The NAVY SWAMP DOG NEWS – 29 January 2007

 

Keith Vs. John at the Cowichan Meet - Sunday, 28 January 2007

 

 

Filed by ace reporter 'Old Sea Dog' Swampbottom (Swampy)

 

Well folks, we were gathered in Duncan for the long-awaited rebirth of the battle between the Navy Coach wannabe (Keith Kendal) and our man Colonel John McManus (called Old Man by Kendal).  This rematch has been almost two years in the making.  The only recent battles have been Kendal trying to get Old Man to shed his fins in practice, whereas Old Man has been poking fun at the permanent little volleyball Kendal carries around his waistline!  On Sunday, they raced the 200 Free, 200 IM, 100 Breast and apparently a 50 Back.

 

Let us recap where we left off in 2005.

 

The last recorded battle was at Etobicoke where Kendal crapped out in the first event with an excuse about his legs, and left Old Man to swim his 1500 free all alone after 800 meters.  Old Man did a personal best 20:28.70.  The fact that Kendal beat him in all of the other events: 400 Free, 200 Free and surprisingly the 100 Free didn't really matter as the effort Old Man put out demanded a couple of days of recovery.  Kendal needed 3 days of bed rest and sock to stuff in his mouth.

 

Well let’s talk to our combatants. First, we are going to interview the Old Man. Next, we will interview Kendal.

 

Old Man, about the last couple of years…

 

OM I have been languishing in competition hell since the 2005 Nationals.  Kendal came up with another excuse after the 2005 Nationals.  You know before, it was his sore back, tired legs, back spasms, and muscle pulls in his buttocks.  (hee-hee, that was a good one and we all had a pretty good laugh!)  I think that was Provincials in Richmond, the 400 Free.  I think it was that race that started this whole thing!!!  The story I have from Kendal (who can believe him!!) is that shortly after 2005 Nationals, Kendal decided he was of Olympic stature (yea he almost broke under 5 minutes in the 400 Free) and took on former Olympian Wayne Kelly in a 400-pull set.  Jeez, you'd think that the guy could wait for actual swim meet competitions but no, he’s got to take on someone that he has no hope in hell of beating.  So, from what he told me, he swam with Kelly and recorded his personal best 400 pull of a 4:41.   Yeah, faster than any previous 400 he has ever swum at a Masters meet.  ONLY THEY DO NOT HAVE AN EVENT FOR "THOSE WEARING THE YELLOW PADDLES AND A PULL BUOY"!  Hey, do you think they could create a 400 fin-only Free event???

 

Ahh, no Old Man, I think you’d have to go to Australia to find an event like that. Do you think you could stay on topic?

 

OM What is it you were asking me about? Oh yeah, ever since that 400 pull swim of his, he has had bouts of shoulder inflammation, or so he says. If you ask me, Kendal could be accused of combat avoidance.  Yeah, that sounds good, combat avoidance…  He then bows out of the Thetis Lake swim competition in both 2005 & 2006.  Boy, I sure miss him in those races!  Hee-hee, nothing like reminding him every couple of minutes by tickling his feet that I’m posed to sweep by him at the finishing line.

 

I heard is that he easily beat you in the 3K in 2003 when you were doing this, is that not true?

 

OM No, no, no, who told you that?  He finished in 41:30 and I was at 43:11  No, no, he did not beat me easily.  I swam an extra 200m.  I was strategically conserving my energy by drafting him for the first 2K, but made an error. I, ah… um… made a wrong left turn, and … um…. cut a corner…. and, um.. some course marshal on a paddleboard stopped me and, ummm…. he old me to swim a little bit further, and go around some god forsaken buoy…  I was wearing blue goggles and the Red Buoy and the Blue lens…  well I just couldn’t see it…I wasn’t trying to get a jump on Kendal… we still had about 600 metres to race, and everyone knows I save it for the end of the race…  Hey, but why are your dredging up this event… I would have beaten him… Everyone knows Kendal doesn’t have that extra gear, I was right on his feet and perfectly positioned for victory… Hee-hee he didn’t even know it was me until the next year when I heard him accusing another swimmer of tickling his feet during that swim.   Hee-hee.

 

Our readers have all been waiting for the renewal of this battle for over a year and half; you guys surely must have had some races against each other since May of 2005?

 

OM Well, yeah, we both went to 2006 Provincials in Kelowna and Nationals in Calgary last year.  But I rather not dwell on my performance at those meets….

 

Oh what happ…

 

OM But you know we went to our usual first meets of the 2006/07 year at Whidbey Island in Washington State, but Kendal only swam slowly, complaining about his shoulder, or refused to swim against me in the longer events in 2005 & 2006. Jeez, what some guys will use a long-term excuse to avoid head-to-head competition.   I had to search for other swimmers to race against.  I had some great 400 Free swims during the last little while swimming next to Suzanne Scriven!  I swam my personal best 400 Free in early 2006, and Kendal was nowhere to be seen. Kendal hasn’t come close to his best times in the main events of 200 and 400 Free.

