5. Llyn Tegid (Bala)

51st Llyn Tegid 2010   It has now become customary to start by reporting on the important proceedings which take place at the historic home of the ‘Bala’ Championships, the White Lion Hotel. Back in the early days of the swim our first President Phillip Rising, used to stay here and I believe entertain the local dignitaries. The Friday night proceedings have moved on, from official entertainment to a more ‘serious’ format, that of pure entertainment. Once again the attendees included the usual suspects. Following on from our visit to Dover and Torbay, important safety concerns were discussed over a couple of pints of the aptly name ‘Brains’ by the Rescue Boat Coordinator and the Hon Secretary. They concluded that the local potion was safer than the Dover ‘Abbot’ supplied by Matthew Thomas to the Hon Secretary which had caused much of an issue a couple of weeks earlier. Saturday started a little early with the swim secretary depositing the boat by the lakeside and putting up the banners, before nipping back for breakfast. What a great idea as upon his return Swimsafe had magically got into the water, thanks Dan. The prospects for the day looked like it was going to be a typically beautiful Bala morning, i.e. wet. The concern held by the swim secretary was that following the publication in the ‘Times’ that Bala was one of the best places to swim in the world and the article included details of the swim, he had visions of hoards of people turning up to swim the 1km race. In fact, as a result of the ‘Times’ article, the swim secretary had become something of a national broadcaster making it to stardom by being on the Jamie and Louise breakfast show on BBC Wales. Strangely nobody during the weekend asked for an autograph!! The swim secretary has promised for the last three years that we would have excellent conditions the following year. However, in truth we have had for the last four years typical Bala weather. This year we did have a slight exception, the water temperature was 17C. It’s not often that swimmers finish a long swim at Bala and complain that it was too warm, but Darron Corden (Veteran next year) did. This year entries opened in February and before the swim we had 160 swimmers entered. On the day we took another 16 entries to the 1km swim. Therefore it was another record entry of 176 swimmers. This is currently the biggest swim on the BLDSA calendar and in actual fact the biggest entry we have ever had in any championship during our history. It smashed the previous record entry at Rivington a few years previously, sorry Dee, pity you weren’t there to see your record smashed. Prior to the start of the 1km and 3km race the wind was fairly strong, resulting in the water being somewhat choppy. This wind caused Daniel a bit of a challenge in placing the buoys. After positioning the first buoy he returned to collect the second only to turn and watch the buoy he’d just positioned blow slowly up the lake. The next issue with the buoys came as we started the race. Dan had agreed with the swim secretary that as soon as the race started he would position the last buoy at the jetty. It never happened because as soon as the race started he had to make two trips taking out of the water four swimmers who found the choppy water difficult to cope with. As the buoy was in the way of getting the swimmers onto the RIB he just let it go and it blew up the lake toward the car park. A short time, later Christian Wade was spotted taking a large yellow buoy for a walk by its lead (pity I didn’t get a picture of this). Again this year we were fortunate to have electronic timing at the event (thanks Steve & Lynda Walsh for your help). The timing was a godsend for the 1km race which would have been somewhat difficult using traditional manual timekeeping methods. The briefing for the 1km and 3km events was held and all 98 swimmers were counted into the water prior to the ‘on time’ start. Pam Morgan aligned the swimmers prior to starting the race. Despite entering the 3km race I decided not to swim due to the hoards of swimmers standing on the Llyn’s edge. For the second year on the run the first swimmer to finish was James Whiteside smashing his previous year’s time finishing in 13:05. The 3km races were won by Charlotte Cain (44:28) who took the junior ladies title, Oliver McCloskey (45:49) and Sarah Lucus (41:06) who took the senior titles. The first veteran home was Simon Lee who managed to complete this swim and in a time of (48:38). However, a special mention is required to Bethan Corley who was swimming in the Cheshire 3km race finished before everyone else in 40:57. For the second year in a row we had an entry in the forties, this year we had 41 swimmers entered for our ‘Blue Ribbon’ event our 