really well both on my own and with the Miami Masters club. I'm up to about 18k per week now with one weeks training left befor going over to Perth.

The Swan river will be a doddle compared to this.

Richard Posted by: Richard (10.4.08)

Extra programmed lane swim locally & circuit training

This is a word of mouth recommendation for some extra training
sessions that are available locally from Dave Silk (who regularly
swims with with us in lane 2).

Saturday 12 noon - 1 hour programmed lane swim - The Leys School Pool
(Cambridge) - £5 (no closure for easter, this is on tomorrow)
(suitable for tri-club and Impington Swimmers lanes 2,3 and 4 -
probably not intense enough for lane 1 swimmers)

Tuesdays 7.30pm - 1.5 hours circuit training - Cottenham Village
College - £5 (no closure for easter - this is on next week)
(circuit training with around 20 stations including an ergo)

Thursday 7.30pm - 1.5 hours circuit training - Comberton Village
College - £5 (restarts April 10th)
(circuit training with around 20 stations including an ergo)

From my point of view, circuit training is the one exercise I do which
keeps me strong enough to do all the other sports - I used to be
addicted to Yoga but find circuits better.

For more details please call Dave Silk on 07796 491 883 Posted by: litsl (29.3.08)

Term Dates

Mondays 7th April - 14th July
Thursdays 10th April - 17th July

(Closed on BOTH bank holiday mondays) Posted by: litsl (29.3.08)

Richard is in Queensland

Posted by: Richard (20.3.08)

Sudbury Valentines Meet - 16/02/2008

As usual this was the first meet of the year for the Impington Masters swimmers. Due to various social events the team was somewhat depleted but all who attended met old and new friends and enjoyed this local and friendly meet. Those swimming were Louise Smith, Pete Rank, Jenny Winster, Liz Reid and our honorary Ely swimmer Audrey Head, Lynn Rank was our chief cheerleader. We all missed Paula (Panda) who was unwell for her enthusiasm & joie de vivre; we hope she will have recovered in time for the next competition.

The evening kicked off with the 200m Freestyle, everybody swam in this event Louise was 7 seconds faster than her entry time and Liz did a 3 second PB. Pete & Audrey were close to their entry times.

Next came the 50m Fly Louise swum a stylish 35.90 to win her age group and Liz won her age group too.

In the 50m Backstroke Audrey & Liz were both close to their entry times. Jenny had entered but missed her race thinking she was in lane 6 instead of lane 4 due bad hand writing on the heat card or perhaps forgetting her specs.

The 50m breaststroke followed, Pete swam a good race in 47.94 to come third in his age group. Audrey did a big 6 second PB in 60.39 Liz won her age group but did a disappointing 48.91.

Louise, Jenny & Liz swam in the 4x25m IM, Louise won her age group in 1.22.21 and Jenny came second in her age group in a strong swim of 1.52.79. Liz although winning her age group was disappointed with her time of 1.49.86.

The final individual event was the 50m Freestyle. Pete swam strongly to come 3rd in his age group. Louise also won her age group in a time of 32.30 close to her best, Audrey was second in a time of 61.97. Jenny did a 44.4 in her heat.

The final event was the squadron relay all the swimmers were put into four teams and the rest of us cheered them on.

After the swimming finished the Sudbury club provided a good spread of refreshments and vouchers were presented to the top three swimmers in each age group. Audrey & Liz both won their age groups with Louise coming second in hers. Louise & Jenny were also in the winning squadron relay and received medals.

With so few swimmers Impington did very well in the overall points tally.

Liz Posted by: litsl (24.2.08)

American Coaches

We have a new coach Poolside - Kate. Tri-club folks met her first and we've arranged to have her coach us now too. Following on the heels of Ryan Costella, our last American coach, we're doing quite well with acquiring American talent! Posted by: litsl (15.2.08)

Panda's Underwater Photography

Panda took a couple of great underwater shots a while ago. Here are the best ones:



You would be forgiven for thinking we might be a bit religious by the look of the second picture. I can assure you the cross is just part of the lane markings. We're secular! Posted by: litsl (15.2.08)

Swimming Pool Timetable 7th January

Impington Swimming Pool Timetable.

Thanks Ivan! Posted by: litsl (13.2.08)

Safe Water Sports website

A lot of thought has gone into this website on safe water sports - www.safewatersports.co.uk. I think this could be a very useful resource for some of us.

Trivia question: statistically, in the USA, what is more dangerous to children, a household where there is a firearm, or a household where there is a swimming pool? Answer - the swimming pool is 100 times more likely to result in death (ref: Freakanomics) Posted by: litsl (4.2.08)

We're BACK !!! Happy New Year - term dates

Swimming starts back next week - see you there!

Mondays 7th Jan to 17th March, Thursdays 10th Jan to 20th March.

2008 is a little bit of a sad year for several of us since we hit 40. I'll let you guess who.

Happy New Year! Posted by: litsl (5.1.08)

2007

Boxing Day Swim & New Term Dates

Just to remind everyone there will be a session at the pool on Boxing Day at 10am to 11am.

There will be an entry fee of £2 per person (note no OAP concessions!)

We start to swim again week begining 7th January

A Merry Christmas to all
Ju
XXX Posted by: litsl (11.12.07)

Photos from the AngelFish Gala

Some photos from the Angel Fish Gala are now online. Posted by: litsl (10.12.07)

Angel Fish Gala a HUGE SUCCESS!!!

