Swim Lake By George

Are you looking forward to building your very own fish pond? Are you having trouble planning the things that your pond should have? Worry no more! Below are the list of the things that you should know on how to build and maintain a healthy fish pond.

Depth

The very first thing you have to take in mind when making your fish pond is its depth. Having the proper depth for the size of your fish important for the way you pond will look. If you are planning to breed small fishes then a shallow pond would be great for it, just about 4 ft deep because this is the minimum recommended depth of fish ponds. If, however, you are planning to breed large fish then you can go deeper than this.

Pond Size

It is not just the depth of your fish pond that matters, but also its width and length. Be sure, when making your pond, that there is enough space for the fish. A large pond will allow your fish to breed more than smaller ponds. It is known that there are some fishes that are territorial, which means that they need a space away from other fishes. Some of this fishes will attack other fish who happens to trespass into their area. Having a pond with large space will not only prevent your fishes from attacking each other, the extra space is also great for your fish which are laying eggs.

Plants

Plants are very important for maintaining a healthy environment to your pond. If your purpose for putting a plant is to give your fishes oxygen, then look for an underwater plant. Underwater plants are great giver of oxygen to your fishes. Find out also if your fish needs a shade, if they do then look form lily pads or other shade plants. When putting in plants into your fish pond, give time for the plants to adapt to their new environment before putting in your fishes. Another to take note is never to build your pond under a tree because of falling leaves and try to build your pond under a shade.

Equipments

If you want your pond to stay for a long time then investing to some equipment is a must. Water-pump, filtration system, water aerator and ultraviolet sterilizer are some of the equipments recommended for a long term fish pond.

Broward County health officials say it’s safe to swim again in all but one Hollywood beach which is still testing for high levels of bacteria.

Late Thursday, the Health department lifted a swimming advisory at harrison and Custer Street in Hollywood and Dania Beach at the pier after the three areas had tested for high levels of harmful bacteria earlier this week.

Minnesota Street in Hollywood remains under an advisory, and officials are warning swimmers to stay away from the water. Swimming in the water there could cause gastroenteritis, also known as a stomach flu.

After all, 17-year-olds don’t usually find themselves a part of something as vast, as precedent-setting, as the 3,000-athlete inaugural World Youth Olympics. Or in a setting as far, far away from home in Lethbridge, both culturally and geographically, as Singapore.

Now, only days after that singular experience, the globe-trotting Rachel Nicol has reached the picture-postcard-pretty paradise of Kihei, Hawaii, on the south side of Maui, readying for the nearly-as-prestigious Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.

It’s all been a dizzying whirl of indoctrination into the wading pool of high-performance athletics.

The most encouraging part?

She sounds utterly unfazed.

“No, everything’s been great. Fun. I really wasn’t sure what to expect there, this is such a big event, but our coach, Neil Harvey, told us before we competed: ‘You’re swimming a race. You’ve been involved in hundreds of them before. Relax. Go out and do what you know how to.’ ”

Nicol certainly took that advice to heart.

If her name might’ve drawn quizzical eyebrow-lifts as recently as a month ago, she certainly hit the general radar screen in a major way on the island country off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, winning gold in the 50-metre breaststroke in a personal best of 32:06, then adding silver in her signature distance, the 100, and as a vital component of the women’s 4×100 women’s relay team.

A quantum step up in class from, say, the Canada Games.

Then again, blood in Rachel Nicol’s case isn’t thicker than water. Water is in her blood. Her dad, Chris, competed for Scotland in the pool.

“What made the experience in Singapore really cool,” she says, “was being involved with a large Canadian team made up of all different sports. Not just swimming. That’s an amazing feeling. The pride of representing your country is something you always hear about. On the team there, you felt a true Team Canada spirit. Of being part of something really special.

“Obviously, everyone swims to win, so the 50 was very, very satisfying. But I was happy with all my races. In the 100, I wanted to go 1:09, so that was good. In the 200, I’d never broken 2:30 before. And the relay went really well.

“So I have no complaints.”

With the successes of the World Youth Olympics as a springboard, the trick now is to begin accelerating her improvement through increasingly difficult competitions, wedge her way into the senior national setup and then perform on the biggest stages the sport has to offer.

“It’s always a progression,” says Swimming Canada national team coach and CEO Pierre Lafontaine.

“What these kids have to realize is that the experience of something on the scope of a Youth Olympics is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

“They were a great learning tool, introducing the kids into a large, multi-sport competition, and competing against people from all over the world.”

It gives them a small feeling of how something as massive as an Olympic Games works.

