2nd BLDSA Colwick Park Championship
The week leading up to the swim, the weather here in Nottingham had been awful! cold, windy and torrential rain. But come Sunday a minor miracle happened, summer finally arrived. Lyrics to that legendary pop song came into my head “It’s such a perfect day”.
The water temperature wasn’t exactly tropical at 13 degrees but the blazing sunshine warmed us up afterwards. No one seemed to be in a hurry to get dressed, standing around in their cozzies licking ice creams.
Entries to the swim this year were significantly higher with a respectable 27 swimmers taking the plunge compared with 18 last year.
The eventual winner of the men’s event was Warrington’s Thomas Roberts, who had an awesome weekend. The day before he won the Senior 5k at Budworth and then came down and won again how good is that! Last year’s winner Callum Chivers was runner up and his team mate James Dougal third. Notably, Nottingham veteran Paul Smith was not far behind in fourth. The ladies title went to newcomer Georgia Amison of Leicester Penguins swimming her first non-wetsuit event. The Breaststroke events were won by Bryn Dymott and Margaret Smith respectively.
On a special note we welcomed back “King of the Channel” Mike Read to whom I would like to say a personal thank you for ridding me of my excrutiating cramp at the end of my swim.
Our special guest for the day was Mrs Pat Llewellyn (President of the BLDSA) who started the event and also presented the awards afterwards. Pat is keeping it in the familiy, because as many of you will know both her daughters Dee and Liane are past Presidents.
All in all judging by the happy smiling faces everyone seemed to enjoy the day and I would like to convey my best wishes to all our swimmers for a successful season.
Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to the following people for making this event possible. Pat Llewellyn (President of the BLDSA), Liane and Chris Hickling, Jo and Mick Blackburn, Janet Wilson, Alison Mackintosh, Ed Soar, Nottingham University Canoe Club, and most important of all Nottingham City Council for allowing the event to take place. Oh and Diane Stack! (General Dogsbody)
Peter Hawksworth
Swim Organiser