Desenzano Hosts Most Prestigious Italian Master Swimming Event
The registered athletes number 1,800. They represent over 100 swimming clubs. There is also another thousand accompanying team members. It is a success of considerable size, matched by a notable level of sporting results: in the previous four editions, 40 Italian records and one European record have been broken.
These figures alone convey the prestige achieved by the Trofeo Aics Città di Desenzano, a master swimming event scheduled for today and tomorrow in the pools of the swimming complex on via Giotto. Now in its 5th edition, the Desenzano event has already become the most important of the entire Italian Fin Master circuit.
The town of Desenzano del Garda thanks the organizers (credit goes to the Aics Master Nuoto di Brescia): 3,000 attendees during a typically low-tourism period represent a real boon for the local economy as well.
Results and Organization
«The success of the event grows year after year » – emphasizes Mario Gregorio, president of Aics di Brescia. – This year we received as many as 2,500 participation requests: we had to reject hundreds, close registration and shut down the faxes a week earlier than planned.
The remarkable success of the event has multiple reasons: the swimming facility is of excellent quality and well known among enthusiasts across Italy. Desenzano offers great logistics, attractions, and hotel solutions.
Most importantly, however, the real secret is the passion for swimming: among the Masters, in fact, are athletes who have surpassed 25 years of age—they can no longer compete at the highest levels, but they refuse to give up their favorite sport.
It is a movement fueled by enthusiasts of all ages: today and tomorrow, swimmers aged 30, 40, but also 75 and 85 will compete. This is passion. – «All of this » – notes Giorgio Lamberti, former world record holder in the 200 freestyle and provincial president of the Federazione Nuoto – – must be credited to the great organizational capacity of Aics: moving three thousand people from all over Italy and various parts of Europe requires organizational skills proven by facts.
And here is, for those who wish to follow the competitions today and tomorrow, the event schedule. The initial heats will start at 1:30 PM today for the 50 backstroke; followed by the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle. Tomorrow morning, the sessions resume at 9:00 with the 50 breaststroke, the 50 freestyle, and the 100 individual medley.
Valentino Rodolfi