Otter Mile 2023

The Otter Mile this year started under a grey sky. Although some swimmers showed initial relectancy towards swimming in colder-than-QMSC temperatures! Howver, isn’t that one of the charms of open water swimming? We didn’t measure but the more experienced open water swimmers reckoned it was a balmy 18C ;-)
There were three trophies to be won in one single race.
The trophy for first male swimmer went to David Adamson who fought a long side-by-side battle against Pip Bennett who had to let David go in the last couple of metres.
The trophy for fastest female swimmer went to Alice Dinsdale-Young. Well, we know where the trophy is and we’ll hand it to her on the next occasion.
The Jack Cunningham Salver trophy for best handicap race is going to John Goodbody. John has clearly been doing some extra training and finished in 34:40. Not bad for somebody who is just over three times the age of the youngest participant!

The Vets 50 free

If you believe the banter on the Mature Otters mailing list, this has to be the most important event of the year. Martin Flash won this back in 2019 before the pandemic hit and prevented us from doing much swimming, let alone racing.

Martin didn’t fail to mention once or twice that he held on to the Synge-Hutchinson Challenge Cup for 2 years! The rest of the Mature Otters did put him in his place in that this was not much of a feat. The email converations became rather heated and one even read “Blood in the water in the 8th!”
I know, you wouldn’t expect that when you see the Mature Otters around the pool on an average Thursday night, but come Vets 50 Free night and the fierce competitors come out!

Unfortunately for Martin, he couldn’t quite beat his handicap time this year. Two gentlemen however managed to beat the expectations: Anthony Ray and Simon Williams! The rest of the field came very close to their handicap time and all finished within 0.6s. Well done to David Addison, Bob Thomas, Martin Flash and Chris Daniels.

Simon Williams was definitely too fast for the rest of the field and deservedly cycled home with the cup securely fastened on his back. Well done to Simon. I’m sure he realises his handicap for future events has just become slightly more challenging ;-)

Handicap races update

I know that some will say that Camille bribed her way to the win in last Sunday’s 150FS handicap race, but the truth is that she did swim very fast compared to previous times. And that’s what it comes down to in handicap races. So well done Camille.
In second and third place we have Richard Croydon and Alex Fraster (welcome back!). Richard climbs up in the overall ranking and is now joint second with Chris Daniels and Pip Bennett. Two points clear of them is Alice Dinsdale-Young.
This can all rapidly change though with two handicap races on Thursday and the 200 handicap next Sunday!

Handicap update

Very well done to Alex, Tom and Deirdre for their top 3 places at the sealed 100m free. Deirdre swam as fast as nearly 10 years ago, not bad. I wish I could do that!
Very well done to everyone attempting the 400IM. It’s not for the faint hearted. Many of us are already intimidated enough by the prospect of more than 2 lengths of fly, so great job finishing that 400IM. Well done Ana, Alice and Matt for their top 3 places! Again, Anna is not showing any signs of ageing as she still swims times from many years ago. Well worth mentioning that Richard Croydon, new member and likely twice the age of the youngest contender.

Overall (although it’s very early days) Anna, Chris and myself are in shared first place. What can I say, it pays off attending events with fewer participants! Check out the swim calendar for the coming events!

Otter Half-Mile 2021

The Otter Half-Mile was held at Henley Sailing club on the River Thames at Wargrave, near Henley on Friday 16 July. This was the first Otter event that has been held since the 150th celebration events in 2019 and it was a welcome return to Otter traditional social activities!

While there were still some COVID lockdown restrictions in place, this did not have any impact to an thoroughly enjoyable evening

The weather was glorious, with 24 in attendance although very well attended by the “mature” Otters. 15 swimmers completed the handicap swim event, being led off by David Skidmore OBE with Matt Burgham chasing the field from the back, 6 minutes 30 seconds later.

The race for the win was very close, with just 4 seconds between first and second, although it was the only female in the race, Alice Dinsdale-Young who won, with Ric Jones in second.

Many thanks to Jeff and his team at Henley Sailing club for hosting us as they have now for many years, and we hope, for many more to come.

Results and pictures follow.

Dave Warren

Hon. Handicapper