Like almost every early September for the last 15 years or so I went for a swim at the Koper mini marathon  from the marina across the bay to the swimming pool on the other side.

To be honest the event hardly deserves to be called a marathon (even with the prefix mini) although it was lenghtened to roughly a kilometer from the original 800m.

It’s shorter than the longest event in the pool (1500m) and the course record stands at just over 13min.

This year I finished 28th (out of some 250) with an estimated time in the neighbourhood of 15min (there were no results when I left) and to be honest I feel quite good about it. Better than last time, if I remember correctly, and still relatively close to the leading group (all of them being active swimmers or waterpolo players). Considering the complete lack of training I did quite well.

Naturally it hurts my ego that I got beat by some kids that probably barely got into high school but going some 10 years back it was the same deal with me.
Yes, the good old days….back then I was constantly in the top ten (though never among the top three overall).

Every year I tell myself I’ll just take it easy, swim at my own pace and crap like that. It never works…
The moment that gun goes off and everyone starts pushing, pulling and hitting everyone else for a decent position I just go into automatic mode. It’s a sprint for the first 100m to get clear of the masses then just trying to keep up with the people in front.

Being nearly blind and all there isn’t much else for me to do. I can hardly tell the exact direction I should be going so I just follow someone who does and knows how to swim straight. I hate people who don’t know what they are doing and swim all over the course bumping into each other. Luckily I’ve been to so many marathons that I quickly spot people who know what swimming in open water is like.

It’s sad really… so many great young swimmers that do wonders in the pool simply get lost when they go into open water. Even a short distance like this is a problem for a lot of them.

But the one thing I’m really sorry for is that we got beaten… among those 250 competitors was a dog. A cute black labrador. The first dog to swim this marathon. It should have been Dina.

Next year that lab will be lost in our wake! You’ll see!

 

No, I wasn’t on the inside. I was one among the majority that chose/was forced to stay on the other side of the wall.
The acoustics obviously weren’t great but you could still hear all the songs quite clearly.

I am however, very dissapointed that I didn’t get to shoot some photos from what is apparently their last tour. Dubliners, on the road, never again.

Great band that will surely be missed by many.

 

 (large PDF) – 170 page study of possible internet evolution by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

Apparently there are four schools of thought:
1. Adaptive User Environment
2. Not The Smart Internet
3. Rich Media
4. Chaos Rules

The certainly have an impressive list of interviews that form the basis of the research. I’m still browsing through the rest…