But big thanks to Cork masters who were very charming & friendly. The winner was a 15 year old from Dublin who swam 1700m in the cold (14 degrees) Sea in 23 min. We swam a revised course around the lea side of the Island & shore & into the estuary.
Norman was the 1st serps in 28 min (gold medal winner for his age) , then Kevin (gold medal), Nick C & Neil - all in 31 min, Sally & Jane in 35 min (Jane got silver medal), then Andrew in 40 min (gold medal for age as the only entrant in age group), then Anne in 65 min- last one in, big clap of honour & lifeboat escort.
Drinks & buffet in pub afterwards. Lovely talk by Ned Dennison, also really introduced Kevin to us, amazing talk, Kevin then gave one back & spoke to young kids (8 years old & swam this summer around the Island!). More drinks followed by more drinks!
Kinsale a pretty fishing town 20 min south of cork. beautiful coast & scenery.
Report from the Irish organiser Ned Dennison:
Serpentiners! Many thanks for sending 12 of your best over to the Autodesk Sandycove Island Challenge 2006 - swim in Cork Ireland. The weather was terrible but your crew turned up and were raring to go.
In the water you took two of the top prizes:
Anne McAlpine ..... most courageous swim in just over 65 minutes in very rough seas
Norman Jones.....the BEST swimmer out of 150+ (this is a special award based on a comparison of times to the age group world records) ***I always think of this as the Roberto Duran prize...the best pound for pound fighter in the world (for some years)***
The King was very charming and gave our youngest two swimmers (8 and 9) a rare photo opportunity. This didn't stop several other mature channel swimmers (guilty) going for a picture as well! Jane was congratulated on her Windemere swim.
There were several other top performance at the BBQ (top five finishers, largest plate, etc.). Your folks were also well represented with pints in the pub. The only two negatives of the night were when Anne asked: "What cake?" It seems that the other 11 had eaten the ENTIRE chocolate cake we ordered specially for Serpentine for just after the swim with Coffee and Tea. To which Anne asked: "Where was my hot drink?" An odd physical thing though.....the 22 hands were shaking from the cold after the swim but once they got a SLAB of cake in their mitts - the shaking stopped. Not a crumb dropped. We hope to see you back soon!