There were two excellent races today, both scratch races with two winners and an elegant sufficiency of swimmers on a Saturday when water temperatures remained stuck in the eights, at around 8.8 Celsius, or to borrow from the analogue bingo callers as they used to cry when the two eights appeared…. “two fat ladies”. Enough of history, let's get to the racing.
Race one wasn't quite a full house with about eight starters and it had a tight finish. Doing backstroke, race leader Andrew was Fuller running in the first length of the 220 yard race as he led the ladies - and the men. On the turn, Andrew ran out of steam and it seemed that the Laurels for victory would go to Laure Latham. But had Laure 'gone to the feet' too soon? And with about 88 yards to go the looming shadow of Nicola Sanderson got closer. But who would win the Naumachia between Latham and Sanderson? Would Laure Latham’s long languid movement in the liquid conquer Sanderson’s strokes whose metronomic strikes smashed through the Serpentine like the Memphis Belle paddle steamer? Side by side, Laure matched Nicola all the way to the finish. In a final gut squeezing burst, Sanderson squeezed ahead and drifted slightly to her right into Laure’s path, who veered off line pushed not so much by a bow wave but more possibly, a slight slush of water. And from there, Sanderson blasted full steam ahead and helped ensure that the first to port was Sanderson in what was a greight race.
In the second race, Nick Adams faced the verdant sea monster Cameron Kelly, and young Alan Luckhurst, and that was the order at the finish as Adams won by a nose.
Good luck to Boris Mavra who will race in the non-stop section Devizes to Westminster canoeing race this weekend. Boris will be in boat 346 and is one of the 170 canoe double teams who will race to Westminster.
Luckily for Boris, we found his tracking details on the organiser’s website. You can watch his progress via GPS tracker at this site. Thankfully, Boris does have a bit of experience in a boat. More about the race here .
Good luck to Karianne Lancee and Sam Bail who will don wetsuits to have a crack at swimming Lake Bolsena in temperatures yet to be assessed, but hopefully above 12C. They will be joined by John Tierney who ports a skin coloured cloak of bulk similar to, but much more tasty than a wetsuit.
Tracker link is here and we hope to set off on Thursday around 10am for what would be a swim in excess of four hours, but is temperature dependent. The snow remains visible on the surrounding mountains.
Congratulations to all Serpies for winning the SLSC gala trophy which is now in Deirdre’s possession. She must have a full house of silverware.
Sadly the sponsor for the race (Dave Holiday) was unable to attend to present the prizes.
[John Tierney] @swimmingdragons
The Dave Holliday Furlong
