By “Eider Down”

With all that daylight saving pouring from the sky; with grand finals going off left, right, and centre; school holidays; and a long weekend for a kind of punctuation mark – so to say – you might wonder, how the Dubbo Ducks do it?

Where all that grit comes from, is it because they are ducks, and ducks and grit go back a long way, or is it that and something more, something maybe about being swimmers that saw them assemble on such a day as was last Sunday October 5 in the Dubbo RSL heated indoor pool.

The Clive Roots Memorial Relay and the Legacy Cup are marquee events in the regional swimming calendar, and are on Thursday, November 13 at Dubbo RSL, with open age sprints and an Under 14's competition.

It would be good to see teams competing from all the winter codes, and let's see some swimmers from Orange, Young, Cobar, Wellington, and Narromine and (why not?) while we are at it, every pool in the district, because this is about raising money for Legacy, and you can hardly find a better cause than that.

Last Sunday, competitors were presented with a four-event card with, first up, the 25-metre Freestyle race with Ron Everett floating too fast, breaking; giving first spot to Nicole Johnstone; Alan Quin was a very close second; Neil Harris in third, and Warren Williams in fourth.

The 2x25-metre Breaststroke Brace Relay saw Marg Ross with Judy Walsh, and Katharine O’Rourke with Ron Everett, crash out a few tenths of a second too fast, delighting Warren Williams who, with Neil Harris, grabbed top spot. Bill Greenwood with Rob Rich, seized second; and Glenn Smith with David Sparkes, snaffled third.

A 50-metre Freestyle was scheduled next with Ron Everett and Warren Williams outpacing estimations to see Nicole Johnstone rise again to take first, Peter Davis – dropping-in along a 21,000km road trip – in second; and Louise Taylor third.

The “At Go” event was a 25-metre Backstroke with, closest to their nominated time, taking top spot. Nicole Johnstone (0.06 seconds) bagged a trifecta for the day with another first, Katharine O’Rourke (0.37 sec) was second, Ron Everett (0.40 sec) was third, Judy Walsh (0.56 sec) was fourth, and Peter Davis (0.78 sec) was fifth. Exciting to see the top five within a second of their own estimations.

Lucky numbers were won by Glenn Smith (34) and Dave Sparkes (59).

There will be a barbecue following the Clive Roots and the Legacy Cup. Details and nomination forms are available at Dubbo RSL Indoor Pool Reception.

This coming Sunday, we race for the DMC Meats Trophy, after which we will have our monthly meeting followed by a well-portioned lunch at the Dubbo RSL Bistro.

The Ducks meet every Sunday morning in the Dubbo RSL Indoor Pool, and you are welcome to join us, just come on down!

That’s this week’s tidings from the “Duckpond”.