Meet Director’s Report
The last 12 months have had results for the club with consistent membership and attendance at our championship events, but reduced revenue from our carnivals.
The Winter Championships were well attended with 59 club members attempting 385 swims, numbers that were slightly below, but comparable to last year. A total of 2 records were broken (TashjanManagreve, and George Ross breaking 1 each), and many personal bests were swum. Once again, plaques were awarded for the winter season which were met with a positive response.
Our Summer Championships were also well attended – we had 70 club members and 550 entries. Again, numbers were slightly reduced, but comparable to the previous year. A total of 3 records were broken during the course of the championships, with Fletcher Warn, TashjanManagreve, and George Ross breaking 1 each.
As always, the McAlpine Relay was a highlight of the summer championships with another exciting finish. The presentation night was held at Club Rivers and was well received by all.
Our carnivals had mixed success with greatly increased entry numbers for the Mini Meet, and very low entries for the Sprint Meet after last years record high.
Attendance at the Mini Meet increased this year with 80 swimmers attempting 354 entries (compared to 44 and 199 in 2014). Overwhelmingly positive feedback was received on the day from visiting clubs, praising the relaxed atmosphere for the younger swimmers. The meet was also considered a financial success, with a profit of $1785.71.
In contrast to the Mini Meet, the Sprint Meet attendance was significantly down this year, with 157 swimmers and 689 entries, compared with 224 swimmers and 1021 entries in 2015.
Even with the reduction in entries, this year’s Sprint Meet is expected to turn a profit, however this will be substantially less than last year. The final figure is to be confirmed by the club treasurer. Profitability has been helped by the club raising approximately $1200 (TBC) in sponsorship, with Club Rivers acting as major sponsor. Other sponsors were Yellow Brick Road, RoseAgius and Lugarno Pool Shop.
The below average entries can be put down difficulty in obtaining MetSEA approval for the meet, as SLC Aquadot was also running a meet on the same day. This resulted in reduced time to gain entries, as well as both clubs competing for the overlapping groups of swimmers. To reduce the chance of this occurring again, it is vital that future meet approvals are submitted well ahead of time to give the club more flexibility in case of future clashes.
I would like to thank all of those that took the time to help at the all meets held by the club this year, particularly as I was unable to attend either the Mini Meet or the Sprint Meet due to personal commitments.
In particular, I would like to thank our previous Meet Director, Grant Williams, for stepping into the Meet Director role at both these carnivals; our referees, John and David, for once again keeping the meets on track; our starters, Bruce and Steve; our announcer, Julia, for doing a great job to keep everyone informed on the day; our marshals, Kristina and Peta, for organising the kids efficiently; and Graham E for keeping all the recording systems in check.
Special mention should also go to Marigel, Robin, and Grace for their efforts in organising our presentation nights, social events – without their hard work, these nights would not be the success that they are.
A big change for this year has been the rapid adoption of online entries for our carnivals, noting that for the Sprint Meet 100% of entries were received through the ClubLane system. This greatly reduced the time required to input entries into Meet Manager, and streamlined the entry process. It remains to be seen if online entries would have the same effect on our weekly club swims, however this is worthwhile investigating.
George Ross
MEET DIRECTOR
*Please note that this was written prior to the Sprint Meet and Summer presentation. Any amendments required will be made and presented to the committee at a subsequent meeting.