2-way Championship. However on the day 34 swimmers entered the water and we got the swim away 1 minute late. The conditions at the start gave the impression that it was going to be a testing swim. Despite the conditions Joe Coy decided to swim Fly. From comments made by the swimmers on their return, the first couple of miles were indeed testing. As usual the dependable Rob Acton manned the turn boat. The return was a quicker leg with the wind behind. We had 3 retirements which included Joe Coy realising that conditions made it difficult to swim fly, a cold swimmer and Simon who just got out. This year the ladies winner was Rebecca Lewis (third year on the run) finishing in 2:30:10 and William Bott (second year on the run) finishing in 2:20:27. This year the swim secretary had arranged for more new technology to be associated with the swim. Over the past few years the swim secretary has ‘jollied’ around generally enjoying himself, while Sandra completed all the certificates. However, with a new printer, rolls changed. The days of Sandra emerging from the car handing over the certificate to me to present have gone. Introduction of new technology always results in ‘teething issues’ and with the large entry of 1km and 3km swimmers plus the lack of watts to power the printer (thanks Steve for the mobile generator) the certificate production was poor for that race. However, we leant quickly and for the 2-way and 1-way presentations all certificates were printed in time and the presentations started as planned. Sunday, was a much nicer day with the wind dropping as the day went on. It was a clearer brighter day. The registration and briefing was held on the beach at Llangower. From the 29 swimmers entered, all but one started the swim. But not until Sandra had marked up shoulders and hands of all swimmers and crews. I think she sees it as a new form of Art!! Just after the swim started the swim secretary explained to a spectator that last year there was a race to get to the finish quickly as it was believed a record would be broken. His thoughts weren’t that a repeat of the sprint was needed. However, upon arriving at the finish once again there were several swimmers charging across the last reaches of the lake towards the finish. Joan and Pam quickly collected their chairs and made their way to the jetty. For the second year in a row both the senior ladies and gents records were broken by Rebecca Lewis and Chris Malpass. They both broke their own records finishing in 1:01:15 and 1:00:47 respectively. A short distance behind them was Eve Fellows who finished in 1:01:52. There was only one retirement which was Nicola Fraser due to a shoulder injury, which was unfortunate as in her current form she would have made the finish even more interesting. But we weren’t finished with great swimming as the next four swimmers included all the junior ladies, with Hawys Hatley winning in 1:02:31. But a special mention is needed to Joe Coy despite swimming 4 mile the previous day Fly before getting out, he started the 3 mile race swimming Fly and it was a great sight to see the smile on his face when he comfortably finish, well done Joe. The BLDSA is blessed with having a group of extremely generous helpers. Without their help this year, when I broadcast the probable volume of swimmers taking part, running the event would not have been possible. So with that in mind, and the huge entry materialising, I was extremely grateful for all the help received. Particular thanks to our ever dependable President (Pam), Joan, Margaret, Jean, Janet, John, Vince, Jacky, Melanie & Rob Acton, Daniel, Laura, Steve and as usual my long suffering wife Sandra. Thanks also to those who helped over the weekend and are not specifically named. As usual we had tremendous safety cover provided by 2 ribs, Swimrescue and Swimsafe, thanks to the 2 crews and the canoeists, all who sat for many hours on the water, enabling us swimmers to participate in our sport. Just a quick thank you to Mike Jackson who volunteered to follow the 2-way swim in his canoe and ended up escorting one swimmer back after her canoeist suffered a shoulder injury. Also to Martyn Coates who kept an eye on young Sam Bearley who ably supported his dad Steve during the 1-way swim. We received some very encouraging words of support this year from the Park Warden and I’d like to record here our thanks to Arwell and his team of Wardens for their help and support. Now I’m feeling quietly confident, that next year’s event will be even better than this year and is provisionally set to be held on 9th & 10th July 2011. I look forward to seeing you there. Andy Wright, Swim Secretary   Andy Wright Swim Secretary

To see Photographs of the event click on the PHOTOS button

Results

© DL / BLDSA 2010