RECAP of Hammerfest 2

Originally sent on 2/21/06:


WARNING: GRAPHIC MATERIAL MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR AL AGES OF VIEWING. ONLY READ THIS IF YOU CAN TAKE A JOKE IN GOOD HUMOR AND NOT BE PISSY...

Hey all,
So the second monthly installment of the Hammerfest indoor mile swim was this past Saturday at 1pm. A good time was had by all I believe. It was held at 1pm at the open swim at Nazareth.
We had a total of eight competitors again consisting of; me, Phil VanPeursem, Kelly Boerschlein, Rachel Ciesluk, Tim Howland, Erin Varley, Sam Powley and John Hunter. It was a good race that we split into 2 waves. The first to go off was me, John, Erin and Phil. It was a close and tough battle and I ended up defending my title, shattering my old record by 30 seconds and making the new time to beat 24:58. John turned on the heat late in the race, but it wasn't enough. He came in a close second at 25:29. Erin rounded out the podium at a minute behind John and Phil was just 20 seconds behind Erin.

The second heat consisted of Sam, Kelly, Rachel and Tim. Tim was late as he was painfully deciding on which bike to propose to at Park Ave Bike shop. (and I quote, "...well the Serotta is like arm candy, but the Felt is much more like marriage material") I think John had an erection in his carbon fiber underwear when they went to browse the bikes afterwards.

Anyway, the second heat consisted of some people who hadn't swam a lot in quite some time. I know for a fact that Kelly hadn't been in the water since 2005 and Erin (even though she was in the first heat) told me she was very much "out of swimming shape" (which for a person who went to Nationals in college still means kicking most everyone's ass) But the most notable was Rachel who never swam competitively in high school or college and had just started swimming at the Webster aquatic center late in 2005. She finished the full mile and then told us that she did a mile the day before, just to make sure she could complete the hammer swim. Now THAT's dedication! Nice job.

The honors of heat two went to Sam Powley who broke 30 minutes in an impressive 29:53. Second place was Kelly in a 31:46 and Tim unfortunately had to give up the prized tin foil and wire coat hanger trophy with his third place in heat two finish. He dropped some time from January with a 34:56 this time around. Rachel finished it strong with a 41:44, not bad for the first Hammer swim. :)

The awards were held at my place afterwards and there was much food and drink. We've upped the ante at the awards ceremony with a great menu of food and door prizes as well! There was shrimp, cheeses, chips, pretzels, beer, nacho chips, turkey legs (thanks Rachel) and as much wine and mixers for vodka that you could imagine. The door prizes were then given away after everyone had a chance to chill out with a drink and watch some Olympics coverage. The first door prize was a Fuel Belt mesh trucker hat that went to an overzealous winner, John. The next door prize was a Fuel belt running technical race hat, Erin Varley was the lucky recipient of that. The next two were nice give-a-ways from New Balance and the first being a NB watch which went to Rachel and then a snazzy NB lanyard that went to an over-excited Sam.

The only thing I have to ask is, I was wondering who made the statement when we were watching the speed skating coverage on the Olympics about how speed skaters do not have chairs in their house, that they just squat to eat their meals? Who said that? John and I were discussing and couldn't remember who it was. Shoot me an email if you remember.

Well that about wraps it up. The next hammer swim will be sometime in March, maybe the weekend after St. Guinness Day. Till then, take care everyone and I'll see you on the course. Cheers.

~Travis (the now TWO time defending champ!...that's right :))