Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 11, 1993 TAG: 9307110179
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CELESTE KATZ STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Perhaps too warm.
The usual temperature of the Fallon Park pool is 76 degrees, but the heat wave nudged up the water temperature and the times of participants in this weekend's WDBJ-7 A-B-C Summer Invitational Swim Meet, which ends today.
The pool's temperature hovered around 89 degrees Saturday despite cold water piped in to provide the environment most swimmers are used to. The warmer water caused some swimmers' times to be a bit off the norm, said Vaughan Howard, president of the Williamsurg Aquatic Club.
The meet has 464 swimmers age 8 and up participating in 114 Olympic-style events, including relays, sprints and long-distance races.
Contestants hail from as far away as Charlottesville and Williamsburg, swimming preliminary heats in the morning and finals in the evening.
It's not all fun and games, though. According to the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, the meet is expected to generate more than $300,000 for restaurants, hotels and other businesses.
"Swimmers eat a lot" to keep up their energy, said Lazzelle Parker, who helped coordinate the meet.
Most young contestants were a little surprised to see Louis Tudor on the starting block next to them. Tudor, 37, who owns Tudor's Biscuit World in downtown Roanoke, was one of the oldest contestants in the pool this weekend. He said some of the other swimmers, most of whom were teen-agers, seemed a bit intimidated by his presence in the competition.
"They grin at me a lot," said Tudor at poolside. "I'm starting to slow up a bit, but it's fun to race the younger guys. I enjoy it."
Tudor, who swam the butterfly stroke in a 200-meter medley relay, is no stranger to local contestants; he's a coach for the Roanoke Valley Swimming Inc. Gators.
Swimmers crowded the edge of the pool to cheer their friends on, and parents and judges kept a close eye on the swimmers and the stopwatch.
However, no one kept a closer watch than 2nd Lt. William Secrist and his co-workers from Roanoke Emergency Medical Services. Secrist, who took turns watching the pool with other volunteers, said heat exhaustion and drowning were not his main concerns.
"I'm just worried about them coming off the boards and hitting their heads on the bottom of the pool," he said. But no one's taken a painful plunge this weekend, he said.
"Nice and quiet, just the way I like it."
Only if you're not competing, that is.
by CNB