Panda Paula usually walks around like she is supercharged from holding a lightening bolt's worth of energy inside her. Tonight, like an X-man, she let that lightening bolt go. What an AWESOME EFFORT! Everyone had a great time at the very unusual and extremely fun swimming gala and subsequent pub quiz. What a lot of smiling faces and cash raised for charity.
PAULA IS AWESOME! Posted by: litsl (25.11.07)

Louise's Curry Night - Most Excellent !

Created with flickrSLiDR.


Thanks Louise! Posted by: litsl (10.11.07)

Lots of BIG NEWS

There is loads of big news in the air at the moment:
1. Louise has arranged a CURRY for this Friday
2. The AGM is on Monday 12th with Chips and Sandwiches after swimming
3. Jane Asher, who holds 26 or the possible 35 agegroup WORLD RECORDS is coming to the Angelfish Gala on Saturday 24th
4. Our Ladies 160+ team are the county champions - I don't even know the team apart from that Liz and Panda were in it
5. Peter Rank and Richard have recently smashed some PBs by a large margin

What a club! It's nice to be home! More details on the recent wins to me if you like, it's nice to share. Well done to all!

Carl Posted by: litsl (6.11.07)

Angelfish Fun Swimming Gala - Impington Village College

Angelfish is pleased to announce its very first Fun Swimming Gala, to be held at Impington Village College (3 miles North of Cambridge) on Saturday 24 November.

The event will feature races such as: The Egg and Spoon Race, The W.I. Breaststroke in Flowery Hat Race, The Great Underwater Obstacle Race, The T-Shirt Race, and The Great Angelfish Race. Races at the pool will be followed by a Pub Quiz at the Red Lion, Histon.

The Fun Gala has been set up to raise money for Angelfish, an NGO (pending charity commission status) helping disabled children in Cambodia to swim and undergo water therapy: for more information, please see www.angelfishcambodia.org.uk or download the flyer.

Teams are mixed (men, women, children, pirates) with six members in each team. If you do not have a team or not enough for a full team, don't worry - we can get you a team on the day (and if you can't swim in fluid but you're very good at drinking it, just come along to the pub quiz at 8.30pm). A lifeguard will be on duty but participants must be able to swim 25 metres unaided. Please ensure you arrive twenty minutes before the race to change.

There is only space for 48 participants (8 teams) and there is no entry on the day, so enter today!

Kind regards

The Angelfish Team Posted by: litsl (20.10.07)

AGM - Monday 12th November - Chips and Sandwiches too!

AGM at The Boot after swimming on Monday 12th November.

Chips and Sandwiches supplied to encourage attendance - all welcome. Posted by: litsl (20.10.07)

New member news - welcome Alexander George Cook

Alexander George Cook joined us at 7.53am on Monday September 24th weighing a whopping 9lb 5oz.

Many congratulations to Paula and Paul from all of us. We expect to see Alexander at the club soon. I note that you named him after one of our fastest swimmers in the club! Posted by: litsl (19.10.07)

Bobbing about in the ocean 2007 Part 3 - Eastbourne 2k Sea swim July 29th 2007

Here we are in sunny Eastbourne for the fourth time ready for this year's race. I've aged up this year to 65-74 so have, just for one year, I think, got away from my nemesis local racer and organizer Rod Miller.

This was a super day with no waves but quite a big sea swell, sun shining and 18C water temperature.

The course was as usual deep water start then 400m parallel to the beach against the tidal current to the first buoy turn 25m to next buoy turn then a straight 1k, with the swell to the turn another 25m then turn for home, the hard bit, 500m into the swell.

No adventures this year, I didn't get lost, swam pretty straight now that I've got my spotting sorted, and had to work like mad for the last few hundred metres.

Results:
Time 36min 50 sec
Overall men's result 45th out of 57 starters
Age group 65-74 2nd

I might have left Rod Miller behind but there is an even quicker, and older, guy now and for the next years. Good part is that I reduced the gap between the afore mentioned R. Miller and myself by 2 mins compared with last year. So either I'm getting quicker or he is getting slower! I may well find out in September in the 3k Southsea race.

Then, to round off the day, like last year, the "Happy clappies" were there doing their total immersion baptisms.

Richard Posted by: Richard (2.9.07)

British transplant games 26 - 29 July 2007 Edinburgh

Brian Geere, who started swimming with us earlier this year, took part in this year's British Transplant Games held in Edinburgh.

He competed in the 60+ age group, 50 free and 50 back, in the Commonwealth games long course pool and took Silver in both events with a PB in the 50 F/S. This on the same day that he had already done a 10k cycle race where he also took Silver.

Brian also competed, as a guest, for the Glasgow mixed Vollyball team where he topped the podium with Gold. Irony was, guess who they beat in the final? Addenbrooks, with whom Brian had been training.

Well done Brian. Posted by: Richard (2.9.07)

Eastern region 1st Open Water 3k swim - Norwich, Sunday 15th July 2007

Alan Slade and I were the only representatives from Impington SC. It was a really nice day with the water at 19 deg C, very simple course 750m out, 750m back twice. In the water start but with a pontoon to push off from. Really flat water just a very slight breeze. About 45 starters including Juniors, who very rapidly disappeared after the hooter went. I had a nice out swim followed and managed to get a nice draft for quite a way until my hats started to come off. I tried to adjust them and so lost my tow. The hats eventually vanished completely and it took until half way down the 3rd 750 till I caught up and got a draft again. We came round the final turn together I tagged along for a bit further and then decided that I'd still got a bit left in the tank so overtook and came home in 59min 36.42 which is as damn near as my time last year in London. Only 2 competitors in the 60+ event and I came 1st. The first ever time I have beaten Alan Jackson at any distance.

