This year’s BLDSA Champion of Champions Swim took part on Saturday 21st June in Dover and saw a mixed crowd of competitors, young and old, with more female entries than male and a cross-section of channel aspirants – including TORQ’s Vicky Miller.

Champion of Champions is designed to challenge swimmers to take part in all three races through the day, with a 5 mile, 3 mile and 1 mile race programme. Whilst the latter races have the benefit of being shorter, the converse of muscles being more tired means that each distance represents its own test.

After recognition of some difficulties last year (which suffered from a combination of unseasonal cold water temperatures, jellyfish and strong winds that roughed up the water and blew the buoys about), Vicky was pleased to hear the forecast and that that this year’s event benefited from delightful conditions and was exceptionally well-run, especially taking into consideration the complexity of running three races throughout the day. 

The day began with the five mile race, which was 10 laps of a marked course. The water was relatively warm at 15 degrees Celsius, helping raise the spirits amongst the field of all-skins swimmers (this event is under BLDSA rules where no wetsuits are allowed). The sun stayed out for most of the day, so although getting back in for the three-mile felt a bit chilly, competition stayed healthy with a fast start by the stronger swimmers in the field. The end of the final one-mile race was very welcome, with tired but happy faces arriving at the beach finish to round off the day.

The winners were announced at the awards ceremony where all those who completed the three races were presented with a certificate.  In the female event, Vicky Miller of Team TORQ took first place in a total time of 3.49.41 – Vicky won all three of her races and as a result she was crowned Champion of Champions 2014.

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