A team of 16 South Lincs swimmers headed to South Hykeham to participate in the Lincolnshire County Open Water Festival recently.
This was the first competition in the Open Water calendar for the South Lincs team and the swimmers did an outstanding job through the afternoon.
With the lake at a warm 21 degrees, this was a non-wetsuit event and the couple of weekends of practise at Tallington proved to have got the athletes ready for their County venture.
Lucy Wilson got the afternoon off to a tremendous start as she won the girls’ 11-13 years age group event which was held over 800m.
Wilson charged round the course and put the pressure on the majority of the boys in the event as she came through the gantry in third place overall.
Wilson was followed home by Kitty Lamb who collected the bronze medal in the girls’ 11-13 years age group in her first ever open water competition.
In the boys’ 11-13 years age group it was Kieran Lucy who made it a podium finish for South Lincs as he claimed the silver medal.
Once again, Lucy was competing in his first ever open water event and swam exceptionally well to claim his medal in this age group.
The remaining age groups all contested the 1,500m distance and there was more success for the South Lincs swimmers.
Hannah Bruce swam a very determined race to take gold in the girls’ 14-15 years age group and was joined on the podium by team mate Lillie Hamilton who picked up the bronze medal in this age group.
In the boys’ 14-15 years age group it was a clean sweep of the podium for the South Lincs swimmers.
Matteo Monaco had an exceptional swim to challenge the 16 and 17-year-old swimmers in the race and claim the gold in his own age group.
Frank Lamb put in a great effort to take the silver medal and Will Vere took the bronze.
Not to be outdone, Thomas Bruce matched sister Hannah’s performance as he took gold in the 16-17 years age group. Usually much more at home swimming 50 and 100m events in the pool, Bruce showed his tremendous aerobic capacities to be the first swimmer home in the 1,500m distance.
Luke Blanchard was in action in the men’s 18-24 years age group and paced his race superbly well.
Blanchard sat comfortably behind the lead swimmer until the last 400m of the race when he moved up a gear to take the lead and swim to gold in this age group and be the first of the masters’ swimmers home and through the gantry.
The afternoon was a brilliant start to the Open Water season for the South Lincs swimmers and was an excellent competition opportunity ahead of the Regional Open Water Championships.
