Coniston 2-way Relay 2009

Competitive

Master’s Times

2007

©ITLang 2007-2010 on behalf of ESLSS

Exmouth Swimming and Life Saving Society entered two teams in the BLDSA 2-way relay of Coniston Water on 18th July. Each team consisted of three swimmers with each swimmer swimming a third of the lake in each direction.

The teams were captained by Exmouth’s two most recent channel swimmers, Olly White and Mark Westaway. Team White’s other swimmers were Adam Tapp and Ross Szender. Competing against them for team Westo were Ian Lang and Caroline Ball.

The swim started at approximately 0900 hrs, after an early briefing, with the team captains swimming the first legs for their teams. White established an early lead for his team which was then built upon in the next leg when Adam Tapp beat Ian Lang by three and a half minutes over the longest leg of the three. The lead between the two teams was now approximately six and a half minutes going into the third leg. Caroline Ball then beat Ross Szender to narrow the gap between the two Exmouth teams to just over 3 minutes.

Starting the second length of the lake Mark Westaway had an inspirational swim staying close to White so that the gap only increased to 3 minutes 35 seconds. This led team Westo to believe that they could catch team White in the final two legs. Swimming the leg they had swum earlier in reverse Tapp and Lang both swam faster than in their first swim, Lang trying to catch Tapp whilst Tapp tried to maintain and build upon his team’s advantage. Team White eventually won the leg by 2 and a half minutes to extend the lead to nearly six minutes. Team Westo though disappointed still felt they were in with a slim chance of catching Team White in the final leg. Caroline Ball bravely completed the final swim of the day for Team Westo in front of the other Exmouth team. However Ross Szender had the task of making sure that Team White maintained their advantage and led for the whole day. After Ball finished it was a case of timing the gap between her finishing and Szender getting to the end both teams had a few anxious moments but it soon became obvious that Szender had done enough, with the final gap just over 2 and a half minutes.

Team White beat Team Westo by just over 3 and a half minutes to claim third place in a time of 4hrs 13min 24sec. Team Westo swam to a credible 4th place finish pushing their Exmouth rivals all the way to the finish in a time of 4hrs 17min 06sec. Both teams would like to thank their kayakers and shore based support teams for their help and support throughout the day.

Coniston 2-way Relay 2009