Great turnout in challenging conditions signals an exciting season ahead.
Wednesday evening in Fenit saw a fantastic turnout for the inaugural swim of the 2024 season, sponsored by Waterworld Tri + Surf. A snappy northwest breeze threatened to spoil the fun, but a relatively calm sea and the largely sheltered Lockes beach made it possible to go ahead. The nice bit of sunshine was certainly welcome. But hats off to all of the swimmers who put in a fantastic performance despite the conditions and for making it such an exciting and competitive spectacle. The 750m course went diagonally out to buoy 4 and back around 1 to finish on the beach.
Brendan, Maura and Rose busy setting things up.
It was great to see so many members turning up in plenty of time for registration - with nearly 60 people registering for an event you can understand this this can take time, but John Fox powered through it in record time.
A great turnout, as swimmers line up to check in.
The 750m course attracted 34 swimmers on the timed event and another 10 untimed. The poor conditions on the night prompted some to switch to the shorter course of 350m - a smart decision for anyone when you feel the conditions don't suit you on the night.
Padraig Kelly crosses the line a few seconds after winner Ger Pierse.
Ger Pierse marked himself as the man to watch again this year, with a strong performance from the start, but was put under constant pressure by Padraig Kelly and Noel Cronin. Paul O'Donoghue put in a great show despite only just coming back from illness, and was only just ahead of Sandra Byrne and Emer McDonnell, who finished with only 6 seconds between them. Brendan O'Conner put in a great result in the non wetsuit group.
The above times are before the application of handicaps. The result after application of handicaps is as follows:
Thanks again to all our swimmers for taking part in such conditions. A big shout out must go to Willie and his kayak group who were impacted by the windy conditions, but managed to ensure the safety of swimmers, and guide them round the difficult-to-sight course. And a special thank you to John Cashell for providing the RIB cover for the evening, ably assisted by Francis Lynch.
Thanks also to John for running check-in, Antoinette as race director and all volunteers who helped with timing, setting up and keeping things running smoothly. And Denis who kept the crisps and minerals flowing.
A special thank you to Sandra Fitzgibbon of Waterworld for sponsoring the event.
And I hope you all noticed our new flags - strategicaly placed on the beach, they provide a clear identity for the club and its activities, as well as a handy sighting target for swimmers on the home straight towards the beach.
These welcome additions to our cub were generously sponsored by Noel Hilliard of Hilliard Ground Engineering and will be seen at all our future events.
Some photos of last nights event, courtesy of Fiona Mullins, collages by Willie.
コメント