The Pirates Week 5k Swim returned
with a splash after a two-year absence because of bad weather and sea
conditions – and what a marvellous comeback it was. Perfect weather and calm
waters for the 30th edition of Cayman open water’s most established event.
Forty people enjoyed a beautiful early morning start at Tiki Beach on Seven
Mile Beach and only two did not finish.
Alex Meyer, the 25k World Open
Water champion, easily won the men’s race in 58 minutes and 29 seconds. It was
more a training session for the 22-year-old American but he thoroughly enjoyed
the whole trip in waters far warmer than he is used to. Geoffrey Butler, Seiji
Groome and Alex McCallum captured the second, third and fourth place trophies
respectively in the men’s category. Butler was fourth overall in 1 hour 7
minutes and 10 seconds. Groome was three seconds behind him and McCallum
finished in 1.09.19.
The women’s race was a battle to
the last stroke. A photo finish after almost an hour is a rarity and shows how
much winning meant to them although they are good friends. Emily Brunemann
pipped current 5k World Open Water champion Eva Fabian at the finish line to
win the women’s race in 59.22, setting a new event record. Fabian was just
fractions of a second behind. Danielle Boothe and Coral Tomascik took third and
fourth women’s places. Boothe was seventh overall in 1.10.42 and Tomascik’s
time was 1.13.02. Johan Heath was ninth in 1.18.27 and Simon Butler was tenth
in 1.19.05.
Goody bags, a post-race buffet
breakfast, random prizes, race medals for all finishers and the generous
facilities of Tiki Beach Bar were all part of the new look brought to the event
by the Flowers Group and the Pirates Week Committee.
Organiser Frank Flowers swam it as
usual, finishing 32nd in a time of 1.46.23. He said: “It went very well. Thank
the Lord we had perfect conditions and that’s a good start. We’re building it
back and it will get bigger and better. We slowed down on the marketing a
little bit because we decided to go for quality instead of quantity.
“When you have these world class
athletes coming here, you have a following and next year we’ll build it up
more. One of the world class swimmers, Chip Peterson, couldn’t make it because
he got a cut on his leg, but there’ll be more next year.”
Frank’s daughter, Dara
Flowers-Burke, said: “We were really blessed this year with the weather and
were really excited to have such amazing conditions. The most participation
this event has ever had was 40 and that was years ago so the goal for next year
is to make it bigger and better.”
The prizes and speeches at Tiki
Beach were given as everyone enjoyed the lovely breakfast. Bernie Bush of the
Pirates Week Committee thanked everyone involved for helping make it a success
and Joel Francis represented the sports ministry. Swim coach Dominic Ross gave
out trophies.
Further details at www.flowersseaswim.com.
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