For many people out there, who don’t understand what Masters swimming is, Masters swimming is for persons 19 years and older. Age groups commence in 5-year brackets e.g. 25 to 29 years, 30 to 34 years. The 28th SA Masters Swimming Championships took place at the University of the Western cape from 14 to 17 March 2012.

There were a couple of phenomenal swims, in particular on day 1, where two of my oldest swimming friends achieved a great record. Thane Williams and Bevin Reynolds, were part of the Cape Town Masters Swimming Clubs Mixed  4 x 100 Freestyle Relay team with Tarryn Stanford and Ryk Neethling that broke a Fina Masters World Record. Absolutely awesome, I was over the moon for these guys. Great to see good friends achieving such great heights in the pool.

Thane Williams, Tarryn Stanford, Bevin Reynolds and Ryk Neethling after smashing a World Record

My schedule started on day 2 with one individual race per day, it included the 800m, 400m and 200m Freestyle individual events and a 4 x 50m Medley Relay, where I swam the backstroke. The three freestyle events, along with the 3km Open Water swim, will be my focus events for the World Masters Swimming Championships taking place in Riccione, Italy, in June.

My primary goal over the past few months has been to improve on my 10km Open Water swim. I will be racing this at the South African Senior Open Nationals in April, and as a result I have done very little speed-work in the build up to SA Masters Champs. I knew that all the shorter pool races were going to be a challenge for me. My main focus for this event was always going to be the 800m Freestyle, where I was up against Tyron Venter from Phoenix Swimming Club. This event is long enough to not be a sprint, but short enough to require a fair amount of speed. Tyron and I were seeded in lanes 4 and 5, and set off stroke for stroke next to each other. The first 400m went by very quickly and we were literally going lap for lap alongside one another. Our feet touched the pad on each lap within half a second of each other for 700m. In the last 100m Tyron took off, he went a blistering 1:02.46 for the last 2 laps. I didn’t have the legs or speed to go with him, and had to settle for second place. We both dipped under nine minutes and also both swam SA Masters Colours qualifying times.

See the splits below.

1 Venter, Tyron    26 Phoenix-CG                   8:53.05 SSAQT
               1:01.99    2:08.82 (1:06.83)
      3:16.92 (1:08.10)   4:25.21 (1:08.29)
      5:33.27 (1:08.06)   6:41.75 (1:08.48)
      7:50.59 (1:08.84)   8:53.05 (1:02.46)
2 Emslie, Phil     28 Cape Town-WP                 8:57.72 SSAQT
               1:02.36    2:08.99 (1:06.63)
      3:16.87 (1:07.88)   4:25.15 (1:08.28)
      5:33.40 (1:08.25)   6:41.91 (1:08.51)
      7:50.39 (1:08.48)   8:57.72 (1:07.33)

Next up for me was the 400m Freestyle, this was definitely going to be a bit short and fast. Tyron won in 4:14.93 and I finished 2nd in 4:21.22, my quickest 400m this season. The 200m Freestyle was much of the same, this is an event where the sprinters step up to the slightly longer race and compete against the distance swimmers. Chris King, an out and out sprinter, set off at an extremely fast pace and ended up smashing the SA Masters record for the 25 to 29 year age group, finishing in 1:58.61. Matthew Josephson finished 2nd and I was overall third.

The last event in the pool for me was the 4 x 50m Medley relay, where I swam the backstroke. This was loads of fun as I don’t often swim any of the other three swimming strokes. I had a great start and came up from underwater on the legal limit of 15m. I touched the wall second and my team mates from Cape Town Masters Swimming Club held on to second place.

Shortly after the relay, was the final event of the competition, the Dash for Cash. This is a 50m Freestyle, where the top sprinters across the different age groups are invited to compete for prizes. The two age groups are 50 years and over, and 19 to 49 years.

In the ladies 50 and over event, Debbie Carroll just pipped Cecelia Stanford for the win.

1 Carroll, Debbie   Wahoo-CG                       30.17
2 Stanford, Cecil   Cape Town-WP                   30.59
3 Campbell, Heath   East Coast-KZ                  31.42

The Mens 50 and over was just as close, with Andre taking the win over Terry.

1 Steynberg, Andr  56 Wahoo-CG                       28.20
2 Downes, Terry    63 Coelacanth-NT                  28.66        
3 Spies, Izak      58 Cape Dolphin-WP                29.20

The Ladies 19 to 49 was another extremely close contest between Sam Gunther and Edith Otterman.

1 Ottermann, Edit   Cape Town-WP                   27.47
2 Gunther, Sam      Phoenix-CG                     28.78
3 Cadiz, Perry      Cape Town-WP                   29.81

Ladies 19 to 49 years start

The ultimate pool event was the Mens 19 to 49 years Dash for Cash. Unfortunately this event had a bit of drama, with Thane Williams, one of the favourites, false starting. This left the door open for Chris King to take the money, winning by over 1 second.

1 King, Christoph  27 Cape Dolphin-WP                24.42
2 Langenhoven, Ch  24 Coelacanth-NT                  25.64
3 Tatterson, Brya  48 East Coast-KZ                  25.69

Thane Williams with a "flying" start in the Dash for Cash

The next event, SA Masters Swimming Championships Open Water 1km and 3km swim, to be held at Blue Rock dam in Somerset West, the next day.

The pool event was loads of fun, with everyone having a great time. The atmosphere at all these Masters events are very social. I highly recommend it to any swimmers looking for some great fun, with a bit of racing included.