Farewelling the Miami Pool - December 2019
Times of Change for QMM
2019 has been quite an eventful year at Miami. We got back into the swing of having our traditional February meet, had a few swimmers venture off to higher competition and had many more participate in club meets around the state. Our training programs have continued to be well attended. In other club activities, a talk by Professor Peter Reaburn in August on “Sport for Health” proved very popular and the Splash and Dash Fun meet held in October was a great success. Perhaps our biggest concern now is how to cope with all the developments happening at our training venue, the Miami Aquatic Centre. The Gold Coast City Council has presented big plans to redevelop the entire Pizzey Park. The whole area covers quite a few square kilometres and consists of parklands, walking paths, ovals, a skate park and tennis courts. Obviously the big spending bit will involve the Aquatic Centre: our old pool, which has been there for over 50 years, is to be replaced with a new u-beaut FINA approved competition pool and much of the old building infrastructure is going.
For 2020 it looked like conducting a full Masters meet would have been a little too much of a challenge at Pizzey Park, considering all the development etc. We looked at what venues were on offer and chose the BLK facility at Runaway Bay. This fine venue has been used by teams in lead ups to both the Olympic and Commonwealth Games in many different sports. Even though it’s quite a distance from where we’re based, it’s much closer to Brisbane and reasonably accessible for people from the south. So, we’d love to see a great turnout at Runaway Bay on Saturday 15th February. Check the MSQ website for all the details.
Miami Masters Swim Meet 2020
We’re presently back to having two coaches at our Saturday sessions as a lead up to the State titles in May. We’re very fortunate in having a choice of so many to choose from. Our coaches at Miami this year have been Roger Belmar, Sally Hunt, Judy Bonning, Mark Jordan, Todd Robinson and Kim McKeon while John Crisp also helps out with a squad at Nerang on Saturday mornings.
QMM has been so fortunate in having access to our ‘clubroom’, Lane 11, which has been both a storage and catering facility, for many years now. It was originally a tennis shelter which became derelict. Some of our more resourceful members were able to do some creative renovating and convert it into something really worthwhile. Unfortunately, good things don’t last forever and now Lane 11 is off to the great never-never land and we’ve got to congregate elsewhere. We’re most grateful for the good people at the Miami Swim Club who have provided us with a shed for storage right beside their relocated gym. No matter what, we’ll survive and prosper.
Below, just a few pics of our members farewelling our old meeting place, Lane 11.
Goodbye Lane 11
QMM Swimmers at swim meets throughout 2019.
QMM out and about
