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Cheetahs ChatterFind us at citytatts.com.au/subclubs/cheetahs

december 2014

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Cheetahs Chatter

WELCOMEto your December edition of Cheetahs Chatter

CLUB CHAMPIONSThis year’s club championships were held last week & your club champions are:

81 + Peter Elford71-80 years 1. Sid Hammond 34:59s 2. Manuel Silva 48:25s61-70 years 1. Michael Holt 30:41s 2. Terry Heavener 32:94s51-60 years 1. John Keevers 29:54s 2. Greg Chalmers 29:88s41-50 years 1. Darrin Jones 28:31s 2. Rob Rathborne 30:81s31-40 years 1. Campbell Gould 28:64sOpen 1. Darrin Jones 25:81s 2. John Keevers 26:69s

Congratulations to all our winners!

• Great to see a couple of our past champions have a guest swim on the night. • Sean Neale swam 25:75s & John Romyn swam 26:68s. Both didn’t have the required qualifying swims for the year due mainly to business & family commitments.

CAMPBELL GOULD, MICHAEL HOLT, JOHN KEEVERS, SID HAMMOND, PETER ELFORD, DARRIN JONES

Winners of other trophies for 2014 were:Captain’s Trophy Peter Flood

Pakrone Trophy 1. Terry Heavener 2. Rob Rathborne 3. Bob Lowe

Memorial Trophy Ekkehard Kostbahn

President’s Trophy Ekkehard Kostbahn

Vice President’s Trophy Sean Neale

Des’n’Dawn (Autumn) Denis Ward

Des’n’Dawn (Spring) John Elliott Tom Caddy Fred Geddes

Ocean Swimmer Darrin Jones

Encouragement/Achievement Murray Coble

Cheetah of the Year Michael Slattery

Galah of the Year Bob Kirby

december 2014

Encouragement/Achievement AwardEach year an award is given to the most improved swimmer in the club. Inaugurated by Gordon Stuart & was initially selected by Gordon & his anonymous panel of judges, this prestigious award is not taken lightly. In fact, it is the best award for recognition within the club in terms of its aims – for the individual to better his own times.

So, this year’s winner is Murray Coble. During the year Murray has improved his times, particularly in the freestyle events. This is all the more significant given Murray spends a fair amount of time travelling with his job. His performance in the Heron Island Swims was commendable mainly due to joining the Prince Alfred Squad on Saturday mornings.

Cheetah of the YearOne of the Cheetahs’ biggest supporters is this year’s Cheetah of the Year... Michael Slattery.

Slatts is always competitive in the pool forever endeavouring to improve his times..... out of the pool he is one who is always encouraging other swimmers. Plus the fact he continually wins the raffles !!!!!

Galah of the YearOur resident MC for this event, Bob Kirby, sought counsel from many people, including The Bear in Las Vegas, as to what defines the recipient of a galah award .......couldn’t quite get a proper definition other to say that Bob Lowe has the award for life.

So nominations were sought as to this year’s winner......

As usual Bob Lowe’s name was prominent. It seems he had some difficulty with his luggage on the Heron Island trip. Also he took it upon himself to not adhere to the instructions of our guide at the Research Station & continuously handled the sensitive sea life on display in a special tank.

Sid Hammond also on Heron Island had some difficulty working out where to lay his head each night. (you’d need to ask Sid about this !!!).

Peter Flood decided to view some of the unique sea life, in particular the turtles, late at night & supposedly became lost on the island prompting a full scale search. He was subsequently located fast asleep in bed.

Bob Kirby, as MC, was specifically instructed not to talk too much. One hour or so later & he was still going strong. By then everyone was keen to continue with the night’s activities. So Kirbs was nominated & judged Galah of the Year for the second year running.

6 MONTHLY POINT SCOREIt all came down to the last club swim of the year to determine the winners of the 6 Monthly Point Score. Floody seemed to have the Style sown up & was a slight leader in both the Distance & Sprint.He swam a “big” race in the Distance only to break time. Then he was ambushed by Alex Zavgorodniy who came through with maximum points to clinch the title.

