by Jim Teisher
meetdirector@barracudas.org
Tualatin Hills Barracudas
What is the Two Mile Relay?
Last year the Tualatin Hills Barracudas ran the first USMS-sanctioned ePostal Two Mile Relay. A relay team is made up of 2, 3, or 4 swimmers, each swimming 100 yds in rotation until they reach 3600 yards. If there are two swimmers, it is 18 x 100. For 3 swimmers it is 12 x 100, and for 4 it is 9 x 100. Mixed relays are permitted for 2 and 4 swimmer relays. Swimmers may dive off the blocks or push off the wall.
Last year’s feedback
A survey was sent to relay participants to get their feedback on what they liked about the event. Their comments included:
- Fun, team oriented, hard.
- It was awesome and built team camaraderie.
- It was great to support each other. Relays are always WAY more fun than swimming an event by yourself.
- Diving off the blocks and sprinting. It’s a great workout.
- If was fun to do a relay with teammates of mixed gender and age. We were able to complete it during practice time. Great results in every way imaginable.
- Harder than I thought.
- Good workout! 7th, 8th, & 9th legs were brutal, but it set me up for a good multiday meet in California later in the week.
- I am more of a fitness swimmer than competitor, so I loved the chance to try something new. I put together a team of women like me and we did it. We want to do more events like that.
Club with Most Relays: MOST (Masters of Southern Texas) in San Antonio Texas
The club with the most relay team entries was MOST. They entered 23 teams. When I was in San Antonio, back in May, I met with their head coach, Susan Ingraham, to talk to her regarding her experience in getting 23 teams entered. MOST has about 200 swimmers between the ages of 18 to 93, with the majority between 45 and 65. There is a combination of fitness swimmers, meet swimmers, open water, and triathlon. Here is part of my conversation with Susan:
Jim Teisher (JT): What caught your interest about the 2 Mile Relay?
Susan Ingraham (SI): I like doing fun challenges with my team. I really try to promote it. I put the training in front of them to prepare for it. I saw this as a new, fun team challenge and I thought it would be great. I really promoted it to the team that we are going to do this as a team event.
JT: Did your team do this during a single practice?
SI: We did spread it out. I let them know that this event was coming up and if they wanted to form their own teams, let me know who they had put together. If people were interested but didn’t have a team they were to let me know. I rounded up everyone else and created teams. We train at 3 different pools, at a variety of times. Sometimes swimmers didn’t know everyone on their relay. I put people of similar age and ability together.
JT: What advice would you give to coaches who want their teams to participate?
SI: It was a lot more fun than perhaps it sounds when you first read about the event. We liked it for the team building aspect. If nothing else, look at it as a unique workout challenge. I also might add that this isn’t just geared towards top swimmers. Even my middle and lower tier swimmers enjoyed it. Having a team and doing something for their team that was safe and fun was the key. Some swimmers may never go to a swim meet or dive off the blocks. Some of those MOST swimmers who hadn’t gone off the blocks did practice diving before this event because they really wanted to dive off the blocks. After the event many of the swimmers wanted to go out for breakfast afterwards to share their experiences. They all had fun!!! This event is really a great thing for every ability.
I received a lot of positive comments from last year’s relay swimmers and coaches and have already had swimmers contact me expressing interest for this year’s relay. I hope you will consider putting together a relay this year and giving it a try.
Relays must be swum between October 1 and November 30, 2018. For more details and registration information, please go to https://tinyurl.com/2MileRelay
ePostal Two Mile Relay Records
Women
Age Grp Time # of Swimmers Club Swimmers
18-24 40:20.00 3 OREG Sara Shepherd, Erin Cavender, Shayna Tucker
25-34 39:06.28 2 MOST Erica Kao, Anne Muir
35-44 46:08.03 4 INDY Meg Alberts, Elizabeth Warren, Anne Hurley, Katie Barbee
45-54 42:23.76 4 MOST Catharine Cebrowski, Margaret Gale, Tiitta Elias, Martha Towers
55-64 43:22.71 4 MOST Susan Ingraham, Julie Eakle, Elaine Valdez, Suzanne Cuda
65-74 56:26.50 3 MOST Ann Vitt, Connie Lindsey, Randee Burke
75-84 01:24:02.08 3 SUSA Lynne Lund, Dorthy Kennedy, Ruth Sluder
Men
Age Grp Time # of Swimmers Club Swimmers
18-24 37:51.22 4 OREG Ryan Clark, Darren McCarthy, Peter Kircher, Andrew Scott
25-34 35:52.16 4 OREG Paul Slotemaker, Michael Baele, Brian August, Steven Arms
35-44 37:01.14 4 RIDG Alan Lake, Brian Miller, Scott Emery, Sam Perry
45-54 35:14.03 4 WLOO McClellan, Brian Buras, Ron Orris, Mike Varozza
55-64 37:38.76 2 TXLA Larry Wood, Jim Sauer
65-74 47:44.67 2 OREG Stephenson, Michael Pendleton
75-84 52:27.21 2 OREG Anderson, Dave Radcliff
Mixed
Age Grp Time # of Swimmers Club Swimmers
25-34 40:00.87 4 RIDG Jim Amick, Nicole Willingham, Brian Miller, Stephanie Thompson
35-44 39:10.50 4 MINN Peggy Kratz, Wendy Peterson, Eric Vogen, Sean Bateman
45-54 41:57.97 4 MOST Sharon Sander, Bob Nieman, Cate Cebrowski, Eric Ingamells
55-64 39:11.46 4 OREG Colette Crabbe, Robert Voll, David Hathaway, Arlene Delmage
75-84 01:28:41.84 4 MOST Gail Marsch, Wendell Peters, Claire Gregg, Louis Raiborn