The MSV Long Course championships held on 20 March at Ringwood’s glittering Aquanation facility provided a great opportunity for the Belugas to test their form in the lead-up to the Nationals meet in April.
This was our fourth official pool meet as a club, and we had an excellent turnout, with nine Belugas taking the plunge in 26 events. And they were in rare form – by the time the curtain was drawn on the day, an astonishing 23 new club records had been set!
Congratulations to everyone on a scintillating set of performances. Mike Whitburn and Tracy Cameron set personal bests in every event, breaking their own club records in the process (Tracy carved an amazing 6s off her 200m free time to go sub-3min for the first time). New recruit Vaughan Mcdonald smashed the men’s 50m and 100m freestyle records in his age group, setting some daunting new benchmarks, and newbies Ale, Doris, Janet and Maureen performed like seasoned veterans, effortlessly setting new records.
It all augers well for the upcoming Nationals meet, where the Belugas will once again be looking to make a splash!
Eight Belugas plus our team mascot Finn ventured out to the Victorian Long Course Championships – our third meet outing, and first time competing at MSAC! There was a great buzz at the venue, and the new thrill of seeing our names and times come up on the giant electronic scoreboard.
Chad Nash (in ‘tiger’ togs) literally gets off to a flying start …
With a heady combination of solid training, high motivation, and mountains of sugary supplements, expectations were running high for some new club benchmarks, and the team didn’t disappoint. Once the dust settled on 29 appearances in 11 events, 18 new club records had been set, with numerous personal bests. OK, so nine of these were the first time anyone had swum in the event/age category, but the other nine did better existing club records! Well done to everyone for a fantastic set of performances: Anthony (1 club record), Jaye, Paul, Roy and Vito (2 records each), Chad and Tracy (3 records) and Raoul (5 records).
Men’s 4x50m relay team: Anthony Ferguson, Raoul Mulder, Roy Solterbeck and Chad Nash.
Amidst all the excitement there was heartbreak too, with Roy and Paul both DQ’d in the 200 IM for illegal turning manoeuvres (this after Roy had just shattered the existing club record time by over 4 seconds), and Paul managed a second disqualification in the 100 breaststroke when (in what can perhaps most kindly be described as a ‘brain snap’) he launched into an enthusiastic tumble turn at the 50m mark. Things seem to brighten up for Paul when he won a spot prize voucher, but in the process of collecting it he forgot to marshall for the 100 freestyle and so added a ‘no show’ to his tally for the night.
Winners are grinners … Vito Muré, Jaye Dowling and Paul Turner
Performance of the day belonged to Vito Muré, who pulled two remarkable swims out of his hat for the 50m and 100m freestyle, shattering his personal best in the 100 free by over 2 seconds with a sizzling 1’18. 23. Well done Vito!
A very big thank-you to Finn for coming to join us on the day, cheering the swimmers along, asking great questions about the proceedings and being excellent company throughout the long day.
Full results can be found here. We can’t wait for the next meet!