Alan was 3rd in the 35 - 39 age group in 57min 40.66 this was his first O/W swim, without a wet suit, and I think he did find it a bit cold. It took at least 3 cups of soup before he stopped shivering but at least, I think, he did enjoy it.

Richard Posted by: Richard (2.9.07)

Diss Otters - 19th May 2007

It was such a lovely evening to be stuck in a swimming pool, instead we dreamed of sitting in the garden with a couple of beers and a BBQ. The first race of the evening was the medley relays which unfortunately Sarah (aka Pinkie) and Alex (aka Teen Idol) could not compete in as they are too young - how unfair is that?! We were well represented in the 200+ age group coming second in a time of 1:13.62.

Next came the individual races starting with the 50m Freestyle. Richard was the first one of the Impington posse in with a time of 37.25 and coming 2nd in his age group. Peter and Charles (aka Chuckles) would have been in the same heat if only the pool had an extra lane, but they had to settle being in the outside lanes of different heats. Peter did a time of 33.86 and came 4th in his age group, while Chuckles did 33.22 and came 5th in his age group. Last - but by no means least - came Teen Idol who did a 28.30 and came 3rd in his group. Teen Idol was slightly slower than his times from Sudbury but over a 50m race it takes a lot to do a personal best every time, whereas Chuckles beat his.
Then it was the women's turn with Jo and Louise being in the same heat and pulling out 33.66 and a 32.12 coming 6th and 3rd in their age groups respectively. Next was Pinkie who, saying its hard to do a personal best on a 50m every time, actually did one in this race with a 31.77 and came 6th in her group.

Next was the 50m Backstroke, which was an all women's event for the Impington club. There was a bit of confusion for this event as we couldn't find Jo's card at the marshalling table. It came to light that her card hadn't been posted and was actually still tucked up in Louise's bag!! Luckily she managed to swim in one of the earlier heats where there was a free lane and she looked really impressive winning her heat miles ahead of the opposition in a time of 40.36 and coming 4th in her age group. Liz (aka Big Bird) was next who did a 49.54 and came 2nd, knocking just over a second off from her time at Sudbury.

We had an outsider who we considered one of our own and that was Ruth from the City of Cambridge club, she did a 38.61 and came 3rd. Louise was next with a 40.01 (2nd) followed by Pinkie with a 36.05 - again slightly slower than Sudbury but still coming 4th.

The 50m Butterfly was next with Richard being the only man with enough bottle to go for it for the men and did a 47.80 (2nd). The women were a bit more well represented with Louise with a 36.95(who won her age group - congratulations), Ruth with a 35.92 (2nd) and Pinkie 35.64 - slightly slower than Sudbury (6th).

It was all evens in the stakes for the 50m Breaststroke between the men and the women with three each.

First up was Peter with a 48.81 (4th), followed by Teen Idol who did a 40.07, which was only 0.07 seconds away from his entry time which he guessed as he'd never done a 50m breaststroke race in a masters event (good guess there or was that just luck?!) and he came 3rd.

Next was the master of breaststroke Chuckles with a time of 38.51 and a 4th, and only slightly slower than his time in Sudbury. Big Bird came in with a time of 49.03 and won her age group - so congratulations to her. Next Ruth and Pinkie were in the same heat - next to each other in fact and Pinkie just pipped Ruth to the end of the pool with a time of 40.89 to Ruth's 41.76, but Pinkie came 2nd in her age group whereas Ruth won hers so congratulations to her too! Again the times for Pinkie and Big Bird were just slightly slower than Sudbury.

Next came the 100m Individual Medley with Richard and Teen Idol going for it for the boys. Richard came 2nd with a time of 1:48.16 whereas Teen Idol showed us all how not to swim an Individual Medley! First of all he turned on to his front when executing the backstroke to breaststroke turn (for which we all were cursing for!) and then on the breaststroke to frontcrawl turn he very nearly touch with only one hand! Sadlyauto he got disqualified for the illegal turn but he did record a time of 1:17.20 which was a very good effort for his first time.
Big Bird again won her age group (congratulations) in a time of 1:46.09. Louise, Jo and Pinkie were all in the same heat and recorded times of 1:22.56 (2nd), 1:32.10 (4th) and 1:19.93 (4th) respectively. Both Big Bird's and Pinkie's time were slightly slower than Sudbury.

Finally was the freestyle relay with the Impington Masters swimming in the 120+ age group with Chuckles leading off the relay, followed by Louise, Peter and finally Jo. A time of 1:01.10 was good enough for a silver medal!

All in all it was a very enjoyable evening although we all would have liked it to have finished a little bit earlier so we all had some time to go and get a curry, but hey that's life! We all came home with at least one medal so I think everyone was happy with their performances. Roll on next year when the babies of the group are old enough to race in the relays and hopefully we'll come home with a bigger pile of medals and a few more golds (I mean we don't want to be greedy now do we?!)

Pinkie
[Louise sent a link to the full results - http://www.norfolkswimming.org.uk/masters/openresults.html] Posted by: litsl (22.5.07)

Interesting event - Breastrokes Event in aid of Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK and the Outdoor Swimming Society are organising two sponsored outdoor swims this summer. The event is called Breastrokes and the money raised will go to Cancer Research UK, specifically for breast cancer. Would you be able to help us in publicising this event to your club swimmers?

