If you believe the banter on the Mature Otters mailing list, this has to be the most important event of the year. Martin Flash won this back in 2019 before the pandemic hit and prevented us from doing much swimming, let alone racing.
Martin didn’t fail to mention once or twice that he held on to the Synge-Hutchinson Challenge Cup for 2 years! The rest of the Mature Otters did put him in his place in that this was not much of a feat. The email converations became rather heated and one even read “Blood in the water in the 8th!”
I know, you wouldn’t expect that when you see the Mature Otters around the pool on an average Thursday night, but come Vets 50 Free night and the fierce competitors come out!
Unfortunately for Martin, he couldn’t quite beat his handicap time this year. Two gentlemen however managed to beat the expectations: Anthony Ray and Simon Williams! The rest of the field came very close to their handicap time and all finished within 0.6s. Well done to David Addison, Bob Thomas, Martin Flash and Chris Daniels.
Simon Williams was definitely too fast for the rest of the field and deservedly cycled home with the cup securely fastened on his back. Well done to Simon. I’m sure he realises his handicap for future events has just become slightly more challenging ;-)
