The annual Flowers Sea Swim next week has had even more than its usual hefty build up because ultra-distance swimmer Penny Palfrey has been here all week helping promote one of the world’s most renowned open water events in her own unique way.
Palfrey beat the recently set 5.4 mile record from Cayman Brac to Little Cayman on Monday by six seconds. But that was not here primary aim. The two hour swim served as a ‘warm-up’ for her 68-mile world record attempt scheduled to start in the early hours of Thursday and finish some time after mid-day on Friday at Morritt’s resort in East End.
Assuming Palfrey is not too fatigued, she will line up with 800-plus others on 18 June for the Flowers One Mile Sea Swim, which is the world’s richest open water swim.
Organiser Frank Flowers ensures that over $100,000 worth of cash and prizes are on offer to entice people to enter. The elite swimmers, many current or former Olympians and world champions, come out in their hordes to vie for the top cash prizes.
This year Flowers has gathered together possibly the strongest field ever, all wanting not just to win the race but smash the course record and possibly the world record to get their $5,000 bonuses.
Top Cayman representation will come from Fraser brothers Shaune and Brett, along with former Olympians Heather Roffey and Andrew Mackay. Youngsters like Lara Butler, Seiji Groome and Geoffrey Butler will also be amongst the first finishers.
The overseas
elite swimmers include Eva Fabian who as 17 is already a world champion open water swimmer who hopes to qualify for pool races with the US team next year at the London Olympics.
Fabian’s closest rival could be Emily Brunemann who is a USA national open water swimming member and NCAA champion in the one mile freestyle. Brunemann won the Pirate’s Week 5k last November, beating Fabian by the width of a shark’s tooth so the women’s winner may be one of these two.
Kaitlin Sadeno is a four-time Olympic medal winner as a member of two US Olympic teams in 2000 and 2004 with lots of NCAA, All American and USC school records to her credit.
Kristy Kowal won the silver medal in the 200m breaststroke at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She is also a two time World Champion (1998) in the 100m breaststroke and on the 400m medley relay.
Maritza Correia is another former world champion and Olympic medallist sure to be one of the fastest. She was the first African-American female swimmer to make the US Olympic team and win a medal.
Correia was featured in Parting the Water with Cullen Jones, a movie about challenges Latino and black swimmers face. She works with Nike to help get inner-city kids into the pool and learning to swim, spreading her passion for the sport.
Of the men, one intriguing rivalry will be Gary Hall Junior against his father Gary Hall Senior. Both are world class competitors with a long list of achievements between them and dad remains in awesome shape despite being in the masters class. Thirty-six-year-old Junior boasts 10 Olympic medals from three Games in 1996, 2000 and 2004. Daddy Hall was at his peak in the 70s when he set 10 world records but he has never been out of shape and even in his Sixties is still a formidable competitor.
Steve Munatones, the writer, record keeper, coach and athlete is the Flowers Sea Swim too, as well as Lexie Kelly, the event’s coordinator. They broke the Cayman Brac to Little Cayman 5.4 mile record in April and Penny Palfrey broke the record set by Munatones this week. Penny’s husband Chris, another marathon swimmer, is also doing the mile event.
Chip Peterson is another former world champion and multi-medal winner hoping not to go home empty handed, Ian Crocker too, who is a five-time Olympic medallist and former world record holder in
seven events.
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