Final reminder that we have a meeting tonight at 6.30pm at Hazards/Santa Barbara Running, 110 Anacapa. We have the usual great food, drinks and fellowship plus another fun filled program. The highlight will be a talk by Olympic swimmer, Mark Warkentin. I included some information in last weeks e-mail, but wanted to include it here for the very small group of my close friends that don't read my e-mails!!!!
Opening of open water
Open water swimmer Mark Warkentin qualified for the inaugural Olympic 10k event in Beijing by finishing seventh in the 10k at the 2008 Open Water Worlds. The 10k, which will be held in the rowing venue, was added to the Olympic program in 2005. The men's and women's 10k will feature 25 swimmers each, with the top men typically finishing in just less than an hour. Warkentin, who lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., has been training mainly at altitude at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Out of the pool
Warkentin, who had been a successful pool swimmer but had never qualified for the Olympics, found a second life in open water swimming after college. Warkentin had graduated from USC in 2003 and was still swimming competitively, but he admits he was "very, very close to retiring." In 2005, he swam a one-mile ocean race. "So I raced against a bunch of masters swimmers, and I won, and for some reason it boosted my confidence," he said.
Come listen tonight. We'll also have the drawing for dinner for two for one lucky person who submitted their bio for our web site. In addition John Herzog will tell briefly about the Santa Barbara Athletic Club and why they have sponsored our club this year.
The Pres.