Last weekend we hit the 2014 Tri show: check out Swim Smooths account of our work down at the show.
Last week on the blog we previewed our visit to the220 Triathlon Show in London and our Swinger vs Smooth Smackdown which featured Olympic Silver medallist David Davies and Double Commonwealth Gold Medallist Ross Davenport.
We heard from many of you from all corners of the globe who would have loved to have been there so here’s our picture and video highlights of the weekend to enjoy. If you can, come and join us at theBike And Tri Show in Manchester this weekend for more seminars and endless pool sessions (timetable at the end of this post).
On the first day in London Paul Newsome hosted the show-headlining Q&A with 6x Ironman World Champion Dave Scott. Dave is a real smooth operator and entertained the crowd with inside stories on his victories and discussions on nutrition and training methods:
Dave’s views on swim coaching are very much in alignment with our own and it was great to hear him speak about how he got the best out of his own swimming using the Swinger style. It was a real honour to work with Dave again over the weekend, here’s ‘Mr October’ with some of the members of the Swim Smooth UK team:
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| L-R: Emma Brunning, Adam Young, Annie Oberlin-Harris, Dave Scott Paul Newsome, Fiona Ford, Linda Newsome (aka Mother Smooth!) & Stevie Akred |
Next Paul presented a new presentation he’s been working on about our Swim Types system with special guest David Davies, Olympic Silver Medallist in the 10km Open Water Event. It was fascinating to hear Dave speak about hisSwinger stroke style and how coaches tried to change him over the years, but it always slowed him down. His original coach Dave Haller in Cardiff knew exactly what he needed and capitalised on that – his results speak for themselves:
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| “People used to say I looked horrible – like a spider, but when I tried to lengthen out and slow down my stroke rate I simply became slower, not more efficient – being like Sun Yang just didn’t work for me.” |
This was the busiest presentation of the entire weekend with over 300 people in attendance:
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| Standing room only! |
Immediately afterwards we ran the much heralded Swinger vs Smooth Smackdown in the Zoggs Swim Zone between Silver (2008, 10km) & Bronze (2004, 1500m) Olympic Medallist David Davies and double Commonwealth Gold Medallist (200m freestyle & 4 x 200m freestyle) Ross Davenport:
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| Paul Newsome demonstrates arm recovery styles to the audience with David Davies (nearest) and Ross Davenport (far side) in the Zoggs endless pools |
Of course we filmed the session for you but are saving that for future viewing! Suffice to say, Ross’ and David’s differing stroke styles were immediately apparent for the 300+ audience to see. David (right) uses the straighter arm style of the Swinger whilst Ross (left) uses the higher elbow of the Smooth:
Who won? Well unfortunately we couldn’t have a real race because these particular endless pools weren’t configured to go fast enough for elite swimmers at race speeds but the real lesson here is that both are brilliant swimmers and both styles are equally valid. Simply put there’s no one right way for all swimmers to swim. Choose your own stroke style based on what naturally works best for you and the environment in which you are swimming.
Paul with Ross and David after the swim:
And a little later when we filmed David’s stroke properly:
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| Adam, Fiona, David Davies, Annie and Paul post filming |
As if that wasn’t enough, on Saturday night we won the prestigious 220 Best Wetsuit Brand award with our HUUB range for the second year running! (www.swimsmooth.com/huub). Dave Scott is now a brand ambassador for HUUB along with Olympic Gold and Bronze medallists Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee. A fantastic result and big congratulations from us to Deano Jackson and the whole HUUB team!
On Sunday it was back into the pool to deliver a jam-packed Video Analysis and Stroke Correction session with the 220 Triathlon Magazine Editor, Helen Webster:
Helen has only just learnt to swim but did brilliantly. You can only imagine how she felt doing a session in front 150 people – thanks for being so awesome Helen!
Also thanks to all of you who came and said hi to us during the show. If you’re planning to visit the Manchester show this weekend don’t forget to bring your video footage of your stroke on a USB drive so our team can give you some feedback on your stroke:
Swim Smooth!