The next race night for this year is on Friday 6 March

REMEMBER TO REGISTER EARLY ON CLUB NIGHT:  WARM –UP at 5.30 pm; MARSHALLING at 6.15 pm; RACING at 6.30 pm

And for the calendar: club race nights for the first half of the year are…3 April / 1 May / 5 June & 26 June 2009.

Another reminder - could all parents who get this newsletter please print it out and give it to any of their children who are members of the club. An awful lot of our racers never get to see this newsletter and that can only be described as unfortunate! It really is important that they get the feedback and information contained here, so, to the printer!

FURTHER SUCCESSES CONTINUE FOR CKPP SWIMMERS.  At the recent state-wide SPEEDO SPRINT SERIES/ METROSOUTH EAST REGIONAL HEATS held at the Bexley outdoor pool on 10th February, Thirteen swimmers represented the club and many of the younger swimmers achieved PBs despite the soaring temperatures. Full details in the next newsletter. In the interim congratulations to Jasper Goodall who got through to the finals. The main goal of the club is to see our swimmers improve and in that regard the CKPP results were spectacular.

Our swimmers have also achieved outstanding results at recent SCHOOL CARNIVALS… these results will be highlighted in our next newsletter and poster.

PERFORMANCES AT THE RECENT OCEAN SWIMS highlight the dedication and commitment of Be-a-Sport/CKPP squad members and reflect the on-going efforts of coaches Steve and Vlad. Particular mention needs to be made of senior squad swimmer LOUISE STEPHENSON who has made dramatic strides in ocean swimming over the last few months. She recently swam the "Big Swim" (of 2.9 km) and she described it as follows : it was terribly hard - it was like being in a washing machine. Your legs getting pushed one way, body pulled in the other direction and your arms flying everywhere. With over 1,500 entrants it has to be one of the most notable swims of the year" .  Louise completed the swim in 36mins & 1 second placing her 1st in her age group, 4th female and 15th overall which is simply an outstanding effort. She followed this up in the Manly Cole Classic (held over 1.7km) and again Louse starred with  1st in her age group, 4th female and 8th overall out of 1,900 competitors. The word "congratulations" does not seem adequate!

Louise writes : As some of you are aware I have been spending many hours in the pool watching a black line. I have now decided to embark on a bigger challenge and swim from the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Manly Wharf a total distance of 11km on 15th March 15. In doing so I am asking for your support and would ask that you make a donation to the Black Dog Institute.  Each year thousands of people are affected by depression and The Black Dog Institute aims to improve the lives of those affected by depression, and the lives of their families and friends. Please click on this link to visit my fundraising page to find out all about it. http://www.everydayhero.com.au/louise_stevenson . Please dig deep to sponsor me. It only takes a few seconds.   NB: Ocean racing schedules can be found at  www.oceanswims.com.au

RACE NIGHT held on 6th February 2009  Club competition is all about learning to race, having fun and improving your "Personal Best" or PB. On the last race night a fantastic 36 PBs were set which is close to a club record. Some of the races were simply amazing - for example in the Boys 25m breaststroke, all 6 swimmers did a PB, while in the girls 5 of the 6 did a PB - great effort all around. Congratulations to the following swimmers who excelled on the 6th - Cecile Vadas, Layla Williams (2), Jasper Goodall (2), Sophie Kass (2), Sophie Laycock, Romane Molle (2), Xanthe Christopher (4, including a whopping 11 second improvement in the 25m fly!), Marlena Berzins (2), Lily Laycock, Matilda Marinoni (3, one of which was another whopper of 10 seconds!), Olivia Piazza (2), Leo Christopher (3), Luca Godwin, Robbie Berzins (2), Henry Palmerlee (3), Billy McGuirk, Lara Molle, Emily Kass (2) and Tui Ryder-Nuku (2).  With so many multiple PBs it was tough going to win "Swimmer of the Meet" for February. However if you swim 4 excellent races out of 4, and get 4 PB's, it makes it hard for the competition, which is what one swimmer did!  Congratulations to Xanthe Christopher, Swimmer of the Month for February !

CKPP SWIMMER OF THE YEAR  The competition for Swimmer of the Year is based on each swimmers performances throughout the year at club race nights, with a PB counting for 4 points, a near PB for 3, being within 1 second is worth 2 points and for each race entered 1 point is earned. Well done to all the swimmers last week - there were some terrific performances and it is already getting very crowded at the top of the table! Following the race night on the 6th February, the current "Top 5" are: BOYS: Leo Christopher 40pts, Henry Palmerlee 33pts, Jasper Goodall 32pts, Tui Ryder Nuku 27pts, and Tom Mahony (last year's Champion) on 19 points. GIRLS: Romane Molle 40pts, Lara Molle 34pts, Layla Williams 27pts, Petra Goodall 23pts and Cecile Vadas 20 pts. 

TASMANIA 2009: For the past two years we have had very successful trips to the TASMANIAN SHORT COURSE STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS and will be doing it again this year. They will be held from Saturday 5th Sept to Monday 7th  Sept inclusive, but you will need to fly into Hobart on the Friday the 4th.. As with last year you will need to make your own travel arrangements (fly in on the 4th and fly out in the afternoon of Monday the 7th ).  We will try and arrange an attractive accommodation package for all attendees. The great thing about this meet (apart from the fun and competition) is that Swimming Tasmania have advised that swimmers 11 years and under do not need to make a qualifying time to swim the 50 metre events. Once again we will be organising all the club gear for the swimmers and their supporters. It is enormous fun for the whole family so put it in the diary ! More details shortly.

SWIM CARNIVALS COMING UP SOON: MLC BURWOOD DEVELOPMENT MEET Saturday 28 FEBRUARY 2009 (MLC pool, Burwood).Warm up at 2.00pm

See you at the next club night and BBQ on 6th March 2009. Experience the culinary skills of Laurie McGuirk and his team who will be there to satisfy your hunger after a night of racing.