The first Breastrokes event will be a 1km swim in the Serpentine, Hyde Park on 28th July 2007. This will be a morning swim with music and breakfast on the shore afterwards. Then on Saturday 1st September 300 swimmers will swim either 1.5 or 3km in Lake Windermere - it's an afternoon swim, and afterwards there'll be a bonfire, BBQ and beer for all the swimmers. There's camping and YMCA rooms on site for those that would like to stay and make a weekend of it.

Lucy Dann
Events Assistant - Breastrokes
020 7438 5486 Posted by: litsl (12.5.07)

Richard is in the news (in Aussie!)

Swim talk - SOUTH AUSTRALIA BRANCH NEWSLETTER

"Richard Goddard - sales manager for a British company promoting aerial crop dusting equipment - was pleasantly surprised to meet someone from his hometown Warrington in England.

Richard, in Adelaide for a short stay, found details on the web of the Charles Sturt Challenge and fronted up at Henley for the 1.5km swim having arrived only that morning from Perth, WA. At 65 years old and carrying a knee problem, he nevertheless recorded a time of 21m 43secs to take first place in his age group.

Following the swim he met up with Brian Robinson (a member of Tea Tree Gully Masters) and in conversation it emerged they had lived in the same town of Warrington - supported the same rugby team (Warrington Wires now Warrington Wolves) and even had the same swimming instructor at the local baths.

In another twist, it was revealed that Richard's wife (who is at home in Cambridge, England) also went to the same school as Brian. After a schnitzel and a few pints, Richard rose to thank everyone for the welcome and friendship that he experienced at this event and made particular mention of Jane Horsman from Henley Beach Masters who
was kind enough to transport him and others to the starting point. Posted by: litsl (9.5.07)

Term Dates for Summer Term

Mondays 16th April - 16th July
Thursdays 19th April - 19th July Posted by: litsl (7.4.07)

Sudbury Masters 12th Valentine Masters Meet - 10/02/07

Thankfully it wasn't an early start for this gala and no-one got lost on the way as far as we know - not that they would admit to it even if they did! The pool was very bizarre, as in lanes five and six, the bottom of the pool changed along the length of the pool - which caught Charles (aka Chuckles) out in the warm up. (He split his knee open after hitting it on the floor during a dive!)

The first race was the 200m Freestyle and for the girls we had Jenny (aka J-Low) and Liz (aka Big Bird) who swam really well with times of 3:33:02 and 3:20:78 respectively. Going for it for the boys were Chuckles (2:41:43), Alex (aka Teen Idol) (2:40:32) and Stephen (aka Livemare) (2:28:50). Chuckles and Teen Idol were in the same heat, which was cause for a good race as Teen Idol led from the start but was slowly getting caught by Chuckles. If only the pool was slightly longer, Chuckles may have beaten Teen Idol.

In the 50m Butterfly was Amanda (aka Hug 'n' Kiss) (0:37:32), Sarah (aka Pinkie) (0:35:09) and Livemare (0:32:80).
Next was the 50m Backstroke with J-Low (0:53:57), Big Bird (0:50:57), Hug ‘n’ Kiss (0:39:70) and Pinkie (0:35:10).

The 100m Individual Medley was the first race in the second session, which was enjoyed (OK maybe enjoyed is the wrong word, maybe endured would be better!) by Big Bird (1:47:00) and Pinkie (1:19:16). Then was the 50m Breaststroke which again Big Bird (0:48:86) and Pinkie (0:40:76) took part in (can you see a pattern emerging here?!?) but this event Chuckles (0:38:29) decided to take part. Next was the 50m Freestyle with J-Low (0:44:51), Pinkie (0:32:31), Chuckles (0:33:41), Livemare (0:28:91) and Teen Idol (0:27:51).

Lastly was the cannons where each of us were in different teams, unlucky Teen Idol had to swim twice as someone in his team hadn't shown up and it was Livemare and his team that powered through to victory - which he got a medal for. The results at the end showed that Pinkie came 3rd in her age group, Hug 'n' Kiss came 1st in hers, Big Bird came 1st in hers and Chuckles came 3rd in his. So we all came home with a few vouchers, a medal, lots of personal bests and tired grins on our faces. All in all, a day enjoyed by all.

Alex. Posted by: litsl (26.3.07)

Swimathon Sponsorship Request: Swim for Jim

As I missed some of you last Monday (Pete, Phil) I am doing the 5K Swimathon on Sunday 25th March in March and AM LOOKING FOR LOTS OF SPONSORSHIP, I do have a special reason this year as the nominated charity is Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Last December I went to the funeral of a swimming buddy of mine from my St Ives days. Jim was was regular, fitness swimmer, 2 or 3 times a week and did compete in the occasional meet. We used to chase each other up and down the pool for many a mile as our F/S was comparable. Jim also enjoyed a game of golf and a coupel of pints and a curry at the weekend. Jim was only 49 when, after a very short illness he was struck down by cancer.

A group of us from St Ives decided ,in view of the particular charity to "Swim for Jim" this year some of the "Girls" are doing a combined 5K and Moxey and me are doing it solo.

So anyone who would like to help this cause please let me know and I can add
you to my sponsorship list as I will not be training with Imps. till after the event.

