QUEEN CITY SPLASH & SKI 2001

ORCA QUEEN CITY SPLASH & SKI IS GREAT SUCCESS

Pictures from the meet:
http://seattle.edoublesharp.com/archives/business/0101-swimmeet

Meet results (.pdf)

Over 175 swimmers and water polo players attended the Orca Swim Team's Queen City Splash & Ski Meet weekend over the weekend of January 12-14, 2001 in Seattle.  Vancouver's English Bay Swim Club represented the largest team with over 30 swimmers.  Additionally, there was representation from the following other IGLA teams as well: Atlanta Rainbow Trout, Different Strokes Calgary, Different Strokes San Diego, Making Waves Edmonton, Team Detroit, Team Dallas, San Francisco Tsunami. 

The meet was also well-attended by local masters swimmers who made a point of letting the ORCAs know this is the most fun meet of the year.  Undoubtedly, ORCA meet announcer, John Horman, has lots to do with how fun the meet actually is.  His dry sense of humor makes the swim meet come alive and entertains everyone.  The friendly meet attracted 20 first-time masters meet swimmers but at the same time offered a professionally run meet for one Northwest  zone and several PNA records to be broken.

New this year was a fundraiser for Lambert House, a gay and lesbian youth center in Seattle.  Over $1,000 was raised for the center.  The Seattle Otters also organized a post-meet water polo scrimmage that proved to be popular and fun with the participants.  The ORCAs also helped organize swimmers on small teams or without teams form relays at the meet.  Each of the relay events had three full heats of relays which were closely matched.  For official results, see www.swimpna.org and click on results.

The Pink Flamingo Relay Race has been a tradition at ORCA meets from the beginning and is a favorite event for some of the local masters swimmers to compete.  This year's race involved diving to the bottom of the pool to retrieve various Thrift shop items like bowling balls and golf clubs and then riding the inflatable ORCAs across the pool before handing the items on to the next relay "swimmer" for them to carry that item and retrieve another.  The local Bellingham team won the coveted Space Needle miniature "trophies" this year.

Professional ORCA photographer, Eric Raptosh, took hundreds of digital pictures at the meet and displayed them for the post-meet party later that evening.  Meet pictures are available at: http://www.ars-services.net/gallery/events/0101-swimmeet.

On Sunday, about 50 people attended the brunch and some headed up to the mountains for a great day of recreational skiing.  Later, swimmers made their way to the early evening tea dance and then went to see the showing of "Queer as Folk" at one of the local clubs.

The ORCAs plan to have the Queen City Splash & Ski 2001 on January 19, 2002.  Mark your calendars and visit their website at www.teamseattle.org/orca .

OTHER IGLA TEAM-SPONSORED MEETS

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