Autumn 2010/11
Swimming for fitness, fun, and friendship
Upcoming Events
2011
HCM Mid Winter
Swim Sat 18 June
HCM Chocolate Fish
meet Sat 30 July
North Island Short
Course Champs.
Levin 2-4 Sept
Committee
Members 2011
HCM Committee:
President: Barry Lake
Treasurer:
Simon Henderson
Secretary
Vanessa Young
Social Committee:
Peter Shanahan
Suzi Archer
Jean-Pierre de Raad
this Newsletter:
Barry’s Bit, An HCM
Christmas, Shear
Magic, From the
Water to the Hills,
North Island Short
Course Champs,
Chocolate Fish Meet:
Wainuiomata
Levin 2011
Barry’s Bit
Firstly a bouquet for Lis Hewitt for her good work in
putting this together. A brick bat to me for taking so long
in doing my bit. Anyway here it is which covers about a
full year of events.
The committee continue to work behind the scenes to
ensure that the club functions as it does and it is a
testament to this dedication for volunteering to continue
for another year. Thanks to Vanessa, Simon, Peter and
Suzi for your commitment for a further year and to JP for
volunteering your time on the social committee.
This year sees an increase in our annual subscription. It's
never easy making such a decision but pool costs have
increased continually over the past years and it was just
not sustainable at the previous rate.
The most
encouraging thing from this is that membership has
remained relatively stable and we do not appear to have
lost many members due to the increase.
Once again we will be running our Chocolate Fish Swim
Meet. It is scheduled for 30 July at Huia Pool, Lower Hutt.
The after meet dinner will be at the Petone Working
men's Club and for those Rugby fanatics, if you are going
to see the All Blacks V South Africa at the Cake Tin, the
swim meet will be finished by 6.30pm and those who
want to watch the game, we are trying to organise a TV in
our lounge.
Finally, thanks to all those who have contributed articles
to this newsletter.
HCM Newsletter - Summer 2010/11
Page 1 of 7
An HCM Christmas…
The
Harbour
Capital
Masters’
Christmas party was held at the
Establishment in Courtenay Place on
Thursday, 2 December. A good time
was had by all over a few glasses of
bubbly and a sit down meal.
The achievements of a few club
members were recognised by the
annual awards. The Most Improved
Swimmer cup went to James Brent
and Sea Swimmer of the year went to
Tim Shaw.
Tony Hickmore was
awarded the President’s Cup for his
continued dedication of substantial
time, effort, and spirit to the club.
Honorable mentions went to Kirsten
Cameron for her world records over
the previous year, and Margie McKee
for her sea swimming successes over
last season and in winning her age
group in the first race of the State
Open Water Swim Series in Auckland.
and touched on various other amusing
aspects of the lane swimmers, (all in
good taste of course!).
Santa and his wee German elf did a
fine job of distributing the Secret
Santa pressies, making sure all those
who had been nice got a little
something to take home. Thank you
to all those who attended and to all of
you who support the club in various
ways throughout the year.
Highlights of the evening included
Barry’s
(followed
by
Sheryl’s)
demonstration
of
various
body
building poses, Hamish’s appearance
in drag fresh from an Outrageous
Fortune themed party, and John
Reuhman’s hilarious speech, which
alluded to Barry’s dominance over 20
metres in his age category, noted the
fact that not only had Tony gone up an
age group, he had also gone up a size,
HCM Newsletter - Summer 2010/11
Page 2 of 7
Shear Magic
James Brent
On the 24th July 2010 in Masterton a
small elite team represented the
Harbour Capital Masters club at the
Shear
Magic
swim
meet.
This
was James and Elaine's first taste of
masters competition swimming.
James and Elaine had a foolproof plan
of riding over to Masterton four hours
before the event - giving them plenty
of time to recover before the swim. As
it turned out with the delays setting
off and countless punctures (all
Elaine!), the four hour buffer had been
reduced to 10mins, with a quick
change out of our riding gear into our
togs. While in the toilet I received an
emergency call from Tony requesting
my presence at the starting block for
the relay.
The most exciting races came from
Simon Henderson who was battling it
out with Phill hall from Masterton every race was neck and neck until
the very end.
There were a number of personal
achievements throughout the day with
many age group victories including
Carole Lightfoot, Kevin Jamieson and
Tony Hickmore.
Everyone was well fed at the after
function. The HCM contingent was the
last to leave and most rowdy of all the
clubs (no surprise apparently) with the
party carrying on to the hotel bar.
The party animals were looking very
sorry for themselves the next morning
and the round of golf was no longer on
the cards.
