Inter Services & Open Water Swimming Championships 2010

The Inter Services and Army Open Water Swimming Championships 2010 took place at Bala Lake in North Wales on 14 June 2010. Fine dry weather with the air temperature at approximately 14 degrees and a water temperature of approximately 16 degrees, ensured good conditions for the Championships.

A total of 124 separate swimmers took part in the Championships, the breakdown of the 3 events was as follows;

5 km – 32 Swimmers – 28 finishers (18 Army/ 7 Navy /3 RAF/ 4 Other)
3 km – 36 Swimmers – 24 fInishers* (28 Army/ 3 Navy/ 1 RAF/  3 Other)
1 km – 85 Swimmers – 83 finishers (75 Army/ 3 Navy/ 4 RAF/ 3 Other)

*A significant number of swimmers were not allowed to complete the course as they had exceeded the cut off time for the 3 km race.

Inter Service Results 5km

The FUJIARM Trophy awarded to the winners of the Inter Service Open Water Swimming Championships is decided by combining the finish times for the first three swimmers from each service regardless of gender. The results of the FUJIARM Trophy are as follows:

POSITION	SERVICE	TIMES
1st	Navy LCpl Bumby (1st IS Male – 1ST Overall) LT Berry       (3rd IS Male – 5th Overall) LT Cmdr Witt(4th IS Male – 8th Overall)	4:01:42 1:14:09 1:20:24 1:27:09
2nd	RAF C Tech Wooldridge (2nd IS Male – 4th Overall) F Offr Pippen           (1st IS Female – 6th Overall) Sqn Ldr Hollingworth (20th Overall)	4:20:54 1:19:02 1:25:24 1:36:28
3rd	Army Cpl Fear (2nd IS Female – 7th Overall) Capt Morris (3rd IS Female – 11th Overall) Capt Earl (4th IS Female – 13th Overall)	4:22:37 1:26:19 1:27:35 1:28:43

Army Results 5km

Male
1st SSgt Shaw	42 Engr Regt	1:29:08
2nd Cpl Gausden	59 Cmdo	1:33:51
3rd Capt Griffiths	42 Engr Regt	1:38:01
Female
1st Cpl Fear	ATR Pirbright	1:26:19
2nd Capt Morris	261 Sig Sqn	1:27:35
3rd Capt Earl	42 Engr Regt	1:28:43

The Inter Corps Championships is decided by combining the first 4 times of the swimmers from each Corps, only 2 Corps had 6 finishers. The results of the Inter Corps Championships are as follows:

1ST Royal Engineers – Earl / Shaw / Gausden / Griffiths – 6:18:25
2nd Royal Signals      -  Morris / Holden / Fernand / Love – 6:22:40

Army Results 3m

Male
1st Cpl Gausden	59 CMDO	58:11
2nd Cpl Manning	3 RSME	1:02:50
3rd Sgt Cole	36 Engr Regt	1:03:26
Female
1st Cpl Fear	ATC Pirbright	55:16
2nd Capt Earl	42 Engr Regt	58:18
3rd WO2 James	HQ 4 Div	1:04:51
Veterans
1st Maj Clooney	DRAC	1:05:41
2nd Lt Col Healey	11 Sig Regt	1:09:03

Army Results 1km

The results of the Army 1km and Inter Unit Team Championships are as follows.

Male
1st SSgt Shaw	42 Engr Regt	17:36
2nd Cpl Gausden	59 CMDO	17:42
3rd Maj McCarthy	42 Engr Regt	17:54
Female
1st Cpl Fear	ATC Pirbright	17:41
2nd Capt Earl	42 Engr Regt	18:49
3rd Maj Jardine	APC Glasgow	19:09
Battle Back
1st Cpl Manning	3 RSME	20:41
2nd Sgt Sewell	Navy	24:46

Inter Unit Team Championships

The Army Inter Unit Team Championships is decided by combining the times of the first 6 swimmers from each of the units. The results of this competition is as follows;

Position	Unit	Time
1	42 Engr Regt	1:55:26
2	RMAS	2:28:25
3	AFC Harrogate	2:33:19
4	HQ 5 Div	2:42:25
5	APC Glasgow	2:46:48
6	30 Signal Regt	3:06:29
7	22 Fd Hosp	5 Swim times plus 1 retired

Triple Crown

The result of the Triple Crown competition is decided by combining the times of those swimmers who compete in all 3 events within the Open Water Championships. The results of the Triple Crown competition are as follows:

Male
1st Cpl Gausden	59 Cmdo	2:49:44
2nd Cpl Manning	3 RSME	3:02:01(Cpl Manning has had an above the knee amputation).
3rd Lt Col Healey	11 Sig Regt	3:13:32
Female
1ST Cpl Fear	ATC Pirbright	2:29:15
2ND Capt Earl	42 Engr Regt	2:45:50

Summary

The Inter Services and Army Open Water Swimming Championships was conducted without issue, all the events were completed as planned, this is in no small part due to the efforts of the event organisers, FS Paul Kendall (Safety), Wendy Cole (Officials), WO2 Mathieson (Admin). It is my recommendation that the Inter Unit Team format be adjusted to, the lowest combined total of finish positions, this adjustment will allow for a swifter result in future competitions.