About Events

Menlo Masters participates in swim meets, open water swims, and intramural events throughout the year. Below are some of the activities on our calendar for 2013.

  • January: Swimmer of the Year celebration, Hour Swim
  • February: Can-Do swim for charity all month
  • March: Rinconada Spring Meet (Palo Alto)
  • April: Pacific Masters Short Course Champs (Moraga)
  • May: 30-30-30 Challenge 
  • June: Team Picnic, Del Valle Open Water Swims (Livermore)
  • July: Pacific Masters Long Course Champs(San Mateo), Swim Across America Davis Pool Challenge 
  • August: Blue, Gold & Red intra-squad meet
  • September: Dynamic Duo, Alan Liu Memorial meet
  • October: Swim Across America SF Bay Swim, 10x100 Age Group Relay, Killer Quad swim #1
  • November: Killer Quad swim #2
  • December: Killer Quad swims #3 and #4

Swim Meets

The swim meet season is packed with traditional meets, new events, and championships. We target a few swim meets each year as a team. Some of our swimmers travel to meets all over the region and to championships throughout the country.

For more information about local swim meets and open water events, check the Pacific Masters website. You can subscribe to the Pacific Masters newsletters for the most current updates. For more information about national and international meets, check the USMS National Championships page.

Open Water Swims

We have many swimmers who enjoy spending time in various oceans, bays and lakes. Each year, we focus on attending a selection of open water events as a team.

Team Challenges

We challenge ourselves at intra-squad team events every year. Some have been traditions for many years - and we're always dreaming up new ones!

Hour Swim / Hour Relay

In January, we typically participate as a team in the USMS One Hour Swim, encouraging team members to swim as many yards as they can in one hour. We mix it up a bit some years by swimming an hour in teams of four as a relay, switching swimmers every 200 yards.

Can-Do February

Our Can-Do February Challenge has been a team tradition for nearly 20 years. The goal is to swim 50,000 yards in the month or as much as 100,000 yards. We tally up our yardage each day and swimmers reaching these thresholds receive gifts from the team to honor their efforts. The real reward is that for every 2000 yards you swim, we ask you to bring in a can of food. The canned food then donated to the Menlo Park Senior Center to supply their brown bag program which offers supplemental food to eligible seniors throughout the year. Menlo Masters then makes a monetary donation based on the number of cans collected.

Blue, Gold & Red Swim Meet

The goal of this internal swim meet is to up the ante at practice and add a bit of competitive racing. We divide into a Blue Team and Gold Team based on criteria that differs year to year, so it's a fun and competitive way to get some intensity into your strokes without the pressure of a large meet. The teams compete on number of events swum AND on number of shoes donated to benefit My New Red Shoes, an organization that provides shoes and clothing to local homeless children.

Dynamic Duo

The Dynamic Duo is an internal fun event where two swimmers are paired up by the team so that every pair is about the same speed. You and your partner swim a relay of alternating 50's for a total of 40 of them (20x50 each). The prize list consists of fruit. Yes, that means a grape for last place, and something as hefty as a watermelon for first!

Killer Quad

We finish each year with a series of 4 holiday swims to keep us in the pool as the weather cools off and winter approaches. The swims progress in difficulty and length. The format is a series of 100s, all on a set interval for your lane that provides 5-10 seconds rest between each 100.

  • Halloween: one-hour swim without stopping
  • Thanksgiving: 50x100 swims on a timed interval
  • Christmas: 75x100 swims on a timed interval
  • New Year: 100x100 swims on a timed interval
New Team Challenges in 2013

This year we're trying out a new individual challenge:

  • *NEW* Mile Club: Swim the 1650yd or 1500m Free faster than the team standard (2013 standards)
Team Challenges

And we offer a variety of individual challenges for team members:

  • Year-Rounder Club: Each month, swim 10,000 yards in one calendar day
  • Million Yard Club: Swim a total of one million yards during the year
  • Speed Club: Swim a 100 Free in a meet faster than the team standard (2013 standards)
  • Swim-the-Cycle: Swim all 18 meet events at least once in a year
  • The Beast: Swim these 7 events in one meet - 200 free, back, breast, fly, 200 and 400 IM, 1000 OR 1650 Free
  • The Ironman: Swim the 5 longest events in a single day of a swim meet
  • 30-30-30: 30 swims in 30 days for 30 minutes minimum
  • 10x100 Age Group Relay: Teams of 10 swimmers from 10 different age groups swim 100 yards each

Team Social Events

Keep an eye out for our Swimmer of the Year celebration date in January. We also have a team picnic in the summer.

We also sometimes bring food to the pool following events, such as after our final Killer Quad. Impromptu social affairs crop up now and then, along with informal gatherings at swim meets and open water events.

To keep up with the latest happenings, listen for news announcements at workouts and sign up to receive the team's emailed newsletter.