Report by Jeanette Droop
On Sunday, 16 February 2014, a Hagar of Vikings and a few familiar faces from Molonglo and Ryde masters clubs ventured to the shores of Lake Burley Griffin at Yarralumla Bay for the 2014 Sri Chimnoy Lake Swims.
After a wet and thunderous Saturday night the conditions were perfect; not a ripple to be seen, a clear reflection of Black Mountain and Telstra Tower on the water and ‘Kelloggs’ water temperature — not to cold and not too warm: Just Right. Most importantly there was not a dollop of algae to be seen.
It was great to see Suzie Gunning back on deck after her surgery and we welcomed Chris Horweeg to his first competitive lake swim, reassuring him that the lake if free of scary creatures with large sharp teeth or tentacles.
Our vikings Greg Gourley and Caroline Makin alongside Helen Rubin from Ryde club, the brave and resolute 5km swimmers, set off first in a field of 25 competitors to swim two laps of the course. All three swimmers were exhausted but pleased with their swim. Luckily they were already wet; the perfect conditions became a blur of heavy rain and less perfect for approximately 15 minutes during the second lap of the course.
The 2.5km field of 52 swimmers followed the 5 km field. Anne Smyth and Nick Dando took off with the gun and were next seen dry on the shore barracking and giving encouragement to those of us that came in afterwards. Kristen Leyden and Fran Hampton came to give the whole team much appreciated support and encouragement.
We did not have a swimmer in the 500m event.
As is tradition Masters’ swimmers from both local clubs featured in the placings. The triathlon community was fully aware of our terrific team spirit. Full results can be found on http://au.srichinmoyraces.org/sri-chinmoy-lake-swims-2014-results
The competitors on the day were: Greg Gourley, Caroline Makin, Helen Rubin (Ryde), Anne Smyth, Nick Dando, Jeanette Droop, Suzie Gunning, Petrina Quinn, Eloise Bolton, Ian Hampton, Chris Hoorweg, Tim Booth (Molonglo) and Geoff Llewellyn (Molonglo).
This is a low key, friendly and local event held annually. For those swimmers who get memorised following the black line and are not keen on tumble turns every 25/50m, this event is a great swim to begin your open water competition.
