Saturday, May 19, 2007

Swim meets, swim practice, naps and a whale watching tour slated for tomorrow

We've been swimming. Last night we had swim practice and then there was a warrior meet. I took the kids home on the bike and then went back to the pool to be a part of the meet -- held on Friday night.

Saturday AM, I led the practice session. The national group did 20 x 200s. It was a 'world class set' and we took it into a world-class practice as well. Many of the kids here are real aerobic animals.

Saturday afternoon there was a "Canterbury Junior Meet." Grant and Erik participated. Both did very well.

I'll post the practices and the order of events for these meets soon. The concepts are mostly what we are used to. But, there are a few nice twists.

For instance, with today's junior meet, the people show up and have their entry form (1/2 page) filled out. They are collected at the door by meet officials. Then the meet's heat sheet is made while warm-ups occur (45 minutes). Then the meet happens.

No advance sign up. None. Show up. Fill out the form. Pay $1.50 per event. Swim the meet. Finish ribbons were given right at the lane by the timers with a time on it.

Time standards exist and if you are too fast -- you can't enter that event. It is a developmental meet.

Started with arrival at 3:45. Warm ups from 3:45 to 4:30. Meet ended by 6:30 pm.

No relays. About 10 teams were there.

The boys and girls and all the age groups swim in one event. There was one guy who was 42 in the meet.

On Sunday, we'll get up early and catch a cab to the train station. It is just too far to walk. We could bike -- by Catherine doesn't have a bike. Then we'll take a train north, along the coast. I missed the last train ride as they went to the Southern Alps two weeks ago. We'll go see whales. After the train ride we're booked on a boat to see the whales. I understand that a colony of whales live there year-round. There, we only watch and take photos, no swimming.

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