By TONY FROST
NOOSA Masters Swim Club will be hosting its annual swimming carnival this Saturday 16 May, at the Noosa Aquatic Centre.
Always a popular meet on the Masters swim calendar, this year will be attended by no fewer than 21 clubs: Albany Creek, Aqualicious, Barbarians, Brisbane Southside, Gladstone Gropers, Gold Coast, Hervey Bay Humpbacks, Hobart (Tasmania), Manly (Brisbane), Maryborough, Miami, Noosa, North Mackay, Nudgee Brothers, Redlands Bayside, Bundaberg Rum City, Sunshine Coast, Twin Towns, University Wahoos and University Masters.
A total of 137 swimmers will be competing in a total of 634 events, plus 52 swimmers to contest relay events. The youngest competitors will be three 26 year olds: Stephanie Conlon (Brisbane Southside) , Leigh Kruger (Aqualicious) and Matthew Walker (Nudgee Brothers) , and the honours for the oldest goes to two Noosa legends, both life-members of their club, 86-year-olds Joe Gilbert and Bob McCauland.
There will be four perpetual trophies on offer: two donated by Noosa Heads SLSC, one by Olympic legend John Konrads and one donated by the Noosa Masters Swim Club in honour of late president Pat Mooney.
Traditionally, all Masters swim carnivals finish with aggregate point score winners for large and small clubs. Noosa will be going all out to secure this for large clubs, having secured the honour for this trophy at Riverside City (Brisbane) in January and at Albany Creek a fortnight ago.
The 400-metre events for all strokes will start at 8.30am and all other events at 10.30am, culminating in the always exciting relay events. All members of the public are most welcome to watch swim events and witness Masters swimmers upholding their motto: fun, friendship and fitness.
