ANNEMAREE Grainger had never raced in a 1500-metre event before her gold-medal success at the Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold Coast.
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By the end of the swim meet, the Port Macquarie competitor had two gold, two silver and three bronze medals in her pocket as the standout performer in the Port Macquarie master’s crew.
Normally used to the shorter distance events, Grainger welcomed the new challenge in the pool.
She admitted it was the mental battle as much as the physical one she had to overcome.
“It’s definitely a mental battle; it’s 30 laps or 29 turns and you’ve got to go hard all the way,” she said.
“It’s hard to tell with masters where you’re situated so I just go out and swim my own race.
“I’d never done a 1500 in competition before. I normally do sprinting.”
Grainger admitted she had done a significant level of training before the event which ensured she coped well with the energy-sapping conditions in Queensland.
“There was a lot of training for long-distance stuff beforehand,” she said.
“Because it was on the Gold Coast it was hard in the middle of the race because it was really hot, but I was very happy with my time.”
Her time of 20:20.19 was around a minute ahead of the nearest competitor.
“There was a fair gap there,” she said.
It was the first time Grainger had competed at Pan Pacific Masters Games level following her national title success in Perth earlier in the year.
Port Macquarie masters swimming club members Kim Brennan, Margaret Jopling, Greg Mortlock, Wendy McMurtrie and Rita and Darren Svensson also made the trip north.
“It was great to have the whole team along; the people who like to compete,” Grainger said.
“When I go away to national competitions there aren’t quite so many so it was good to have seven Port Macquarie people there as well.
“The times were good, but there was some hard competition and really strong girls from Brisbane and New Zealand.”
Jopling also claimed gold in the 400-metre backstroke and 200-metre backstroke while she also claimed a further 10 silver medals.
The Masters crew will continue preparations for the state titles in March.
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