The Olympic waters of the Serpentine were bubbling this morning. The regulars were joined by the South African open water 10km team and also by Michelle Macy, the famous open water swimmer and a Dubliner Patti Bauernfeind. The 'Dubliner' was from Dublin, California and not the nearer location and she has swam Catalina and Manhattan Island. Michelle's blog is linked here http://macyswim.com/ and Patti's blog is linked here http://www.ikeepswimming.com/index.html
Jessica Roux and Hercules Prinsloo trained under the watchful eye of their coach Cedric Finch. The South African athletes including a name like Hercules, is not one to be associated with playing ping-pong. He did sets of 100metres alongside our speedy Robin Hunter Coddington and it was easy to recognise the speedster as he had five Olympic rings tattooed on his shoulder. On one count, Hercules' stroke rate was ten strokes in seven seconds. This is around 85 strokes per minute. Hercules' Olympic swim bio is here http://www.london2012.com/athlete/prinsloo-hercules-1120915/ South Africa's representative in the women's 10k trained under the watchful eye of their coach Cedric Finch. Jessica's Olympic swim bio is here http://www.london2012.com/athlete/roux-jessica-1125676/ The group of South African swimmers and the open water swimmers were kind enough to have a chat and have their photos taken with Nick Adams. And Robin summed it up best about the South Africans saying "blimey are they fast."
Elsewhere, Irish triathlete Conor Murphy who trains with the Brownlee brothers was itching to having a swim in our lovely waters. Conor's main target is qualification for Rio in 2016.
Finally, swimming ended and breakfast conversation included talk of the 'Stillwater 8' which is mentioned on Michelle's website, open water irritations, and athletic performances where speeds of swimming 7kms in 52 minutes flat can be achieved. The link and proof for the 52 minute swim is here http://www.canakkalerotaryclub.org/FileUpload/bs160583/File/repabs.pdf
(johntierneyswim AT live DOT com)
A man with the strength of Hercules swims at Serps
