Issue 02 - University of Surrey's Student Union

Open Water Swimming
By Nick Martin
Open water swimming is by definition, an activity in which people swim
in large bodies of water such as oceans, bays, lakes and rivers. It is a
pastime, a way to challenge yourself and also a competitive Olympic
sport, the first modern Olympics in 1896 held all swimming events
in open water. More recently the International Olympic committee
has added a 10km open water swim which featured in the 2008
Olympics.
Recently open water swimming has become increasingly popular,
mostly through increased participation in multisport events such as
triathlons. A large number of triathlons involve swim legs which are
held in open water especially as the distance of the race increases. This
is how I got involved with open water swimming, my first competitive
event was during the summer. I found it much different to swimming
in a pool where you can see the bottom and there are no waves!
The emphasis on the sport is on endurance over long distances as
opposed to shorter races which are held in swimming pools. Distances
of vary from 750m to 4kms for most triathlons to longer distance
events of over 25kms. This means the most important aspect of an
open water swimmers stroke is to focus on an efficient technique as
opposed to sprint speed. In general front crawl is the chosen stroke
since it offers
the most efficient way of swimming over a prolonged distance and for
triathlons keeps strain on legs muscles down to a minimum for the
bike and the run sectors.In response to the rise in competitive events
involving longer distance swimming, the Swimming and Water Polo
Club have elected an open water swimming captain to help people
get involved in this increasingly popular area of sport. Most events
will be based around multidisciplinary sports such as aquathlons and
triathlons, however, open water swimming specific events as well as
training will be organised before the start of the new season next year.
In the mean time pool based swimming takes place at the spectrum
alongside water polo training every Sunday, Monday and Thursday.
For any more information on open water swimming, triathlons,
swimming in general or water polo, don’t hesitate to contact one of
the following people below.
See you in the pool, or maybe even in the sea!
Nick Martin (Open Water Swim Captain) – en51nm@surrey.ac.uk
Clare McCartney (Water Polo Chair) – cm00070@surrey.ac.uk
Trampolinists
Triumph!
By Claire Loveridge - Club Secretary
So far this year, the University of Surrey Trampoline Squad has attended
2 competitions, and successfully come home with 7 medals in the space
of 2 weeks! On the weekend of 15 th November, the squad travelled to
Loughborough University, which slightly puts our sports centre to shame
(wow!). Here Darryl Tott, Keiran Hyland, and myself all won silver medals
in our categories of Advanced, Intermediate and Novice. The following
weekend of the 22 nd , we travelled to Bristol University, which we are only
too familiar with due to BUSA 2008. This time Darryl Tott, Keiran Hyland
and Ashley ‘Danger’ Murray all came home with silver, and I came home
with bronze! Well done to everyone else who competed, especially to those
who competed for their first time. All in all a great success, and it is only
December…. Watch this space!
L-R: Ashley Murray, Darryl Tott, Claire Loveridge and Keiran Hyland.
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