Otters at World and European Aquathlon Champs

Otters have been branching out into multi-sports since long before Rachel Joyce started smashing the world of Ironman triathlon. Whilst many have representative honours at triathlon, more Otters are turning their hand to growingly recognised Aquathlon scene (being better suited to the more balanced split of the splash and dash format).

This year, current Otters, Pip Bennett & Ed Buckley travelled to Samorin, Slovakia for the Worlds and were joined by ex-Otter, Sean Kinsey, in Bilbao, Spain for the Europeans – with Pip looking to build on his debut bronze in 2021.

The two venues provided contrasting experiences and races.

The Slovakian Olympic training centre in Samorin was also hosting the Collins Cup, so we were able to train in stunning facilities, alongside the world’s best triathletes. The 30-plus degree heat meant for a non-wetsuit swim in the Danube, with a mass start.

Pip, as his custom, led his age group out of the water (10th overall out of 300 swimmers) and tried to hold off the field on the run. Eventually he was hauled back by two familiar foes, with just 20 seconds separating the podium places. Ed, on the other hand, had to try and regain time on the run, positively relishing the hot conditions to record 17:38, earning a silver in the M45-49 category. Both finished together on the blue carpet, in 18th & 19th place overall respectively, with Ed wanting another 300m to overhaul the difference.

Whilst Samorin was compact, Bilbao was spread out; with a one way wetsuit swim in the estuary, a nefariously dangerous swim exit, followed by a run along the promenades. This time the different age groups went off separately, the older competitors being further from high tide; whilst gaining from a stronger current, suffered greater wind against tide chop for 800m.

Sean competing in the M55-59, benefitting from all his open water experience, was incredibly the fastest swimmer overall of the 350 competitors, Pip not far behind in 5th.

Once again, Pip had a 35 second lead to protect, but was overhauled by a Pole in the closing stages to miss out on the gold by just 7 seconds. Sean had almost a minute’s lead, but that was soon whittled away by a very fine Spaniard. Ed wasn’t able to replicate his Slovakian run heroics and was disappointed to only finish 6th (though that did represent 2nd of 18 Brits in his age group).

3 silvers and a bronze from the 2 championships represents a fine haul for the Otters.

Otters past and present win at GB Masters Open Water Nationals

Pip Bennett and Sean Kinsey (who was an Otter while at school in London) won their respective categories at the GB Masters Open Water Champs in Lake Bala, North Wales on 10 September 2022. The location and timing of the event perhaps resulted in the lower numbers but in their respective categories (M40-44) and (M55-59) there were enough competitors to make it interesting. Sean also won overall setting himself up for European Aquathlon Champs where he will join Pip and Ed Buckley in Bilbao for some multisport action.

British Aquathlon Championships 2022

A number of Otters like to take part in multi-sport races and the recent British Aquathlon (750m swim/5km run) Championships at Eton Doney (Saturday 16 July) saw three Otters aiming to claim silverware on the national stage.

Competing in the same age group were Pip Bennett and Matt Burgham (40-44) and they were joined by Ed Buckley (45-49). All three set off in the first race of the day, enjoying a non-wetsuit race in the 25 degree Dorney rowing lake.

First out of the water was Pip, taking a commanding lead after repping 1:24/100m for the 750m swim. Matt was second out some 43 seconds behind, with Ed a further 28. After quickly popping on their trainers and race numbers, Ed caught Matt quickly, but couldn’t quite catch Pip in the early morning heat.

Pip was himself in a battle at the front of the race and ultimately claimed the silver medal in his age group and 10th overall. Ed also claimed silver in his age group and 14th overall. Matt gained 5th and 34th overall, but was 3rd Otter home.

The world championships are held in Slovakia in just a months time and there’s a good chance of more silverware to come!

SLSC Summer Aquathlon Series

With a format slightly longer than “official” Aquathlon races, the South London Swimming Club Summer Aquathlon Series allows you to enjoy mid-week summer racing in your backyard (if you live in south London, that is). The pool has an unusual length - 90m, but the 4 races allow you to calibrate your swim & run efforts, as well as to experiment with different paces.

The event is a 1km swim (11 lengths of the pool) followed by a 7.5km run around Tooting Bec Common and the series consists of four events on Wednesday evenings between the end of May and early July.

Otters Pip Bennett and Fedor Gorokhovik won their respective age groups - in each of their 3 races and overall, and they were awarded a mug(!). They both improved by more than a minute since last year’s race, with best times of 42’36 (Pip) and 42’07 (Fedor) respectively.

Ollie and Mike beat the competition in Eton

Oliver Caldwell and Mike Reys both participated and won their respective age groups in the annual Banana Triathlon, named after its “bananas” atmosphere, at Dorney Lake on 2 July. For Ollie, this was not his first experience and a rehearsal for world qualifiers later this year. However, Mike considered it his “try-athlon”. When lockdown hit us, he bought his first road bike since the turn of the century and fellow Otters convinced him this year that I should give it a “tri”.

