I just got back from California where I swam in the SPMA Zone meet at Mission Viejo over the weekend. I met both Mel Dyck and Kevin Joyce. Nice to meet you both!
I suppose I can gloat about my victory over Kevin in the 100 free. We were right next to each other, in lanes 4 and 5. Kevin had me at the 50 (28.24 to 29.15), but I was able to pull away on the second 50 and won 58.65 to 1:00.09. I'm happy with that time, but really I should have been out faster.
My other big adventure was having to swim the 400 free twice! When I touched the wall I looked up and saw a 4:23 on the scoreboard and I knew that was wrong. Turns out the manual timer just wrote down what the board said (yeah, not real useful) so they had no "real" time to use. The end result was I had to swim again if I wanted a legal time, and I did. I was a couple seconds slower than what I presume my time was the first time around based on the splits, but I'm pretty happy considering it was my fourth race of a looong day!
Anyway, saw some great swims and met a few new folks. Congrats to those who competed and good luck to those going to Nationals this weekend.
Timing screw-ups happen. I was just happy they gave me the chance to swim again. It wasn't exactly the ideal scenario, but that's the way it goes!
Hopefully my time will get me into Top Ten. What I'm afraid of is my first swim, which was probably around 4:33 would have gotten me in, but my second swim will be just a little too slow. I guess I've still got time to get down to the Woodlands and bust a couple kneecaps, a la Tonya Harding. Just kidding, of course! :joker:
So, Kirk, the "timers" didn't have stopwatches to record your first attempt?
Then, what's the point of having them there? Yes, in masters meets swimmers don't often touch the pad hard enough to stop it on their own and someone on deck needs to push the pickle at the same time, but I think automatic timing has improved to the point that it's not really needed.
In any case, bravo on two big swims.
Thanks, Jeff.
Yes, the timers did have stopwatches. I can only guess the person timing in my lane either didn't start their watch or just didn't know any better than to write down what the readout board said. They did have the "pickle" buttons, too, but I asked and they said there was no button time either. It's definitely something that shouldn't happen when you have primary, secondary and tertiary timing systems in use, but obviously can if the person responsible for the last two of those doesn't really understand what they're supposed to be doing.
I certainly hope your second swim gets you into the Top 10. It would be very dissapointing to lose that recognition due to something like a timing error.
Me too! I'm still in awe that you swam the race again. That's impressive!
Hmm? Generally the starter or the ref will give instructions to the timers and walk them through a mock heat to make sure everybody is on the same page at our age group/USA meets. This weekend there was no shortage of timing options being used. There was the Colorado system touchpads, the "pickle" buttons as you call them, a stopwatch by one of the three timers in each lane, and a head timer starting two watches for backup and to stop at the fastest swimmers touch for an extra level of verification.
I certainly hope your second swim gets you into the Top 10. It would be very dissapointing to lose that recognition due to something like a timing error.
I suppose I can gloat about my victory over Kevin in the 100 free. We were right next to each other, in lanes 4 and 5. Kevin had me at the 50 (28.24 to 29.15), but I was able to pull away on the second 50 and won 58.65 to 1:00.09. I'm happy with that time, but really I should have been out faster.
I think in that 100 I had my best start and turn yet. I just couldn't finish it. Finishing that second 50 strong was something I didn't focus on as much as I did last year and I felt it. A definite lesson learned for me.
I have to say that you have a nice stroke. When I hit the oxygen dept wall everthing slowed down and I got a real good look as you blew by me about the 75M mark. :blush: I went from gloat to goat in those precious few seconds. :lmao:
Kevin
Was Ion there?
He doesn't show up in the results.
On the timing issue. Most of the reliable volunteer timers were swimming. Our masters team is comprised mostly of age group parents. Usually that is not a big deal, but this time I noticed a lot of timing chairs empty and many of the timers that were there seemed pretty green.
Other than that it was a pretty fun meet. The highlight for me was talking to an older gentleman who said he had been swimming butterfly since 1933. It occurred to me that was around the time it was first swum in competition.
en.wikipedia.org/.../Butterfly_stroke
Kevin
