Enjoyment essential for masters’ swimmers

Press, 2 March 1984, Page 10

Enjoyment essential for masters’ swimmers

A cosmopolitan collection of swimmers will invade Christchurch next month for the first international masters championships.

Masters swimmers throw themselves into their sport with the same enthusiasm as their veteran track and field counterparts whom Christchurch people saw at the world veteran championships at Queen Elizabeth H Park in January 1981.

But when the day is done, and the races swum, thfe competitors seem intent to ensure they will remember Christchurch as much for social events as the swimming.

On the second day the competitors do not intend to wait for the races to be swum before they begin to enjoy themselves. The start that day has been delayed until 1 p.m. to enable participants to attend a cham-

pagne breakfast at the Shirley Motor Lodge. Other ex-pool events include a mystery bus tour of Christchurch hostelries, a disco evening, and a final big splash at the Town Hall.

lan Butterworth, the secretary of the organising committee, said that the majority of the entrants—which numbered 800 early this week—had chosen to attend the social activities. Over 90 per cent had indicated they would attend the final function.

Any person over the age of 25 can enter the championships to be held between April 23 and 28. The oldest competitor among the entries received is 90, and a 75-year-old woman from the United States has entered the 1500 m freestyle—the longest event on the programme. Mr Butterworth said the entries were divided evenly—so per cent

men and 50 per cent women.

Fifteen countries are represented, and there was the prospect of more, said Mr Butterworth. Some of the more unlikely countries from which entries have come are Brazil, Peru and the Virgin Islands. Entries closed officially on Wednesday, but the organisers will accept any with the envelope postmarked February 29, so Mr Butterworth expects entries will continue to flow in for a couple of weeks. Names which bring back nostalgic memories appear in the computer printouts of entrants. There is Jaynie Hudgell who is better remembered as Jaynie Parkhouse, the smiling former Christchurch lass who won the 800 m freestyle gold medal at the 1974 Commonwealth Games before her home crowd.

Her husband, Craig, a former New Zealand backstroke representative, and her father Pic, who coached her to that gold medal, will be with her. Dave Gerrard, the winner of the 220 yards butterfly gold medal at the Kingston Commonwealth Games in 1966 will have an active few days. Besides swimming he will be one of the keynote

speakers at a sports medicine conference at the Town Hall on April 23 and 24.

The conference is entitled: “Masters Swimming: Competition, Exercise and Fun, and will incorporate the 1984 Dr Tom Anderson Memorial Lecture, to be delivered by Dr David Costill, the director of the human performance laboratory at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.

Entries from two American Olympic medallists have been received. One is Joe Bottom, who won the 100 butterfly silver medal at Montreal in 1967, and Stephen Clark who won three gold medals in relay teams at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. A character who is likely to become the most talked about at the championships, has surfaced. He is Koro the Kiwi. (Koro means elderly male.) A daily newsletter, “Koto’s Khronicle,” will be produced. Swimmers will be invited to drop their interesting snippets of information into Koro’s box at the pool. “I’ll print anything as long as it’s not too seedy,” he said in his first newsletter this week. By KEVIN TUTTY