Both started with an easy swim to save energy for the bike and run. Nonetheless, that seemed to be enough for them to come out first and second in the 40+ wave and stay well ahead of most of the other competitors. Cycling was tough with a crosswind that they had to fight when going down the lake. Unfortunately, the wind didn’t help much on the way back where the trees sheltered them from the wind. Aerodynamics were clearly key to a good bike ride there. The first lesson learnt!

Ollie finished very strongly in the 6th fastest time (39:21 for 10.2K) overall and really solidified his advantage over the competition in his age group. All things considered, especially how Mike felt after the cycling, he was very pleased to run his 10.2K in just under 45 minutes, a time he could barely make 4-5 years ago fresh from the start.

All in all, it was a very pleasant day with a lot of lessons learnt. Transitions could be a lot quicker for both of them, Mike wants to get the aerodynamics and nutrition right for himself, but more important: doing a try-athlon/triathlon is a lot of fun.

Best of luck to Ollie in the world qualifiers.

English Aquathlon Championships 2022

Otters Pip Bennett, Ed Buckley and James Manning recently competed in the English Aquathlon Championships (750m swim, 5km run) in Nottinghamshire at the Sywell Aquathlon (Sunday 19 June). It was a strong Otter performance as all medalled in their respective age groups with Pip taking Gold in the 40-44 age group, despite having to vault a closed gate during the run and getting a nasty wound on his arm. Ed and James took silver in their age groups, 45-49 and 25-29 respectively. The event was a good warm up for Pip and Ed before the British Aquathlon Championships in July and the Worlds in Slovakia for Pip later this year.

Terrific Ten Make History in Aberdeen

Sixteen national titles were won by Otter swimmers at the British Masters Championships 2022 held in Aberdeen (17-19 June). The small but mighty team of ten Otters also collected 12 silver and five bronze medals for a total of 33 podium finishes, marking a thoroughly successful trip to the northeast coast of Scotland.

The premier event in the domestic masters swimming calendar was attended by 613 swimmers representing 179 clubs from all across the country, the state-of-the-art Aberdeen Sports Village hosted the three-day competition as it did back in 2017.

Every single Otter swimmer returned home with at least one individual medal, a particularly noteworthy feat which has not been achieved in recent years, if ever. The terrific ten are Amy Barton (25-29), Megan McDonagh (25-29), Alice Dinsdale-Young (30-34), Fraser Peh (30-34), David Adamson (35-39), Elizabeth Shaw (55-59), Derek Parr (75-79), Anthony Ray (75-79), Robert Thomas (75-79) and Peter Vider (75-79).

Making up for their numerical paucity with abundant quality, the compact Otter squad swam their way to an impressive seventh in the overall team standings. Ten club records were also rewritten over the weekend.

Special mention goes to Dave Adamson who completed a hat-trick of wins and a treble of club records in his three races. Kudos as well to Liz Shaw for achieving a clean sweep of five club records in as many events. Not to be outdone, Derek Parr racked up eight medals, including six gold, in eight swims — almost Phelpsian. All three relay quartets also triumphed.

All that effort requires refuelling — perhaps the highlight of any swimmer’s swim meet. Masters swimming brings with it an additional dimension of camaraderie and friendship between like-minded adults of all ages. On the Saturday evening at a generic Italian chain restaurant, the younger (immature) Otters (and an interloper) were delighted to be joined by a mature Otter who regaled the younger ones with journalistic stories of Olympics past.

In a fit of inspiration, and helped by a glass of wine or a cocktail (another perk of masters swimming), some of the immature Otters might have enthusiastically/reluctantly (delete as applicable) agreed to race a 200m butterfly (long course) in the near future. Please check back for the results.

These annual long course championships rotate between England, Scotland and Wales every year. Greater participation from fellow Otters at future editions of the competition is highly encouraged, as each swim contributes to the determination of the Cupar Trophy for the best-performing club, which Otter last lifted in 2018. For the more hesitant (read: short course connoisseurs), the Swim England National Masters Championships is held at the end of October each year in Sheffield and is a fun and fast meet.

Full Otter results are available here (open the link, then click the heading to view the GB 2022 page).

Pip Medals at World Aquathlon Champs

Pip Bennett, one of our Otter swimming captains, won a bronze medal at the recent World Aquathlon Championships, held in El Anillo, Spain on 30 October. Excellent result, well done Pip! Pip’s summary of the event follows…

After multiple cancellations, the World Aquathlon Champs eventually took place on 30/10/21 in El Anillo, Spain, about 250 km west of Madrid. The storms that were forecast certainly made their presence felt but athletes were grateful that during the race itself it remained dry. The course involved a 1 km open swim, a very steep and long run out to transition followed by a 5 km trail and road run. Making my international multisport debut, I finished with a bronze in the men’s 40-44 category.

