MALVERN MARLINS OCTOBER REPORT SHORT COURSE
Our team of 35 swimmers placed second to Powerpoints.
Gerry Tucker was again the standout swimmer with 5 State Records from 5 swims. It was great to see some new faces competing for the club; including Annie Wang, Moira Chalk, Alan Knights, Don Taylor and Peter Couttie. Special mentions go to Don and Peter who (along with regulars Tom Currie and Jim Macilwain) travelled from country Victoria to compete with us at MSAC. Our relays did well with four Branch records from 14 teams.
Once again the Marlins were well represented with volunteers. Kath Rogers, Julie Johnson, Judy Gregory, Geraldine O'Toole, John Marshall, John Smith, Joan Smith, Jeff Green and Sue Boekel were all on pool deck. Their tasks ranged from officiating and marshalling
to timekeeping.
Also on the day, MSV President Archer Talbot acknowledged John Marshall for his eight years’ service as State Technical Director and Paul Vine for his work on updating the MSV Constitution.
RELAY CARNIVAL
Marlins were the winners over second placed Doncaster. A huge thankyou goes to all 36 swimmers who sacrificed school holidays to support this fun meet and the session afterwards at the pub.
Nicky Kerr once again orchestrated some awesome relay teams, which resulted in Marlins Teams breaking two National and four State records from our 49 teams. Captains Susie Kempson and Tony Burt also did an incredible job in and out of the pool.
Officials on the day once again included Marlins Kath Rogers, Julie Johnson, Sharon Pretty, Jeff Green and timekeeper Nolene Schofield.
Victorian Branch records:
Men's 280+ 4 x 25m Free 1:04.79 - Pat Galvin, John Cocks, Patrick Devine, Gerry Tucker
Women's 200+ 4 x 50m Free 2:09.50 - Daphne Briggs, Andrea McNeil, Elana McNeil, Danielle Spurling
Women's 240+ 4 x 50m Free 2:28.52 - Leigh Rodgers, Pat Baker, Jane Conley, Jan Jeffrey
Mixed 240+ 4 x 50m Medley 2:34.29 - Patrick Devine, Jan Jeffrey, Leigh Rodgers, Gerry Tucker
National records:
Mixed 280+ 4 x 100m Free 5:47.28 - Pam Kempson, Pat Baker, Gerry Tucker, John Cocks
Women's 200+ 4 x 100m Medley 5:29.19 - Danielle Spurling, Daphne Briggs, Elana McNeil, Janette Dickey
CHARITY
The Swimtember Masterclasses which were run in conjunction with MelbourneVicentre Club, were well supported by Marlins. These sessions proved most beneficial in updating our knowledge, with the added bonus that the money raised will go to the Alfred Hospital.
Coming up in October we have our own Charity Swim for the Ardoch Youth Foundation. Members donate $5 to swim a timed 800m.
While we’re on the subject of charity, Rob Wilson must be outed as the person responsible for a particularly virulent strain of Ice Bucket Challenges infecting the club last month. Many Marlins succumbed to a bucket of icy water being tipped over their heads (or a variation of this) in the name of charity.
SOCIAL
Socially, our Trivia Night proved very popular. Thanks go to Geraldine O’Tooleand her team for organizing such a fun night. The winning table was the ‘Bad Apples’ who proved too strong for the ’Hungry Bunch’, running away with the chocolates in the last round after a tight struggle. It was nice to see some Casey Seals along supporting our social event too.
By the way, for those of you who haven’t slept at night wondering which Glasgow Commonwealth Games medal winning swimmer lives next door to a Marlin, the answer is 1500m champion Mack Horton, who lives next door to our cake baker extraordinaire Joan Simpson?!!
Next event on our social calendar is the Bike Ride from Brighton Baths to Rickett’s Point and back on 26 October and we are also looking forward to the Glamourheads Trifle Competition (and Interclub) tomorrow.
Daphne Briggs