Sunday, January 11, 2009

Southern Pacific Masters Association (SPMA) will hold two swim meets on the same weekend!


SPMA - has a total eight short-course-yards Masters meets coming up in the ensuing months and two of them: The Rose Bowl SCY Meet, and the UC Irvine Masters Meet will be held on the same weekend.
  • Rose Bowl Short Course Yards Meet New Meet Added
    Saturday, February 7, 2009

  • UCI Short Course Yeards Meet
    Sunday, February 8, 2009
I am worried that having these two meets on the same weekend will literally divide the participation of the two events with those clubs in the north, SCAQ, UCLA, WH2O swimming at the Rose Bowl while NOVA and the Nadadores swim down in their hometown of Orange County.

I think the turnout at both meets will be anemic and I am hoping for a schedule change.

Above are satellite images of both the Rose Bowl Pools and the UC Irvine pool

For a list of all the great events SPMA has:

[Link]

9 comments:

Rob D said...

I thought that was a little weird too. At least the events are totally different.

I'm bummed they announced the Rose Bowl meet so much later than the others. 2 meets in one weekend would definitely make my 4 hour drive into LA worth it. Too bad I already signed up for a bike event that Saturday. I'm still planning on coming down for UCI though.

Are you making your way out to Vegas for the meet there later this month?

Ahelee said...

I am pretty sure it had to do with scheduling and pool availability... Definitely NOT the choice of either race director!

I say STEP-UP SPMA SWIMMERS!

Lets make a GREAT masters swim meet weekend out of this and really get some FAST swim training in mid-season.

I have been studying quite a bit about various ways to "swim faster".
All the great swimming minds out there say, you have to practice swimming fast to go fast. What better way than swimming in a lot of meets?

I know some masters swimmers say they have done their best times in a swim practice.
To those, I say - get a better warm-up at the meet and be more ready to go when you step up on the blocks!

Ahelee said...

See you in Las Vegas Saturday the 24th - and then in Tuscon the next day for the Polar Bear Classic!

Gotta practice racing and swimming fast - Nationals are in CALIFORNIA this Spring!

Anonymous said...

meh. either way it yards! Is it LCM season yet?

Tony Austin said...

I am becoming a meters snob too! Long course is so boss!

I will be at the rose Bowl meet and I am hopeful about UC Irvine.

If I wear a speedsuit it will be my Nike. I am saving the TYR Tracer for the holy days of regionals and nationals.

Unknown said...

Don't forget about the annual Valentines Affair at Koret Center at Uiversity of San Francisco, the meet that kick starts the scy season in Norcal. It is fun, and it is really good to see so many meets on your short course schedule. There is some unfortunate news coming out of Pacific Masters. Due to the University of Santa Cruz closing the pool for maintenance this summer, Pacific Masters is presently looking for an alternate venue for the LC Champs this season. Santa Cruz Masters has been hosting this meet for many years and I look forward to swimming there next season.

Ahelee said...

Yup - The Valentine's Affair Meet is the best meet up in NorCal. When I moved down to the south and the SPMA, I still flew up to SF for this meet.

I was very disappointed to see the scheduling this season -landing all of these 3 meets on the same weekend! I haven't missed the Valentine's Affair in several years...

Hey I'm sure something will work out for your LC Champs. But if not our location in Thousand Oaks is AWESOME! They will have completed the new warm-up pool for this meet and it is pretty far north in the SPMA. Maybe we'll see some of you there!

Hi to the Santa Rosa gang... and Coach Hermine!

Ahelee said...

Congratulations to Coach Chad and the Rose Bowl Masters for pulling off a terrific Distance Meet for the SPMA masters today!

The first few hours were a downpour of rain, but everything continued moving forward.

Extra Rose Bowl EZups were launched and the hot tub was roaring and hot. There was even Starbucks coffee, fresh oranges, and krispy donuts to be had where Trish was manning the front table.

The meet began with 5 heats of the 500 FREE!! Who would have thought so many masters would show up on a rainy winter day for an outdoor distance meet?

But they did - and swam great.
Some funny strories were:

86 year old Maurine Kornfield came rushing out for her 200 free heat, which she missed because she had trouble getting her fastskin swim suit on fast enough. Good officials found a lane for her in the next heat.

An elderly male masters swimmer with an entry time of 8:00+ in the 200 Back, swam an EXTRA 50 at the end of his race. No one stopped him because all were stunned he turned and wanted to keep swimming!

The Rose Bowl is a fun and legendary place to race. They even have their own swim shop in the lobby of the complex! Pasadena is a cool old town to visit. Beautiful neighborhoods with old homes and lots of good spots to eat.

Hope next year, we can organize a nice social attached to the event to attend after the meet ends.

This was a great meet that should turn into a tradition in the future. The race announcer was trying to come up with a name for the event, but I think between now and next year, they can create something better!

With more notice, the organizers should be able to split the meets on different weekends and everyone can swim and not be forced to choose between two meets on one weekend.

HOWEVER - I did hear many swimmers talking about being in Irvine for the sprint meet tomorrow!

See you at UC Irvine bright and early!

(I wonder if UCI has a hot tub?)

Tony Austin said...

I made it as a post too as well as a comment. You would be a great blogger or swim writer.