Open water swim series sponsored by Louvre Group

The Guernsey Swimming Club is nearly halfway through its annual bay swim series.

The club, which will celebrate its 130 anniversary in August, has continued its long tradition of open water swimming and is flourishing with strong turnouts and sponsorship from Louvre Group.

On Sunday 19th June more than 30 swimmers checked in for the first event in the series and braved the slightly choppy waters and rain to swim from Pembroke to L’Ancresse.

Thirty-five swimmers completed the 800-metre swim that saw a battle between three competitors for first place. Coming in first was Callum Penney, aged 18, in a time of 10 minutes 33 seconds; a mere two seconds behind was his older brother Kevin, 22. Channel swimmer Becky Simmons, who has recently recovered from an elbow injury, finished in third place with a time of 10 minutes and 46 seconds.

A visitor from Iceland, Ragnheidur Valgardsdottir, became the Guernsey Swimming Club’s guest swimmer for the L’Ancresse swim. Back home, Ragnheidur is a keen open water swimmer and found the water ‘quite warm’ compared to her swims in Iceland which can be in sea temperatures of just eight degrees. All 35 swimmers completed the course in less than 21 minutes.

The second bay swim saw 44 swimmers attend the Rousse to Amarreurs event on Sunday 26th June. Conditions had improved for this 750-metre swim and the sea temperature had risen to 14 degrees. Swimmers ranged from 11 to 75 years in age.

The Penney brothers battled it out again at the start, with Kevin pulling away and this time topping the leaderboard in a time of 10 minutes and 27 seconds. Callum came in second with a time of 10 minutes and 41 seconds. National championship swimmer Laura Le Cras, aged 13, scooped third place with a time of 10 minutes and 55 seconds. Becky Simmons came in fourth with 11 minutes and 2 seconds. The youngest swimmer, 11-year-old Luke Le Cras, completed the swim in an impressive 16 minutes and 26 seconds.

Julie Taylor also had a meritorious swim, having only recently conquered her fear of water. Taylor feared the element so much that she was unable to park her car on any piers or anywhere near water, however she completed the Rousse bay swim in 24 minutes and 6 seconds.

Guernsey Swimming Club director Jo Norman said: ‘These swims are a huge part of the history of the club and it is great to see so many of our club swimmers taking part.

‘The bay swims date back to when the club was run out of La Vallette Bathing Pools and a bay series has take place every year since.

‘The Guernsey Swimming Club would like to thank Louvre Group for their support on their bay swims and also the volunteers who give their time to help guard the swimmers across the water.’