I raced in the Open Water Championships again this year, in the London Region and in the England Nationals. My time improved compared to last year but my ranking didn’t.

The Regionals

The London Region Open Water Championships this year was held in London, at Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre on 6 July, unlike the previous years where it was held in either Hertfordshire or Norfolk. It was easily accessible in urban London, with frequent buses connecting Canary Wharf stopping direct at the gate.

I joined the 19+ Age Group race for the purpose of qualifying for the nationals. The race was 5 km, 5 x 1 km loops. As there were fewer entrants than the available qualifying places, I could get a place in the nationals with a valid result by completing the course within the cut off time of 1:45.

As there was a heatwave in the preceding week, the water temperature was warm enough for the race to be a non-wetsuit race. My time was 1:37:14, which was slower than my time in 2023 by about 6 minutes. The overall Open/Male winning time was 1:03:06 and I was the 17th/17 among all Open/Male participants, although I got a gold medal because in my age group I was the only competitor turned up for the race.

The Nationals

The Swim England National Open Water Championships was held on 26 July for the Age Group competition, and on 27 July for the Masters competition, with the exact same arrangement as last year’s race. I only registered for the 7.5 km Age Group competition but not the Masters competition. The race was held at the exact same place, Rother Valley Country Park, with the exact same course layout, 5 laps of 1.5 km. The water temperature was 20.9°C, so the race was a non-wetsuit race.

As in last year, I had 60 minutes to finish the course after the first finisher, in a field including elite-level GB triathletes and swimmers preparing for international success. My experience was exactly the same as last year as well, and could only last 1 2/3 laps before getting lapped.

My time this year was 2:21:40, compared to 2:31:25 last year. My ranking was the 17th / 17 in my age group, and the 71st / 71 in O/M. However, the whole field was faster as well, which meant the time gain was because of the conditions instead of my improvement. The 19+ O/M category was won by Jack Booth Rudd in 1:24:24, where he got the 2nd place last year in 1:31:28, just 2 seconds behind the winner, while the overall winner this year was Samuel Williams, who swam the 7.5 km course in 1:24:11 this year, and also won the race last year in 1:29:47. From these numbers, my time was 1.68x the overall O/M winning time, a negligible difference compared to last year.

The full results can be viewed here.