Swimmers prepare for Varsity

Oxford University Swimming Club has just returned from a fantastic training camp in Lignano, which we hope will be a precursor to victory in the Hilary varsity competition. In 2008 we have relocated our training camp to a purpose-built training village in Italy, which incorporated an Olympic sized swimming pool for intensive long course training, a 25 metre pool for short course sprint work, and a state of the art multi-gym and sports hall complex. Swimmers took part in four hours of intensive coached pool training each day, combined with plyometrics, flexibility, and team building exercises, in preparation for what promises to be the most closely fought Varsity Match of the last decade. Many returning swimmers commented on the excellent facilities, which are unrivalled anywhere in England. The pool, which was ten lanes wide, fifty metres long, and built for the 2006 European Youth Championships, was outstanding. We were delighted to have all ten lanes to ourselves on a number of occasions, and when we shared the pool it was with the likes of the Ukrainian national swimming team, the Spanish water polo team, and the Italian synchronised swimming team. Being surrounded by international sportsmen and women certainly spurred the squad on, especially through those gruelling midweek sets when exhaustion had already set in, but the end of the camp was not yet in sight. An afternoon spent in Venice at the halfway point provided a welcome few hours of recovery and, having visited St. Mark’s Square, the Bridge of Sighs, and the Doge’s Palace, we returned to the pool refreshed and ready for more hard training. As usual, training camp was a great success, even more so this year for its superb new location. The squad has returned feeling leaner, meaner, and faster, and ready to take on the Tabs in the forthcoming Varsity Match.by Lorna Wellings