A record 68 open water swimming teams competed in Windermere’s fifth Big Chill Swim relays at Low Wood Bay Resort Hotel & Marina, whilst international swimmers carried off individual gold medals in various sprint and endurance races in the gala.
The hotel played host to the official Winter Swimming Association event, part of the World Cup series and featuring 1,000 Chillswim competitors from as far afield as Chile and Russia.
The weekend’s racing was particularly fruitful for Finland’s Elina Makinen, who swept the field with six golds and a silver medal. Makinen emerged victorious in the women’s 120m freestyle, the 60m freestyle, the 30m ‘Ice Fly’, and the longer 240m, 450m and 1km endurance swims.
Ben Berry from English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues says: “This was a fantastic event organised by Chillswim and a measure of its popularity that so many relay teams came out in force, whether competing at the top level or participating for fun or to raise funds for worthy causes. We’re thrilled that Team Low Wood Bay won the local Cumbria trophy and managed to get on the podium for the overall relay.”
The men’s 1km British Championship, the main endurance challenge for experienced cold water swimmers, was won by Scotland’s James Leitch in 13 minutes 9 seconds. German open water swimming star, Benjamin Konschak, took five golds in all. Team Viktoria from Russia picked up the gold in the relay, with Shopshire Wild winning plaudits for finishing in 66th place swimming in fancy dress.
Chillswim director Colin Hill says: “The Big Chill Swim at Low Wood Bay is now an established international open water swimming event. It is wonderful to see so many top competitors coming from all over the globe to swim here and compete so strongly against each other – and in such good spirit too. We are already looking at ways to extend the capacity of the event both in terms of numbers and the variety of racing distances.”
The Big Chill Swim was sponsored by Northern Pontoon and Chillswim events are being supported by Arena and Dryrobe. Podium winners were awarded their medals and prizes before attending a Barn Dance at Low Wood Bay Resort Hotel & Marina.
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