Club Races & Records

The swimmers of the Serpentine Swimming Club race every Saturday morning throughout the year, regardless of the weather, unless there is ice present.

The races take place at 8am on Saturdays, and are open to paid-up members.

The Bridge to Bridge race and races that are 1 mile or over start at 7:30am (The Rosie George Cup & the Radford Mile Cup)

Most races are handicapped by the Hon. Handicapper (Dani Lobo) so that every swimmer has an equal chance of winning. The slowest swimmers go off first and the faster ones chase after them at various intervals. Members are only eligible to win prizes after they have participated in enough races for the handicapper to correctly gauge their swimming ability. This is at least 3 races, but does depend on the Hon. Handicapper’s discretion.

If you want to race and be added to the handicap list, please read the following

  1. Swimmers not on the handicap list to speak to the Handicapper before the race starts at 8am to let the Handicapper know they want to race. This applies to both handicapped and scratch races.
  2. If it is a handicap race, the Handicapper will note their name down and give them a start time. If it is a scratch race the Handicapper will note their name down.
  3. To make it into the handicap list, a swimmer must complete 3 consecutive races.
  4. A swimmer will be removed from the handicap list after missing 12 consecutive races.

There are 5 Championship races per year (55 yards, 110 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards and 880 yards). In these races all swimmers start the race at the same time and accumulate points towards the Club Championship. This is awarded to the swimmer with the most points after the final race of the series. The Championship races are indicated on the race lists by an asterisk.

DistanceSwimmerTimeDate
40Nick Adams19.4 secs12th January 2002
55Nick Adams26.8 secs28th February 2004
100Nick Adams57 secs25th December 2002
110Cameron Kelly1 min 3 secs15th March 2014
110 (Veterans)Norman Jones1 min 23 secs31st May 2002
110 (All Clothes)Mark Fleet2 mins 11 secs13th September 2003
220Nick Adams2 mins 31 secs24th August 2002
220 (Breast Stroke)Nick Adams3 mins 23 secs20th April 2002
3 x 110 MedleyCameron Kelly4 mins 29 secs13th August 2011
440Cameron Kelly5 mins 11 secs07th May 2011
880Cameron Kelly11 mins25th June 2011
1,000 Bridge to BridgeCameron Kelly12 mins 26 secs09th July 2011
1,760 (Mile)Cameron Kelly22 mins 42 secs16th July 2011
Biathlon (2 mile run, 440 swim)Andrew Davis (RC)18 mins 5 secs18th September 2004
Biathlon (2 mile run, 440 swim)Duff Kelly (SC)19 mins 22 secs18th September 2004