What an absolute pleasure it was to be swim secretary for the first ever Champion of Champions North at Ellerton Lake. Organising this event seemed to go very smoothly due to the help and advice from many other BLDSA members. Cof C North mirrored the successful CofC south event with the 5 mile, 3 mile, 1 mile format.
We had 51 swimmers entered with a few drop outs prior to the day. The conditions on the day were great with us graced with sun for a lot of the day. The wind did pick up at times but overall very nice swimming conditions. As with the CofC south race, James Leitch set a very fast pace and finished in 1st place in a time of 3 hours 24 mins 28 secs. Andrews Wells in 2nd place in 3hrs 54mins 32 seconds and closely followed by Graham Walton in 3hrs58mins48secs. It was also wonderful to watch the race develop between our two male breaststroke swimmers. Philip Yorke setting the pace for Francis Zielinski with just 15mins separating the pair over the total 9 miles.
The ladies saw some fabulous swimming at the front with Caroline Duffy claiming 1st place in 4hrs2mins10secs and Melanie Holland just 1min behind who claimed 2nd place (4hrs3mins5secs) In 3rd place was Liane Llewellyn Hickling in 4hrs20mins6secs. The day saw a very courageous swim from local lady Leanne Bentley who swam her heart out and completed all three swims in 7hrs1min48secs. She certainly kept us on the edge of our seats all day.
It was also lovely to see some very talented younger swimmer at the event from Kingfishers SC Scarborough. Erin Hope was the first to swimming completing the 5mile event with ease. Then Claire Bamford who completed the 3mile race it a great time and ahead of any other female swimmer. Ellie Jane Knight was the youngest swimmer of the day (aged 13) and completed the 3 mile swim in an impressive time. Well done ladies.
Special thanks go to the support given by the many volunteers on the day, without their help the event wouldn’t happen. Thanks to the safety boat crew and kayakers, first aid, cvap, turn point people, time keepers, registration crew and the fabulous photographer!
See you all next year…..I can’t wait!
Amanda Bell