For all those Leagues Club Members who have been waiting in for the arrival of their 2008 July to October League’s Club Journal to ascertain the winners of the various Water Dragon Championship Events for the 2007/2008 season, rest easy, your wait is over.
All can now be revealed.
For those Leagues Club Members who haven’t been waiting nervously for the results read on anyway – you may find something of mild interest or see a name of someone you may know.
After 12 months of intense but always friendly competition, our Season ended on 31 March at Carss Park Pool with ‘Mr.
Consistency’ Justin Fitzsimons again taking out the blue ribbon event, the Bill Burchmore Swimmer of the Year Title for the third consecutive year.
In another outstanding season Justin was also victorious in the Winter 50-metre Championship (tied with Terry McLeod), the Summer 50-metre Championship as well as winning the combined Winter/Summer total point score 50-metre Championship.
To cap off this memorable Swim Season, Justin also took out the Jack Dowell Trophy, which encompasses a one lap self nominated time dash over 25 metres.
Justin was only .04 seconds (4/100ths) off his nominated time.
Well done Justin.
Other Championship and Trophy winners for the Season were: Margie Black in the 25-metre championship, Terry McLeod (tied with Justin) in the Winter 50-metre championship, Kerrie Hammell in the 100-metre championship, John ‘the Judge’ Harlum in the 200-metre championship.
Trophy winners for the season were: Ray Halpin (Ken Jenkins Trophy), Mark Madison (Reg White Trophy) and Kerrie Hammell (Russ Blatch Trophy).
Congratulations to all the Championship and Trophy winners for the 2007/2008 Season.
The Water Dragon’s AGM was held on 7 May 2008 and it was with regret that our President and long serving club member Reg White did not seek reelection to the position.
Mark Slough assumed the position as President unopposed and Mark will carry on the excellent leadership role that Reg has given the Club during his tenure as President.
All other office bearers were re-elected unopposed with the exception of the three General Committee positions.
However, after a ballot the three existing members retained their Committee status.
During the season, in addition to the Club’s regular Wednesday Night competition, the Water Dragons performed well in a number of Carnivals, most notably the Combined Leagues Club Carnival at North Cronulla where the Club finished second in the Championship to a very strong Cronulla team.
However, the Water Dragons were successful at our own St.George Carnival at Carss Park where the Club won the two prestige events namely the Saints Shield (a-ten-a-side relay) beating our nemesis Cronulla by a massive 2.56 seconds.
In the other blue ribbon event, a self-nominated combined time for a 25-metre and 50-metre swim, Arthur Mattingly – our long-time, hard-working Secretary and Life Member of the Leagues Club, the Sports Council and Swimming Club – won the event with a time which was.01 outside his nominated combined times.
That’s right 1/100th of a second.
Well done Arthur.
During the Season the Club welcomed a number of new swimmers to the fold those being Rod Smith, Billie and Ray Halpin, John Weir and Kathy Johnson.
To all the readers of this article who were interested enough to read this far and who may be contemplating joining our Club, you might be interested to know that the Club’s oldest active swimmer is 75 and our youngest 31.
The handicap times of our swimmers in the 50-metre events have a time differential of 57 seconds between the fastest and slowest swimmer.
This equates to every swimmer having an equal chance of winning – no matter how fast or slow they may be.
Remember, not every one can be an Eammon Sullivan or a Libby Trickett.
The Water Dragons Swim Club formed in 1964 and provides friendly competition as well as renowned camaraderie.
It’s also an enjoyable competitive activity to keep fit.
Any Leagues Club Member contemplating joining the Water Dragons on Wednesdays or who simply wishes to make inquiries concerning the Club, the format of competition or the venues, please contact Pauline Webley at the Leagues Club during office hours on 95871022.
Ian Langley,
Publicity Officer
