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Chlorine ChronicleNMSC Nov/04 NewsletterWorld Masters Championships 2004Newsletter Contents | Previous Article | Next Article by Trent Peden Outdoor swimming. In June. In Riccione, Italy. With 14000 other registered participants. It could only be: The 2004 World Masters Championships. Thanks to a number of people who helped me along the way, I had the opportunity to compete in the largest FINA swimming competition ever. About 5000 of those 14000 registrations were for the swimming competition. To handle this, FINA chose the city of Riccione, Italy which built a brand new 50 meter indoor pool beside their existing outdoor 50 meter pool (all World Masters competitions are long course meets). The swimmers were only able to use the pool for practice or warm-up if they competed on that day. This caused me some problems as I had my five swims on 3 of 7 days. Luckily, the “security” wasn't too hard to work my way through, and I was able to swim each day. Prior to heading to Italy, Chris Smith and Pat Niblett had done a fantastic job organizing a Canadian contingent of approximately 40 swimmers, complete with Team Canada jackets, pants, shirts and caps. We weren't allowed to make a fully Canadian team for relays, so we formed TOMS, the Team Ontario Masters Swimmers. This enabled me to swim the anchor leg on a 200+ mixed 4 x 50 free relay, which I completed in a personal best time of 24.96. I really lucked out on my accommodation at the meet. Jim Wright from Technosport had arranged an apartment that turned out to be a 4 min walk from the pool. We immediately turned our apartment into “The Canada House”. The Canada House was a place where people could rest between races (most of the other swimmers were a minimum 20 - 30 minute walk from the pool), see postings of who was swimming that day, or just relax with our fellow Canadians (and other adopted Canadians). The meet itself was officially opened on June 1st with the Opening Ceremonies. About 15 of the Canadians had a great team dinner beforehand and then marched as a team down to the beach where the ceremonies took place.
My first two events were the 200 IM and the 100 Free. I was using a Fast Skin, farmer john swimsuit for the first time that had been provided to me at a very nicely reduced price by Doug Perks of Team Aquatics Supply. When I dove in for my 200 IM I was a little worried about how weird it felt (kind of like sinking actually), but when I saw my 2:20.17, I knew I had found a new favorite racing suit. My next race was the 100 free that afternoon. I was a little tired at the end of it, but was happy with my 56.43. I then had three full days off before my next race and took off to see the sights. The first stop was San Marino, an independent republic. It's an amazing mountain city that has never been taken over and apparently invented the crossbow. As you can see from the picture below, it is quite difficult to attack a city positioned so strategically. After San Marino, it was off to Firenze (or Florence). This was simply a fantastic jaunt and was a perfect way to spend a couple days off from swimming.
Upon returning to Riccione, I was able to continue my personal best streak with a 29.89 50 Back, 25.30 50 Free and finished the meet off with a 1:04.50 100 Back. All-in-all I was able to bring home 4 medals and 5 personal bests. This was much better than I thought I was going to do when I saw I wasn't seeded in the top 10 in any of my events going into the meet. My entire trip would not have been possible had it not been for some very generous people and companies. Namely Somos in Ottawa, CGIS of Perth, and Town and Country Chrysler of Smiths Falls who all generously helped me with sponsorship money. In addition, a significant on-deck donation from the NMSC “A” group swimmers and coaches, as well as NMSC donating clothing and gear to help me show off my fantastic masters club all over Europe. Without these contributions, I wouldn't have been able to accomplish the things that I accomplished on this trip. I offer up my sincere gratitude once again to each of them. This was a trip of a lifetime. Cheers and good swimming to all. Trent |
June 6th, 2004 - Opening Ceremonies