Swimming Update Jul-Sep 2021

The weekend of 10 September saw one intrepid Otter make their way up to the Scottish Masters Championships in Tollcross, Glasgow. Alice Dinsdale-Young (30-34 age group) took part in her first external swimming competition in approximately 2.5 years. While not expecting much from her performances, she was pleasantly surprised by consistently hitting her long-course times in a short course pool! She also finished first or second in her age group for every event. The meet itself was very well run, but did have some oddities due to Covid; everyone had to keep their stuff in clear plastic bags (just like the professionals) and masks had to be worn when not in the pool. Also, somewhat strangely they weren’t providing medals. Hopefully, that’s a one-off as we all know Otters are attracted to metal.

After the amazing performance of our only representative at the Scottish event, we were slightly more numerous at the Barnet Sprint Meet meet held on 25 September.

The six Otters swimming did particularly well with results of being placed mostly either 1st or 2nd of their race in their category.

The meet itself was a real success after the long period out of competition. Around 50 clubs had swimmers in attendance with Barnet, Teddington and Otters leading the way with number of athletes present.

As always the 50 and 100 freestyle were very competitive and we were delighted that Catherine Demont and Peter Vider came 1st in their age groups.

Fraser Peh was our only representative at the London Region Festival of Swimming meet held at the London Aquatic Center on 24 July. He performed under a minute for the 100 fly and just above 55s for the 100 freestyle. Clearly Fraser has not lost it during lockdown!

We are now looking forward to many Otters competing at the Swim England Masters Nationals in Sheffield at the end of October. As always, the club will be well represented in the individuals and relays.

Go Otter!

Four Rivers Swim (Sep 24-26)

Chris (left) and friends at the Henley Half-Mile, 2021

Having raced the Henley Swim with a few friends as an Otter guest this summer, I was sufficiently inspired to join the club. I’ve continued open water swimming and thought the “4 River Swim” I did last weekend was worthy of a write-up.

A small group of friends aim for an open water swim every year. Our link is that we all swam together in the Oxford University Modern Pentathlon team too many years ago to remember, but swimming is a good way to have an excuse to meet up and to stay in trim. Over recent years, we have ranged from big competitive swims in the sea or lake (Costa Brava, northern Italian lakes, European Masters Champs in Lake Bled) to sea swimming in Cornwall (Sea Swim Cornwall - highly recommended). This year we decided we could make a weekend of it ourselves, based around Andy living near Gloucester and using various of his daughters on their SUP as safety cover.

River Severn (Friday night): Haw Bridge to the Red Lion Inn, just north of Gloucester. 2km

An easy downstream swim in deep enough water with a few deliberately sunk wrecks and rocks at the end of the swim to navigate round (placed there to shore up the bank) finishing at a pub (where else!) to discuss and contemplate the plans for the weekend.

River Usk (Saturday morning): Usk Island to Weir and back. 2km

Smiling for the camer in the Usk!

An organised swim (more of a festival than a race) by Angela Jones (Swim Wild Wye). Beautifully clear water, although at 15 degrees, a tad chilly even in a wetsuit. A bit shallow in parts (pulling with your thumb running down your chest) but entirely swimmable and upstream 1km to a Weir and back – although with no noticeable stream it didn’t seem like the downstream leg offered any advantage. Great fun and good to be with like-minded people.

This lulled us into a false sense of security for the next swim…

River Wye (Saturday afternoon). Ross-on-Wye to Backney Bridge 6km

With Angela having said our original choice of swim would be too shallow, we reassessed and thought this other part of the Wye would be deeper. And emboldened by the lack of flow in the Usk, we thought an up and back would be logistically easier and very doable. These Strava traces tell the sorry story!

River Wye Upstream

River Wye Downstream

2:36 per 100m upstream; 1:30 per 100m back downstream!

In the upstream portion, we were sometimes pretty much stationary (like in a training pool) with a few more manageable sections to recover. More of an adventure than a swim, it was hard, exhausting work and a punishing 3km. But the joy of speeding past the bank on the return leg made it all worthwhile and only once did we have to assume the inverted turtle position and lead with our feet to negotiate gentle rapids. A great swim in all respect and made the cider that evening all the more well-deserved.

Rver Avon (Sunday morning). Eckington Wharf to Strensham Lock. 3km

Jim, Andy, Duncan and Chris at the Fleet Inn, Twyning on the Avon

The final swim of a very enjoyable weekend, but we were pretty tired even starting it. We had grand plans for a longer swim but with deep water (great for swimming) but no stream at all (not great for swimming), going wasn’t quick and having somehow missed the lock and ended up in a boating park spur of the River Avon (yes, you can take wrong turnings river swimming!), we called it a day then. A great stretch of river, and by far the busiest river of the weekend in terms of other traffic, but with a SUP assistant, we were well flagged by the various dingies, dragon boats and pleasure cruisers that passed us.

We feel there are many other stretches of river, lakes and sea to be swum in the UK – so this taster inspired us to do more…and hopefully it will inspire some of you to as well.

Chris Daniels