Ten Otters took a chance with the vagaries of Ryan Air and made the trip across to Cadiz for the 2009 European Masters Championships.


As ever, there are good and not-so-good points re the organisation and facilities when attending the international Masters meets and in Cadiz you were likely to find the GB swimmers grudgingly admitting that perhaps our Sheffield and Manchester meets are rather well run. 


With some of the Otter team having enjoyed the fantastic facilities of Perth last year, it was rather a bump back down to earth finding the warm up and swim down facilities, which were shared between over 3500 swimmers, consisting of a 25m 6 lane pool with no anti-wave lane ropes. Less of a relaxing warm up facility to perfect your stroke and turns, and more of a trial to avoid injury when there are 15 in a lane, no restrictions on diving, no kind of marshalling system, and a multitude of Spanish and Italian swimmers with absolutely no lane discipline. Gah.

 

Still, to sooth our nerves following a fraught swim down, there was the bonus of an organised beach bar, complete with loungers, serving mojitos, and with a flatscreen tv, so you didn’t even have to trek across the road to the pool to catch your teammates' swims!

 

And to the swimming: Derek Parr got off to a storming start claiming a silver medal in the 200IM and smashing the British Record in the process. He continued to swim well through the meet, despite a mild dose of ‘swine flu’, and picked up further medals in the 200 fly (gold), 100 fly (silver) and 50 fly (bronze). In the 800fc, Dan Bullock secured his best result, with bronze at the top of his age, and is no doubt happy to be moving up and age group next year. Gina Hobson was pleased to come away with a silver in the 100fly and bronze in the 50fly, although the three 4ths which then followed were slightly frustrating! 

 

Coach Steve had a dramatic few days on deck, but despite injuries and suit excitement he monitored everyone’s performances and was most impressed with how the team stepped up. He even managed to fit in the odd race himself, showcasing his impressive array of suits, and declared himself happy with his swims considering his recent training. 

 

Peter Rae just missed out on a medal in the 400fc, finishing 4th, and stormed through the 50m fc, posting a speedy 28.36, and secured another top 8 finish. Michelle Senecal had tough competition in her events this year, with the 200fly being unusually popular, but she managed to secure a top seven finish in all her races. Liz Shaw was pleased with her improvements from Cardiff, particularly in her 200br, where she achieved 13th spot, and 100br. 

 

Lesley Davies demonstrated that it’s worth spending the time on technique work in training by bettering her Cardiff times quite considerably; she was particularly pleased with her 400fc. Lesley Cook also secured a top 6 finish in her 400fc, with a punchy time, and admitted she was glad she’d swum it despite her reservations. 


Clearly inspired by Katherine Mearman’s historic and record breaking channel swim, open water is becoming more and more popular amongst Otters. A total of five Otters took part in the open water event, with John Goodbody flying across especially. Sadly, the meet organisers failed to take into account those ever unpredictable tides, and had to shorten the swim from 5k to 3k. Also, they decided to ignore some rather picturesque coastline and harbours and agreed that the best location for the event was in the docks, navigating the nasty smells, cranes and container ships. Ah well. At least they provided a hosepipe at the end of the race to wash off the black sludge. Peter Rae and Lesley Cook achieved our best results with 7th in their respective ages.  


All results can be found here:

http://www.rfen.es/publicacion/campeonatos/schedule.asp?c=2009XX101899&s=2009


And some ‘official’ photos from the meet here (including a shot of Derek, Dan and Steve):

http://www.fan.es/CADIZ09_PHOTO_ALBUM/SWIMMING/pages/image007.html 


And so our focus shifts to Sheffield. 32 Otters have entered and are now in their final three weeks of training. Relay team lists will be circulated in the coming week, so please be sure to check these to see if you’re swimming.

Gina