Author: Fish Eagles Masters Swimming

The Fish Eagle Master Swimmers held their annual Winter Challenge Swim in aid of charity at Virgin Active, George on Saturday 31^st of August.  Swimmers had to swim an hour as an individual, swim a medley mile or swim in a relay.  Swimmers were sponsored per metre swam or could gather donations.

This year the Sedgefield Tennis Club entered a relay team and a half to take part in the challenge.  And a challenge it was as most of them have not been doing any serious swimming for years.  There was rumours that most of them could not move the next day but on the day they performed brilliantly and swam 2250 metres in an hour.   The team was Cherie Bester,  Lanie Farrelly, Bruce Schulze and Phil Marais.  Tracy Krueger and Master Swimmer, Neil McLellan from Port Elizabeth teamed up with some Fish Eagles to form another relay team. They were well supported by their partners Deidre Human, Johnny Krueger and Paul Farrelly, who also helped with counting laps as things got a bit hectic in the water

This year the charity supported were the SPCA in George.  The Fish Eagles managed to raise more than a whopping R8000.   A special effort by, Cherie Bester and team from Sedgefield Tennis Club (R3760) and Judy Dixon from the Fish Eagles (R2020) made this achievement possible.

Fish Eagles would like to thank all the swimmers that took part and also all the sponsors and donators that made this event such a huge success.  See you all in the water at next years Winter Challenge Swim.

The AGM was held on Saturday, 11 May 2019 at Judy Dixon’s house.  Members enjoyed a lovely brunch after the meeting.  This year trophies were awarded to:

Tanya Osborne for  Best Female,  Mike McDonald for Best Male, Jenny Sheehy for Best Newcomer, Judy Dixon  for Most Improved and Deon Fourie for Spirit.

The Fish Eagles

Tanya & Judy

Jill accepting Jenny’s trophy for Best Newcomer

Mike & Judy

Deon & Judy

Deon: Spirit

Judy: Best Improved

Mike: Best Male

Tanya: Best Femal

Not many athletes can boast of winning 21 medals in five different South African Championships in one month.  Local athlete Tanya Osborne can and she achieved this in March 2019.  She competed in the SA Open Water Swim, SA Masters Swimming, SA Masters Life Saving Surf, SA Masters Life Saving Fresh Water (Pool) and SA Modern Biathlon Championships.

Her winning streak started on Saturday, 2 March at Marina Martinique where she won a silver medal in the SA Open Water Swim Championship.

Then came the SA Masters Swimming Championship in PE from Wednesday, 20 March to Saturday, 23 March in Port Elizabeth.  The Open Water swim was once again held at Marina Martinque and Tanya was the first ladies swimmer over the finishing line in the 1km swim, winning gold in her age group.   At the pool events in Newton Park, she won five gold medals and one silver medal.  She swam a Personal Best time in the 200 IM, 400 IM, 50 Fly and 100 Fly.

On Sunday, 21 March it was straight back into competition at the SA Masters Lifesaving Surf Championship at Kings Beach. She won three gold medals in the Surf swim, Run/swim/run and Malibu Board events, two silvers in the Beach Sprint and Beach Flags events and one bronze in the 2km Beach Run.

On Monday, 22 March she returned to Newton Park pool for the SA Masters Fresh Waterr Championship.  She won three golds for the 200m Obstacle Race, 50m Manikin Rescue, the 100m Manikin Recovery – all were South African records.  She was unfortunately disqualify from the 100m Manikin Tow – due to unruly manikin behaviour which cost her another SA record.  To make up for that disappointment she won one gold and 2 silver medals in the relay events.

Tanya had a week long break before she headed back to Port Elizabeth for the South African Modern Biathlon Championship on Saturday, 30 March where she won a bronze medal.

Tanya has natural talent in abundance but it still takes a lot of dedication, training and hard work to realize such a fantastic achievement.  She trains daily under Mimette Salter of Royal Swimming Academy (RSA) in George.  She is an inspiration to her fellow Fish Eagle Master swimmers and is always available with motivation, support and advice.