USwim - Greater Manchester Swim 2020 - REPORT - 4 Swimmers achieving a TOP 3!
On Saturday 5th September, Winsford Swim Team had five swimmers take part in the USwim Greater Manchester Open Water Swim. The event took place at Salford Quays, the same venue for the NW Regional Championships but in a different quay.
All our swimmers were going in the Junior (10-15 years), 1 mile race which consisted of two laps of the 750m course. The event was packed full of talent, with swimmers competing from clubs all over the North West of England, from the likes of Stockport Metro, Salford, Warrington and Bolton, but there were also swimmers coming from further afield, as far away as the North East.
Due to the high numbers in the competition, and needing to keep distance due to the virus the junior competition was split into two waves. The first wave consisted of Tom Kud (15), Jess Bradley (15) and Erin Hardy (13), and in the second wave was Lewis Turner (14) and our youngest competitor Evie Henshall (11).
As the first wave set off, it was clear this was going to be a very exciting race with Tom in determined mood to set the pace. As the race developed it was a two horse race with Tom and another competitor from Borough of Kirklees going head to head over the mile distance. The race was as tight as they come with literally a sprint finish between the pair. They both raced towards the finish line with nothing between them and both stopping the watch on exactly the same time, and gaining joint first place, a super exciting finish.
Not only did Tom have a very exciting race but Jess and Erin were also neck and neck for the whole distance, with plenty of friendly bumping and punching as they went around the course. Both Jess and Erin have been hard into their training and it is clear both were is super condition, coming home in an excellent time and good enough for 2nd and 3rd respectively in the girl's junior 1 mile swim.
In the second wave we had Lewis and Evie racing. For Evie this was her very first open water race over this longer distance. But this did not phase her one bit, coming home with a fantastic swim and time. This was a great experience for Evie for the future, battling hard against swimmers who were many years her senior. Also in the second wave we had Lewis racing, from start to finish he led the way in this wave, with no other swimmer coming close. A superbly paced race and looking comfortable throughout the swim, which was good enough for third place overall, just behind Tom and the the boy from Kirklees.
Some outstanding open water swimming from all our swimmers who represented Winsford Swim Team at the Salford Quays. It was great to see our swimmers get stuck into the race and execute some superb race plans. We haven’t raced for a long time and it was clear all enjoyed returning to that race day feel and competing. Competing is so much fun, for our swimmers it was even more enjoyable because the results were superb.
The results were as follows for the Junior (11-15) 1 mile Race:
Males
Tom Kud (15): Overall Joint 1st, Time 0:17:07
Lewis Turner (14): Overall 3rd, Time 0:17:37
Females:
Jess Bradley (15): Overall 2nd, 0:18:58
Erin Hardy (13): Overall 3rd, 0:18:59
Evie Henshall (11): Overall 28th, 0:23:10
Full Results:
Well Done to all our swimmers who competed in the Greater Manchester Open Water Swim at Salford Quays, it was great to watch all our swimmers achieve such brilliant results, battling it out at the front.
Keep up the good work, and as always see you at the pool!
Operation bounce back is ahead of schedule!
Dan.
