Swimmers,
Use this thread to share information, blogs, personal results and stories from the 2014 World Championships in Montreal.
Those posting blogs specifically should make sure the are posted to the following link:
forums.usms.org/blog.php
Below and attached you will find the first email letter from Tim Waud regarding the World Championships in Montreal, Canada.
Dear Worlds Swimmers,
The World Team coaches are excited to represent United States Masters Swimming at the 2014 FINA World Championship. Coaches are Tim Waud (Oregon), Dean Hawks (Indiana), Andrew LeVasseur (Colorado) and Jennifer Catucci-Crowther (Virginia). Head Coach Tim Waud can be reached by email: Twaud@aol.com
COMMUNICATION:
Social Media:
Join our Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/.../
This page will continue to be updated preceding and throughout the event.
Venue:
The World Team coaches intend on identifying two locations, one just outside of each competition pool in Montreal, where we can post daily messages for all the USA swimmers. Please be on the lookout for “TEAM MESSAGES” at the meet.
Look for the USMS logo on the message board.
Coaches:
The World Team coaches will be highly visible on the pool deck(s). Coaches will be wearing USMS Polo Shirts and be in area represented by a United States Masters Swimming banner.
RELAYS:
Relay Cards: Relay sheets or cards indicating the names of the pre-registered swimmers will be given to the team representative on arrival at registration. These competitors must be verified or amended and the relay sheets or cards returned to the designated point by Wednesday, August 6, 2014 at 1:00 PM. Changes to team age groups, swimmers or times will be accepted until Tuesday, 15th July 2014 by the coach or a team representative. All relay team members must be affiliated with the same swimming club. A swimmer may not swim for more than one team per relay event.
TEAM DINNER:
Check the team message board and Facebook daily for information regarding team dinners and social events.
Places to swim in Montreal:
These are links to swimming pools in Montreal; some of these facilities do not open until this summer.
www.montrealgazette.com/.../pools.htmlville.montreal.qc.ca/.../pagewww.yelp.com/searchwww.google.com/.../data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!2m4!3m3!1spublic swimming pools!2sMontreal, QC, Canada!3s0x4cc91a541c64b70d:0x654e3138211fefefswim.isport.com/.../
I shot some photos of his 50 *** and 200 *** medal ceremonies; however, I brought the wrong :censor: cable with me for my netbook, and I'm unable to post them until I return from Worlds and Nationals. :doh:
Doesn't your computer have a card reader?
3rd in the 400 Free. They allowed a guy in my AG to deck entwr and allowed him to earn awards. Kinda cheap. That said 4.27.08 after racing the 3 k (4th in 37.57... just list the final sprint for 2nd).
Here are some thoughts I had on the meet....
The locals were nearly universally friendly and helpful everywhere I went and Montreal is an amazing city.
To the people responsible for putting on this meet,I say Thank You
Allen I agree with you. Putting on a meet for 6,000 people has to be very hard. but I thought it was very well run. The ready bench system assured that everyone got to their correct heat and the people running the meet were very professional.
The warm-up pool was adequate and I don't think you could expect a lot more with that many participants. It was much better than Nationals in Atlanta. The walk to the secondary pool was a little long, but I assume it needed to be on the other island. There was a lot of space under the trees to lie down and get out of the sun at both pools.
I even thought the medals ceremony was nice. I really didn't intend to participate and was a little perturbed that I couldn't pick up my medal in advance, but it was kind of nice to participate with fellow competitors.
I don't know that I will ever go to a world championship again, but I was impressed with the job they did considering the number of people who were there. Also, I really enjoyed Montreal - beautiful city and great food and wine. I too send my thanks to the meet sponsors.
Here are some thoughts I had on the meet. USMS puts on a Nationals twice a year.It is a very serious undertaking for all involved and I don't want to make light of that nor minimize the effort involved. USMS however has practice and a structure for this and almost always these meets are incredibly well run.Even at that there is always room for improvement( and complaint such as about the warm up area at the Atlanta meet.) Comparing Worlds to a USMS Nationals gives many opportunity for complaints and "if only they'd done X" thinking.Certainly there were times at the meet where I did just that.
If you let it be what it was,6000 swimmers,from everywhere,being interested in the same sorts of things;a celebration of life, longevity and fitness. A 90 year old woman became the first her age to legally finish a 200 fly,how cool is that.
Yes the warm up pool was a zoo,but it was a zoo where the animals were mostly nice to each other.Almost all the problems there were the result of ignorance or obliviousness and not of deliberate rudeness.
Most of the swimmers were packed together like sardines under the one big tent for shade.The first impression of it was noise and chaos,but everyone was nice.I had a great talk about training technique with a swimmer from Hong Kong. I spent some wonderful time with a competitor in breaststroke in my age group from Argentina. I had several fun conversations with a breaststroker from Germany.
The locals were nearly universally friendly and helpful everywhere I went and Montreal is an amazing city.
To the people responsible for putting on this meet,I say Thank You
Yes the warm up pool was a zoo,but it was a zoo where the animals were mostly nice to each other.
The number of swimmers in the warm-up pool was much lower than I expected. I noticed that it varied quite a bit depending on the time of day, but I didn't have any problems warming up for my events. There were a few times I had to turn around mid-pool, but I'm used to doing that at many meets. It exceeded my expectations based on horror stories from previous World Champs.
I don't know that I will ever go to a world championship again, but I was impressed with the job they did considering the number of people who were there. Also, I really enjoyed Montreal - beautiful city and great food and wine. I too send my thanks to the meet sponsors.
i agree.
the 1 warmup pool wasnt really that bad...it was 2x the size of all those in italy. sometimes i just swam down the middle of a lane!
i really REALLY liked how with registration closed for weeks, the openwater entries in my age group grew from 88 to 91 on the very week of the event!
and while it may not have been under their (fina's) control, violating their own rules about a warmup pool near the temp pool really hurt some of us. from what i heard, the temp pool was supposed to be where the concerts were, but those couldnt be canceled due to the money those brought in.
i clearly dont walk 2-3 miles a day + up and down stairs. man that killed me. instead of swimming 50% arms and 50% legs it was more like 90/10. if you want to see pain, look at the last 200 of my 800. it was pathetic!
i clearly dont walk 2-3 miles a day + up and down stairs. man that killed me. instead of swimming 50% arms and 50% legs it was more like 90/10. if you want to see pain, look at the last 200 of my 800. it was pathetic!So you blame the walk instead of the training? Next time you need to incorporate stadium stairs into your workout – 1500 warmup, 3 sets of stadium sprints then an 800 for time.
And by the way, congratulations on what us mere mortals would consider outstanding swims!:applaud::banana::applaud:
