Masters Yardstick Swimmers Celebrate Anniversary
A group of Masters Swimmers from Madison and the surrounding areas have had the privilege of swimming together for many years at the Madison YMCA, the Madison Community Pool, the Summit YMCA and other close by locations. Traditionally, we track monthly swim yardage on a user friendly web site. Impacted by the Pandemic in 2020 and 2021, we were excited to be officially tracking yards for the entire year, as we had in pre-pandemic days (thanks to our web site coordinator Barry Lass). So for all of 2022, the monthly ranking of yards by swimmer was published as it had been in the past.
Also, as we do every year in January, we were determined to celebrate with each other as a group again. So the Masters Yardstick Swimmers gathered recently at our 19th anniversary annual awards breakfast on January 7th- a combined live (at the Harding Township Library) and online (via Zoom) event- with strong participation (28 in person and 9 on Zoom)! Hosted by longtime swimmers Bob Nissen, Joe Donohue, and Richard Clew, the event highlighted activities of 2022 (aided by our group historian, Barbara Rushman) and brought us together in such a way that all active members could enjoy.
We began with an entertaining review of swimmers monthly comments from the “comment box” on our web site, as well as feedback from a short swimmers survey. Many of our swimmers enjoy participating in group workouts at the Walker D. Kirby Aquatics Center in its modern eight lane pool at the Madison YMCA! For further information on the pool and swim program, please contact Jon Siegel at the Madison YMCA at JSiegel@madisonymca.org
Ultimately, we moved on to the highlight of the event- our Annual Awards. Red Stars went to swimmers Bob Franks of Chatham, Bill Sullivan of Florham Park, Sandra Seddon of Chatham, Cindy Viola of Chatham, Lynda Przedpelski of Summit, and Jennifer Bauman of Parsippany, all having achieved at least one 100,000 yard month during the year. Cindy Viola was named “Bold Performer of the Year”, for demonstrating improved performance, exceptional effort and a special commitment to the swimming program. Team Competition returned, as Marcia’s Meter Maniacs (led by Captain Marcia Postallian of Florham Park) bested Cande’s Crushers (led by Captain Cande Olsen of Morristown). Finally, our top swimmer for 2022 was Jennifer Bauman, achieving 1,226,382 yards, or nearly 697 miles! Jennifer was awarded the Doug Clark Championship Yardstick, named in memory of our former “Yardstick Swimmer”. Combined, 61 swimmers swam more than 21 million yards!
We all had a great time, and were so happy to connect with our swimming friends once again. And we will continue our monthly yard tracking in 2023, and are convinced that our program will grow in numbers!
Adult swimmers of all levels from beginners to experts are welcome to the Masters programs. To learn more about our Yardstick Challenge, please contact Bob Nissen at bobnissen@gmail.com.
