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 2011.

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.

Internal Team Challenges

We challenge ourselves with internal events and goals every year. You may find that new ones and variations crop up, but here are our most famous.

Can-Do February

Our Can-Do February Challenge is 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 and Gold Swim Meet

The goal of this internal March/April swim meet is to start moving through the water faster than February's max-yardage pace. It also kicks off our short-course swim meet season which spans from March to May. 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.

Swim the Cycle

Who in their right mind wants to swim all available 18 stroke events in one year?  You have all year to accumulate your swims and you can compete at short course yards, long course meters, or short course meters. You can even check off your 50-free as part of a relay.

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

Team Social Events

Keep an eye out for our Swimmer of the Year celebration date in January. We also have a Team Bar-B-Q 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.