 

Well it good to hear you are not missing Kendal in the swimming pool.

 

OM Missing ahh, he’s always telling me to shake these fins off in workout.  Me and my fins, no bloody way, doesn’t Kendal realize that I’ll be 53 this year? I need these things just to keep up with all those young Navy types swimming in my lane this last little while!  Sure, he doesn’t need fins with his soo much lower stroke count.  I may not float with long arms when swimming freestyle, but he isn’t anywhere near me in the 50 & the 100 Free!  Doesn’t do him any good in his 50 or 100 Free does it?  Did I tell you about his volleyball gut! Ahh, he is forever trying to get me to wear his assortment of new swim toys he has acquired in his battle with this alleged “Shoulder Inflammation”.  I hear that in Victoria Masters, Kendal has been crowned "King of the swim toys".  There isn’t one swimmer in that club that has anywhere near the toys he has.

 

What about the upcoming season Old Man?…

 

OM Yeah, he’s got fins and so do I, but get this...  He has over four styles of paddles, home made finger paddles, the regular rectangular yellow paddles, Speedo cup paddles, and the great big can of a triangular Paddle by Finis.  Jeez, those are big paddles!

 

Old Man hello  Old Man!!  Answer the question...

 

OM He has a fancy Pull Buoy.  I don’t even own a pull buoy - if you need one, there is always one at the pool. He likes to strap himself up with some rubber band around his ankle.. Jeez who wants to do that!!!  He got me to wear that once.... ONCE.  Then, he has these rubber gloves called fist gloves that he also had me wear once.  He is wearing those all the time.  I won’t let him put those bondage things on me anymore .. no way...

 

Hello Old Man!……..

 

OM The thing is when the coach gives us some drill set, what does he do, he puts on those fist gloves swims regular full stroke and avoids the drills.  Who does he think he is anyway!  If the coach says drill, then it is drill, tell me if I’m right or wrong on this?

 

Old Man, as I understand it, Kendal has been coaching you Navy types for a while and, as I understand it, when the other coaches are swimming and he suggests to them not to wear their pull buoys, they basically pretend that they haven’t heard him, right?

 

OM Yeah, hee-hee, I’ll not shed my fins for any man, women or alleged Swim Coach!  If all the other coaches can wear gear, I can wear my fins!!  I’m right, am I not?… Oh yeah, and his other toys… He has another Navy swimmer convinced of the merits of stretch cords for a sore shoulder…   He has one of those in his swim bay. Every now and then, we see Kendal going through the motions.  More like trying to get that volleyball size gut out of the way of the cord… hee-hee.  His latest toy is a Freestyle "unicorn-looking" snorkel.  He puts it on, and moves to the back of the pool and tells us he is working on a long stroke. Yeah right… more likely avoiding face-to-face combat during the training sessions!!!  He has made seek out other matched pairs in our 'Fin Thursday' sets. Lately, I have had to pair up and swim against Avila Rhodes. I’m sure Kendal has other things in that swim bag of tricks of his.  But me, nope .. just my fins.  I wish they had a 200 Free "with fins" event!!!!

 

Yeah, that’s great ... but what about Sunday's swim battle Old Man?

 

OM Yeah well, I finally cornered that Kendal, and we have agreed to renew our battles. We had the 200 Free, 100 Breast, 200 IM and 50 Back on January 28^th in Duncan.  Kendal always complains about this particular pool.  He never does well there.  I have soundly beaten him in the past.    A couple of years ago, we have raced the 200 Free, and he totally collapsed at the 125 mark.  We once raced the 100 Free here in Duncan - boy that was a great race.  Kendal uncharacteristically took a clear lead… but apparently, his legs turn to stone when he flipped at the 50 metres and the rest of us were all lined up, and we swam right by him.  He was last at the 3^rd turn and was a sorry sight to see finishing.  Ahhh! Glorious, a whole wave right across his bow. Swamped him at the last turn!

 

So, tell us how you did at this Duncan THIS YEAR?

 

OM Well, we had some good races and times.. but I …hey, I beat him soundly in the 50 Back..  I actually didn’t swim against him in the event, but hey, my lead off time in the Medley Relay beat his 50 Back time!  38.23 to his 38.47 - take than Kendal!!!  And he gave a lame excuse that he couldn’t get a good grip for the start.  Well Kendal there are winners and there are losers in every race.

 

Well that’s great Old Man, but didn’t you have any classic "head-to-head" races?