Pete overcame that issue to maintain his lead & win the remaining titles.What a champion.Placegetters for each discipline are: SPRINT STYLE DISTANCE1. Peter Flood 1. Peter Flood 1. Alex Zavgorodniy2. John Elliott 2. Sid Hammond 2. Peter Flood Michael Holt 3. Terry Heavener 3. Terry Heavener Alex Zavgorodniy3. Terry Heavener

Cheetahs Chatter

Weekly results06 11 1475 FreestyleMurray Coble, Peter Miller, Michael Holt50 Freestyle Peter Elford, James Hardy, Bob Lowe50 Breast/FreeTerry Heavener, Peter Miller, Sid Hammond

13 11 14100 FreestyleAlex Zavgorodniy, John Keevers, Peter Flood50 Freestyle Michael Sterndale-Smith, Jim Chen, Peter Elford/ Bob Lowe50 Free/BackMichael Slattery, Peter Flood, John Elliott

20.11.1450 FreestyleSid Hammond, Denis Ward, David Pugh75 MedleyDarrin Jones, John Keevers, David Pugh25 BackstrokeMichael Slattery, Steve Mathews, John Keevers

27.11.14200 FreestyleMurray Coble, Sid Hammond, John Keevers50 FreestyleMurray Coble, Michael Armitage, Campbell Gould25 BreaststrokeSid Hammond, Murray Coble, Peter Flood

4.12.1475 FreestyleAlex Zavgorodniy, Murray Coble, John Keevers50 FreestyleAlex Zavgorodniy, Michael Armitage, Peter Flood50 BackstrokeAlex Zavgorodniy, Darrin Jones, Michael Slattery

MONTHLY POINT SCOREThe winner of the November point score was Alex Zavgorodniy with 62 points. Captain John Keevers was not far behind on 56 points followed by Sid Hammond (52) & Murray Coble (51).

IMMORTALWhat a month for milestones. Late November Murray Coble won the first 2 races only to be beaten by 0.15sec by Sid Hammond into 2nd place. This was the second time this year that Murray was denied “immortality” in winning all 3 events on the night.Not to be outdone, the following week Alex Zavgorodniy found himself in the same position, winning the first 2 races & lining up for the last race, 50 backstroke.Alex won his heat in a pretty good time & then watched as contenders in each heat nipped away at his time or, in a couple of cases, broke time.Final heat & Captain Keevers broke time by 0.16 thereby launching Alex into immortality, winning 3 races.Alex was pretty relaxed about this major achievement...not!!!Congratulations & well done Alex.

ALEX IS PRETTY HAPPY WITH HIMSELF AFTER HIS GREAT SUCCESS

DECember 2014

THE NUNS CAB RIDEA cabbie picks up a nun.The nun gets into the cab & notices that a VERY handsome cab driver won’t stop staring at her. She asks him why he is staring.He replies, “i have a question to ask you, but I don’t want to offend you.”She answers, “My son, you cannot offend me. When you’re as old as I am & have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see & hear just about everything. I’m sure that there’s nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive.”The cabbie says, “Well, I’ve always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.”The nun responds, “Well, let’s see what we can do about that:#1 – you have to be single, and#2 – you must be Catholic.”The cabbie is very excited & says, “Yes, I’m single & a Catholic”“Ok,” the nun says, “pull into the next alley”.The nun then fulfils his fantasy with a kiss that would make a hooker blush. But when they get back on the road, the cabbie starts crying.“My dear child,” says the nun, “why are you crying?”“Forgive me, but I have sinned. I lied & I must confess, I’m married & I’m Jewish.”The nun says, “That’s OK, my name is Kevin & I’m going to a fancy dress party.”Courtesy of our man on the Gold Coast.

Captain Keevers hosted his big event of the year recently.The three events on the night were 100 freestyle, 50 freestyle & 50 freestyle/backstroke. The winner would be that swimmer who scores the most points on the night.Peter Flood was the ultimate winner with 15 points, getting “on the board” for 2 events & winning his heat in the other.The other winners on the night were those Cheetahs who attended the function upstairs when there were tonnes of prawns on offer. Gone was the past rule of 2 prawns each!!!!! You had to get in early for your fill!!!

END OF YEAR FUNCTIONWhat a night. Our end of year function was held this year at the magnificent Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron at Kirribilli. The location was excellent as was the food.All good wishes & thanks to Genevieve & Michael Slattery who put their membership on the line in “hosting” the function.Everyone had a great time & it has set the benchmark for next year’s function.There are a heap of photos on the Cheetahs’ Facebook page.

HERON ISLANDLast edition of Chatter detailed all the results from our trip to Heron Island. The Heron Island Swim is a well organised event with around 200 swimmers competing this year in both 3km & 1km events.The photos on our web site & facebook page tell the story of the pristine conditions presented to us. Warm, crystal clear water. Plenty of sea life.Whether you were snorkelling, diving or just swimming, the sight of being amongst stingrays, turtles & sharks was an experience.The island operators were great hosts & arranged a number of activities, whether it was observing the island’s vast birdlife population, walking the reef, visiting the Uni of Queensland Research Station, searching for turtles.And the food.....certainly a welcome change from the “curried everything” on Beachcomber in Fiji.Will the Cheetahs return next year?.....probably.