Thanks to all who have already sponsored me and thanks in anticipation for any still to join.

Richard Posted by: litsl (16.3.07)

Impington Swimmer Beats The Aussies! (they don't like that)

Sat 24th Feb 2007 Henley beach, Adelaide, SA. The Charles Sturt Challenge
1500m ocean swim.

I had found out about this race from the Aussie masters web site and also
that I could enter on the day. My plane arrived from Perth at 2PM and I
took a taxi straight down to my hotel, which ever so convienently was on the
beach right next to the Surf Life Saving Club where the registration took
place at 3PM. THe race was due off at 5PM so after the safety briefing,
including warnings about sharks and what to do if the hooter/siren went from
the shark watch helicopter, most competitors strolled down to the start. Some of less able ones managed to get a lift down. The course was a straight 1500m parallel to the beach with the start and finish on the beach.

5PM and the hooter went most swimmers ran into the sea but I just sort of
lurched through the light surf untill the water was deep enough to swim.
Out to the buoy then off on the 1.5 k. Nice clean water not exactly flat but
with a following wind, straight down to the finish buoy without bumping into
too many people round the buoy and up onto the beach to the finish. Nice
swim.

Results:
Time 21.43.00 Position 53rd out of 142 starters. Position in age group
(65-69) 1st.

Then up to the Surf Life Saving Club for presentations raffle and food.
Nice bunch of people with quite a few resident Poms but I think I was the
only visiting swimmer.

Next morning I went with a group of the local club swimmers for a 2k pier to
pier swin just to stretch out and stroll back along the beach for coffee.
Very civilised.

Best regards

Richard Posted by: litsl (6.3.07)

Social Night Out - Bun Shop - 23rd March

Hello everyone

We are planning another night out on Fri 23rd March (which will tie in nicely with Paula & Ivan's birthdays!), not curry this time though we thought we'd try something different so we're planning to go to The Bun Shop in Cambridge http://www.thebunshop.com/ which does tapas style food and big jugs of Sangria!

Please let me know if you'd like to come so I can get an idea of numbers.

Thank you

Lou Posted by: litsl (28.2.07)

Fixed it

OK I think I've finally fixed the website so that people using IE7 can see it. It was quite a tricky one and not without irony. Microsoft's Internet Explorer has been so slack and hopeless for years that people have had to build 'hacks' around their otherwise valid html and css to make their sites work right on IE. With IE7 they have decided to sharpen up their act so a lot of the old hacks now prevent it from working right (sigh). It turned out that the problem which prevented the swimming club site from working was the changes to the CSS box model. Sorry it took so long to fix it.

OK that's my part of the bargain - how about some news?

Carl Posted by: litsl (19.2.07)

Website problem

A couple of people have told me about a problem with the website. I think it is to do with Internet Explorer 7, so if you have that, why not switch to firefox?!

Seriously though, I'll try to fix it ASAP I think it has to do with the changes to relative paths and the need to use the BASE command or some such gobbledigook. Posted by: litsl (13.2.07)

Great Popov Video

Check out this great video of Popov swimming and doing head-up drills on google video. Posted by: litsl (11.2.07)

2006

Sudbury Valenties Dilema - Romance or Swimming Gala ?

If anybody is interested Sudbury Valentine's gala (10th Feb) closes 10th January (
Sudbury Entry Form - thanks Louise).

Also Rotherham LC meet at Ponds Forge Sheffield is on the next day they close 13th Jan. (Pond's Forge Entry Form )

Peter Posted by: litsl (27.12.06)

Results (swimming): Barnet Copthall 1500m (26th November 2006) - Alan Slade

Well it was a good meet at Barnet on Saturday.

It started with the 5 of us travelling together and listening to the fate of Andy Robinson with South Africa beating England at Twickenham.

No, putting that aside the evening started with Joanne in Heat 2 setting a PB of 23:13, which also included an additional 2 lengths as she was feeling that strong and needing them to slow down. Louise was in Heat 3 who also set a PB of 24:48. Both girls swam very effortless and had good strokes. Then there was Heat 4, with Richard in Lane 1(26:30), me in Lane 3(24:54 PB) and Peter in Lane 5(24:39). Unable to comment on how we were stroking but did feel that I went out too quickly but did manage to get into a rhythm and was very pleased with my efforts. I also managed 59 tumble turns as that is something that I have not been able to do but with the thought that they are able to gain one a whole minute over the distance we practiced these. Practicing was not easy as there were lots of errors like landing up in Lane 3 and also coming up under the ropes etc.





Full results and splits for the Barnet 1500m in 2006 are already available (PDF).

The evening was rounded off with the traditional curry stop at Baldock.

Alan Posted by: litsl (27.11.06)

Collier recovery complete - half marathon prove it

Back to work for Paula she's just proved herself back on form with a time of 2:06:06 in the St Neots half-marathon. Nice work Paula. Ironman here we come... Posted by: litsl (21.11.06)

Results (running): The Chariots of Fire - September 2006 - by Charles Mead

On the 24th September 2006 it was time for the annual Chariots of Fire race
around Cambridge. For those who are not familiar with the format - it
involves teams of 6 - each person running 1.7 miles in a loop around central
Cambridge before returning to the start to hand their baton over to the next
team mate. It's all in aid of the Cambridge Air Ambulance. This year the aim
of all the fund raising by all the teams was to pay for the cost of building
a heli-pad on Addenbrooke's hospital roof. Currently the helicopter lands
nearby and patients are transported from there to the hospital - which takes
10 minutes - so much time can be saved with a heli-pad.

