Saturday 28th May saw over 1,000 intrepid souls gather on the bank of Dorney Lake, Eton to take part in the first event in the five-race Speedo Open Water Swim Series taking place in 2011. The overcast conditions did not deter swimmers tackling four distances from 750 metres through to a 10k swimmers marathon – the first from series organisers Human Race.
In the 750m event racing was as fast and furious as you’d imagine, with the top three coming in within one minute of each other. Oliver Newcombe emerged from the lake to take the win in 0:12:08 with Laura Fenwick taking a clean sweep of second overall, first woman and first youth in a time of 0:12:32. Third was Simon Mellor from Bracknell & Wokingham Masters in a time of 0:12:56.
In the 1500m event David Roberts posted a 0:22:13 for the fastest time over the distance with Bethany Jackson replicating Laura Fenwick’s achievement over the shorter distance with 0:22:58 good enough for second overall, first woman and first youth. Richard Gilbert pushed Fenwick all the way with a 0:23:23 to take third overall. There was a familiar name from the triathlon community on the results sheet as Sian Brice took second lady and fourth overall in a time of 0:23:51. Brice took part in the Olympic Triathlon in Sydney in 2000 and is a former winner of Human Race’s Windsor Triathlon along with many other triathlon’s over the years.
In the second longest event of the day, the 3k saw 300 swimmers take on almost the full length of Dorney Lake and back with a winning time of 0:38:26 posted by Craig Nelson from Swansea Performance. Also from Swansea Performance, junior athlete Fenella Foskett proved that the ladies are more than capable of competing with their male counterparts over all distances by taking second overall in a time of 0:39:50. Third place went to David Stannard of Reading SC in a time of 0:40:50.
In what turned out to be the main event of the day, almost 300 swimmers set off on three laps of the lake for the 10k ‘swimmers marathon’. The field was a mix of experienced open water swimmers, long-distance triathletes, those training for an English Channel crossing attempt later in the year and a few brave souls simply out to ‘try something different’. Most chose to wear wetsuits, but a few hardy souls did go the distance in nothing but regulation swimsuit and goggles, including two ladies who shed their wetsuits after one lap complaining of being too warm.
For most other swimmers, it was cold going with high winds and some chop on the water making sighting and finding a rhythm a challenge right through the field. 
Youth athlete Aydin Berki forged ahead right from the start and finished over ten minutes clear of second place in an extremely impressive 02:03:22. Daniel Shorthouse added to Swansea Performance’s podium places on the day with second place and first junior in a time of 02:14:00. Third place went to Paul Hembrow of Teddington SC in a time of 02:16:47 and first woman home was Nicola Latty in 02:26:44 and sixth place overall. Berki’s performance was even more impressive considering his time on Saturday would have been good enough for 22nd place at the same event in the Beijing Olympics three years ago!
As with the marathon of the running variety, the day wasn’t just about the athletes at the front of the field. There were spirited performances over a distance where fatigue, cramp and cold are just some of the challenges to overcome across up to five hours of swimming. With over 200 finishers and those that didn’t vowing to return and beat the distance next time, the inaugural Speedo Open Water 10k Swim is set to become a regular feature on the Human Race event calendar.
The Windsor Swim is next in the series (750m / 1500m / 3km) on Sunday 3rd July. For more information and online entry, go to the Speedo Open Water Swim Series Website.