The HCM team 2 came a close second
while team 1 lost it all when the first
leg swimmer (who will remain
nameless) lost his goggles into his
mouth. Swimming blind and not being
able to breathe, he came in dead last
leaving much work to be done by the
rest of the team who scraped back to
fifth.
HCM Newsletter - Summer 2010/11
Page 3 of 7
From the water to the hills HCM went bush for a day
Jessica
Eleven keen trampers met on Sunday,
14th November 2010 to walk to the
Atiwhakatu Hut.
At 10 am everybody arrived motivated
and enjoying the nice weather at the
Mount Holdsworth road end. After Alex
had briefed everyone about the tramp,
people rushed to visit the last dunny
they would see for a while (or until the
long drop at the hut) then everybody
was ready to go.
President Barry led the beautiful walk
next to the Atiwhakatu stream and
everyone had fun crossing the bumpy
rope bridges. During the rests Alex
took out the map to show where we
were and share his knowledge of local
flora and fauna (some focused on
keeping their energy levels up sharing
lollies). Alex did come unstuck when
he was unable to identify a very rare
and special type of a shoe-tree...
As it has been an easy walk, Tony
would have let them count their steps,
take one step off and go faster!
But arriving at the Atiwhakatu Hut
faster than this route was suggested
to be, showed that all the participants
were well conditioned for the event.
HCM Newsletter - Summer 2010/11
At the hut, everybody had their own
way to recover, some took off
their shoes, some had lunch (or burnt
toast), and some drank 'Jagertee', a
German version of mulled wine.
Afterwards some of the trampers got
funny ideas on the walk back. We
were left waiting for Seager and Alex,
as we thought they had taken a
longer way without letting anybody
know - but finally they came - Seager
with a ripped shirt and bleeding arm.
Their explanation was that they
had found an exciting shortcut...
Never fear, everybody got back to the
car park safe, albeit a little tired after
a good walk.
Who would have guessed, for dinner
at the White Swan in Greytown
there was not any wedges and sour
cream, but other nicer things to
eat and drink. Everybody was happy
to sit together before going back
home by car - in the rain. Otherwise
they might have gone by foot.
Page 4 of 7
2010 North Island
Short Course Champs
Kirsten Cameron
The North Island Short Course
Champs were held at the Pakuranga
Pool in Auckland during November
2010. Unfortunately there was an
extremely poor showing; most notable
in their absence were Aucklanders…..
HCM however were ably represented
by Martin Kaulback, Ingrid Saxton,
and me in my first outing as a full,
bonafide HCM member!
The pool itself was a pleasant 25m 6
lane pool. A bit shallow though! As
part of Manakau city, the pool is free
to all, so was well utilised.
So the event started on Friday night,
as per usual with the 800m and the
1500m. This proved to be the longest
session with the 800m held first then
the 1500m. I got to race at 9pm.
While not my best ever 1500m it was
a good effort and as my first in this
age group I broke the world record.
So my first swim as an HCM member
was a World Record one, gotta be
happy with that. The other two of
course weren’t silly enough to enter
the 1500m so that was that for the
first session.
Next session opened with warm up at
8am. Martin duly arrived at 8.25am in
time to swim 50m for his warm up.
He didn’t feel sympathy for me having
swum so late on Friday night as he
said he had been out drinking far too
late so felt he deserved more
sympathy. Hmmmm, I think his was
more self-inflicted. Yes I chose to
race the 1500m but I didn’t chose to
race at 9pm!
So first up was the 400IM – none of us
were suckers enough to do that –
followed by the 50m back, which
Ingrid swam in and won her age
group. Martin also swam it and won
HCM Newsletter - Summer 2010/11
his age group. Albeit swimming 4
seconds slower than he entered. Next
up was the 200m freestyle with Martin
and I next to each other.
The so and so went out like a bullet
and hung on to me for 75m. Then
fortunately, true to sprinter form, he
‘dropped back’, finishing with a 2.18
next to my 2.08. He did manage to
just stay ahead of Rebecca Perrott by
7 hundreds of a second!
I was up next with the 100m breast.
A first for me! Not a bad effort, but
not a patch on Richard Lockhart – ex
NZ breast champion. But hey, I never
even do one stroke of breast in
training!
Feeling in slightly better form, or
slightly more warmed up, Martin took
out his 50fly race.
So that was that for the morning
session, and a few hours later we were
back for the afternoon. Some of us
decided we had warmed up in the
morning so that would do us, Martin
thought better and had a somewhat
longer warm up than his 50m in the
morning. Must have paid off as first
up was the 100m free and he beat
me. It looked like it was close, but in
fact it wasn’t that close. Maybe the
warm up was a good idea. 100m Back
was
next
with
Martin
again
swimming. Outside his entered time,
and then for the last face off between
the two of us, the 100m IM. And
again Martin just pipped me. So I
give him the 100s, and anything
above is mine thanks.