So 6 Impington Swimmers had an early night on saturday and awoke refreshed
for an early race start of 09:30. As "team captain" I suggested we all
meet-up in our designated meeting zone at 09:00 (this detail is important
for later on in the report). The team this year consisted of:-



Me, Louise, Leighton, Jo, Tim, Panda (Paula)

5 team members turned up around 9a.m and we were missing Panda Paula. We
sorted out our numbers and race order and decided to put panda last. Jo was
first up in the order, so she went to the starting line.

Panda Paula arrived just before 9:30a.m (mascarra in place) - she thought
the start time was 10! We confirmed her place as last - however panda used
her immense negotiation skills to not go last ("I don't want to go last") -
so some number swapping was required.

The race soon started and the large pack of runners went past us - and we
spotted Jo as she went past.

We were soon joined by chief performance coach "Mr Nick" and team physio
Judith for support - and watched both Mary and Jeffrey Archer run past us
for their respective teams.

I was in position 4 for racing and went to the start line. Panda soon came
into sight and handed over to me and I was off. I soon settled into my race
pace around the route - and passed several bemused tourists and sunday
shoppers on the course. There were also quite a few spectators along the
course cheering every runner on which was nice. My racing strategy was to
over take as many other competitors as I could manage on the route to give
us the best possible position overall. Pretty soon I was back approaching
the start line and handing over to Louise for her run and collecting my
medal and much earned bottle of water.

After we had all finished we went for some refreshments from Costa Coffee
conveniently located opposite Kings College - so we sat on the wall in front
of it with our drinks. I gave a few team members a massage with my popular
nukkles (www.nukkles.com - before anyone accuses me of some violent act!) -
and then we all went our separate ways to enjoy the rest of our sunday.

As a team we finished 158th overall in a time of 1:16:08. Looking at the
times if we could all get 20-30 seconds quicker by next year we would easily
be in the top 100 by then - so whilst I/we all enjoy swimming keep the
running going! Posted by: litsl (15.11.06)

Travelling Swimmers

We always get the nicest welcome when we come back to Impington Swimming Club but it doesn't stop some of us travelling a bit.

Panda is travelling across Asia and has a nice blog and some photos...
Paul's Asian Blog

Carl is still living at Lake Tahoe and now has a pad with 2 spare rooms at Heavenly Ski Resort about half a mile from the chair lift. Visitors welcome! Carl's little adventures are sometimes decribed here...
Carl's Nevada Blog Posted by: litsl (1.11.06)

2005

Robo Golds at ASA Nationals rekindle Record Dream

Phil Robinson (Robo) put in a blistering performance at the National Masters ASA championships in Sheffield romping home with golds in the 55-59 age group short course breaststroke. An awesome performance delivered 35.94 (50m) and 1:19.75 (100m) - nearly 3 seconds clear of the following pack and 3 tenths of a second off the UK record which has stood since 1991.

Last year Phil was ASA ranked 6th fastest 50m breaststroker in the UK with a time of 36.18 in the 50-54 agegroup and 7th fastest over 100m with 1:23.77. A little older this year but much faster. Will he end the year as the UK's fastest breaststroker in the 55-59 agegroup?

So, how far off are the 55-59 agegroup records?

50m  British Record John LIRON 34.03 2004
100m British Record Tom WALKER 1:19.42 1991

50m  European Record Starzec Christophe FRA 33.03 (2005)
100m European Record Starzec Christophe FRA 1:13.60 (2005)

50m  World (FINA) Record Robert Strand USA 32.18 (2001)
100m World (FINA) Record Robert Strand USA 1.11.53 (2001)

Phil is pretty close to swiping the UK 100m record but the world record will require a bit more focus. There's an alternative though, worthy of consideration. The female world records are 38.32 and 1:25.92. This means Phil is a faster breaststroker in his agegroup than any female, ever. So, a new world record is either a few seconds away, or a small matter of surgery! :-)

WELL DONE PHIL! Posted by: litsl (27.11.05)

• Curry Night in the Saffron Brasserie February 18th - Les and Paula arranged this excellent curry night which about 10 of us showed up to, including an appearance from a trio of Reynolds, a couple of Paulas and some newish members like Allister and Jenny, and Stuart and Louise.

2004

• Press Release: Impington Swimming Club hand over a cheque for £5000.00 to Histon and Impington Junior School - The cheque was presented to Lesley Birch, the Head Teacher, by Tom Hill, President of Impington Swimming club and a founder member, John Hazelden, past Treasurer and long time member, and Ivan Scott current Vice Chair. The event was a special assembly held at the school on Friday 3rd December 2004.
  
  The club became aware of the plight of the Junior School pool and, as it is dedicated to promoting swimming in the community, decided to boost the fund raising by making a substantial donation. This brings the total of donations by the club to swimming based projects in Histon and Impington to over £20,000.00 in the past twelve years
  
  Impington Swimming Club was started over 30 years ago to raise money for an outdoor community pool at Impington Village College, and was instrumental in the plans to build the new indoor pool. The role of the club changed with the move indoors in 1995 and is now a masters club, affiliated to the A.S.A., meeting two nights a week.


Mum wearing her
Impington T-Shirt
A garment for all occasions

• New Member News - Will and Claire, unhappy with the overall state of club membership, decided to begin work manufacturing new club members themselves. Jolly good stuff too.
  
