The Hamilton Masters Swimming Club is organising its annual Mid-Winter Christmas meet on Saturday, June 19, at Waterworld. This pool competition is a good way for swimmers to prepare themselves psychologically for the 2011 New Zealand Long Course Masters Swimming Championships, which will be held at the same long-course venue. Competitors will be able to check out the facilities and practise starts and turns in the 50m pool in advance of their bids for national titles.

The June 19 competition is also a good way to fight off the mid-winter blues for those who struggle up and down the pool for health or fitness reasons, rather than hibernating during colder months.

After the presentations, the day will end with a Christmas-style meal underneath the grandstand.The entry form for the Mid-Winter meet is available here. Entries close on Queen’s Birthday, Monday, June 7.

Many masters swimmers won’t have far to go to the Mid-Winter Christmas Meet or next year’s nationals. Hamilton is within two hours’ drive of the homes of more than half of New Zealand’s population. That means a large percentage of New Zealand’s masters swimmers will be able to get there easily, ensuring competitive fields for the more popular age groups. A win in many of those events will really be an achievement. It’s a challenge worth training for.

The dates for next year’s nationals are Friday, March 25, to Sunday, March 27.

Warm-up swims early next year, in advance of the nationals, include Cambridge’s annual meet in its 50m pool, in February, and the Katikati pool meet and ocean swim, in January. Early form can be gauged at the North Island Short Course Masters Swimming Championships in Pakuranga from Friday, November 12, to Sunday, November 14. Details of these swimming events will be available nearer the time on the New Zealand Masters Swimming website.

The organisers for next year’s nationals have arranged a cheap accommodation deal for competitors next March, across the road from the pool. The Kingsgate Hotel is offering a discounted rate of $119.00 (bed and breakfast) for two persons per night. There is also a single discounted rate of $105.00 (bed and breakfast) for one person per night. These prices include GST. The hotel management has confirmed that it is all right for two unrelated club members to share the same room and get the $119 per night deal—essentially $59.50 per night for each swimmer. The reference number 66232 should be quoted when swimmers are making reservations for the special rates. Bookings can be made at 0800 22 39 38.

For those coming from Auckland, the hotel is easy to find. Instead of taking the State Highway 1 route through Hamilton West, motorists should keep heading south towards the central business district. At the fourth set of traffic lights that motorists come to in Hamilton city, they should turn right into Garnett Avenue beside the large blue Spotlight store. The low-rise Kingsgate Hotel is next to the Spotlight store.

The hotel has 24-hour room service, two restaurants, a house bar and free parking. It also has three spa pools, two steam rooms and a tidal flow pool, for those who want to pamper their bodies after their excesses at Waterworld, then luxurious beds to sink their tired bodies into at night. It even has a gymnasium for those who don’t completely exhaust themselves at Waterworld.

The committee will hold the Saturday night dinner at the hotel, meaning swimmers won’t have to worry about transport issues over the weekend. But two bus routes go past the hotel, so there are buses every half an hour to the central city and The Base shopping centre.

It is likely that the Balloons Over Waikato event will be held the same weekend as the 2011 nationals. Swimmers might need to book early for next year’s nationals.