The day finally arrived to face up to all the chest beating and speculation of a special swimming performance by Anthony Ferguson and myself – we flew to Hobart to represent the Brunswick Belugas at the 2015 MSA National Championships. The morning in Melbourne was damp and cool, good preparation for the Tasmanian climate; the flight across Bass Straight was quick to say the least; we must have had a tail wind. After a 20 minute bus trip we found ourselves…
The Boroughcouttas annual Blue Water Challenge was this year billed as an MSV inter-club challenge, so it seemed like a great opportunity to test ourselves against the opposition in an open water contest instead of in the pool. Jaye’s invitation to throw a club shindig at her family home afterwards sealed the deal for most of us, and about half of the Belugas membership headed for Queenscliff. Jaye’s cousin Shane is unfortunately still a few years away from being eligible for Masters, so we adopted…
A New Year, and another annual ‘Grand Final’ of swimming (as some, but not all, like to describe it). This year Lorne didn’t turn on its typical sparkling summer day – it was mostly overcast, but the rain thankfully held off so we were able to sit and banter around our usual team table. Flat conditions meant that it was a fast swim this year. Once again members did the club proud, with 7 of the 12 Belugas coming in…
The Belugas’ first open water event as a club! Conditions were challenging with a nasty southerly chop and grey skies for both the 2.5km and 1km swims (which dissolved into warm sunshine and blue skies the moment the swim was over!), but everyone swam spectacularly well. Hats off to Anthony Purcell, Sue Cox, Jaye Dowling, Tracy Cameron and Mayne Mortensen who all placed in the top 10 for their age category, and Paul Turner, who was the only team member…
The Belugas, represented by the ‘Awesome Foursome’ of Duncan Howard, Wayne Mortensen, Raoul Mulder and Paul Turner enjoyed a wildly successful first foray into the world of competitive Masters swimming, with an incredible 20 club records falling on the night. The team was in scintillating form, with 20 personal bests set, numerous heat wins, and a number of other firsts (of which Paul Turner’s spectacular forward topple into the water to become the club’s first competitor to break before the…