  We expect Ewan to be a bit of a natural in water, given that he was born into it! Very many congratulations Will and Claire!! We are a club known for our exceeding good looking membership and this little chap looks like he will fit right in!
• 2004 New Zealand South Island LC Masters Championships - August 6/7. Carl hoped the long course pool would mean that 50m in less than 30 seconds could become a reality given there would be no turn but it wasn't to be,
  
  "I swam both the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle at the Championships organised by the QEII Masters club I train with. Conditions were just about perfect - I was swimming in a pool I train at twice a week, my diving seems ok, my start was actually not as slow as usual and there was no turn to do on the 50m. These were ideal conditions to beat 30 seconds but I failed fairly dismally with a 31.77 for the 50m and 1:16.19 for the 100m. I must conclude I'm a bit unfit at the moment!
  
  Oh well, the dinner was nice afterwards! Actually as the only competitor from the UK I got a special prize of a QE2 t-shirt for taking part. Needless to say the masters swimming scene out here is just as friendly as the scene in the UK! Mind you, they were amused at my use of the word 'Gala' to describe the event - they told me a gala is a fair! NZ swim meets are called "carnivals" (no hint of 'fair' there then).
  
  The competition overall was very well run with typical kiwi style pitching in to sort out food for the judges and all that stuff. Excellent fun, which we agreed was the main thing.
• Canterbury "Pat Farr" Inter-Club Cup Meet, Kaiapoi - August 1st. Carl was drafted to swim for his adopted kiwi club in a local cup meet. Unable to find his googles he had to buy some new ones at the event. The first event, 50m freestyle, showed how effective the goggles were - they made a good necklace! He continues,
  
  Second event for me was 50m backstroke. I was only a bit put off by the 6ft 5 bloke swimming for JASI who used to be number 3 in NZ and top backstroker in the south island! We were both swimming down an agegroup too, 20-29, because we were a bit short of people in some agegroups. Attempting an open turn I fumbled badly with the slippery wall and resolved to attempt proper backstroke turns for the 100m. I don't know how badly I did but I was clearly very last.
  
  The 100m back was better. In my own agegroup this time, I kept on terms with the guy next to me until the 3rd turn, at which i missed the wall (a common occurence for me!) but finished a slightly more respectable last place. I was actually quite pleased to have done 2 good backstroke turns - they're quite tricky!
  
  Finally I got to lead off the relay with 50 freestyle. Once again the goggles came off and I clouted the wall quite badly through not seeing it properly. Not a great swim! We were winning the relay in the middle of the race but the other clubs had some pretty quick swimmers on the last legs so they pulled back :-(
  
  After returning my new goggles for a refund we had a bit of a do. Typical Masters style, down the pub with food laid on.
  
  Fortunately I found my lucky goggles when I got home!
• Summer - Histon feast week - Impington Swimmer's Rounders Match 6th July - This year we wanted to get involved in the traditional Histon Feast Week (3rd - 10th July). In bygone days the Impington Swimming Club used to have a float in the procession at the feast (I wish we had a photo of that - sounds like a moving platform, lightly decorated and a comfortable place to sit drinking beer whilst wending your way around the Histon pubs).
  
  These days Ivan has modernised our participation in the feast week by organising our team for the rounders match. I have tried to piece together reports of how the rounders match went from the organiser (Ivan), and various others ranging from the Police to the local authorities. Apparently, we had 2 teams:
  
  
  1. ISC team: Alan, Peter, Paula, Paula's Paul, Panda (young Paula), Tim Reynolds, Sarah Day, Rachel (Sarah's flatmate) & Sheila
  2. Swobblers (ISC B) team (combined ISC and Histon Hobblers team): Rachel W, Steve, Finn (Steve's son), Mike James, Sarah (tri), me, Rachel (Ivan's missus), Hannah Reynolds (drafted in from the cadets) and Xena (cadet).
  
  The ISC team stuck to the pre-arranged plan and got knocked out in the group phase. The Swobblers team got a taste for success and won their goup with 3 wins and a draw. We got knocked out in the semi-final & re-grouped at the Red Lion just too late for the Morris Men, much to Alan's dismay!
  
  Rachel W was a bit of a superstar and hit & ran 2 rounders (1 was later DQ on a technicality) and was the star fielder on 1st base. In true footballing style she took none of that "no ball" rubbish from the referee (at least, not without a fight - and she was holding a bat!)
• Summer - BBQ at the boot - 2nd July - sounds like the usual fun and frolicks and food. Thanks to Judith for organising this again this year. As Ivan says, it was an excellent turn out and was nice to see so many other halves and families there this year. His kids didn't want to go home!
• Spring - Gemma has Moved On - Judith tells me Gemma has moved on but sent us a nice thank you card...
  
  "Dear all at Impington Swimming Club. Although I have not been a 'regular' swimmer your warmth, kindness and spirit has made me feel more than welcome everytime I swim. With good luck in the future to all of you, Gemma XX".
  
  We'll certainly miss Gemma and the pace she set for lane 2! All the very best for the future Gemma.
• Cambridge County Masters (St. Neots) - 10th July 2004 gala was on July 10th with a fair showing from Impington expected. Can't find any results published - how did you get on??!


