Back In The Motherland

After a successful NCAA national championships I decided to extend my season just a little bit, so last week Sunday I traveled back to South Africa to compete in the 2011 South African Would Championship Trials which will be held in Port Elizabeth beginning next week.

 

South African East Coast From 15 000 ft

After sitting on a plane for a full 30 hours (thankfully not straight as I got to stop off in Dubai for a night with my parents) I arrived in Port Elizabeth excited to see what the city has to offer! I picked up my rental car and headed out to the house we have rented for the week.

Not bad, even if I say so myself!

On Wednesday morning I headed out to check out the competition pool and hopefully get in a swim. I was successful in one of those endeavors, locating the competition pool. It was however being used to host the South African Nationals Waterpolo Championships, and was told it would not be open to swimmers until Saturday afternoon. I asked if anyone knew where I could go get my swim on and was presented with two different options.

Option 1 - St George’s Park Swimming Pool.

St George's Park Swimming Pool...

Enough said…

Option 2 – McAthur’s Pool.

Much more promising. Looks like paradise doesn’t it? I was keen and jumped right in.

It turned out to be a little rougher than it first appeared. Apart from the fact that I had gotten off a pretty long flight the day before, the pool turned out to be 80m long, with no lane lines or even black lines on the bottom of the pool. It was salt water with algae or some sort of slime on the wall and it was more round than it was rectangle! Never the less, water is water and I got it done.

We managed to find a better pool located inside a gym on Thursday and I was able to get a little more of a constructive workout in. I have felt progressively better with each day that passes here and so am looking forward to seeing what next week has to offer!

I am entered into the 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke and begin racing on Tuesday next week. They are selecting teams for World Championships which will take place in Shanghai, China from the 24th – 31st July this year. They are also selecting a team for the World University Games which will be held in Shenzen, China from the 12th – 23th of August this year. I am expecting to swim fast. I have had a great season this year and see no reason why it will not continue on through this meet. Best times are the goal. Anything above that is a bonus.

I will obviously be updating my blog each day with videos of my swims and thoughts on how things are going. You can also follow the live results by clicking here. Or check for any news stories by clicking here. You can also see the meet psych sheet but clicking here.

Advertisement