Author: John Hennessy

Age Championships were combined with normal pointscore races. Good attendance saw some hotly contested races.
The pointscore trophy prizes donated by Ian Bourke were for the 50M freestyle closest to time.
The winners were Christine Parrish (F) and Steve Harper(M).
Our swimming club raised $1516 for the Bushfire Appeal which reflected some great generosity from our members.
Diggers Shield is on next Thursday Night and we expect a large contingent of visiting clubs to visit us on the night.
next week is the start of Club Championships with 50M and 100M races scheduled.

Our normal schedule applied even though it was Australia Day and a good attendance by our members. Conditions were humid and a large crowd down at the bay for the public holiday. There were two feature events:
– Phil Short 400M prize for closest to time
– Geoff Armstrong 50M also for closest to time.
The 400M was won by Ann Wood (F) and Paul Cavanagh (M), who were both under 1 second from their handicap time.
In the 50M Ian Bourke took the prize with an outstanding .04 sec from his time.
Next week sees the start of our Championship races commencing with the Age Champs. Members must have 4 qualifying swims to be eligible for the Age Champs.

Two main events were the annual 10 a side Shirts Vs Skirts relay trophy and the Paul Rugg 400M Freestyle.
The skirts narrowly won a hotly contested event by a mere 20 metres or so. Congratulations to the girls who have bragging rights for 5 minutes.

The Paul Rugg 400M was won by Captain Lisa(Female) and Steve Murray (Male)
Lisa has won the 50M prize last week, the Shirts Vs Skirts, the 400M and was in the winning 5 a side relay as well. Looks like reconstituted grape juice is the supplement to be on.

5th Jan and the club has its usual Sunday swim. We had a good rollup of the Walshe clan as well as our usual members. A change in weather saw welcome cooler conditions and the feature event was the Las Cavanagh Memorial 50M freestyle for the closest to their handicap time and the winner was our Captain Lisa Hedge. Well Done Lisa. Paul Cavanagh and Corinne Archer present the trophy and prize.

Our pre Christmas swim saw cooler conditions and a large attendance.
Massive Christmas Hamper Prizes in the raffle draw and the 4x50M annual Christmas Pudding relay the feature event. The Poppett family provided a magnificent leg of ham which ensured everyone was well fed.
Our thanks to Sue and Bill Bertram for organising the Hamper prizes.
The winning team in the 4X50M pudding relay was Lizzie Lodge, Graham Purches, Kylie Mulholland and Steve Harper. Congratulations to the winning team.

Perfect conditions with a high tide and a light breeze saw fast times and many breaks. The Gary Ballard 200M Freestyle award went to closest to handicap time. Winners were Gordon Williams (Male) who was .47 secs off and Ann Woods (Female) who was .2 secs off.
Well done Gordon and Ann.
Sea Horses are duty team next week when the 4x50M Christmas Pudding Relay is on again.

Today the Woolooware High School Student Council reps visited us at Gunnamatta baths to take part in our annual swim carnival and social get together. The main prize is the 10 a side Gary Schmalfeldt Memorial trophy with 5 teams competing. The aim is to be closest to your nominated time. The school suffered from lack of local knowledge and the RSL ‘A’ team were the winners on the day.
Both parties enjoyed a great morning and we look forward to meeting again next year.
Our thanks to the school for continuing to show enthusiasm for this great day.
Anne Schmalfeldt presented the winning team with the trophy.

Gary Schmalfeldt, along with Don Saunders, was instrumental in starting this tradition when he was a teacher at the school and it is now one of the club’s most popular carnivals with great participation.

Well Done to all involved.

Great attendance this Sunday with the 400M Freestyle sponsored by the Supercoach being the Marquee event of the day. The prize was for swimmers closest to the “break time”. This was hotly contested and the winners were Jan Rapp (Female) and Ross Smith (Male).
Our annual swim with the Woolooware High School is on this Friday (13th Dec), being there at 9.00 for setup and registration.
Photo shows Ross and Jan receiving their award from Supercoach and Captain Lisa doing something weird with her index finger near the Supercoach’s ear.
Bluebottles are on duty next Sunday.

Our youngest member Mina Wood celebrates her birthday last Friday.
Congratulations Mina
Good swimming conditions today with the main event being the prestigious President’s Trophy which was awarded for closest to handicap time in the 50M Freestyle.
Cheryl Poppett swam well to beat a hotly contested competition. She receives her award from the President.
Next week’s prize event will be the Paul Crowe 400M Freestyle. The Jellyfish relay team will be the duty team on the day.

There was a high tide with light winds for this Sunday’s swim. The days award was the 400M Freestyle with the prize going to the swimmers closest to the handicap time. Steve Harper was the sponsor of this weeks award. Winners were Lisa Hedge (Female) and Craig Smith(Male). Steve presents the prize to Lisa and Craig: