The Lost Weekend Part 3 "Jeux sans Frontiers"

Before you grab a coffee and pull up a chair to read Maurice McCrohan’s latest gem, we’d like to thank some people. Firstly, Meet Director Julia Galan for producing such an amazing and successful event. The video link and live results were a wonderful touch, allowing us at home to watch the drama unfold in real time. We’d also like to thank our travelling party of Paul Nevins, Angela Torsney, Margaret O’Brien and Coach Alan Turner. All of our young swimmers were looked after brilliantly over the weekend. Personal bests were smashed and performances were raised to a new level in the cauldron of the Crow’s Nest….

 36 swimmers, Coach Alan, 3 team managers and 8 parents assembled at Dublin Airport on Friday 22nd October to fly to Geneva for the EU Invitational Swimming Gala. Caitriona Finlay arrived in style in her dad’s fire truck. (No, he doesn’t own the truck, it’s his work vehicle!)The group was one flight ticket short. Aer Lingus IT system thought the probability of two Miss English’s travelling with the same date of birth was too high and only booked one of the twins in. All was resolved and we headed through to the plane.For those who have a fear of flying, praying to God or a stiff drink can ease the nerves. Perhaps, the next best thing is knowing the pilot, Captain Paul McMenamin is flying his children on the plane and is going to take extra care! Captain McMenamin welcomed us and the Trojan Swim Club team aboard, wished all well for the Gala and Coach Alan Turner good luck in his water ballet competition!

We landed; collected bags and the parental groups left to catch a train to Neuchâtel .The swimming party were blocked booked on a later train.The first mishap arrived to myself. Niall and I had a couple of minutes to catch our train. We descended the escalators. There was a man in front of me who had a luggage trolley on the escalator. This was a great idea when he got on the escalator, but not such a clever one at the other end. The wheels got stuck on the bottom lip of the stairs and he could not lift the trolley over! He started to fall and I fell too. Niall was trying to hold the two of us up, while Shiela,Joan, Billy, Denise,Mandy and Siobhan were watching on with amusement from the train carriage adjacent to the stairs! No injuries occurred and we boarded just in time! The train was late in leaving…well about two minutes late. Standards must be slipping?

The train journey was picturesque. We seemed to navigate around a large lake with stunning mountain back drop. The train stations stops were in the middle of towns. It reminded me of The Great Escape film scene where the German police and security are looking for Bartlett, the head escapee! The ticket inspector came through and I thought he said Bartlett, but it was actually Billets! He had a fancy ticket contraption that scanned our ticket print outs. But, it did not seem to work properly and he resorted to the “ticket tool universales”, the hole puncher!

Our accommodation was found without hitch. We went looking for food, all very hungry at this stage. Neuchetal Central de Ville reminded me of France, which is not surprising being a French speaking area. The swimming teams were not at base by then as their buses could not take the full party of 40. The hostel was laid out in dormitories for groups of 6/7 and the swimmers had to make their own beds. A part of an overhead bunk became loose and struck Sinead a blow, but she was ok. Dinner for the swimmers was a combination of soup and Swiss style pork in a kind of sausage styles. The swimmers were ravenous, ate well and settled down for the night.

The parental group indulged in La Brasserie  which specialized so much in home brewed beer that Sheila asked the waiter for wine! The waiter was crestfallen, but not to be perturbed, he offered us a small shot of the special home brew! The music in the bar was great all 70s and 80s! We bowed out a reasonable hour as we were about to enter Gala World Time! The swimmers were at La Croix well in time for the warm ups. We walked there from our hotel passing Xenex Neuchâtel FC Football Ground. Le Croix or the Crows Nest rested on the lake in spectacular scenery …or so we were told as a mist had descended and we could not see across the lake! The viewing gallery for the parents was quite cramped. The swim area was well set up and the tannoy system crystal clear. Announcements were made in English and French. We were concerned whether our team would be competitive against the other clubs. Fionnan McMenamin set the tone for what proved to be a marvelous performance by winning gold in the first event 50 fly garcons Under 10!

The rejoicing was tempered slightly by the news that Conor Turner was feeling poorly and had to be taken to hospital. Whilst, the best medical minds in Switzerland A & E researched and sought to diagnose the problem, young Shaun Bonner, (perhaps a future doctor?) had his own theory which may have be closer to the mark” It was the sausages!”, he told me and Billy. Luckily Conor was released and able to swim on Sunday. The ALSC swimmers passed the time between races by playing the card game UNO. There were a few minor panics on the bank. Conor Mc “lost his polo shirt” when his younger brother Fionnan had it all the time!

The swimmers had a great morning with too numerous achievements to mention here. But, a mention for Ciara who was reluctant to swim 100fly, and she ended up getting into the final!  The swimmers and the parents adjourned for lunch .We trooped over to the University.  Canteen where a lunch awaited! Simple, except University buildings in the University town of Neuchâtel are as common as pubs in an Irish town. We eventually found the right one. Some of the younger swimmers caught a lift from a passing minibus! The swimmers, having been up since 06.00 were ravenous and ate the curry and rice and some ate again again and  again…..as the canteen catered for seconds, thirds etc!!

The afternoon session commenced with a formal opening ceremony and parade of countries. Laura Potter led the Ireland teams out . Ireland had the largest numbers outside the Swiss. Finals afternoon saw gold’s for Faye, Niamh and Catriona English. Others male and female were well placed on the podium. The announcer got a little tripped up with the Irish names. SEE ANN CUNNINGHAM, SHIN AUD MCCROHAN, GRAIN YA DELL ANN IE ,AL ARN KEY HO and KNEE AM MCDONNELL caused amusement. The finals wrapped up around 7pm.The families trooped into town and the swimmers caught their buses to the hostel where pesto filled pasta awaited.

We walked back into town as Xenex Neuchâtel ground was emptying following a Swiss league game. The swimming parents who were walking back with me were a little concerned to see the security and riot police blocking off a road ahead, while they escorted the match losing away fans back into town. But that’s par for the course  with football crowd control everywhere, just look at Shamrock Rovers!

We then returned to the stadium area to a pizza restaurant and Friday nights parents group were joined by the McMenamins  over to surprise their children. We had a good night righting the wrongs of Irish sport and left the restaurant at a sensible hour.Following a long day in Gala world, I went out like a light. Sheila and Mandy were not quite as tired apparently, they had a knock on their door from reception to keep the noise down!!

Report on Sunday/journey home to follow………………!

Related posts:

1. Lost Weekend Part 2 – The Battle by the Shannon
2. A Lost Weekend….?( P.Bs, The N.A.C and far too much coffee!)