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On Saturday 6th October, a small fleet of cars, 17 swimmers, with Head Coach
Peter Hill and a bunch team supporters (aka parents!) drove to NAC through the
early autumn morning fog to take part in the NAC Club Short Course Gala. (most
of!) The team arrived on schedule at 07:45 in Dublin in time for the 08:00
warmup.
This was a new Gala for COB, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. We weren't
disappointed - the standard was spot on for our swimmers and parents got a
chance to catch up with some old friends.
The 82 event SC Gala was organised around two sessions, with mostly 400, 200 and
100m events. The organisers did a great job, accommodating us by permitting some
last minute changes to our lineup.
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Michael McCausland was our sole official for the day and thus was the only COB
person poolside as the organisers requested no Coach or Team Manager be allowed
in the "arena" - this policy worked well as the Gala clearly ran smoothly!
As the sun burnt off the remainder of the mist, it was clear from the early
events that starting this season's training schedule in August for the Youth and
Senior Squads has paid dividends - nearly everybody PBed at the Gala (very
unusual for the start of a season!), particularly in the morning session.
Rebecca and Dominic had their first swims for the Club at this Gala, both
acquitting themselves well. Rebecca picked up a Bronze in 200 f/s (2:22.21),
Dominic's best swim was 100 f/s with a PB time of 58.12
One of the biggest PBs of the day went to Peter O'Prey (5:26.01) with a massive
15sec PB in 400 f/s event.
One of the highlights of the day was event 10 - Conor took Gold in 100bck
(1:00.33), making his 100 bck time faster than his 100 f/s time! This
anomoly was corrected at event 50 when Conor swam 56.02 to take 100 f/s Silver.
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Pictured Above -
Colleen and Rebecca in back,
Larragh, Babyface and Pixie in the front! |
Pictured Above -
Conor, David, Dominic
Peter, Owen |
Medal Tally
Sasha 100 bck, Gold
Conor 100 bck, Gold
Alison 100 bck, Bronze
Donna-Marie 400 f/s Silver
David 100 brs, Bronze
Rebecca 200 f/s Bronze
Alison 200 f/s Silver
Donna-Marie 200 f/s Bronze
Sasha 100 f/s Silver
Alison 100 f/s Silver
Conor 100 f/s Silver
Conor 100 fly Gold
Alison 100 fly Silver
Men's 200 MTR Bronze
U14 f/s Relay Bronze
Men's f/s Relay Bronze
Women's f/s Relay Gold
34 PBs
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The small, but vocal band of supporters, aided by Peter's "fog horn" (this could
start a trend!), appreciated every race.
When it's warm outside, it's like a sauna inside the NAC - Seasoned veteran
Muriel had a reserve stash of water on hand, which was
appreciated by all!
Once regarded as a brs specialist, Alison Todd is going from strength to
strength - taking medals in bck, f/s and fly!
The most impressive swim for Allie had to be the 100 bck with a massive 9 second
PB over 100 metres!
David Stronge, Junior Squad Coach, and recently returned to competitive
swimming, continues to improve, with a 2:14.96 in 200 f/s and
impressively swimming the magic sub-one-minute 59.73 in 100 f/s.
Donna "Go DM!" Marie was also on form - claiming two freestyle medals, both
within a few tenths of her PB times for these events.
Not to be outdone, sister Corrinne added to the tally for the Gala by PBing in
100 brs, taking her new personal best time down to 1:33.24 -
are we looking at 1:30 by the end of the season?!
Sasha's best swim of the day was 100 bck, collecting Gold in near PB time. An
on-form Tamsin PBed in 100 bck (1:11.45), PBed in 200 f/s (2:23.03), PB-ed in
100 f/s (1:04.73) and also PB-ed in 200 IM (2:41.49). Colleen's best swim of the
day was 100 brs, where she made
a PB time (1:31.??) (Sorry about the ?? Colleen!)
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Lindsay's Youth Squad was represented at the event by Larragh (making her NAC
debut), Peter, Owen, Emma, Nicole, Sophie and Maria -
Lindsay there in Spirit, if not in body, was kept up to date throughout the day
- perhaps the first text (we'll call it the alarm clock!)
arrived too early - oops!
Peter's Senior Squad entry criteria of sub-five minutes for 400 f/s appears to
be a target of Emma (5:04.15) and Owen (5:02.96) -
both swam big PBs in this event (our reporter thinks Owen PB-ed every swim -
that'll be another Chinese Terry owes Owen!)
Sophie and Maria (Pixie and Babyface!) enjoyed (we hope!) the Gala - biggest
smile of the day award goes to Maria when she swam a
2:29.80 PB in 200 f/s. Sophie's best swim was 3:11.65 in 200IM - a great time
given this was event 67 - heat and humidity were beginning to play a role at
this point in the proceedings!
Nicole's best swim was a three second PB in 100 bck (1:17.39), making it an
all-round success story for our swimmers. Lindsay's swimmers contributed
positively to the overall total of 27 PBs at this Gala - well done team!
DMCC, 7th Oct 2007.
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