Dolphin Eclipse Competition at Open Water Championships

Event: Wiltshire County Open Water Championships Venue: Cotswold Water Park Date: 7th and 14th July 2010

This year’s Wiltshire County Open Water Championships at Coltswold Water Park drew a record entry of over 100 swimmers; a far cry from the 21 that took part in the inaugural competition in 2007. Many Dolphin swimmers featured in the medal positions, winning an incredible five out of the eight Championship trophies and 12 out of the 22 age group gold medals.

The first event, the gruelling 3km, took place on the 7th July.  The overall women’s champion was Dolphin’s Kath Baker, just having the edge over team-mate Sharna King in second place with John Wood of Trowbridge taking the men’s title.  Baker and King also took age group gold along with Andrew Butler, Jon Audis and Glenys France with Matthew Thomas taking silver.  Butler‘s swim also earned him silver in the Junior Championships behind Chris Chapman of Tigersharks.

The 1.5km and the shorter 750m event for the 11 year olds took place a week later. A neck and neck girl’s 11 years race saw Dolphin’s Joanna Farley touch out team-mate Mya Bell on the finish, after the leading pack had the misfortune to drift off course towards the end of the swim. Flying the flag for Dolphin in the boy’s 11 year race was Jake Lewis who finished a creditable third.

The 1.5km event attracted the most entries and was swum in two heats.  The men set off first and, with the sun just setting towards the back end of the race, experienced the largely unexpected hazard of glare on the water and therefore being unable to see the marker buoys.  This caused many swimmers including the leading pack to drift off course, but despite this Dolphin’s James Clark grafted his way through the course and took on a sprint finish against Trowbridge’s Kieran Hill to take the men’s Senior Championship.

By contrast, the ladies only had the cold to contend with as they set off as dusk approached, with Dolphin’s Charlotte Pitts pulling clear of the front pack at an early stage and winning by a clear margin over Emma Hill of Trowbridge. The victory gave not only the 14 year old the Senior Championship but also the Junior Title.  To complete a Dolphin full house of Championships for the evening, Mathew Sambrook was also later announced as the Junior Boys Champion.

Dolphins James Clark, Charlotte Pitts and Mathew Sambrook alongside Wilts County ASA President, Rob Hart

As well as Clark, Sambrook and Pitts winning their respective age groups, also taking gold for Dolphin were Jon Audis, Katie Hislop and Helen Hanks.  Other silver medallists were Alex Chantler-Mayne, Anthony Clark, Rebecca Saunders and Glenys France with bronze going to Andrew Butler, Liam Herbert and Victoria Jennings who also earned Junior and Senior Championship bronze.

Full results are available on the Competition Page.