ETWALL EAGLES SWIMMING CLUB

There was no Cup but plenty of Cheese, Cereal, and Belly Dancing DVD’s for the Etwall Masters in Prague.

A travelling party of twenty made the trip to the Czech Capital for the two-day Neptun Cup and the clubs 2008 European adventure. Taking on strong opposition from 37 clubs representing 10 different nations including the Ukraine and Germany, the Eagles came away with a variety of prizes (more on that later).

The pool located within the famous Sparta Prague Football stadium was awash with swimmers performing against a back drop of euro pop and presentation parades to the theme from Rocky.

The event’s point scoring system, prizes and relay’s were certainly different and made for a pleasant change. No attempt will be made to explain the scoring except to say complex!

Forget about medals, success in this event can be measured in cheese! And we won kilos of the stuff, in addition to…….vitamins, DVD’s, Cereal Bars and an Olive Boat! All of which made for a nice change from the traditional medal and ribbon.

The fantastically titled Crawl O’Mania turned into a classic with Etwall finishing 2nd on time and 4th overall once converted into points. The Eagles made numerous trips to the podium throughout the weekend for the Mixed, Male & Female relays.

For once there was no travelling farce for the Vice Captain Mr Vickers, in fact the only thing worth noting (for a change) was his performances in the Pool! A number of club records including his wild card 100m Fly swim saw the Bolton Bullet confirmed as Etwall’s top male performer in the ‘Master of Style’ standings, his 25th place finish just edging out Dave and Chris.

The Ladies once again out performed the men with two in the top ten Helen (6th) and Ruth (8th). Anne (22nd), Jaq (26th), and Janet (41st) ensured the team finished in an excellent 4th place whilst the men finished in a highly respectable 7th.

First in the water was our experienced European campaigner Clive David Smith. The Team Manager is roaring back to his 2006 prime and the squad is once again being treated to the site of Smith streaking ahead of the field and hanging on!

If you’re going to make your Masters debut then an overseas meet in Prague is as good as any! Andy Markgraf who became the 24th swimmer to represent the club this year, enjoyed solid swims throughout, setting a new club record in the 100m Backstroke.

The swim of the Meet went unanimously to Jaq Graham with a storming sub 30 second swim in the 50m Freestyle, however more impressive was the 50m Backstroke – now this little secret is out a few more Backstroke swims now await!!

Steve Chamberlain who enjoys the odd airport or two swam well in the long distance Freestyle events

All results were converted into points and age groups combined to provide one overall winner. Prizes were awarded to the top five individuals in each event; this format made the competition extremely tough but didn’t prevent four Eagles from making the ‘parade of champions’.

Helen collected wins in the Breaststroke events, a 4th in the 100m Freestyle, and 5th in the 50m Butterfly. Ruth and Dave took 5th places in the Backstroke events, with Jaq placed 5th in the 50m Freestyle.

Many thanks to the Neptun Masters for organising an enjoyable event.

Overall Master of Style Positions

(Etwall Ladies only)

6. Helen Rollé (50/100 BR) 185.81 points

8. Ruth Lowe (50/100 BK) 184.42

22. Anne Pearson (50/100 BR) 173.22

26. Jaq Graham (100/200 IM) 168.30

41. Janet Briggs (200/400 FC) 149.61

Overall Master of Style Positions

(Etwall Men only)

25. Garry Vickers (50/100 FC) 175.00

26. Dave Holland (50/100 FC) 174.82