“But as all of our young athletes will discover, improvement will be made on the hard days. The days when things go smoothly, they’re easy. It’s those early-practice days, when you’re tired, it’s snowing outside, you don’t want to get out of bed. Those are the sessions that make the difference in pushing yourself to be faster in the pool, tougher mentally.”

Right now, Nicol’s focus is only Thursday and the 100-metre breaststroke in the picture-postcard-pretty paradise of Kihei.

“Ultimately, the goal is obviously, to swim at an Olympic Games, in 2012 or 2016,” says Nicol. “But the great thing about swimming is that there’s so many high-calibre meets to prepare yourself and improve. Not just the Olympics. There’s senior Pan Pacs. The Commonwealth Games. The world championships. So many others. I know I’ve got a long ways to go.”

That way must seem at last somewhat shorter in the wake of Singapore.

“She’s a 1:08-1:09 (in the 100 breaststroke) now, so there’s no reason she can’t be 1:05 in a couple of years,” reasons Lafontaine. “So take a second off your every year. That’s the mission. And she’s more than capable of it.

“Rachel’s certainly one of the bright young swimmers we’re looking to for the future in women’s breaststroke.”

It is hard to determine the five best racecourses in UK; every racecourse is unique and special in its own way. However, there are some race tracks  that enjoy such legend status they set themselves apart from the rest of the racing spots.

Ascot Racecourse

Ascot is without question one of the most impressive racecourses in the UK. Nine of the 32 Group 1 races running annually in the United Kingdom are hosted at Ascot Racecourse; and the venue holds 25 race days every year. Ascot is also closely associated with the Royal Family. Queen Anne established the racecourse in 1711 and made it the home of the Royal Meeting, a four-day racing extravaganza and one of the first organised, regular racing carnivals in history. In close proximity to Windsor Castle, Ascot Racecourse still hosts the Royal Ascot Festival every year – an event that is attended by Her Majesty The Queen without fail, as well as attracting celebrity spectators from across the world. As Ascot hosts both flat and national hunt races, the racecourse is never out of season and visitors can immerse themselves in the historic atmosphere and enjoy the “Sport of Kings” in the most appropriate of settings.

Cheltenham Racecourse

Cheltenham is widely considered as the home of national hunt racing. Today this scenic racecourse, located in Prestbury, Gloucestershire; is best known for the iconic Cheltenham Festival, featuring the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Apart from this quintessential steeple chasing fixture, the Cheltenham is also home to the Champion Hurdle, the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the World Hurdle and the Paddy Power Gold Cup. One feature makes Cheltenham Racecourse particularly unique: the venue sports two separate race tracks, the Old Course and the New Course, preserving horse racing history while keeping the spirit of the sport alive close by.

Aintree Racecourse

Aintree Racecourse is home to the Aintree Grand National, the most notorious steeple chase in the United Kingdom. The Aintree Grand National is held over a distance of 4 miles, an enormous length for a race, which is made possible by Aintree’s enormous race track. The setting – aside from renovations to the facilities and occasional maintenance on the race track – has not undergone drastic changes since 1839, the year of the inaugural Grand National. Aintree has over the decades become a Mecca for jump racing fans, with the Grand National as the centrepiece of every fan’s national hunt season.

Newmarket Racecourse

Newmarket is perhaps the most famous racecourse in the UK. Strictly a venue for the flat races, Newmarket sports two separate race tracks, the July Course and the Rowley Mile, which host nine Group 1 races every year. Records of organised thoroughbred racing in Newmarket go back as far as 1622, making Newmarket Racecourse a pillar of horse racing history. Newmarket is home to the 1,000 Guineas Stakes and the 2,000 Guineas Stakes – the first two English Classic Races – as well as fantastic fixtures like the July Cup, the Sun Chariot Stakes and the Cheveley Park Stakes.

Epsom Downs Racecourse

This georgeous racing venue, located in Surrey, hosts three clear main attractions: the Epsom Oaks, the Epsom Derby and the Coronation Cup. The Epsom Oaks has been held at Epsom Downs since the late 1700s, making it one of the longest running fixtures in the country. Epsom has an impressive history of grandeur and scandal. Perhaps the most exciting Epsom Downs scandal dates back to 1913, when infamous suffragette Emily Davison brought down Anmer, a horse owned by King George V, as an act of protest. Although Davison succeeded in her attack on the horse, she was so gravely injured in the process that she died only days later. Nonetheless, Epsom to this day stands for old school flat racing and a certain je-ne-sais-quois.