Henley Swim 2010
We were down on the Henley Reach for the 7th Annual Henley Swim which took place at 4:30 Sunday morning (June 27th 2010) and what a fantastic event it was! There were 317 entrants 265 actually swam, 264 completed the course. The famous tri-athlete Richard Stannard, a first time entrant, was first to finish in a time of 25 minutes 47 seconds. The event is now so popular that some entrants had to be turned away as it was over subscribed - this contrasts with the 3 that competed in the first year! Last year Cindy Burrowes, one of our presenters, competed in the event; this year there were 3 entrant from Regatta Radio in finishing order 1. Cindy Burrowes, 2. George Thomas 3. Ed Simpson
The water was a balmy 21C, warmer than the air temperature I can tell you. It's a quite incredible event that defies description - you need to witness it either as a spectator or better still as a competitor so make a date in your diary (looks like Sunday June 26th 2011 to us - unofficial you need to check) you may even get interviewed by Regatta Radio.
The event was superbly run and marshalled, safety being at the forefront of the organisers concerns with canoes from Eyot Canoe Club stationed all down the course. With Open water swimming now part of the Olympics, this event is bound to gain in importance and if' you'll pardon the pun (intended) move into the mainstream! Everybody that was there that we spoke to said they'd be back next year.
10 years ago it probably would not have been possible to hold this event in the River Thames because of pollution, it is a tribute to those concerned (the Environment Agency?) that the Thames has improved to the extent that an event such as this can be staged.
Audio
For a selection of audio click here.
Photos
We have 2 sets of photos from the event click on the links below
The results are avaiable by clicking here.
You can still get photos and audio clips of the Henley Swim 2009 by looking under the Archive>Regatta 2009 menu in the header of any of our pages. The audio is near the foot of the page (June 27th and 28th).
