Bridge to Bridge 2024

Since its inception in the mid 19th century the race has always been billed as 1000 yards.  That said, we now start nearly 20 yards away from the Dell Bridge and finish at the chain about 15 yards short of  Rennes Bridge.  Taking account of these deductions the distance could be better described as 965 yards (882m).  Mind you, with all the zig zagging around the moored rowing boats, let alone fiesty swans, geese, ducks and coots the club can still claim that we have a "1000 yard long" blue ribbon.

In the early years of the club a non-handicapped Bridge to Bridge race was used to decide the club Captain.  Harry Coulter was the first such race winner and thus club Captain from 1864 until the spell was broken in 1869 when T Morris successfully won the race and captaincy.  Coulter's 1864 winning time was 20 minutes and 10 seconds.  Harry Coulter was a swimmer of national standard, having come second to the great Harry Gurr in a "Champion of England race".  An indication of how technique, training and thus ability has improved is that the current club record for the Bridge to Bridge was established in 2011 by Cameron Kelly with a time of 12 minutes and 26 seconds.  The fastest of the fifty nine swimmers in the 2024 race was Katie Irvine with a time of 12:41.

Jenny joined the club in 1991.  Though she never raced, she certainly impressed with her serene and effortless glide through the water.  Her graceful secret ....  flippers.  Jennie's family have a long association with the club stretching back at least to the 1940s.  Club member Bill Maggs, in whose memory we still race each March, was butler to her grandmother's household.

Anthony met Jenny in the late 1990s and joined the club "by instruction" -  he wasn't given a choice.  Anthony is famous within the club for his exceptionally strong side stroke, much in the mould of Captain Matthew Webb, who in 1875 became the first person to successfully swim across the English Channel.  This skill served him well on 21 September 2010 when, aged 72, he was part of the "Serpentine Veterans" relay team.  The other team members were Matthew Morony, David Mackertich, Geoff Ransom, George Cselko, Robin Hunter, and Alan Mitchell.

Lambeth born Anthony spent a career in engineering and was knighted in 1992.   President Rob gave an outline the many commerical and public bodies that Sir Anthony has chaired (IBM UK, EngineeringUK, Royal College of Music, to name but a few).   We can thus claim him as our very own "local boy made good" (even if he did hail originally from just south of the river!).

Despite these "heights" Anthony still describes himself as simply "a systems engineer".

For lots more history and background on the race dating back to the origins of the club, please follow this link to the 2021 report 

https://serpentineswimmingclub.com/news/51116/bridge-to-bridge-race-2021