H2O Sprint Cup at The American School
Web posted at: 5/09/2009
Source ::: QATAR TRIBUNE

 

The two-day H2O Spring Cup opened at the American School of Doha (ASD) here on Friday. One hundred and twenty three youngsters, representing 10 different swimming clubs from Qatar, UAE, Algeria, and Kuwait, competed not only to beat their rivals, but to better their own personal bests as well. Altogether 36 events have been planned for the regional meet, organized by Doha-based H2O Swim Club.

 

The first day of the competition witnessed 18 events for swimmers in different age categories starting from nine years. Speaking to Qatar Tribune, Marco Pascoe from H2O Swim Club said, “Events like this have a very positive impact on the community because it offers opportunities to clubs in Qatar to compete against clubs in the region. Qatar has some incredible facilities and also a lot of commitment to providing great coaching. The key thing for H2O is that we want to promote swimming in Qatar as a first priority. “And, from there, we want to provide them an opportunity to reach their goals, be it Asian Games or Olympics. Sky is the limit for them”.

 

The competition showcased not only the swimming prowess of the participants but their level of endurance under water, a skill they have learned to develop out of constant practice and rigorous trainings.

 

Andrea Fruge, a 13-year-old American expatriate, said that she has pushed herself more than normal to train for the competition. Speaking to Qatar Tribune, she said, “During training, I swam faster. It was hard, but it was worth it. Seeing myself doing better and trying to beat my own time and stuff was fun”. Andrea said that she had been training three times a week for an hour each. “Tomorrow, I will be swimming at 400m-freestyle. And I hope to set a good record tomorrow. I think my time was like 7:45 or something, so I hope to beat that one,” she added.

 

Twelve-year-old Keegan Ill, a student of ASD, said that he started competitive swimming at the age of seven, but learned it when he was only one-year old. On setting up a new record for his self, he said, “For the 400 meters freestyle I’m trying to beat seven minutes because that’s my record I had set about two months ago”. Speaking about further plans of organizing swim meets, Pascoe said, “In October, we’re going to be having a very high caliber event and that will include international teams from Europe, Asia, and perhaps even Australia and North America. And we are also going to have open water meet in October as well. “So we are looking forward to some other major events that’s going to be bigger than this in scale, and again working together with local swimming entities we hope to achieve a great importance in Qatar.”