So that was HCM’s meet as none of us
swam the next day. It was a fun
weekend, just a shame about the
numbers! Next year will be in Levin,
so at least the HCM presence will be
much stronger. Won't it!
Ed note: this year's NISC is at Levin 2-4 Sept
so let's get a good turn out.
Page 5 of 7
Summer Meet:
Wainuiomata 2011
Sheryl
This year, with our help the Huia
Masters club hosted the Wainuiomata
Summer swim meet.
This meet is so weather dependent,
being an outdoor venue, but we were
rewarded with a fabulous sunny still
day, so everyone breathed a sign of
relief.
Huia had negotiated a truly family
event where we had the BBQ's afire,
the hydro slide free for the duration
and a Kids relay at the end. We're not
sure who enjoyed the hydro slide the
most: - the small kids or the big kids
with an HCM train smash charging
down the slide.
About 35 swimmers from all over the
region participated, some brought
family to enjoy the yummy BBQ
afterwards. The whole meet was very
smoothly run by Huia and those ever
present volunteer timekeeper and
officials,
even
if
the
starting
equipment failed to fire. Lester kept
the heats rolling on though his voice
was a little croaky afterwards.
I believe the pool water looked so
enticing even our own El Prezedento
hopped into an empty lane in one of
the races! (even though he hadn't
actually entered any events).
This was a trial by Huia and going by
this success of this one, it could
become a permanent fixture in the
future; let's hope so!
Thanks to all who swum and to
everyone who helped - it's all about
participation and supporting the club
Levin Autumn Meet:
2011
The Levin swim meet mid May was a
chance for HCM members to test their
fitness,
rekindle
good-humoured
rivalries, and meet old and make new
friends.
A small but dedicated bunch from HCM
joined
swimmers
from
Levin,
Wanganui, Masterton and elsewhere to
compete in most of the events. They
were supported by Sheryl, armed with
a clipboard and camera, and Suzi.
Of course, what happens in Levin
stays in Levin, but HCM members are
entitled to get the facts.
The afternoon began with some 100m
relay races. Teams were made up
from different clubs with the aim of
achieving close finishes. This was a
great, fun way to get the competitive
juices flowing. At the very last minute
four of us entered in a spare lane and
accidentally put in the second best
time. A great start to the day.
The club was represented well in the
50m fly, with Tony and Barry taking a
1-2 in their age group, and Peter
Shanahan also featuring. Peter joined
Roger in the 50m breast stroke.
Margie took out the chocolate fish in
the 100m anystroke for her age
group.
HCM members also won a number of
spot prizes. Not saying that someone
had their thumb on the scales, but it
surely was no coincidence that these
consisted of tins of no-label soup (we
think) and what we think are
candelabras - we were not sure if the
candle that came with it was a hint or
just to confuse us. Anyway, we’ll
recycle that one for the mid-winter
swim... or mothers day.
The Levin club’s hospitality and the
encouragement from
fellow
club
members meant this ‘chocolate fish’
HCM Newsletter - Summer 2010/11
Page 6 of 7
meet was an ideal event for two HCM
first-timers, Jason and JP. Both
participated in a number of events for
a small taste of the big time.
Swims were swum, won and lost.
Tears were shed, and lessons learned.
Your correspondent learned that
goggles are really handy, but don’t
work well when worn on the chin. Got
to learn to tuck in that chin when I
dive. Got to learn how to dive full
stop. Even so, the swim was good
enough to qualify for the skins event.
The meet was capped off with the
skins event. This was fun to watch and
to swim. Margie came close to
bringing it home for the women.
Being once-bitten, twice shy, Tony did
not take up Barry’s recommendation
to once again swim the skins event
fly. In the event, Tony took out a
close-fought battle with Barry, for a 12 for HCM. Barry looked and felt
b*****ed.
The event as a whole and the races
themselves were pure fun. The
personal
achievements
and
the
anticipation of future meets give me
the motivation to want to train better
and more. In the unforgettable words
of the Terminator, '... "I’ll be back.”...'
to get for just a moment all literary,
and as original and creative as the
Wellywood sign. Hope to see you there
too!
Breakfast Sunday morning
Contemplating last night
As night follows day, we retired to a
country estate for dinner, dance and
an assortment of light refreshments,
followed by ‘an early night’. Somewhat
inclement weather put a stop to the
highly anticipated (and apparently
compulsory) game of golf, despite
months of meticulous planning. A
narrow escape, is all I say...
JP
HCM Newsletter - Summer 2010/11
Page 7 of 7