Island Swimming

Thursday, February 17, 2011

ISA at Western Canadian Championships

Hello from sunny Kamloops! We have 16 Island Swimming athletes competing this weekend; Heidi Bradley, Peter Brothers, Will Brothers, Guilherme Furtado, Rebecca Langlois, Sarah Mabee-Hall, Caroline Macdonald, Tanner Milne, Stefan Nasedkin, Jessie Ogden, Taylor Padington, Alec Page, Sean Penhale, Raquel Solmer, Chantal Walter and Keegan Zanatta.

We just finished our first day of the meet. Alec and Keegan led things off by finishing first and second in the 17 and over boys 800m freestyle with personal best times. Sean finished 5th overall and Stefan was 20th. Will also finished first in the 16 and under boys 800m freestyle with a personal best time. Younger brother, Peter finished 15th and was the top 14 year old in the 16 and under category.

Taylor swam to a huge personal best time in the girls 16 and over 1500m freestyle and finished fourth and Jessie swam to a 10th place finish in the girls 15 and under in the same event. Gui is going into B finals for 50 fly and 50 back, Alec is going into the B final for the 50 Breast and Heidi will swim in the A final for 50 back later on in the meet.

The 4 x 200m freestyle relay saw the girls finish 9th overall. The boys A team finished 3rd and the B team was 14th. At the end of day one, the team is sitting in second place behind the Cascades Swim Club from Calgary.

Day 2 tomorrow includes 100 back, 200 breast, 50 free and 400 IM along with the 4 x 100m freestyle relay. Go Island!

Click here for live results

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Britain Tour - A Report from Coach Neil

After landing in London prior to New Years 2011, the Canadian Youth team quickly settled into a VERY spartan dorm in the Crystal Gardens area of South London. Without much ado, the group, including ISA athletes Alec Page and Keegan Zanatta, accompanied by Coach Neil Harvey, got down to work.

Training was vigorous almost from the first practice. This is a group of the best 18 and under swimmers in Canada, and they were in England to experience training in the land of the 2012 Olympics. The weather since arriving (18 days ago), has seen the sun only 3 times with rain half the time. This is no tourist tour.

The first week finished after a nice New Years trip downtown to see the fireworks. The fatigue was just setting in. After a long delayed bus trip way up to the north east coast near the border with Scotland we arrived in Sunderland. As the rain pelted out it's rhythmic welcome, we settled into a sprawling labyrinth of a hotel right on the coast of the north sea. Can you say quaint? Then back to business.

This time we were training with the England under 19 squad called England Talent. The groups mixed in as did the coaches and we shared ideas and practices for the rest of the week. As expected, the training was very competitive and the groups got along just fine. At the end of the week they hosted a dual meet to see what was what!! Well, after 3 sessions of back and forth, race after race, the lead switching on almost every swim...Canada came out the victors by a scant 4 points. It was down to the men's 200 fly which Mack Darragh from Oakville won in fine style. We put the finishing touch on the meet with a convincing win by the women's 4x100 medley relay. Of course we all forgot the score by the end of lunch :) We did manage a day trip to Newcastle for a look about and some shopping. Nice old town!

Monday saw another day of training in the modern Sunderland pool followed by a short 2 hour trip to the middle England city of Sheffield. The Ponds Forge pool here is the best pool in England, so they say. After the sauna that was Sunderland, we have certainly walked into its rival for air quality. Sweat equity indeed. However... we spent 4 more days of hard training (only 1 session with the very strong local squad) and are now into the meet called the Burns Open Invitational. Some of the best swimmers in Britain are here. Elizabeth Simmons (200 back 206+) and Rebecca Adlington (Beijing 800 meter gold medalist!!) and Liam Tancock (current world record holder 50 back) are all in attendance.

The Canadians are standing up and competing very well indeed. One more day of competition to go. We are looking forward to another great day of racing. Today is day 21 of this long and valuable trip. The swimmers are looking forwards to going home as you would expect (coaches too).
See you soon!

Neil

Burns Meet Live Results

Photos

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Results from Sunderland

Keegan and Alec are doing great in Sunderland, England.

Swimming Canada Article

Results ~ Sunderland Triangular Meet (50m)

Friday, January 7, 2011

Hub International Barton Insurance signs on as a World Trials Gold Sponsor

Read about it...

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Keegan Zanatta and Alec Page head to England

Island Swimming athletes, Keegan Zanatta and Alec Page left for England yesterday with Coach, Neil Harvey and the rest of Canada's Youth team. Check back for updates.