This could be a fun thing to take nationally - a 10 x 100 yard free relay where each swimmer is from a different age group. In this case, one from 25+, 30+, 35+, 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+, 70+.
Rinconada Masters of Palo Alto, CA, (one of the oldest Masters teams in the country) claimed the men's record back in 1982, I believe, with a time of 9:56.+ . Certainly an impressive time, demonstrating both team speed and depth, as the average time was under 1:00.
Just *this morning* Menlo Masters, of Menlo Park, CA challenged this unofficial record. At the end of this time trial the Menlo Masters team clobered the old time with a time of 9:35.52 ! I wish I was part of this team, but its quality was way up there, including several former college swimmers, national record holders, All Americans, and an Olympian (and one member of the original Rinconanda relay.) I think 7 or 8 of the swimmers were under 1:00.
While this was accomplished with what many who frequent this site would call a workout group, I would not want to discourage such teams as NEM from trying to match such an accomplishment.
I think such trans-age events are totally in the spirit of Masters swimming, not given the attention they deserve, and a lot of fun!
I was fortunate enough to witness this event on Saturday and I must say that this was one of the most inspiring swimming events I've ever seen. It was wonderful to see talented swimmers of many age groups swim together. (Although I must say that cheering nonstop for nine and a half minutes is hard on the voice.) :D
It seems that your relay lacks members of the older age groups. Recently, I was in a meet with a gentlemen around 90 years old. He did a 50 meter in 1:45 and if he was asked to do a 100 meter free it would probably take near 4 mintues. So, how many 60 plus swimmers are on the relay?
The event was done in our home pool, with electronic timing and back up hand timers, with, I think, an official to monitor take offs (but I am not sure.) As Guppigirl indicated, there was a large cheering section.
Getting all ten swimmers in the same place at the same time took quite a bit of organization; give credit to *** Bennett (the 70+ swimmer) for that. I doubt that it could have been done on an arbitrary date set up in advance for a meet.
Three, one from 60+, one from 65+, and one from 70+. All three of them are quite speedy. I would give their names, but I have not gotten their approval.
I see no problem with setting up relay (postal like) events that include swimmers from more older age groups.
I really wish USMS would pick this, or something like it, to encourage trans-generational swimming activities.
I too was there as a backup timer (I'm about 15 seconds slower than the guy from my age group), and here are their splits
70+ 1:15.14 (35.97 / 39.17)
65+ 1:10.96 (33.39 / 37.57)
60+ 59.39 (27.99 / 31.40)
55+ 57.16 (27.38 / 29.78)
50+ 56.26 (26.80 / 29.46)
45+ 54.18 (27.32 / 26.86)
40+ 51.58 (24.85 / 26.73)
35+ 49.62 (23.81 / 25.81)
30+ 50.52 (24.55 / 25.97)
25+ 50.71 (23.55 / 27.16)
It was truly an amazing team event, and I would recommend other teams trying this.
Phil:
Good idea and maybe we'll pick this up for our SCY season next year. I think we have one or two NEM "workout groups", including Cambridge Masters that could challenge this record.
Did Menlo Park perform the relay in a USMS sanctioned event?
I think this would be so fun..... I know Utah would participate. What if we expanded the ideas and did 10 x 100 of each stroke, IM, male, female, and mixed gender relays.
Dennis
:D