CAPTAINS TROPHY

Cheetahs Chatter

REMEMBER WHENAn old farmer & his wife go off to bed one night. The farmer was beat after shifting sheep all day.After being in bed for a few minutes, she says to him “Remember when you used to hold my hand?”, so he holds her hand for a few minutes, then turns over a goes to sleep. Then she says, “Can you kiss me like you did when we were young?”So, he rolls over & kisses her, then turns back to go to sleep.Then she says, “Do you remember how you used to bite me on the neck?” so he pulls back the blanket to get out of bed.She says, “Where are you going?” & he replies, sighing, ”To get my teeth”.

FACEBOOKWe have all resisted it for years with a view that it is only for kids & who knows (or cares) what you are doing this very minute!! BUT Facebook has come to the Cheetahs.

The Cheetahs has a Facebook page... City Tatts Cheetahs.Already there are a lot of photos from golf weekend, end of year function, Heron Island, Randwick race day, various swim events on our site as well as commentary on a number of issues.The site is a good opportunity to get messages out quickly to a wide range of people & hopefully expose the club to a wider audience.It’s easy to sign up.... log onto www.facebook.com & follow the prompts.

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OCEAN SWIMSThe ocean swim season has started off with a bang. Some results of Cheetahs & friends of Cheetahs are...

25.10 Narrabeen 1.8km 109 finishers Darrin Jones 25:50 1st overall 1st in age group

23.11 Coogee 2.4km 1293 finishers John Keevers 39:50 110th overall 1st in age group John Freiman 41:29 161st overall 2nd in age group

30.11 Balmain (Dawny) 2.4km 383 finishers Annie Hemmings 39:29 90th overall 19th in age group Greg Chalmers 50.10 231st overall 61st in age group

6.12 North Curl Curl 573 finishers Darrin Jones 33:50 15th overall 15th in age group

7.12 Bondi to Bronte 2.4km 1755 finishers Darrin Jones 25:49 16th overall 2nd in age group John Freiman 31:57 242nd overall 1st in age group Murray Coble 36:14 654th overall 44th in age group

WHO WAS THE CHEETAH

That was complaining that he had lost his glasses? Disaster, couldn’t see a thing, which would stop him from doing his most

important duties. A search party was organised but was suddenly disbanded

when the loser of the glasses found them on the top of his head !!!!!!!!

DECember 2014

SWIM PROGRAMThe swim program for the next 6 months is:

January 8 75 Free 50 Free 50 Breast Welcome backJanuary 15 100 Free 50 Free 50 Breast/Free January 22 50 Free 75 Medley 25 Free January 29 200 Free 50 Free 25 Back

February 5 75 Free 50 Free 50 Back February 12 100 Free 2 x 50 Breast 50 Free February 19 50 Free 75 Medley 25 Free February 26 200 Free 50 Free 25 Breast March 5 75 Free 50 Free 50 Breast/Free March 12 100 Free 50 Free 50 Back President's Trophy (Points - 3 races)March 19 50 Free 75 Medley 25 Free March 26 200 Free 50 Free 25 Breast April 2 75 Free 2 x 50 Breast/ Free 50 Free Annual Fees DueApril 9 100 Free 50 Free 50 Breast April 16 50 Free 75 Medley 25 Back April 23 200 Free 50 Free 25 Breast April 30 400 Free 50 Free 25 Back Des'n'Dawn

May 7 75 Free 50 Free 50 Breast AGM 8.00pmApril 14 100 Free 50 Free 50 Back / Free Memorial HeatsApril 21 50 Free 75 Medley 25 Free April 28 200 Free 2 x 25 Breast 50 Free

June 4 75 Free 50 Free 50 Breast / Back June 11 100 Free 50 Free 50 Back Memorial Heats (late starters)June 18 50 Free 75 Medley 25 Breast June 25 200 Free 50 Free 25 Back End 6 Mthly Pt Score SWIMMERS / SKIERS TBA

The

Cheetahs ChatterFind us at citytatts.com.au/subclubs/cheetahs

We look forward to seeing you soon!

EnquiriesCaptain: John Keevers 0418 578 159Secretary: Ian McLennan 0418 228 455Vice Captain: Peter Miller 0418 262 819Peter can be contacted for Ocean Swimming enquiries

Principal Office BearersPresident: Stephen MatthewsSenior Vice President: David PughCaptain: John KeeversTreasurer: Denis WardSecretary: Ian McLennan