Race Report | 1001pools

Race Report: Kicking It to the End of the Year

30 December 2025 I ended 2025 the way I spent the year: racing! After discovering the uncrowded, super-clean and well-maintained 25-yard pool at the Ron Edwards YMCA in Burlington, Ontario, I decided to use this pool for this year’s entry into the MEMO Swim Team’s 400 Kick-For-Time . I paired a Christmas gift – a new FINIS Swim Fuse entry level tech suit (more on this below) – with their Smart Goggles to time this late morning on the 30 th . I had one of the lanes in the d

Jan 12 min read

Race Report: Loving Lublin (Pool #768)

14 December 2025 I first found out about the European Masters SCM Championships in early September, saw the opportunity to visit Poland for the first time, and had no problem convincing my wife to make a long weekend of it, with a couple of days planned for racing in Lublin and then a couple of days for pure tourism in Warsaw. With Ryanair flying non-stop to Lublin, BA doing the same out of Warsaw, and the excellent and economical PKP Intercity train service between the tw

Dec 13, 20254 min read

Race Report: How NOT to swim a 100 Free or a 200 Fly

16 November 2026 I like to race at least once a month, whether I'm ready for it or not. Much as I do enjoy training, racing is a treat, racing is the reward. Racing, whether the result is good or bad, is always an unalloyed good. So, I enter events ... almost always with some measure of ambition ... and then I deal with the body that shows up on the blocks and see what happens. I entered the Charlie Lane Semi-Serious meet in Etobicoke days after finishing the Swim England

Nov 18, 20255 min read

Race Report: Swim England SCM Nationals (#763 and #764)

25-26th October 2025 I can't recall when I first learned about the Pond Forge International Sports Centre , but I've been wanting to compete here, or at least train here, since before I moved to England a couple of years ago. Some of my late 1980s University of Texas teammates raced here at the event the pool was built for, the 1991 World University Games, but I was completely off the grid living in rural Eswatini (now Swaziland) then, so I think this facility more likely ca

Oct 25, 20255 min read

Race Report - Magnificent Millfield (#759)

12 October 2025 I am no expert on the intersection of the British school system with elite sports performance, but I have learned enough from living here almost two years to know that Millfield Prepatory School has an impressive aquatic pedigree. When I saw an afternoon meet pop on the Swimming England Masters calendar, the Southwest Region Open Meet, I knew I had to make the trip. It did not disappoint. This facility, dedicated in 1995, has a reverential air, from the v

Oct 11, 20255 min read