2nd International MFSC
Tuesday, 8 March 2016
On Saturday, at about 3pm, Jett suggested that we should hold the 2nd ever McComb Family Swimming Carnival. (MFSC) Right Now.. So, with nothing else important to do, by 3.55pm the opening ceremony for the MFSC was well underway and we were busy warming up nervously at the Collegiate pool. At least I was nervous - I was looking for an improved performance from last year when I went in with high hopes of overall victory, and left with a lowly 3rd place. So to make sure I was nice and fresh for racing, I've been tapering since the last carnival. As per the international rules of the MFSC, there were 4 core points events - 25m free-style, backstroke, breastroke and butterfly. Plus a points event chosen by each competitor, plus 4 novelty events. Each points event is worth 4,3,2,1 in order of placings, the novelty races give 2 points to the winner and 1 point for everyone else.
We started out with my chosen event.. Aquatic Underarm..I don't remember choosing this event but Zali swears I did - it's like glorified dogpaddle and it's all about technique - you just have to keep your wrists underwater to be legal. I thought I had this race in the bag right up until the last stroke when I was touched out by Jon. Dang and bugger. Next up was butterfly which we swum it as a timed event to save whacking each other in the head (we were swimming two to a lane) - Jon did a messy 24sec, Zali did a technically correct 26secs and I did 28secs - although if we'd been able to afford officials I would have actually been hauled out and marched off the pool deck for my extremely poor form and breastroke kick. Jett did a very respectible 40secs. So that was two wins to Jon out of two. Hmmph. The 3rd event was breastroke - I was so determined to claim a victory I pushed myself to spew-point and was rewarded - both Jon and Zali where just a whisker bahind me. Yay! One win in the bank but there was no time to bask in glory as we were straight into backstroke which I swum poorly - another one for Jon with Zali second.
The first novelty event was next, the 25m horsey noodle, which, quite frankly I threw once I realised I wasn't going to win. Jon and Zali battled it out until the end with Zali being victorious by a noodle's nose. Jett overtook my horse in the last 10 metres so I was last..
That left the last core event, the 25m freestyle - I gave it my all but Jon beat me by his fingertips. Dissapointment.
With my overall victory now on very shakey ground, it was into Jett's chosen event, the 75m Breaststroke. We were all putting so much intense effort into the 25 metre events I was thinking we might need to call out the pool guard to keep an eye on us for this one. After my 25m win I knew I was in with a chance so I pushed as hard as I could, and with my heart bursting out of my chest and my muscles screaming I managed to finish just centimetres ahead of Jon, and a little way ahead of Zali & Jett - yay 2 victories for me!
The next events were the novelties - firstly the jumping bean event - unfortunately for Zali and Jett this is geared towards tall people - so it was another win for Jon. Then the 25m kickboard - at this stage it was not so much as a novelty as it was painful! Zali dominated this event and I was last into the wall.
With two events to go, despite Zali's performances in the novelties, I figured that Jon had an unassailable lead - but I was determined to fight to the end with dignity. Enjoyably, Jon promptly lost his with a resounding belly smacker in the penultimate event, the longest dive.. Unfortunately his smacker didn't stop him getting yet another win, somehow turning his graceless entry into forward momentum and gliding a half a kickboard length further than me. The final event of the carnival was the smallest splash event. You had to jump from a starting block into the water with the least amount of liquid disruption. My heat had me up against Jett and I was eliminated toute-suite. Despite her size, Zali misjudged her jump so she went into the water with about the same amount of splash as Jon, so they both went into the final against Jett. On the 2nd jump, it was clear that Jon was outclassed, while Jett slipped into the water almost splashless - fittingly giving him his first victory for the carnival.
I didn't win a single event last year to I was pleased to pickup those two breastroke events. Unfortunately Jon proved yet again that power beats style (at least over 25m), which of course is good news for Jett who will be leaving us all for dead in a a few years time! He was very stoic and despite being out muscled in most of the events, he really enjoyed the carnival.
The final result? Jon 32, Me 25, Zali 24, Jett 14. The pool was well and truly closing by the time we finished, so it was off to Val Halla to claim our prizes... yum! 
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