Phil and Peter
with the COCSC team

• British Masters Swimming Championships (Manchester) 25-27th April 2004 - congratulations to Phil Robinson and Peter Rank for their efforts in the Nationals. Phil was 5th in 50m Breaststroke with 36.75 and Peter was 6h in the 200m Freestyle with 3:03:63 (splits 42.42; 1:129.20; 2:17.87; 3:03.6) and 10th in the 100m Freestyle with 1:18.37 (splits 36.71; 1:18.37).
• Spring - Rocket Makes it Big! - It never ceases to amaze me how many interesting and smart folks belong to our club. Alex, who we know as Rocket, on account of how fast she swims (especially on kick drills), has recently made international news headlines with her University project which involved making underwear from stinging nettles (and then modelling the results for the world's media!). This is smart for a host of reasons. Most importantly, cotton is a terrible crop which is dominated by the US and which requires huge amounts of pesticide to grow. Looking for alternatives is a very valuable thing to do environmentally. Secondly, how many of us managed to get such wide publicity for a university project? Thirdly, what a good idea to make something which would provoke some interest from the media - I doubt a stinging nettle rucksack would have got the same amount of interest! Excellent stuff Alex - what a great way to finish University! Let's hope this opens some interesting doors for you!
  
  
  

  Rocket's (Alex) University Project
  - Nettle Knickers!
  

  As seen on the world's media: Google, ITV, BBC News, Sky News, The Scotsman, North Wales Daily Post, Cambridge Evening News, Yahoo News, De Montfort University Press, Anglia News, Yorkshire Post, Tin Hanh Vietnam, Royal Show Press Release, Thailand Textile Institute, Nebraska Independent (Courtesy of Liverpool Daily Post, The Fortean Times (5/7/2004), MSN India New Kerala (Business News India)
• Spring - Carl Hot Foots it to New Zealand to go for the World Record in Long Distance Tele-Commuting. Carl is spending most of the year working from home in New Zealand, you can read all the adventures at http://kiwiwinter.blogspot.com. Sadly though, Tele-swimming isn't so good so Carl is swimming with the excellent and very friendly QE2 Masters club in Christchurch for a while.
• Butlins' Swimathon (Swim marathon) - 13th-21st March 2004 - congratulations to all who entered. I have results for Alan Slade (5km in 1:31:31 84th in agegroup) - any more results?
• Sudbury Valentine's Meet - 14th February 2004 - Rachael, Ivan, Liz, Peter, Carl, Alan, Heike and Phil spent Valentine's day together in the pool! Rachel's excellent report is now available!

2003

• Barnet 1500m Swim - 22nd November - Alan, Carl, Fiona, and Ivan all took part in their first 1500m race. Peter, who persuaded us all to enter the race has a bit of a spill on his motorbike a week before the event, and despite quickly perfecting a one-legged tumble turn, was not fit on the day.


Photos copyright
S Wilkinson Photography

• Congratulations to Phil, who turned in a time of 1:20.2 for 100m Breastroke in the Nationals in Sheffield. Phil flabberghasted the lane marshal when he won his heat (which should have left him 2nd overall) and neatly coasted in for a one handed finished, thereby getting disqualified! Very clever, I would like to have seen her face! Quite a neat trick if you step up to take someone else's swim for them and they don't want your time attributed to them - you still get a proper time out of it. Anyhow, ask Phil for the full story.
• November Curry Night - Around 16 of us had a great curry at The Curry Palace in Cottenham on Friday 7th November. Thanks for organising that Paula and Claire. We even had a celebrity in attendance - Tom Summerell, 1999 European champion skate boarder (Gemma's boyfriend) - we have to limit celebrity invites to our social do's to 1 celeb per do, otherwise it gets silly.
• Barnet Sprint Meet (7th September) - Paula and Carl went to this.. Paula smashed her breaststoke PB by 3 seconds; Carl did a false start and got disqualified! More details of the event to follow.
• French Open Gala (Long Course) - Vichy - Summer 2003. Unbeknownst to many, our Liz recently snuck off to the French Open Gala (Long Course) at Vichy and came away with 2 bronze medals - for 50 and 100 breaststroke. Nice one Liz!
• Brief results and a few photos from the Cambridge County ASA 2003 Summer Gala (Whittlesey)
• We have some sketchy results just in from the recent Local Derby with Bottisham (Summer 2003) - worth a quick read! Both the men's and women's teams beat Bottisham this year!
• The Summer Barbeque is our main event of the year. It was great fun, although the rain meant it was something of an indoor event this year. Great food and nice to have the chance to sit around and talk - often not much time to talk during a swimming session (unless you swim in lane 1 - there is always time to talk in there it seems).
• Paula has written up a race report for the Diss Otters Open in Wymondham on 24th May - well worth a read!
• Stowmarket Open Gala - 18th May 2003 - Great fun, we won a bunch of gold medals and got 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the F age group overall! Well done to those taking part - Adrian, Carl, Nick, Peter, and Phil (and Heike from COCSC).
• Sudbury Valentines Masters Meet - February 2003 - an excellent meet for Impington, winning 5 golds, 12 silver and 2 bronze medals! Excellent efforts from those taking part - Adrian, David, Georgina, Jo, Liz, Nick, Paula, Peter and Phil. With so many medals I bet it took hours to get through the ceremony and on to the curry house! Read Paula's Report on the event (with photos from Nick).
• City of Cambridge Masters Championships - 23rd January 2003 - City of Cambridge Swimming Club kindly invited Impington Swimmers to use this event as a time trail, since all the electronic timing equipment was being used. Liz, Charles and Carl took advantage of this to test themselves.