Yesterday saw 12 members of the club travel to the Sydney Aquatic Centre for
the Smithfield A.S.C. 10th Annual Winter Carnival.
With over 4500 entries and up to 12 heats in some events the competition was
extremely tough. Due to the large number of entries the organisers were
forced to use both ends of the competition pool and run the male and female
events simultaneously. Even then the meet still didn't finish until after
4:30pm from a 9:00am start.
A number of members broke their PBs but from our 50 entries we were only able
to win one medal. That medal went to Peter Johnston who placed 3rd in the
Open 50m Breaststroke.
Despite the number of entries the meet ran very well and was one of the few
chances to compete in a short course meet at the Sydney Aquatic Centre.
However not all the action was in the competition pool. A number of Australia's
Olympic stars were present including Michael Klim, Grant Hackett and Giaane
Rooney. The Olympians were busy filming a series of new television
commercials for Channel Nine's coverage of the World Swimming Championships
from Fukuoka, Japan.
The commercials, to air leading up to and during the championships in July,
feature the swimmers in Wide World of Sports swimming costumes in the
Aquatic Centre's diving pool. To add a Japanese flavour to the commercials
they also feature Grant Hackett wrestling with a Sumo.
Apart from being able to watch the filming, during breaks a small number of
competitors were lucky enough to get autographs from the stars.
The meet results will be posted when they become available.
