Welcome to MasterDucks Swimteam Website

July 26, 2010
Duck Update

What a weekend – racing, revving up or relaxing (what category were you?).

There are a lot of results below – I include these for a number of reasons – some of which are:

~ to share results among tri team members (especially those who train with certain lane mates all year and then come summer – poof, you’re off doing your own thing)
~ to let the whole team know what the tri team is doing over the summer
~ to monitor our activities/participation levels
~ to show off the growth and ranking improvements over the years
~ to make note of individual accomplishments (downside to this is if you don’t rank in top 10, you don’t get ‘special mention’ EVEN THOUGH YOUR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE IS LIKELY MORE NOTEWORTHY THAN JUST THE NUMBERS REPORTED*)
~ teach/entice others – you know what I mean…..you know where this can lead
*I know some individual accomplishments that are so special – and without sounding sappy, I think if you are racing, you are already a champ. And I really mean that.
OPEN WATER TRAINING – for now we’ll keep the schedule as is, but I THINK after the long weekend we’ll head over to Wilcox Beach as well (Wed nights) and move the Thursday (Preston Lake) morning swim to Friday at 6am.
OPEN WATER RACING – I’m angry at myself for not prompting you to try the Open Water 3km and 5km Championship that took place last weekend. I will try to make sure I get/give details/encouragement for next year (Triathletes please note: NO wetsuit L)
GREAT NEWS – Paolina Allan was named Triathlon Canada Long Distance Elite Female Athlete of the year (2009) The whole team is proud Paolina!!! Way to go girl!
SAD NEWS – our thoughts go out to Vicki Gladwish and her family at the passing of her mother L May she rest in peace.
WORLDS – congratulations to Paul Haffenden and Carol Dee – they’ve qualified for/will be racing in the 2011 World Triathlon Championships in Beijing!!!
FAREWELL – speaking of Beijing, Carol-Ann Doucher’s farewell is tonight (say bye to her at Jerseys 2nite)!
HELP WITH NAME – as the Community Coordinator for Special Olympics in Aurora (and with the help of my cracker jack executive team), I am excitedly putting together the business and marketing plans for our newest sport: BASKETBALL As such, we will eventually need a NAME, and I thought I’d have some fun. I have 4 free passes to the HOCKEY HALL OF FAME for the person who sends me a great team name (representing Aurora AND basketball). I have a name in mind, but I don’t want to disaffect your creative process. DUE: Tuesday at noon.
LAKE ONTARIO SWIM – another swimmer ~Miguel Vadillo ~ is attempting to cross the lake. Normally I would only give this a cursory glance BUT this one is somehow ‘related’ to us. The swimmer is the Head Coach of the Guelph Marlins (that’s not the primary relation). His CAUSE is to raise money for JUMPSTART – the community-based charitable program by Canadian Tire that helps kids aged 4-18 participate in organized sports and recreation. The president of this organization is OUR Dan Thompson. This is important to HIM, important to KIDS and – well, it’s swimming. If you can help out financially, that would be super Additionally, the Toronto Star reported today that Miguel has not yet secured a 30 foot lead boat NOR his inflatable boats. These are mandatory from SOLO swims – if you know of or can help in any area, please contact
MEMPHREMAGOG TRIATHLON – congrats to Spencer who cracked the top 10 in this Quebec triathlon (1.5km swim/40km bike/10km run).
BALA TRIATHLON – there was a veritable cat fight going on in Bala as Judy and Donna raced their way(s) to top 10 finishes in this sprint distance event(750m swim, 30km bike/7.5km run)
IRONMAN LAKE PLACID – congratulations to ALL our racers – what a day that must have been with more than 2600 competitors! Paul White was 56th OVERALL and 2nd in his age group– with the 7th fastest run time. Crystal (as part of Speed Play) finished an amazing 289th overall and 2nd in her age group as well (3rd fastest swim and 5th fastest run in her age group). More congrats as well to Mike who completed HIS FIRST IRONMAN – he will be booking time at FAT CAT TATTOO this week – yes? Final props go out to our Ottawa Duck Tim!!! Thanks as well to ALL the Ducks who were IN Placid cheering on their teammates/friends.
MUSKOKA TRIATHLON – not to be outdone by those in the US, other Ducks raced wickedly well in the Muskoka in either the Long Distance (2km swim/55km bike/13km run) or Sprint Triathlons. The Ducks did SUPER!
LONG DISTANCE ~ congratulations to ALL ~ note our top 10 finishers: Tom, Allan, Paul, John, Jim, Laura and Delfina and extra kudos to Tom and Kim who BOTH WON their age groups – woo hoo!
SPRINT – smaller field of DUCKS, but standout performances by all – kudos to Janice who came in 2nd in her age group and ditto for Sheila’s top 10 (just off the podium) finish
“It's not about finding your limits. It's about finding out what lies just beyond them."