BU Meet - GBM ENews

* * * GBm ENews * * *

BU Meet Report

As hosts of the BU meet we want to express our thanks to everyone who swam in
and supported the meet, including those who traveled some distance from around
the US, from Canada, and in one case from Russia to participate. We also wanted
to thank our tireless team of meet officials. Last, but not least, our thanks
and compliments on behalf of all the participants and the New England LMSC to
Joan Rajfer and the BU meet management team for their excellent meet management.
We look forward to seeing you again next year.

GBM Team Report

One of our swimmers was talking at the BU meet with a friend who swims with one
of the Boston teams.
'So you're with Great Bay Masters…is your team based in Boston?'
'No, we're based in seacoast New Hampshire.'
'That figures, you guys are way too FRIENDLY and FUN to be a Boston team!'
With apologies to our friends in Boston, this little story perfectly sums up the
GBM vibe at the BU meet. We are friendly, we did have fun, and we also swam FAST!

Thanks to the indefatigable efforts of our Motivation Man and team President
Darwin, GBM assembled a solid team of 41 swimmers to travel South for the annual
Duel in the Pool with our friendly rivals from Maine/Winterfell, the Blue
Lobstahs. Despite a valiant effort by a Maine Masters team reduced by
obligations at the Bowdoin meet (or on the Night Watch defending the northern
Wall from the wildings), GBM wrested back the club trophy after a spirited
weekend of swimming competition. Team GBM included battle tested vets as well
as first time meet swimmers, who all contributed to our impressive points total
of 3,303. As usual the heart of the team's strong performance was in the
Relays, where we notched up a stupendous 11 First, 6 Second, and 8 Third place
finishes.

The meet attracted almost 500 entrants, including an impressive roster of elite
masters swimmers who took down 6 world and 14 national masters records. There
were many highlights for team GBM. The biggest splash was made by team stalwart
Dick, who marked his 'ageing up' meet by beating the old New England record in
the 200IM and with a team best haul of 147 individual points, 6th highest among
men at the meet. Congratulations Dick on your great swimming!

The weekend started with an impressive turnout of 9 GBM swimmers for the 800 on
Friday night. A similarly impressive 9 swimmers also competed on the 400IM
later in the weekend, and a further 2 swims in the 200Fly to round out the
'tough trio'. Brett G, Crystie, Steve M and Steve P doubled up on the 800 and
400IM. Keep hanging tough guys and gals! There were many great swims,
including huge time drops for Kasia – 25 secs on her 400IM! – a number of near
bests for Gail P and a bold 100Fly by Pat C. King sandbagger prize goes to
Jerry, whose fine 100Back was 9 seconds faster than his seed time.

GBM was pleased to welcome new members, and to welcome back a number who have
not swum in a meet for a while, including David L - who flew up from Florida to
swim with us - Buzz, Cristophe, Elizabeth, Manya and Rachel C. JenZ, Julia and
Steve K responded to the last push recruiting effort to make big contributions
to team victory.

Our swimming seniors continue to lead the team from the front. The 240+ relays
contributed 4 wins and Aagje(102), Phil(117) and were also high point
centurions. Other high point centurions were team hero Crystie(119), Bart
(104.5), Guy (108), Steve M(102). Kirk and Jerry were also just narrowly below
100 points and both participated in 4 winning relays.

Thanks everyone for joining us on deck - next time bring friends!

New President

Darwin has been an energetic and enthusiastic leader for Team GBM for a number
of years, bringing his generous spirit, big personality and a large dose of fun
to our team. Please join us in thanking Darwin for his wonderful contributions
to our team. Darwin will be standing down from the Presidency at the end of the
year, though we are pleased that he will remain on the Board as VP, continuing
his distinctive recruitment and team motivational program. Guy has been elected
by the Board to succeed Darwin in the new year.

Our team hero Coach Crystie has been the key figure in team GBM for some time
now. Her quiet but forceful presence on deck has challenged us all to work that
little bit harder, and her exceptional prowess in the pool inspires us to
improve our own swimming skills. Her efforts have been central to the
continuing success of the BU meet and our other club events throughout the year.
She has also fostered a growing social vibe among the team that continues to
build the community of our club.

BIG THANKS TO CRYSTIE AND DARWIN!!

Finally, we should never overlook that we are fortunate to have many members who
support the club through their work on the Board or volunteering at club events
or supporting the club in other ways. We would like to thank all of them for
their contributions and particularly Dick Arnold (our club Secretary) and Phil
Read (Treasurer) for their many years of service to the club.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TEAM!!!!

GBM Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/31774839843/
BU Meet Results: http://scmchamps.blogspot.com/2012/12/2012-nelmsc-results.html