Dolphins Invade Barbados

Item Posted:06/12/2015

About 18 months ago, upon hearing there would be an Open Water Swim Festival in Barbados in November 2015, I made the decision that life was too short and I was going to go to Barbados one way or another. I was hoping that a couple of people from the swim club would join me in this venture, but, amazingly I was joined by 11 others. And so a team of 12 Doncaster Dolphins travelled over to the Caribbean to compete in the Open Water Swim Festival in Carlisle Bay, Barbados.

We spent 10 nights in Barbados, then eight of us went on a Caribbean cruise for 7 nights (Michael went on his own cruise), then four of us went to Jamaica for 5 nights. Ewen and Jenelle went on to the US, Margaret went to Canada and Shirley went to Mexico. It was the holiday of a lifetime!! Barbados did not disappoint. We stayed at the Hilton Hotel which overlooked the beautiful Carlisle Bay.

Leading up to our race we did a few practise swims where the water was warm and clear and below the surface we found an array of colourful fish, turtles and sunken treasures. Race day was a hive of activity with frazzled nerves but mostly excitement that we had all actually made it here and were swimming in this international race in the most beautiful conditions ever!! With approximately 250 competitors in the 1.5km race, we all took off together. This was the first ever open water swim for some of our team and to finish the race was such an achievement. Congratulation to the following place getters:

45 to 54 years

3rd Michael Sorensen

55 to 64 years

3rd Bryn Illingworth

65 years plus

1st Carol Freeman. Her first open water swim for over 20 years. Well done!                  -

2nd Dorothy Dickey. Even with a 'dickey' knee! She still continues to amaze.                     

3rd Margaret Mark. And her first open water swim!

Michael kindly donated his team shirt to the race organiser who had been eyeing them off. Our shirts were a real hit over there! Thanks Robyn for organising them. Carol Holden was very pleased to get under 30 minutes as coach Rod had told her she was capable of doing so and she proved him right. Kylie Smith saw a sea snake at some point during the swim which probably gave her a bit more inspiration to get to that finish line! Ewen Templeton was happy with his time (7th in his age group) and did well considering he missed training for a few months due to being overseas. Dianne Lacaze and Jenelle Templeton completed their first ever open water swim. Dianne would have done a faster time if she hadn't stopped to pose for photos before the finish!! The star of the show was Jenelle, who up until two weeks before the race had not entered in fear that she could not do it but ended up surprising herself by not only finishing but doing a time faster than she had anticipated. We were all very pleased for her! The following day Michael and Bryn fronted up for the 5km swim and, once again, Bryn came 3rd in her age group. Well done to Michael for completing his first 5km event. As for myself, having to have a total hip replacement a few months beforehand, at one stage I didn't think I'd even make it to Barbados, let alone do the swim so I was extremely happy to be there, finish the swim and share this experience with my 11 amazing team mates!

A big thank you to our wonderful coaches, Margie, Rod, Sue and Peta who not only put in a lot of effort to get us fit for this swim but also gave us the confidence to do it. Much appreciated! After swimming in Barbados it will be very hard to swim in any other open water swims as we were spoilt with such beautiful conditions. I guess that just means that we'll have to go back there again! Who's up for Barbados 2017?     

Written by Wendy Simmons