Rick Peters and Alexis Jordan claimed the top spots in the 5 km swim race while Eric Taylor and Claudia Peichl were the fastest in the 1.5 km race when the inaugural Barbados Open Water Festival was held July 6 in Carlisle Bay. It was a perfect day in the spectacular and historic Bay when 110 swimmers from 12 countries entered the water at about 9 am. A full day of water-sport activity followed the swims with 80 local kayakers, 55 local paddlers and 32 local water polo players taking to the sea at this new festival on the Barbados sporting calendar.
Swimmers, male and female, ranging in age from 8 years old to sixty-nine years old competed in 1.5km and 5km races as well as a “Just for Fun” swim across Carlisle Bay. They swam a loop stretching from the south end of the Esplanade to the Boatyard pier and back. Conditions for swimming were ideal with no wind, placid crystal clear water and lots of sunshine. This new initiative backed by the Tourism Development Corporation will be hosted again in October this year and once annually going forward. The open-water swimming enthusiasts competed for a wide variety of prizes in several age categories from Under 12 to Over 55 years. Prizes were generously donated by LIME, Mount Gay, Banks Holdings, Chefette, The Cliff Restaurant, Bougainvillea Resort, Coconut Court and many others.
Rick Peter’s set a scorching pace in an exciting Men’s 5 km event finishing in 1 hour 11 minutes and 11 seconds, barely edging out 16 year old Simon Wilkie by a mere 8 seconds. Wilkie had an excellent swim to finish second and resident Cuban swim coach Nelson Fernandez was third overall in the 5 km race. Well-known veteran swimmers Chris Gibbs and brother Peter Gibbs battled it out in the Men’s 55 and Over 5 km event with Chris taking the top position in this category. Former Barbadian Olympian breast-stroker Andrei Cross was also in the 5km action finishing second in his age grouping.
Junior swimmers performed well overall with 9 year old Eric Lashley swimming his heart out to win the Boys 12 and under 1.5 km race in 25 minutes 41 seconds and Kristiana Ram of Saltwater Swimmers winning the girls equivalent in 28 minutes 5 seconds. Annie Cox produced a strong swim to win the Girls 13-17 category in 26 minutes 24 seconds just six seconds ahead of Shannon Gibson of Saltwater Swimmers.
The Barbados Federation of Island Triathletes (BFIT), the Flying Fish Masters Swim Club and the Barbados Water Polo Club (BWPC) swimmers had good showings with several of their members walking away with prizes. Chanda Gooding had a close race with fellow triathlete Jen Wosimity in their age category with an 18 second winning margin for Gooding at the finish. Veteran triathlete, Christine Choy was in top spot in her category in the 1.5km race. Geoffrey King and William Tomlin of Flying Fish were first and second in the 1.5 km for the Mens 55+. Ryan Forde of BWPC was tops in the 25-34 group in the 1.5km with an excellent time of 20 minutes 58 seconds while one of his team mates Stanley Brooker was second in the Mens 35-44 group of the 1.5km swim.
The Festival drew several international swimmers of all levels from many countries including Trinidad, St. Vincent, Canada, Sweden, The Netherlands, England, Ireland, Poland, Columbia, Venezuela and Australia. Visiting swimmers provided the local swimmers with challenges in some age groups with Kamil Klamann of Poland winning the Men’s 25-34 age group in the 5km race, Osman Pulgar of Venezuela took second in the Mens 45-54 age group in the 5 km while Shastri Roberts of Trinidad was third in the 35-44 age group of the 5 km race. Stephen Joachim of St Vincent was third in the Mens’s 45-54 age group.
The non-stop action continued after the swimming with fast paced relay races between stand-up paddlers and then kayakers. Fourteen local teams took part in the stand-up paddling with Jason Cole’s team beating out Mikie Hassell’s team and Sarah Ruggieri’s team taking third spot. Competition was intense in the Kayak relays but the “Water Polo” team led by Stanley Brooker were able to stave off the fast paced second team led by Olympic wind-surfer Oneil Marshall while Olympic swimmer Nicky Neckles captained the third place team. They may not have walked away with a prize but the Kenny Bovell managed team were definitely the best “turned out” team in matching attire!
The thrilling day of water sports activities culminated with an energetic water polo match in the sea between two top Barbadian teams.
Organiser of the event Zary Evelyn indicated that the next event would take place in the same location on October 27th, 2013. He noted that the October event was being promoted overseas and an even greater number of International entries were expected.
Results
1.5km race
Boys/Men
Girls/Ladies
Under 12
UNDER 12
Eric Lashley
Kristiana Ram
Jacob Johnson
Dominique Nurse Allen
13-17
13-17
Eric Taylor
Anna Cox
Luke Simpson
Shannon Gibson
18-24
Jonathon Pile
Alex Gibson
25-34
25-34
Ryan Forde
Chanda Gooding
Chris Sikkens
Jen Wosminity
35-44
35-44
David Stoute
Claudia Peichl
Gregory Austin
Terry Ann Defreitas
45-54
45-54
Ashly Farmer
Mandy Garcia
Ciaran O’Connor
Karen Porter
55+
55+
Geoffrey King
Christine Choy
William Tomlin
5km race
13-17
Simon Wilkie
25-34
25-34
Kamil Klamann
Alexis Jordan
Andrei Cross
35-44
Nelson Fernandez
Stanley Brooker
45-54
45-54
Rick Peters
Alison Pile
Osman Pulgar
55+
Chris Gibbs
Peter Gibbs
