This years Cumbria Open Water League Website, although still run in conjunction with the Lake Epic Swims had to make a number of safety adjustments but nevertheless prove to be highly successful for Kendal swimmers. With a larger entry than ever before they were able to maintain their competitive spirit as well as gain valuable experience.
Round One got them off to a great start at Coniston with the 11/13 year olds putting on a great show. With reasonable conditions Emma Duxbury and Isabelle Wall-Budden took it on and kept up a relentless pace from start to finish. In the final rush for the finish Duxbury crept up into a well earned third place on 9.51 for the 500m whilst Wall-Budden came close behind in fourth place in a time of 9.17. Then up stepped Evan Dart in his first ever Epic Swim with a stunning performance, drawing on his strength and immaculate stroke pattern to take second place in the boy’s category in 7.57.
The upper age groups had to call on all their strength and skills with the distance extended to a mile and three Kendal swimmers battled it out with all of them setting a sub 25.00 time. Molly Towers, Elodie Malcolm and Max Ainsworth all got away to solid starts and quickly settled into their stroke patterns. Holding it together they all completed the swim with spirited finishes and made a reasonable start in the League.
Round Two took the swimmers to Ullswater where conditions although acceptable always bring out the greatest challenges for the swimmers. Once again Duxbury emerged as one of Kendal’s leading lights when she took another third place in the 11/13yr old category and lowered her previous time to 9.26. Wall-Budden also got herself well up in the field taking fifth place in 10.19. Newcomer Charlotte Stainer was delighted with her opening performance taking a highly respectable sixth place in a time of 10.43.
The seniors saw Elodie Malcolm and Max Ainsworth in superb form. Malcolm showed great technique coupled with natural talent and produced her finest performance yet, storming into fourth place and lowering her time to 22.48 for the one mile swim. Ainsworth also enjoyed success, putting himself in a favourable position from the off. Matching rivals stroke for stroke he stayed composed and in a storming finish took another second place with a time of 27.13.
The third and final round took place in Lake Windermere and again Kendal swimmers produced some exciting results Duxbury and Dart held on to fourth places whilst Stainer excelled with a brilliant swim to take fifth place in their category. However it was Max Ainsworth who really starred upsetting his rivals with a swim from the Gods to snatch the Gold Medal in his Age group.
The County Championships were then calculated, based on each swimmers two best swims. The results showed that Kendal swimmers were well up amongst the Counties best and Max Ainsworth crowned a marvellous set of results with the Silver Medal in the Cumbria 14/15yrs Boys Open Water One Mile Championship.
Last Modified by Raymond Watson on November 30, 2020 at 2:37 pm
