A worthy winner of the Winter Series

The final race of the Serpentine Swimming Club 'Winter Series' took place on Saturday, and the winning swimmer needed consistency and some brilliance to claim the title.

Club President Norm Jones gave a hearty congratulations to Boris Mavra, the winner of the 2015 Winter Series raced over eight consecutive Saturdays. 

The race is sponsored by the Kelly family and did our President have a misty eye as he recalled winning the series in 1985?

Norm added that the Kelly family (Sean, Duff and Jesse along with ‘third-generation’ Kelly - Cameron - the son of Sean) who ultimately hail from across two ponds - that’ll be the Serpentine and the Atlantic - "are to the Serpentine, what the Osmonds are to the music world". I think he meant the sharp or unforgettable swimsuits, neat hair and shiny teeth as opposed to any musical ability.

Memories of the late Bob Kelly who was born in Minnesota in 1927 and brought up in Chicago, were exchanged between Norm and Bob’s son Sean who was present to represent the family with his daughter Caitlin and their two dogs Digby and Poppy after his brother Duff, who was on hand, at the start of the day’s racing, got called away on short notice.

Irony of ironies was that although Bob had been in the US Navy from 1944-48 , he easily got seasick. Bob and his wife Gail moved to England in the mid-1950s so he could continue his art studies after time in Paris and in the US through a Fulbright Grant. He discovered the SSC after years of painting and etching in and around Hyde Park - a place he always treated as his back garden. It was Bob who became the first American to be President of the SSC and who was instrumental in ensuring that women could have full membership of what had been a men’s club. 

How happy the former President would have been to see that two women have previously won the Winter Series, the most difficult of all races to win at the Serpentine. And also to see two young ladies Louise and Iris, the daughters of Cedric Guyot and Laure Latham be presented with their bronze medallion swimming certificates by Norm. 

For the record, Boris won the series with 26 points, just one point ahead of Gordon Brodie the 2010 winner. Robert Fisher was the first German home having swam butterfly all season, with Volker Koch taking fourth place. It was then a small leap for butterfly swimmer Kevin Blick to fifth, Eric 6th, Mike Harris 7th and Liz Hurst 8th.

[Yours swimmingly John Tierney, and photographically Mike Harris]

The only two women to date who have won the series, Alice Richardson and Jessica Cselko.