London Region Long Course

[Ivor]

Anyone else heading down to Crystal Palace this weekend?

[NotVeryFast]

Yep, I'll be there. I last swam there over ten years ago (in public sessions, never raced there before). I'm told it hasn't fared too well over the years and is in a considerably worse state these days, so I'm a little worried about just how bad it's going to be when I get there. A colleague did mention having to watch out for swooping pigeons while swimming along, and seemed to only be half joking.......

On the plus side, having never raced long course before, every swim will be a PB so long as I manage to not get disqualified.

Oh, and another person mentioned to me that it's rather cold there - any advice on how many layers of poolside clothing are needed?!

[Leprechaun]

Anyone else heading down to Crystal Palace this weekend?

Not me - would have had to leave weds to get there through the traffic. Hate the place - NVF its as cold as you've been led to expect and whatever pigeons havent made their way into the burger bar fare at the shallow end will indeed crap on someone.

Despite my minor personal vendetta I am sure there will be a lot of swimmers there, so hope the training pays off and you all have a great start to the year.

:wave:

[chris_lamb]

Oh, and another person mentioned to me that it's rather cold there - any advice on how many layers of poolside clothing are needed?!

With the weather like it is - 15. Officials at the turn end sometimes need to wear their coats...

[adamlelean]

Not me - would have had to leave weds to get there through the traffic. Hate the place - NVF its as cold as you've been led to expect and whatever pigeons havent made their way into the burger bar fare at the shallow end will indeed crap on someone.


I'll be there. Come on Lepy after last week I wouldn't have thought the cold would bother you.

I rely on the pigeons distracting the officials when I'm swimming my 200 fly.

[Spidey]

I'll be there. Come on Lepy after last week I wouldn't have thought the cold would bother you.

I rely on the pigeons distracting the officials when I'm swimming my 200 fly.

I will be there. Have entered 7 events incuding all 3 backstroke events :aarrgghh: Hope not to keep all waiting whilst I perfect the turns. Also doing the 100m, 20m & 400m Free and will be relying on instinct for the last swim, the 200m I/M. I'd need a whole flock of pidgeons to keep the officials distracted from noticing my costume range.

[NotVeryFast]

Well, day one completed, did my best swim ever according to the comparative performance tables with a 471 point swim, and I really don't see why people dislike the place so much. Traffic was fine on the way there, though driving home around 5pm was a different matter. It wasn't too cold early on due to the sun being quite bright and warming the place up through the glass, though it did get a bit chilly later, and it was certainly good advice to take plenty of warm clothing. Didn't see any pigeons in there. And we all got to see Jane Asher setting multiple World records in her new age group.

[Leprechaun]

Any results to look at yet on any websites?

On reflection I could have entered and also taken part in the RSPB's annual bird count at the same time even if the score was heavily biassed in favour of the pigeon.

[NotVeryFast]

Any results to look at yet on any websites?
Not as far as I've been able to tell - quite keen to see them myself as I only had a very quick look at the end of the last session before joining the lengthy queue to collect a medal.

On reflection I could have entered and also taken part in the RSPB's annual bird count at the same time even if the score was heavily biassed in favour of the pigeon.
I didn't spot any birds of any variety - have you had a particularly unpleasant experience there in the past involving pigeons?!

One thing I do feel obliged to comment on, though, is the cost! They were charging £3 a day for car parking, and £3.50 per day for a programme, so an extra £13 on top of entry fees if you drove there both days and wanted programmes.

[chris_lamb]

Any results to look at yet on any websites?

Service not quite up to old SCASA standards :D

[Leprechaun]

I didn't spot any birds of any variety - have you had a particularly unpleasant experience there in the past involving pigeons?!

perhaps the cracks in the windows are now big enough to let the pigeons out during the daytime. Not had a bad experience, just that it was amusing to be sitting chilling out in the upper balcony and find that pigeons sat on the seats beside you. And the starter's pistol used to get them moving. If they have been moved on then fine by me, just sorry you werent there to witness it!


One thing I do feel obliged to comment on, though, is the cost! They were charging £3 a day for car parking, and £3.50 per day for a programme, so an extra £13 on top of entry fees if you drove there both days and wanted programmes.
I dont even think the (pigeon)burgers are reasonably priced either.

and nothing will ever match the efficiency of "Lamb Inc" for getting results on the web.
Next year Spain

[Spidey]

Service not quite up to old SCASA standards :D

The car parking fees were not taken by London Swimming and I remember them being charged in previous years. There always seems to be a fee for entering the car park when there is more than one event on. I did think of just driving through like some I saw, but I could not really complain when it costs some £14 to park in Kingston for the same length of time. Yes the programme fee was higher than I would have anticipated and this stopped me having a cup of tea on the first day as I only took my small evening purse on the Saturday. Armed with shopping purse, I was able to have sufficient coins to buy Fair-trade coffee for all on the Sunday. Nice shiny programme at Sheffield at £5 seems quite reasonable now. Whinge over, thank you to Julian and his team for running the meet, after all I got three Gold, two Silver and two Bronze medals.

[angelman]

The car parking fees were not taken by London Swimming
There were two money saving choices. Either stay at the lodge for £28 per night (somewhat Spartan but included a reasonable breakfast), or park behind the stadium and take a 3' walk over the bridge to the pool for free (keep bearing right past those gatekeepers to get there).

Whinge over, thank you to Julian and his team for running the meet
I thought that it was better organised than in the past.
Entry completed there was a rapid email response to let you know that it had been received.
There was a good running commentary throughout (though perhaps not up to either Ian Woollard, or the French standard). For instance you immediately knew when a record had been broken (unlike last year when there were 2 unannounced World records).
Julian was to be congratulated on a slick presentation.
The only missing item was free sun-glasses for all to avoid being dazzled by the plethora of bright racing suits....357

[Spidey]

There was a good running commentary throughout (though perhaps not up to either Ian Woollard, or the French standard). For instance you immediately knew when a record had been broken (unlike last year when there were 2 unannounced World records).
Julian was to be congratulated on a slick presentation.
The only missing item was free sun-glasses for all to avoid being dazzled by the plethora of bright racing suits....

The announcer - was I the only one to hear on the Saturday the announcement he made ""The swim shop was closing and would not be back on Sunday, So if you want something for the weekend, better get there now"".
I'll warn you in future when I will wear the Green Leggings, Honeycombe Jammers of Spidey suit in future.

[GettingFaster]

Cracking! Sue Lauder (I think that's her name) is also absolutely brilliant as an announcer, she had us in bits a couple of years ago, teasing the ref and the chief timekeeper (Patsy and Ann vB iirc) and they wouldn't let her announce the following year.

[adamlelean]

results now available
http://www.londonswimming.org/vsite/vnavsite/page/directory/0,10853,5117-173048-190266-nav-list,00.html