Winchester City Penguins Swimming Club - News Archive
- Winchester Fit for the Future Campaign
Winchester Fit for the Future is a new campaign, which aims to secure high-quality, sustainable sports and leisure facilities that can meet the needs of our growing city and the broader district. Read more... - Stanmore School Lessons
Sixty children took part in an intensive week-long swimming course. The pupils were presented with swimming certificates and badges during a school assembly. Read more... - News from Mallorca
Saturday - After an easy day on Wednesday the swimmers were back to hard work on Thursday with a tough test set in the evening session. Swimmer of the Day was Laura, for pushing herself to the absolute limit. The following morning started with a T30 in which Chris's performance earned him the Swimmer of the Day award for Friday. Today, Saturday, we had a later start than usual so were able to pack and leave our rooms before the final session. Everyone chose an event for a time trial with 100m freestyle being the most popular. We have had a final team meeting where Kevin congratulated everyone for their efforts in training and for the way they have conducted themselves. The total distance covered by the group during the week was 1,410,450m! John had the closest guess. Final awards were made to Tom and Ashia who were nominated male and female Swimmers of the Week. We are now spending the final few hours shopping or relaxing in the sun before the coach transfer to the airport this evening.
Wednesday - All is well, swimmers are working incredibly hard in the pool and the coaches are really pleased. Time between training is spent relaxing at the hotel, eating and sleeping. Yesterday we had an afternoon off to go to the beach. Highlight of the week has to be Tuesday evening's session which included 100 x 50m medley off 1 minute, completed in gale force winds. That was after a 7Km session in the morning. Each night Kevin rewards the Swimmer of the Day. Winners so far have been Ellen on day 1, Maya on day 2, Matt on day 3 and Tom on day 4. Behaviour has been excellent and the swimmers have been a real credit to our club.
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2 Swim 4 Life
On 30th April WCPSC Masters swimmers Rory Fitzgerald and Liz Hatfield, took part in the 2 Swim 4 Life event at the stunning Guildford Lido. This marathon swim entailed swimming a mile on the hour, every hour, for 24 hours (Rory) or 12 hours through the night (Liz) in aid of Help for Heroes.
The water temperature was officially 22-23 degrees but in reality more like 20 degrees, and blustery conditions produced a wind chill that made things seem much cooler, so the conditions ultimately proved more of a challenge than the swim distance. Both swimmers completed their distances however, in what was an amazing and inspiring day (and night!). Of the 114 participants there were only 20 who completed the full 24 miles and of these only 10 managed to complete the swim without resorting to wetsuits. Neither Rory nor Liz resorted to this "easy" option.
If anyone would like to make a donation please visit www.bmycharity.com/lizhatfield or www.bmycharity.com/roryfitzgerald2S4L. Thank-you. -
Showcase for swimming club's successes and for Dan's skills
Former Peter Symonds student, Dan Loveridge has found a welcoming home for a Product Design project which he completed when he was an A-Level student there. Read the article... -
Saturday's Club Night
Thanks to the kind support of DC Leisure and staff at River Park Leisure Centre, Penguins were able to hold their first Club Night of the season on Saturday, 4 September. The event was attended by members of all squads with swimmers enjoying a fun session in the pool, team games and a water polo match in which even the Head Coach took part!Many thanks to all the swimmers and parents who contributed to the food and drink and helped to make the evening such a success.
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Ali Swims the Channel
Many congratulations to Ali on completing her crossing of the English Channel on Tuesday 3rd August. She started at 3.23am and arrived in France 11 hours and 9 minutes later. You can read Ali's account of her Channel Swim by clicking the link at the end of this news item. So far we have raised nearly £900 from the sponsored swim which is fantastic. If there is any money outstanding please leave a cheque in the College post box or send to Alison Fenwick, 29 Gordon Road, Chandlers Ford, SO53 5AQ asap. For more information on how you can donate to Ali's chosen charities, and full details of this fantastic achievement visit www.aliswimsthechannel.com -
FINA Swimwear Ruling
From 1st January 2010 all competitions in England, Scotland and Wales will be applying the FINA rules below in relation to Swimsuits for swimming (excluding Masters and Open Water) competitions. Current FINA rules state:-- The swimwear (swimsuit, cap and goggles) of all competitors shall be in good moral taste and suitable for the individual sports disciplines and not to carry any symbol which may be considered offensive.
- All swimsuits shall be non transparent.
- The referee of a competition has the authority to exclude any competitor whose swimsuit or body symbols do not comply with this Rule.
- In swimming competitions the competitor must wear only one swimsuit in one or two pieces. No additional items, like arm bands or leg bands shall be regarded as parts of a swimsuit.
- From January 1, 2010 swimwear for men shall not extend above the navel nor below the knee, and for women, shall not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor shall extend below knee. All swimsuits shall be made from textile materials.
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Chris Cook Breaststroke Clinic A Resounding Success!
The Chris Cook Breaststroke Clinic was a great success and a huge thank you goes to Sue Falconer for organising such a memorable and motivating day. Thanks also to all the helpers throughout the day and to everyone who has supported the club's fundraising efforts to enable days like this to happen.The winners of the cookie competition were Freya Rhodes in the morning session and Natasha and Charlotte Bochetta in the afternoon session. Copy of the press article on press page. We hope you all enjoyed the day!
