Race Report: Kicking It to the End of the Year
- Jan 1
- 2 min read
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 30th. I had one of the lanes in the double-wide “FAST” setup to myself, so I could kick without circling. Like most of the eleven prior events (I first did this in 2013 but for reasons I cannot recall did not do this in 2015), I alternated dolphin and flutter by 25.
I didn’t expect to match my best-ever efforts in the 5:35 range, but was very pleasantly surprised to go 5:40.20 … and even happier with the consistent splitting (1:22.9, 1:25.5, 1:26.7, 1:25.1):
Happy as I was … I am setting a goal here and now to get under 5:30 in 2026!
Back to the tech suit. Much as I believe that there is no better swim equipment company than FINIS Swim, over the years I have periodically tried their technical suits and always found them lacking compared to TYR, the brand I’ve raced in most often since 2010. After experimenting with and blowing out with Arena earlier this year, I went back to my trusted TYR for the summer, fall and early winter racing. But, with that suit now nearing end of life (I raced a lot this year), I decided to try again with FINIS, getting the Fuse as a candidate suit for ‘in-season racing’ and their Hydrox jammer for ‘peak meet racing.’
My first impressions of the Fuse:
Overall, this should work for my intended purpose.
It has considerably more compression than any straight Lycra suit, but you won’t confuse it for a top-end suit.
It doesn’t appear to have the water-repellant coating nor the bit o’bouyancy of a top tier suit, but I didn’t expect either. Still, it feels sleek in the water.
While it feels tight enough once on, it’s not a struggle to put on … again, making this good for in-season racing.
I’ll be interested to see how it holds up over time, as one of my prior complaints with FINIS suits was their longevity.
I'll be back in early January with my "2025 Wrapped" summary blog!
