On Saturday 16th Sept, a group of BSSC Masters swimmers entered the annual Swim Serpentine open water swim in Hyde Park in London. Geoff and Annabel entered in the 1-mile distance which is a single lap of the lake circuit and Helen, Jake and 2 ex-Masters Karen and Emma entered the 2-mile distance. Rachel had entered the Super Six (6-mile) but pulled out due to illness. As she is planning on swimming an open water competition in Montenegro on 29th Sep, her recovery took priority. Keep your ears open for news of how she got on.
The morning started with fantastic weather and the 2-mile Ladies swimming at 09:20. Helen swam in 59 minutes 57 seconds, finishing 9th in her age group, the 71st female and 245th out of the 3109 male and female swimmers that swam the 2-mile distance. Karen swam 1:03:44 and finished 445th overall. Emma swam 1:16:51 and finished 1436th.
After the day had warmed up even more, Geoff and Annabel swam at 13:50. Geoff completed his swim in 23:34 and finished an impressive 4th out of 809 swimmers (2nd in his age group and 3rd male overall). Annabel swam 31:39 and finished 24th in her age group, 40th female and 86th overall.
To wrap things up Jake swam his 2 miles at 15:30, completing it in 50:13, coming 15th in his age group, 24th male and 32nd out of 3109 swimmers.
It was a fantastic day with an incredible atmosphere and a very friendly community of swimmers. The spaces for entering this year disappeared very quickly so if you are interested in swimming the Swim Serpentine 2024 register your interest now. It would be great to see more BSSC swimmers at the lake.
[Article by Jake Lloyd, BSSC Masters]
