A GROWING number of Rugby swimmers are taking to the open water and a small but competitive team represented the club with distinction on Sunday at the 2016 Midlands ASA Open Water Championships.
Open water swimming is not to everybody’s taste and participants in Sunday’s event were not allowed to wear wetsuits, which made the water temperature a significant factor.
The weather had picked up which made conditions dry in Market Bosworth where almost 170 swimmers competed in different types of age groups for a chance to compete for their region at the National Open Water championship in Rotherham in July.
The early starters out at 9.30 were greeted with 16.9 degree water temperatures and with the air temperature at 18 degrees, the first swimmers off were in for a brisk start.
Abbie Dolly took the mantle for Rugby Swimming Club and entered the 5km race but she was forced to withdraw after the hour mark on her final lap with the cold water taking its toll.
Next up for Rugby was Rhys James, Kelly Dugmosh and Maddie Haywood who competed in the 3km race along with 40 others. The leaders set of at a fair pace which was maintained by the finfishers wth some excellent times.
The Under-16s race was won in under 30 mins by Sam Dyer in 29.04, while Rhys finished in the bronze medal position for Under-16s in a time of 34.05.
Closely behind was Kelly in the Women’s over 16 age group in 34.40 and then Maddie in 36.14 finishing fifth but second West Midlands region swimmer.
This means that all three are eligible to represent the West Midlands ASA at the National championships. Kelly also won the 35-39 age group, by over six minutes over her rivals, just showing what a force she is over the longer distances.
The final event of the day saw Rachel Lloyd making the team selection as well with her finish in first place in the over 19 Women’s 1.5km race in a time of 20.02. Rachel led from start to finish in her age group, as she won by a clear three minutes from her rivals.
