Swimmers put the test in open water

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hallenging” was a common word used by competitors who took part in open water swimming events, associated with the first ever St. Lucia Channel Swim. Nevertheless, 30 swimmers ranging in age from nine to 57 took up the challenge and swam various distances at Reduit Beach along near the St. Lucia Yacht Club.

Commenting on the day’s activities, co-Organizer of the St. Lucia Channel Swim Events, Sue Dyson said: “This was fantastic. It is the first time a club has co-hosted an event in this case Seajays Swim Club. We pulled together the two organizations to host it. We had about 30 swimmers and we saw a variety of folks. We are looking at next year to grow and make it better along with the channel swim from St. Lucia to Martinique.”

As a build up to the event, experienced long distance swimmer Nathaniel Waring who is American but currently resides in Brazil, attempted to cross the channel from St. Lucia to Martinique. Unfortunately conditions were less than ideal. After 10 hours of battling waves Waring suffered a shoulder injury and was advised by his support crew to call it a day. Which he did reluctantly with his destination, Martinique, about five miles away.

In retrospect Waring thought he should have waited a day or two before attempting the crossing, but with St. Lucia on a Tropical Storm watch he felt it probably would not have made any difference. Nevertheless, Waring was in good spirits and during the awards ceremony at the St. Lucia Yacht Club and told the audience: “With any channel swim or crossing your goal is to start on land and end on land. But I started on land and ended in the water.”

Another special guest at Sunday’s open water swim was Philip Rush from New Zealand. He is the current record holder for the fastest two and three way swim of the English Channel which he completed in 1987 in a time of 28 hours, 21 minutes. He completed the two way crossing in a time of 16 hours, 10 minutes. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his accomplishments.

What led to his arrival in St. Lucia? “I am a good friend of Nathaniel we had a go across the channel yesterday [Saturday] and he wanted some support. He said why don’t I get you down and do some clinics and start getting the kids excited about doing a bit more open water.”

Commenting on Nathaniel’s crossing Rush said: “It was a very rough day. We just had a bad week of weather and tide was running quicker than Nathaniel could swim. This channel is a great swim, it is not easy. It is difficult but I think with some training and lessons learnt we can improve on that. It is an exciting swim and in the future people will be want to come.”

He compared Nathaniel’s shoulder injury caused by the force of the waves, to someone hitting your shoulder with a hammer all the time and said “eventually something has to give so it takes it toil.”

Rush was thoroughly impressed with competitors who took part in the open water swimming events. “There is some good swimming going on here,” he remarked. “There was one lad [De Andre Blanchard] who swam the 3k and won convincingly and then swam and did alright in another race. He has potential, but the problem we have down here is that everybody wants to play cricket.”

Compared to Saturday, Sunday’s conditions were ideal for the open water swimming events with distances covering 1k, 3k and 5K for both male and females. Besides St Lucia, there were swimmers from Guadeloupe, St Vincent and Martinique.

A special edition to the open water swim events was the Charity Relay Swim to benefit the Oliver Gobat Sports Fund. Media personalities including Christian Wayne from the Star Publishing Company along with Darrel Peter and Dean Walton were among the special guests taking part.

Wayne who is a former national swimmer said: “It was a pleasure coming back in the water but I’m more accustom to swimming in a pool, which made this open water swim really challenging for me. It was a good experience and I really enjoyed meeting the next generation of swimmers in St. Lucia.”

St. Lucia Channel Swim results. 1K – Female: (1) Mya Defraitas, St. Vincent; (2 Roxane Boulieau, Guadeloupe; (3) Laura-Lynn Limery, St. Lucia (she is a national long distance runner).

1k – Male: (1) Terrel Monplaisir, St. Lucia; (2) Runako Daniel, St. Lucia; (3) Jaysi Daniel, St. Lucia.

3k Female: (1) Lyna-Ines Hachimi, Martinique; (2) Monique Devaux-Lovell, St. Lucia.

3k – Male: (1) D’Andre Blanchard, St. Lucia; (2) Shaquil Flavius, St. Lucia; (3) Rodja Constentine, St. Lucia.

5K Female: (1) Marie-Lorella Capollini, Guadeloupe; (2) Marissa Louisy, St. Lucia; (3) Kaela George, St. Lucia.

5k Male: (1) Nicholas Radjouki, Guadeloupe; (2) Andy Cinna, Guadeloupe; (3) Cruz Halbich, St. Vincent.