Swim-A-Thon 2010 Re-Cap
February 3, 2010
By: Kate Sheppard
67 swimmers participated in our Annual swim-a-thon fundraiser this year. Read more here...
Inspiring Swimmers give back for the Strong Communities Campaign
67 swimmers participated in our annual swim-a-thon fundraiser this year. Staff, members and non-members alike completed individual swims and relay swims over the course of the four day fundraiser. Just as with every year, swimmers came from a wide variety of backgrounds and abilities. And just as with every year, it was an inspiring event.
On Wednesday, a plethora of swimmers got caught in the wave of the a-thon. Many knew the swim-a-thon was taking place and showed up early, pledge forms in hand. Others had no idea and got swept up in the momentum. On this day, Zoe, a long time masters swimmer, put up the number to be beat for the women, completing 176 lengths. In the next hour Lynn bested it by two laps.
The first group of relay teams competed Wednesday morning. Robin brought six of her co-workers, all non-members, who split into two separate relay teams “The Poseidon’s” and “The Underwater Basket Weavers.” When they weren’t swimming, they spent their time cheering and smack-talking the other relay teams. Robin would come back and swim again on Friday with one other friend in a “Twin Torpedoes” relay. All participants said they would see us next year.
The first staff relay was also underway at 7am. Mike Stancil, Brian Crabb, Lorraine Albert and Kate Sheppard sprinted freestyle for an hour alternating 50’s and racked up 226 laps.
Wednesday’s noon swim saw the top number for the men when Matt completed 200 laps within the hour.
Thursday’s only swim – the 6am group, proved to be quiet, but Friday was back with a vengeance.
Friday morning swimmers enjoyed 15 minute massages donated by our very own member DB. Members were incredibly appreciative of getting a massage before or after their long morning swim.
On Friday, the noon masters proved to be the most inspiring hour of the four days. Six individual swimmers competed in just two lanes. One of them was Anthony, an 11 year old swimmer who completed an impressive 80 laps in the hour. Next to Anthony was Oleg, Matt and Dave. They held under a 29 second pace per 50 in their three-man relay, completing 247 laps in the hour. And in the neighboring lane, Vyji swam a relay with her two kids, Vir and Prina ages seven and five, completing 112 laps.
On Saturday morning new members Vance and his wife Lauren raised $300 for their swim. Several other members made Saturday their swim day, including Lizzie Trindle and a staff member Brian Szeto.
The final relay team also hit the water Saturday made up of the three staff members Cary Fulbright, Delorean Reese, Kate Sheppard and also a father of a swim team participant, Wayne Larkin representing for the YPac Pirates swim team. A few swim team parents came to watch the spectacle. They logged 200 laps for the hour.
With pledge forms still trickling in, some anonymous generous donors and make-up swims still to be completed, we are optimistic we will reach our 10k goal.
Special thanks to our staff who came and tallied and cheered over the four days, including Noah Brown, Jason Castleberry, Bri Slusser, Ben Caldwell, Kristen Hess, Suzy Dito, Tim Staley, Pablo Zavala, Sina Szabados, Will Fisher, Jon Binnie, Oleg Litvinov, Kristen Dambrowski, Lorraine Albert and former staff member Kory O’Rourke with her two children.
Thank you to all others who helped us to promote this swim a thon. Thank you to Caoilfhionn, a staffer from membership, for all her incredible work talking up the swim-a-thon to the members. Without her it would not have been possible. Thanks to other membership staffers, Don and Q as well as all the aquatics staff who stepped up and recruited. Oleg Litvinov was very instrumental in the recruitment and promotion process and once again made the swim-a-thon fun.
This was an event to remember and we couldn’t have done it without you!
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