The Lions Sprint Meet is the oldest in the Cayman swim calendar and it is special as it is held in the Lions Pool and the Lions come and helped with the officiating by timing the races.
This year the call went out and the people came in record numbers, 182 swimmers from three clubs took part in the biggest ever swim meet held in the Cayman Islands.
Everything was cranked up to maximum – the numbers, the heat, the throngs of youngsters and parents, coaches and officials at the turn end of the pool and the noise; as if so many swimmers would not have made enough on their own, this was the day the Stingray Swim Club decided to unveil its new club noisemakers, like mini-vuvuzelers, which were a nuisance at last year’s World Cup.
Yet out of this chaos emerged an orderly swim meet with plenty of good racing spread over five hours with swimmers ranging from 4 years old to 21, all swimming hard and having lots of fun.
Stingray were happy to welcome the Cayman Brac Barracudas and they sent a large team who competed in many races. Unfazed by a late arrival, they competed well and even boasted the winner of the 6 and under boys’ high-points winner; also joining the fun was a large number of swimmers from Camana Bay who swam hard all day.
Most encouraging was how many of the younger swimmers turned out, with 101 of the entries being 10 or younger. The starts swarmed with little ones and it was hard not to think that swimming has a bright future in Cayman. As usual the Lions Club members put in a sterling stint and stayed focussed and good-natured throughout.
Some swimmers dominated their age-groups – Stefanie Boothe and Catriona Macrae won five races each, while Lara Butler and Seiji Groome won all the races they entered.
All four are Stingray club members.
A thrilled meet director Vicki Girling said: “This is great. To see so many people here, in the pool and in the stands is so exciting, and to see all the Lions turn out to help again makes this very special. Look at how many youngsters there are!”
Big meets like this take a lot of work and the Stingray Swim Club thanked all who worked so hard to get it together, the coaches, the Lions for their unflagging support and to all the swimmers who also had a lot of fun.
Next up is the Caledonian Group Summer Splash meet from 15-19 June, with the Flowers Sea Swim on Saturday afternoon and Fathers’ Day on the Sunday.
Details of all this and full results can be found on the SSC website, www.caymanswimming.com
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