DUBBO DUCKS: Mother’s Day dawned bright and sunny, which was no doubt the reason 35 of the club faithfuls were allowed out by their loved ones to venture down to the duck pond in an effort to snare one of the number eighteens (of the frozen variety) on offer.
This largess was freely extended after loved ones received breakfast in bed plus other gifts usually provided by spouses/partners and the like on special occasions such as this.
The one provison of course was that there must be no delay in arriving home to enjoy the special Mother’s Day roast chicken lunch, prepared of course, by no one else but mum.
Acting captain John Jobson commenced the day’s proceedings by extending Mother’s Day greetings to the special mums in our presence, Kim Bennett, Margaret Ross, Jane Schubert and Louise Taylor.
Notable absentee was JJ’s wife, Sybille, who arrived later in the morning along with daughter Madison, our very youngest duckling who turned five on mum’s special day.
Commencing the proceedings was the traditional 25m freestyle “heart-starter”.
After seven heats, five semi-finals and four breakers, treasurer Mike Twohill, fresh from an extensive tour of the New Zealand sheep farms, hit the wall first in a thrilling photo-finish.
Twohill, minus 0.04secs, held out leviathan turf accountant, Tony Wall 0.09secs.
Completing the field were the Schubert duo, Jane and Peter, along with Margaret Ross.
After a plethora of victories recently the Twohill freezer must surely be overflowing with the number eighteens.
To keep the assembly fit for the strenuous chore of washing up after the afore-mentioned treat, the hardest race on the Duck’s calendar, a fifty metre breaststroke relay was programmed by merciless staff on the “table”.
The Apprentice can assure readers there were many aching legs as weary combatants struggled to climb the steps to exit the pool.
Fittingly, one of our mothers (and a grandmother to boot) Kim Bennett teamed with noted grandfather, Tom Gray to absolutely “waltz in”, being a miserable 0.19 seconds from their closest to handicap time.
This left another of our mums, Jane Schubert and also Ian Jones languishing far behind in 2.18 seconds with David Sparkes and Mel Giddings bringing up the rear.
However, the masochists on the “table” had not finished. What did they do next?
They scheduled a 50 metre freestyle with breakers galore and who was the chief culprit?
None other than the handicapper himself and race programmer, Norman Bahr.
In the wash-up, junior duck Matthew Jobson blew the
opposition away but he too fell victim to the system, broke by minus 2.12 seconds thus handing the frozen fowl to Charmaine Seton in the good time of 0.42 seconds.
The male species took all the lucky number prizes; successful recipients being Mel
Giddings, Russell Gersbach, John McLean and Robert Rich, returning to the pond after a rather long break.
o o o
The Apprentice was disappointed that only nine members went to the trouble of turning up to our special meeting on Monday to discuss the compilation of our 50th anniversary book.
Multiple input is necessary so in an effort to attract a larger attendance, the next meeting will be held at the RSL on Monday night at 7.00pm.
Meanwhile, congratulations to fitness fanatic Mark Bonser for being awarded the RSL Gym “Achiever of the Month”.
Maxie Millgate, a patient in Dubbo Base would welcome visitors, so please drop in and cheer him up.
Next Sunday we swim for the very prestigious Vern Traegar Memorial trophy so a good roll-up would be appreciated.
Treasurer Mike urgently needs names (and deposits) for our Queanbeyan visit and presentation night.
All outstanding trophies must be handed in to Whitney’s Jewellers next week at the latest.
Perhaps the Colonel will
now be over his Mother’s Day celebrations and might make an appearance at the pond on Sunday.