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Parliamentary Cadidate Backs Olympic Pool Plea
Winchester's Tory hopeful is backing a campaign to bring a bigger swimming pool to the city. Steve Brine, prospective Conservative MP, visited the Penguins Swimming Club at a recent training session. The club, despite producing international swimmers such as Julia Beckett, is hampered by the city's small pools.
Steve Brine said "I would like to see a clear signal of intent from an incoming Conservative Government that it is prepared to at least help bring world-class facilities like this to cities such as Winchester for both sporting and long-term health benefit. Read the full article ...The club is currently in discussions with interested parties supporting them in their bid for a new competition pool in the local area.
Any organisations interested in joining the discussions should e-mail Alison Fenwick: secretary@wcpsc.org
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Rory Makes History with Isle Swim
WCPSC Master Squad swimmer, Rory Fitzgerald, along with three other experienced swimmers, braved rough seas and jelly fish stings to complete the first ever Isle of Man end-to-end open water relay. For complete article visit the In The Press web page. - Hampshire County Masters Open Meet
Congratulations to the WCPSC Masters team, winning the top spot at last weekend's Hants County Masters Meet 2009. Results are available from the Hants County website and from our results page. - WCPSC Annual Primary Schools Gala
The WCPSC annual Primary Schools' Swimming Gala was a resounding success! Sponsored by the University of Winchester and Winchester Rotary, the event was attended by 22 local primary schools and involved almost 300 children.
Presentations to the winning schools were made by Winchester Mayor Cllr Hiscock, and sponsors John Eade (President Winchester Rotary), Gerry Moss (Winchester Rotary), Diane Messingham and Simon Hankin (Sainsbury's Winchester) and Caroline Mitcheison (University of Winchester).
Swimmers, parents, teachers and guests alike enjoyed the event, which passed off successfully not only due to the enthusiasm of the swimmers but also to event organiser Thelma Hawkings and the numerous volunteers from WCPSC and the kind co-operation and support of River Park Leisure Centre.
Full press release on press page
- asa Performance Swimming Badges
Penguins are now offering the ASA performance badges, for distances 25 metres to 1500 metres on all strokes plus the IM. There are four levels of achievement - bronze, silver, gold and platinum. It's a great way for the swimmers to mark their improvement and to aim for the next level. A badge with certificate will cost £2 and the stroke flash is 75p. -
Penguins at Winchester Sports Festival
Penguins greeted visitors to the Winchester Sports Festival on Saturday with our own 5' walking penguin! Volunteers manned a stand to promote the club and our increasingly popular lessons during a day of sunshine and fun at Bar End Sports Stadium.
While swimmers enjoyed the taster sessions around the event volunteers handed out flyers and information about the club and attracted the public with photos and trophies from past successes.
Our Lessons Coordinator and swimming teachers Chris Stride and Sarah Standen generously gave their time to greet interested visitors and answer queries.
Visitors were attracted to the stand to guess the number of black and white penguin sweets in the jar. For those who entered the competition you may like to know there were 442 and the winning guess was a very close 450!
Thank you to all who came down to support, particularly our penguins - Isabella Talbot, Chris Sharpe and Oliver Heath. A special thanks to Alison Fenwick and Tim Elliot who were up early on their bank holiday to transport and set up our gazebo and stand. The club's continuing success is dependent on our volunteers, and we are grateful to all those who offer time both at galas and outside events.
'Volunteers are not paid, not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless' - Anonymous - Bag Packing at Sainsbury's
Bag packing at Sainsburys on Saturday was a great success. Twenty swimmers proved excellent ambassadors for the club as they cheerfully packed shopping for two hours and raised £290! A WCPSC publicity stand was erected and Freya Crompton, Lucie Baines, Charlotte Burville and Alicia Warwick greeted shoppers as they entered the store with club details. Thanks go to the four girls, parents who supported, Chris Sharpe, Ellie Cross, Alexa Dymond, Nina Absolom, Emma Falconer, Adam Crompton, Ashia and Laura Fenwick, Luke Kay, Caitlin Gordon, Katie and Laura Jones, Isabella Talbot, Oliver, Rebekah and Thomas Heath and our guest bag packer Holly Crompton. The Committee and Club are grateful for their willing support. Very well done to our junior fund raisers! - The Winchester District Sport and Physical Activity Alliance hosted their first annual sports awards last night (9th December 2008) at the Guildhall, Winchester. The aim of the sports awards is to publicly reward and recognise commitment to and excellence in coaching, volunteering, participation and performance in the Winchester District.
Congratulations go to the following members of WCPSC who were presented with awards in the following categories:- Senior Sportswoman - Julia Beckett
- Master Sportsman - Rory Fitzgerald
- Junior Team - 2008 National Biathlon Champions (Amy Frank, Fenella Langridge and Louisa Warwick)
Congratulations to Rory Fitzgerald on an excellent result at the River Lee, Cork over in Ireland. Rory had an excellent result in the 2000m River Lee swim on Saturday 19th July 2008. He took the gold in the 50+ age group. He also won the Dennis Ollivere trophy for the fasted age adjusted time (measured as a % of the work record in each age group for 800m, scaled up to 2k)- a time of 25 minutes, 45.4 seconds which is 87.97% of the WR (22m 39.5s) - a course record.