Results Week 5

Righto team — another ripper Saturday at the old pool. The lane rope came down in record time (Halle and Connor — legends), Paul Martin tried wearing three hats at once (referee, timekeeper and swimmer) and ended up disqualifying himself for a cheeky early dive — classic club chaos. There were a few timing gremlins (a handful of DNS/VOID results where the stopwatch decided to sulk), but plenty of great swimming and a stack of personal bests to celebrate.

On the day — highlights & PBs

• Lily Tolliday (50m heat winner) smashed her recent best — from 59.78 down to a 56.93 finish. Huge effort for a young gun.
• Ellis Buchanan lit up Heat 2 of the 50m with a big PB (finish 46.77 vs RB 51.38) — nice and tidy sprinting.
• Holly Sharkey took Heat 3 and knocked a chunk off her best (43.96 from 47.41) — you could see the extra kick on the second 25.
• Sharon Baldacchino’s 50m (41.98) was a solid PB — steady as she goes.
• Edward Pacey continues to boss the U/10s — 50m in 37.87 (PB) and another strong result in the 400m time trial.
• Lyndal Rapisarda, Adam Christodoulou, Paul Martin and William Taylor all posted little improvements on their recent bests — every second counts.
• Long distance warriors: Kathleen Cowmey and Jenny Gaskin both turned in faster-than-recent swims in the 400m — steady endurance work being rewarded.

Handicap chaos & those lovable close finishes

Handicap racing does what it always does — levels the playing field and produces edge-of-seat finishes. A few shout-outs:

• Under 6 girls — Willow McLean is just holding off Heidi Chalker by a single point (9 to 8). That’s one cheeky tumble-turn away from a swap — both making big strides.
• Under 8 boys — Max Thompson (30) and Arthur Pacey (28) remain neck-and-neck. Arthur keeps nibbling at Max’s lead; anyone want to bet on who forgets their goggles first?
• Under 8 girls — Anna Rapisarda is crushing it at the top with 36 points. Georgina Aitken’s second (25) isn’t giving up though — expect more titanic Anna/Georgie clashes in the near future.
• Under 10 boys — Edward Pacey has stretched to a handy lead (47) but Oscar Sullivan (39) and Ellis Buchanan (34) are right in the hunt. This trio’s rivalry is excellent viewing — consistency will win the series, but form on any given Saturday can flip the leaderboard.
• Seniors men — Adam Christodoulou leads the charge on 24 points with Christian Taylor and Paul Martin breathing down his neck on 21 each. That’s a classic three-way tussle; a couple of big point weeks and the table could topple.
• Seniors women — Kathleen Cowmey (31) and Jenny Gaskin (28) are fighting it out. Meg Farrington and Elizabeth Allan are close enough to make things spicy over the next few weeks.

George Wheaton 50m BBB (Heats) & upcoming finals

We ran heats for the George Wheaton 50m BBB this week and saw some entertaining nominations — Elizabeth Allan almost stole hers by deciding to glide to the wall (classic Elizabeth finesse). With Gerry and Phil absent the usual BBB rivalry got a week off, which left Duncan Lyon very keen to qualify and finally beat Gerry and Phil next time around. The finals for the George Wheaton trophy are on the calendar — earmark 28 November — and the heat winners and strong performers today are in the mix. Keep an eye on Duncan, Elizabeth and any of the mid‑field chargers who found form today.

Relays & medleys

We had a couple of 4×30/4×20 handicapped team swims and the youngsters were fierce. Anna Rapisarda’s team work stood out in the 4×30, and Georgie Chalker’s crew showed excellent relay cohesion. The relay format continues to be a brilliant way to build confidence for our newer swimmers.

Timing gremlins & admin

A polite reminder: a few heats suffered missing / odd times (some negative or VOID finish artefacts where the timekeeper or timing system didn’t record a time). Thanks to David Parker for fixing gear on the fly and to Adam Christodoulou and Tom Pacey for stepping in as starters. If you did a DNS/VOID and did actually swim (we know who you are), don’t stress — we’ll sort placings from the referee’s notes next week.

Families, rivals & club yarns

• The Rapisardas were everywhere — Patricia, Lyndal, Alessandro and Anna all making a showing and collecting points. Grandparent‑grandchild combos for the win.
• The Pacey clan continues to dominate the family scoreboard — Arthur and Edward making big waves while the rest cheer (and time) from poolside.
• Taylor siblings (Christian, William and Lukas) all putting in solid work — sibling rivalry remains an ace motivator.
• Duncan vs Gerry vs Phil — still the rivalry to watch in the BBB and point score. Gerry and Phil were AWOL this week, giving Duncan a window; expect the veterans back in full cry soon.
• Special mention to Luke Sellars who just had a birthday (1 Nov) — happy belated Luke, hope you celebrated with a cake that isn’t made of lane rope.

New joiners & veterans

Lovely to see new faces holding their own and our stalwarts keeping standards high. Newer swimmers like Georgie Chalker and the Chalker family are settling in beautifully, and Life Members/committee types (David Parker, Paul Martin, Adrian Bell and co.) keep everything humming — thanks legends.

Looking ahead

• Next Saturday (14 Nov) we’ve got Tom Brown 50m Backstroke heats and the Five Dock Rotary 200m Medley heats on the agenda — great chance for backstrokers and medley swimmers to score points.
• Keep training for the George Wheaton finals (late Nov) and other trophy finals coming up; if you qualified in heats today, sharpen those starts and practise the sprint finish.
• Series leaders: several age categories have tight margins — don’t be complacent, a single 4‑point win can change the leaderboard quickly. Bring your A‑game (and your whistle if you’re volunteering!).

Final word: brilliant effort from everyone — PBs, big swims, kids having a scream and parents refereeing while trying to read a stopwatch upside down. See you next Saturday for more mayhem, medals and mildly competitive banter. Don’t forget to bring a timekeeper, your sense of humour, and maybe an umbrella just in case — the pool’s open and the club’s buzzing.