An absolutely comical number of swims aren't meeting the cut-off time to be included in the results. No wonder the meet is lasting so long! On the men's side, 50-60 swims in each age group are over the time limit. I guess this is the ugly side of honor system entries.
This phenomenon is not limited to swimming... :lmao: espn.go.com/.../bad-lies-us-open-qualifying
That's amazing. When I was there in 2004 I don't remember it being so bad. I remember there being room in the warm up pools to swim, but then I don't think we had anywhere near 6000 people.
I ended up not qualifying for one time, but I think a lot of that was because I spent 8+ hours on the bus to Venice the day before.
Guess I'm glad I didn't try and go this year.
How many pools will Montreal have?
Montreal has two 50 meter outdoor pools. Here is a satellite image of the facility. It looks like the diving well is about 25 x 25 meters, and could be used for warmups. I don't know about that funky-shaped section of the center pool. I don't see anything else in the neighborhood that looks like a pool.
Having just been to Montreal recently, the good news is that there are plenty of other pools in relative proximity to Parc Jean-Drapeau where you could grab a warmup before heading over to the meet facility. The facility is where they held the 2005 FINA World Championships and, based upon what I've heard (though not yet swum there personally), it'll be a great place to race.
If the meet gets to be really large, a simply AWESOME idea (you heard it hear first) would be to have a shuttle running between Jean-Drapeau and Olympic Park (9km drive) and keep the 76 Olympic Pool (and its warmup pool) open for continuous warmups. If you had a shuttle running on the half an hour (it's probably only a 20-25 minute drive even in traffic), that would be awesome.
However, I agree with Chris ...
I just don't see Montreal with 6000. Where would they come from? How many masters swimmers in Canada? Roughly 3000 swimmers here are Italian, more than have ever attended a USMS nationals, and about the same number from other European countries. Worlds at Stanford was within driving distance of the two most populous LMSCs in USMS and didn't come close to 6000.
I might be wrong, of course. One doesn't come to such a meet with the primary goal of swimming fast, IMO.... with adding the other reason that USMS swimmers will have a Nationals LCM option that summer as well. I think we'll get more Europeans to Montreal than Stanford, both for its proximity and slightly more Euro-like culture/ambiance, but I doubt it'll be as large as Stanford was in total. I'd be surprised if it edges above 3,500 and would predict something more like 2,500. I'll be there for sure, regardless of how many people show up.
Canadian Nationals in Montreal in 2011 had 1113 swimmers. For worlds I would guess around 1500 might sign up.
Another consideration is short course vs. long course. It seems like more masters swimmers prefer swimming short course.
I think more than 3000 are italians
Guessing more like 4500
Seems like it was a national directive or loose your swim card thing
I love getting back from my 1 event at 6:30pm and its NOT the last event nor was it even over for all age groups
Steve
Ps have met so many great people here. Why cant we just have a massive party instead of a meet sometime?
Pps. It really sucks having the women at basically a different venue. No idea when they race or how they are doing just a wave or a smile is about all you can get in.
It ended at 10:30 with Heat 130. (I had to stay to the bitter end to take measurements of the indoor pool so the times would count.
Thats totally nuts!
Its no longer about being the fastest but the freshest!
If thats even possible
I am swimming later in the day here than i do at 530am back home, just the sun is all wrong
It ended at 10:30 with Heat 130.
The stands were absolutely packed even at 10 pm for the swimming, never seen anything like it. Lots of Italian breaststrokers (with friends cheering), seems like some heats had 8-9 ITA swimmers.
I mIght be wrong, of course. One doesn't come to such a meet with the primary goal of swimming fast, IMO.
Masters swimming may save the European Union - the money spent on beer, pasta and fun may be enough to save the Italian economy.
Good luck on your races. I thought warm-up at Atlanta was bad. That looks horrible.
I thought warm-up at Atlanta was bad. That looks horrible.
It was a little better today (for me at least) in the outdoor arena (are there more lanes maybe? Didn't check.) It wasn't enough to be able to do 25s sprint or -- heavens forbid -- pace 50s, but I could sometimes get enough of a gap to do something like 10m bursts or hard SDKs, which can help with warmup.
Also, the sychro swimmers were practicing outdoors, so there was that.
I think tomorrow morning in the indoor pool is going to be the worst. 280+ heats of men's 50 free. That's about 2800 men -- and male sprinters tend to be large and make many waves -- warming up or warming down in a 4-hr block.
Today there were 29 heats of men's 200 free in my age group (45-49) alone. Yowza. I saw on the screen when heat 50 or so was swimming and saw the ages, and panicked because I thought I had mis-remembered my heat (71): no way, I thought, were there THAT many heats in my age group.
I think more than 3000 are italians
Guessing more like 4500
It really sucks having the women at basically a different venue. No idea when they race or how they are doing just a wave or a smile is about all you can get in.
I read somewhere that 40% of the swimmers were Italian, so that comes to about 3300 or so I think. But maybe I am not remembering right.
I wish they had odd heats in one pool and even heats in the other. As it is, the women's events finish much earlier than the men's, and the men's warmup pool is possibly more crowded since there are more of them here.