 

OM Yeah we did,  but I think I hear my wife calling me. Sorry I must go and do some yard chores…bye now.  Whatever Kendal tells you, tell him he has to spot me at least 3 seconds in the 200 IM, it just isn’t fair otherwise!

 

What about the 200 Free, 200 IM and 100 Breast!  Hello?? Old Man, where are you?

 

Well there you have it folks, I’m Swampy reporting, and the battles have started again.  The Swamp Dog News always gets the full story, so next, we and we will interview Kendal for his side of this story. 

 

Hey, Kendal, get over here and tell our sports fans about the first race of the day - the 200 Free

 

Keith on the far left
and John on the right
in the first 50 of the 200 Free

KK It was the perfect setup - 1st race of the day, cool clear water and we were in the same heat.  We entered really fast times (2:19s) hoping to be the top two seeds and get side-by-side lanes 3 and 4.  Two young 'fish' entered lower times, so we were placed in lanes 2 and 5.  During the first 50m, I tried to control my speed and maximize distance per stroke.  As can be seen in the table below, Old Man went out in a 32 and I cruised to a 33.  At the 100m turn, the two swimmers in the middle were starting to get a bit ahead and I could see that I was turning right about the same time as him.  If you look at our splits, you can see that I was still a bit behind, but my 2nd 50 split was faster than his.  Because I don't have an ability to descend the 4th 50 in a higher gear, I had to crush him in the 3rd 50.  I started to pull away from him, and had him by .4 sec at the 150m point.  That is where I won the race - beating him by .82 sec on that 3rd 50!  Old Man tried to come back on the last length, but he was broken. 

 

	KEITH KENDAL	46	VICTORIA MASTERS SWIM CLUB		2:25.22
Dist Run Split Dist Run Split Dist Run Split Dist Run Split 50 :33.22 :33.22 100 1:09.62 :36.40 150 1:47.18 37.56 200 2:25.22 :38.04
	JOHN MCMANUS	53	NAVY MASTERS SWIM CLUB		2:25.89
Dist Run Split Dist Run Split Dist Run Split Dist Run Split 50 :32.01 :32.01 100 1:09.21 :37.20 150 1:47.59 :38.38 200 2:25.89 :38.30

 

The middle swimmers have cleared out of the way, and Keith pushes hard in the 3rd 50 of the 200 Free

 

Next race was the 200 IM - what happened to the match up?

 

KK We were done wrong by the numbers.  We entered almost the same time and Old Man ended up seeded 6th in the fast heat, and I ended up 1st in the 2nd fastest heat..  I told him before the entries went in - either we go in really low - like 2:30, or we go high like 3:15.  But Old Man would not listen to me...  So it was his fault that we ended up in different heats.  I beat him by about 4 seconds in the 50 Fly, and that was the difference in the race. He got me by a bit in the back, I got him by a hair in the breast, and he came back a bit in the Free - but the bulk of the 3.2 second difference was in the Fly.  Old Man better learn how to swim a faster Fly!

 

You had the perfect seeding for the 100 Breaststroke - what was your key to success?

 

KK  Yes, Lane 3 and 4 of the 2nd fastest heat.  Does not get better than that! We have had problems in the past getting in the same heat for Breaststroke.  My key to success?  I relaxed in the first 50 and tried to streamline off the walls, as well as rotating my head fully forward.  We all went out together - 5 of us in the heat split within half a second of 41.0 seconds.  I started to pull away in the 3rd length as I had been relaxing more than Old Man.  I knew that I had him after the final turn.  He was about 1 second behind, and he shortened his stroke to try to catch up.  That just made thing worse for him, and I ended up winning by 2 seconds.

 

 

On the blocks - Kendal in Lane 3 and Old Man in Lane 4

 

Old Man and Kendal - after the 100 Breaststroke.  The facial expressions say it all!  Click on the thumbnail for a better look...

 

Where did Old Man get the idea that he won the 50 Back?

 

KK Tough to win a race that you did not enter!  I slipped on my 50 Back push off, and that caused my streamline on the start to be less than optimum.  At the end of the meet, he comes up to me and claims that he swam a 38.23 as the leadoff swimmer in the Navy Medley Relay.  With no electronic pads or big board on the wall, he has no proof!  But, I felt sorry for him and let him have a victory....  He needs something to cling on to as he trains to get even in future 2007 meets.

 

Were you taunting him by displaying the #1 finger?  Kendal, where did you go?

 

 

To recap sportsfans, John wins the 50 metre Backstroke, but Keith wins the classic head-to-head 200 Free and 100 Breaststroke, as well as the 200 IM where they were in separate heats. Let the record show that the 2007 Cowichan Meet is a 3-1 victory for Keith!  John will have to wait for the Vic Masters meet in March and the 2007 BC Provincials in April to get even.