A big cheer greeted Alan Mitchell who defied the years - not too young, not too old, just right - to win the annual Xmas Day handicap for the Peter Pan trophy here at the Serpentine.
"I remember passing Ron and thought I might have a chance" said Alan in the changing room afterwards. And judging by the amount of flesh squeezed into one small space, it was amazing that any one swimmer managed to swim past the rest.
With a fair handicap starting four minutes and 12 seconds after Ron, Alan managed to make it past the pack in what must be a bit like overtaking the field of contenders in a steeplechase field. Alan did admit that he "had to swim a bit diagonally at one point". He is a popular winner of the Grand National for swimmers.
Post race ceremonies were conducted by Norm Jones who also asked us to give our thoughts to Cyril who passed away just three days ago.
Congratulations Alan on a well deserved and popular race win.
The Greenbury family once again turned up in large numbers, some travelling from Scotland and Wales to support and generously sponsor the Christmas day handicap race for the Peter Pan Cup.
Albert Greenbury was the first member of the family to join the club in 1908 and went on to become club president and Peter Pan cup sponsor. The family sponsorship was carried on by Albert's son Stephen, who sadly under doctors orders was unable to join us for this years presentation.
Stephen's lovely wife Val presented the cup and made a fine speech, on behalf of him and all of the family.
We send our best wishes to Stephen, and hope he feels better soon, and a big thank you to the Greenbury family for their continued support of our very special club.
Thanks and Happy Christmas.
Yours swimmingly
[Norm Jones] [Nick Adams] [John Tierney]
Start of the race:
End of the race:
