A massive day of training and fun for the team again today after a great night of skits. Last night each team competed with their own interpretation of the female team leaders “other interests” and it would be remiss of me not to give a special mention of the comedic talents of Sam Druce, and surprise singing voice of Shaun Champion.
The team was again up at 6am and off to the pool. After running through some more core strength floating-starfish drills, there was a tough main set from the coaches – Leanne’s “Jungle Set”, had everyone red faced and puffing by the end. Water Warriors this morning, were Annika, Holly, Tom, Belle, Soph and Ashton who all did a fantastic job.
But that wasn’t all before breakfast. The team were dropped 3 km from the accommodation to run the beach-path home. Great running performances by Tom, Amy and Cal as they set off from the start at a cracking pace and quickly separated themselves from the group. Sadly, being particularly enthusiastic to get going, they didn’t catch all the instructions for the run which meant they missed the final path to the resort and ended up running an extra 1km. – Something about hare and tortoise springs to mind.
After a nutritious breakfast of eggs, haloumi, cereal, toast, fruit, sausages, juice (and I suspect some may have eaten the paper plates their food was on) the team had 30min to get ready for the ocean swim at Noosa Heads. There we were met by Graeme Brewer (Bronze Medallist in the 200m free at the 1980 Olympics) for a 2km ocean swim along the Noosa headland. The conditions were flat, we had Chris and Raf on boards, Graeme on a ski and Leanne and Brandon in the water swimming with the team. This was the first ocean swim for many, but after today’s experience I am sure not the last. The water was clear and about 22 degrees which was perfect for a warm day like today. After swimming for about 1km the team regathered and were given the option to head back or swim for another 500m. All but 6 headed back to the shore, and whilst you would imagine that it was the older boys, I am happy to report it was 6 of the less experienced girls who led the charge to swim-on. Led by Soph and Adri, Petro, Holly, Maddy and Annika headed another 500m out with Brandon, and Chris to check out the sea life. For most of these girls it was their first long ocean swim and they took to it like experienced professionals showing the boys up.
It was then back to the mess hall (ok, the converted garage) for more fuel before heading out to the pool again for the afternoon session. Highlight of the session was a 50m effort by everyone, with Maddy Robinson taking home the points (500) for the biggest PB! – great job Maddy!
Tonight’s entertainment was the dress-up night with Trivia, Music Bingo, and a juggling contest. Each team dressed up in a theme that linked to their team name resulting in hilarious explanations for ridiculous costumes. Highlights included Charles in a huge blonde wig and Harry in a corset! – Tears of laughter
The finale of the night was the team captains singing Vance Joy’s – Riptide with Amy doing an amazing job playing the Ukulele in support.
For those interested, the Current Team point score stands as follows:
- The 7 Dwarfs (7880)
- The Rain breakers (7470)
- Fishion Possible (6695)
- Apeeling banana Llamas (6050)
- Northern Knights (5745)
Tomorrow -2 swims and a surfing lesson.