Open water swimming is relatively new to this island. The St Lucia Aquatics Federation (SLAF), hoping to change that, last Sunday hosted the first ever Open Water Swim Carnival, at Pigeon Island.
President of the SLAF, Eddie Hazell, said, “What went on today is the start of one of our major programmes, where there is a big thrust to push open water swimming in Saint Lucia. After all the theoretical work, we have put together an Open Water Swim Carnival which is a pilot project, a test run, because very soon from now we will be starting a fully fledged open water competition.”
Without revealing too much, Hazell indicated that something big is happening in Saint Lucia in 2021, saying: “I cannot announce it yet but, whatever is going to be happening here, open water is going to be part of the event. With that in mind, the SLAF is investing in their very own kayaks, safety gear and dinghies.”
When asked why has it taken so long to develop open water swimming here. Hazell replied, “The problem that we have, and we identified it as soon as we came into office, is that a lot of our swimmers do not like to swim that much in the sea. We have been trying our best to really, really break that habit. We are starting off with a lot of our young swimmers. Today [Sunday] we have a lot of the eight and under swimmers taking part in the 1km and then we are moving way up to the seniors in the 5km, which is a gruelling event.”
Vanessa Eugene was among the participants in Sunday’s Open Water Swim Carnival. Eugene is rounding herself into shape to compete in the Saint Lucia Challenge Swim taking place here July 4-9. Hazell commented that the SLAF is “fully behind her”.
Thirty-seven swimmers registered swimming the 400m, 800m 1km, 3km and 5km events. Competitors came from the following clubs: Lightning Aquatics, Southern Flying Fish, Sharks and Seajays, and were joined by a few independent swimmers. There was a diverse range of participants. Ages stretched from 8 to 63 years, and included mothers and sons, plus an outstanding father, daughter and son entry. It was truly encouraging and says a lot for the continued growth of the event.
Medals were awarded to the top three male and female finishers in each event. Emerging top swimmers in the 400m swim were Karetta Charles (third), Arami George (second) and Aaron Charles (first). David Jn Pierre was the only swimmer who swam the 800m. The top three placements in the 1km male were Ethan Hazell (third), Karic Charles (second) and D’Andre Blanchard (first). Results in the 1km female category were Naima Hazell (third), Mikaili Charlemagne (second) and Naekeisha Louis (first).
Walking away with medals for the 3km male were Lorenzo Festini Cromer (third), Felix Frederick (second) and Jayhan Odlum Smith (first). In the female category, Mildred Voon came second and Kristin Deason first. The 5km event was a true test of endurance and not for the faint of heart. Snatching second place in the male category was Naushad Khan with Joshua Adjodha in first place. In the female category, Vanessa Eugene took second place and Marisa Louisy clinched first place.
Meet Director Yasmin Tyson was pleased with the turnout and expects the Carnival to be annual. She aims for it to strengthen the bonds of families in sport. The SLAF thanks all parents, family and friends who assisted in making the event, with its fundraising efforts, a success. The Federation intends to meet in the upcoming days to review and work on the enhancement of Open Water Swimming in Saint Lucia.
