Fun, friendship and fitness is the motto at Tuggeranong Vikings Masters Swimming Club, and they’re all smiles this month after freestyling their way to victory at the Masters National Championships.
Canberra’s oldest competitor was 78-year-old Michael Peedom, who scored a stash of medals and proved to all that age is simply a number. Although, Mr Peedom was a young chap compared to some of the competitors, including a 95-year-old woman from Sydney.
Head coach and competitor Anne Smyth says for a little Canberra club to outscore powerhouses from Sydney and Melbourne is a massive achievement.
“It’s very exciting for us! We grabbed lots of participation points which enabled us to be the top scoring club. It was a huge achievement and we’ve never seen anything like this before – it usually goes to Sydney and Melbourne teams,” Anne smiles.
“We won 79 individual medals and 10 relay medals, and of those, 26 were individual gold and four were relay golds.”
A combination of the three Canberra Masters Clubs, it’s the biggest crew they’ve taken to the Masters Nationals.
A couple of years in the making after Covid-19 cancelled the past two years of the competition, diving back into the water was a thrill for the local swimmers.
Caz Makin, another coach for the club, also competed and says the level of talent was high – there were even Olympians taking part.
“Some people think Masters is just a bunch of old hacks swimming along, but there’s some pretty spectacular top swimmers at exceptionally high standards,” Caz says. “Some even compete at World Championships or Open Nationals.”
Both avid childhood swimmers, Anne and Caz were brought back into the pool world as adults, and say it’s one of the best things they’ve ever done for themselves.
“I’m not boasting, but we do swim at fairly high levels. We both won two golds among other medals, but I just love the feeling of competing – I was addicted within three months,” laughs Caz.
“Joining the club was a way to meet people, and I have met so many amazing friends from all over Australia because of it. We’re a very friendly and social club, and we were the loudest at Masters cheering and supporting our team.”
The swimmers span in age from people in their 30s to their late 70s, and Anne says there’s a wide range of experience.
“We have some people who haven’t competed since childhood and just wanted to jump back in the pool, and we had some old hands like us who have been competing for a number of years. So, a good spread,” she says.
“If you know how to swim, you can come along and join. We have about 80 members, and not everyone competes, and some would have no intention of it. They just come down and swim.”
2022 Masters Nationals was held in Sydney over four days, 20-23 April.
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