DUMFRIES ASC swimmers Luke, Heather, Ava, Iona and Dewi put on their wetsuits and competed at the Loch Ken Wild Swim Weekend at the Galloway Activity Centre in aid of Barnardo’s Scotland.
On Friday evening, in the pitch dark, Ava and Kirsteen took to the loch with glow sticks in their tow floats and only the kayaker’s head torches to guide them towards the glowing buoys.
Ava sped around the 500m course finishing in eight minutes exactly; with Kirsteen coming in a very respectable 2nd, 2 mins 47 seconds behind her and around 2 and half minutes before the nearest competitor.
Saturday was the main event day. Luke, in his first ever open water swimming event, finished an incredible first in the 1km and won male gold (time 15:53).
Heather raced superbly to come in second overall and won the 1km female gold (time 16:29). Both of these young swimmers finished over a minute ahead of the other competitors, who were aged 13-60+.
Following on from this, Ava won female gold, finishing first in the 2km (Time 29:28) just over eight minutes ahead of her nearest competitor.
The next event of the day was the 4km where Dewi and ASC coach Christine swam brilliantly, finishing almost together in 11th and 12th place overall. Dewi came sixth in the male category and Christine came sixth in the female category with a P.B.
In the final event, the club’s youngest competitor, Iona, took part in the kids’ fun swim over inflatable obstacles.
She stormed the course in three minutes 49 seconds, finishing first overall and first female a minute ahead of her nearest rival.
On the Sunday, Ava was one of four competitors to tackle the inaugural Loch Ken 10km end to end swim. The route started at the Galloway Activity Centre and finished at Crossmichael Marina.
This was Ava’s first ever 10km swim, and she finished second overall, completing the race in 2 hours 53 minutes. It was an amazing experience.
The whole weekend event was a tremendous way to finish off the Open Water competitive season
