ASANER Open Water Swimming Championships 2014 – Report

Fifteen swimmers from City of Sunderland, braved the cool waters of Wykeham Lakes (near Scarborough) to compete in the North East Regional and Northumberland and Durham County open water swimming championships.  For some this was their first taste of open water swimming and the results suggest that it will not be their last!

Leading the way was seventeen year old Lucy Ellis, competing in the 17 – 18 year old category.  Lucy finished the 3Km swim in first place in a time of 38.04 minutes with a winning margin of 5 seconds.  Lucy claimed both the regional and county titles with this result.  Nineteen year old Jennifer Tatters. Competing in the Senior Age Group (19 – 24 years) also finished in the top spot in a time of 39.58 minutes winning the regional and county title too.

Making it a family affair, Lucy’s dad, Ian Ellis, finished second in the Masters event.  Ian swam the 3km course in a time of 67.58 minutes which was brought him the county title and a silver medal in the regional championships.

Making his debut at open water swimming, fourteen year old Jay manners made a brilliant start by finishing 5th overall in the Boys 12 – 14 year old age group.  His time of 19.14 minutes for the 1.5 km swim placed him second in the County Championships winning him a silver medal.  Twelve year old J.J. Robins, finished in 12th place overall and 9th in the County Championships in a time of 21.00 minutes.

Swimming in the Girls 12 – 14 years age group were: fourteen year olds Anya Sordy, Amy Henshaw and Darcy Palmer and thirteen year olds Elizabeth Clements and Natalya Sharp.  Anya led the Sunderland girls, finishing in 5th place overall and winning a bronze medal in the County Championships with a fast time of 18.03 minutes.  Finishing just six seconds behind Anya and also recording an excellent time of 18.09 minutes was Amy who finished 7th overall and claimed 4th spot in the County Championships.  Elizabeth finished in 8th place and took 5th place in the County Championships, Natalya finished in 12th place and was 7th in the County Championships and Darcy was 16th overall and secured 10th place in the County Championships.  Their times were 18.47, 21.29 and 21.48 minutes respectively and all were swimming this event for the first time.

The Championships also offered the opportunity for swimmers to enter ‘Come and Try It’ events.  These events did not form part of the championships but enabled novice open water swimmers to take part in a competitive event over 500m.  With the water temperature a chilly 19°C and with no pool ends to kick off and sharing the water with all manner of wild life – open water swimming is not for the faint hearted!  Six swimmers from Sunderland took up the challenge and performed excellently.  Thirteen year old Adam Boxall took first place in the boys event in a time of 9.08 minutes while Alisha Ballentine, thirteen, finished first in the girls event in a time of 9.51 minutes.  Finishing in second place in a time of 10.02 minutes was eleven year old Lara Greggs, whilst Vanessa Rubio, eleven, finished in 4th place in a time 10.45 minutes.  Maria Birchall and Rhianna Ibbitson, both twelve finished in 5th and 6th places respectively in times of 10.59 and 11.02 minutes.  Hopefully this event will have fired their enthusiasm for open water swimming and they will build on their successes and return next year to compete in the championship events.

This event proved very successful for the club and provided a great warm-up for those who will be competing in the Open Water National event in August.