| We are delighted to announce that the Club’s new “Olympic-style” starting blocks have been installed and will be used for the first time in anger during the forthcoming Club Championships. The adjustable raised back foot plate of the blocks (technically called the “OSB11” manufactured by Swiss Timing) allows the swimmer to exert greater force when pushing off from the starting block, resulting in a faster initial speed into the water. |  |
The purchase of the blocks has been funded by donations from the employers of a number of parents – Laing O’Rourke (Clare Emery), Gazprom (David Rayner) and DJB Ltd (Marina Christie) – along with match funding from Hertfordshire ASA, a Hertfordshire County Council Locality Budget grant from local County Councillor Antony McKay, and a number of fund raising activities by Club members, most notably the Sainsbury’s bag packing in December 2013 organised by Liz Sherriff and the raffles at various Club competitions. We are very grateful to everyone who has helped in their purchase.
Over the last few years the Club has invested significantly in improving the quality of the competition equipment at the pool. It’s hard to believe that before the purchase of the current six lane scoreboard in 2011 we had a single lane scoreboard and could only see the time of the winner of each race! In 2012 we purchased new starting equipment and in 2013 we took delivery of our Olympic-standard lane ropes. Less visible but every bit as important we’ve also been investing behind the scenes in the cabling that links everything together and the storage of equipment so that our investments are looked after as well as possible.
With the installation of the new blocks we can be proud of one of the best equipped pools in the county, and all of it purchased without spending a penny of members’ monthly subscriptions!