Champion Stories

Records set for NY Manhattan Swim and State Masters Relay 

NY Manhattan Swim record

Melbourne Powerpoints member, Oliver Wilkinson, won and set a new record for the 28.5-mile Manhattan Match Race and Record Attempt on September 28, 2011.

Ollie, who is an experienced marathon swimmer, came in at 5:44:02 to set the men’s and overall record. He is has previously swum the channel in the UK in 2009 and came first, this year, in both the bloody big swim in Australia and the Lake Windermere swim in the UK. For more details on Ollie’s achievements: http://www.nycswim.org/UserBio.aspx?UserID=112677

Powerpoints set world record and come first overall in Masters Relay

Melbourne Powerpoints set a world record in the 4 x 100 medley (160+ age group) with Helen Whitford, Sally Cuming, Gill O'Mara and Jennie Bucknell and also won the Victorian Masters Relay overall on 24 September at Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre (MSAC)

They also scored a national female record for the 4 x 100 free (120+), a branch mixed record for the 4 x 100 medley (120+) and a branch mens record for the 4 x 100 medley (120+).

Powerpoints, a non-profit club, formed in 1979 and encourages adults to swim regularly for fitness, general health, social interaction and competition. It has over 130 members and trains regularly at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert Park. 

Stars unite for flood relief

22 January 2011

The recent devastating floods in Queensland and Victoria touched the lives of many in the swimming community.

Over the coming weeks, more than 40 members of the Australian Swimming team - both past and present - will unite to host swimming events in Queensland, Victoria, the ACT and Western Australia as well as pledging a percentage of their winnings at the upcoming Summer Swim Series to aid flood relief.

On Saturday 22 January, Swimming Victoria and MSAC combined with World Champion Marieke Guehrer to host the Swim Clinic for Flood Relief in Melbourne.

Marieke brought an impressive line of athletes and coaches:

• Michael Klim
• Sophie Edington
• Matt Targett
• Rachel Goh
• Kelly Stubbins
• Sarah Katsoulis
• Dannie Miatke
• Linley Frame
• Ian Pope
• Rohan Taylor

Approximately $6-7K was raised, with proceeds donated to the Flood Relief Appeal.

Melbourne Sports Hub Member Builds iPhone Application

Melbourne Sports Hub member, Alli Black, and her partner Jason Castan have built a new iPhone application to record young swimmers' personal best time in a fun way.

Called PB Go, the application creates a new personal achievement card for every event the user swims in, and features sample data of their 11 year old son Miles swimming at MSAC.  He also stars in the video trailer you can watch on youtube here.

"PB Go is our first iPhone application and it's been a huge learning curve building it together" said Alli.

"We wanted to share with our son his achievements and encourage him to try his best for himself.  Last week we were at the MSAC pool and Miles asked me to time his 50 metre freestyle.  He beat his PB by .06 of a second and we went crazy together punching the air and mucking around.  Everyone around us started laughing."

Alli also attends Soul Pilates on the third floor in MSAC's Wellness Zone, as well as Aqua Exercise in the mornings. 

Speaking about her workouts, Alli said, "I'm really enjoying the aerobic exercise in the pool.  It compliments my pilates classes and both are low impact - building core strength to help manage my lower back." 

The iPhone application:

• makes training more fun
• encourages children to keep fit
• celebrates personal best results
• builds resiliance
• provides a digital tool for interaction between parents and kids.

PB Go is available on the iTunes App Store for $2.49 (http://itunes.com/apps/pbgo).

Rottnest Channel Swim

Two Melbourne Sports Hub members, Andrew Vidler and Chris Swifte, swam for a good cause when they took on the Rottnest Channel Swim, on 20th February 2010.

Vidler and Swifte challenged themselves as they swam the channel from Cottesloe Beach to Rottnest Island in Perth, in Australia’s biggest ocean swim at 19.8kms.

Having set themselves a goal to get back in shape, Vidler and Swifte trained hard in the MSAC pool and gym to make the long distance swim, and raise funds to support three organisations; Bowel Cancer Australia, Prostate Cancer Foundation and Young Care.

In recent times, both of the guys have had close friends and male business colleagues affected by and in a few cases die from men’s health issues.  They are also both passionate about supporting young people in need of 24 hour care, who've been inappropriately placed in nursing homes.

The guys aimed to raise $100,000 for their cause.

Checkout www.ourbigswim.com to find out more about Andrew & Swifty's big swim.