Westfield Swimmers Set 5K State Records

September 4, 2010 Westfield Memorial Pool. While the rest of us were firing up the barbecue for Labor Day weekend, 3 swimmers from Westfield got together for a 5,000 race. The trio ended up setting three new NJ State records for their age groups. The five thousand meter event is one of the longest races. The distance is equal to over two hundred lengths in a typical 25 yard pool.

Heidi Remak Ziff, Westfield, bested the NJ masters' record for her age by a convincing margin of 17 minutes. She did a time of 1:32:07. "Heidi already proved she was a sprinter by capturing the 50 freestyle record in the past. This year, she impressed us all with her long distance record. It takes a real well rounded swimmer to capture distance and sprint records" noted Daniel Moore.

Daniel Moore, Westfield, scored a hat trick by setting the NJ masters' 5K record with a time of 1:15:31. Earlier this year he captured the NJ state 200M backstroke and the one hour distance record for his age group.

Laura Linenberg, Westfield, who coaches masters swimming at Lifetime Fitness bested the prior NJ masters' 5K record by around 8 minutes with a time of 1:18:26. Her time was the fastest ever recorded by any NJ masters woman of any age. "The staff at Memorial pool was so gracious to open the pool early to allow this event to be possible" acknowledged Linenberg.

Moore commented: "Although we are all collegiate swimmers, four years ago, none of us were competing, let alone setting any records. Since then we created an email list to arrange workouts on weekly basis. The pier pressure is great motivation- if my friends don't see me at the pool, they want to know where I've been." WSPF masters swimming is a group of swimmers aged twenty and up from Westfield Fanwood and Scotch Plains. The group follows the master's swimming moto: Fun, Fitness and Friendship. You can sign up for the free group by emailing masters@danielmoore.otherinbox.com Regular and pick-up workouts are held in local pools year-round.