On August 2nd, the Otters went to a sunny and blustery Rother Valley Country Park near Sheffield for the ASA Open Water National Championships. It is a pleasing indicator about the way the sport is going that there needed to be two waves in the Men's 3km race to accommodate all the entries. Despite the warm water and hints of sun through threathening clouds one half of the course was quite taxing with rough water blown up by the wind.

Not to be deterred, Pip Bennett (30-34) and Dan Bullock (45-49) went on to become National Champions in their age groups and also were 2nd and 4th overall, only beaten by a 20 year old who had recently represented the country. In the women's race the weather continued to deteriorate but Jess Trevellick (25-29) and Michelle Senecal dealt with the conditions well to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively in their own age-groups.

Next year we aim to take a bigger team and bring even more medals home.