British Olympic swimmer Keri-Anne Payne is the latest Olympian to enter the inaugural Great East Swim, which takes place at Alton Water near Ipswich this autumn.

The Great East Swim is a one-mile, open-water, mass-participation swim to be held on Saturday 26th September. Bronze medalist from Beijing, Cassie Patten has previously announced her participation.

It is part of the Great Swim, a series of similar mass-participation events open to swimmers of all abilities aged 16 and over that are taking place throughout the UK.

Payne said: “I finished second in the Great North Swim last year behind Cassie and really enjoyed it, so I’m really looking forward to the Great East Swim. Hopefully this time round I can take the honours.

“The event isn’t just for elite swimmers, though.  It’s perfect for leisure swimmers looking for a new challenge and charity fundraisers searching for different and quirky ways of raising funds.  I look forward to seeing everyone on the day.”

Over 700 people have already signed up to take part in the event, where waves of swimmers will be set off at intervals throughout the course of the day and the Great East Swim is set to become one of the biggest events of its kind in the country.

Further information, including entry details, can be found at www.greatswim.org
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For more information please contact Caroline Holmes: caroline.holmes@nova-international.com or call 0191 226 3210, mobile 07894 386 688

Fancy the challenge? We have a limited number of media places available for the Great East Swim. For more information please contact Caroline Holmes as above.

ABOUT NOVA INTERNATIONAL
Nova International, established in 1988 and headed by Olympic Medallist Brendan Foster have established themselves as a market leader in the world of sports marketing and event management. The company’s current brand portfolio includes Great Run the world’s largest mass particpation running programme, based on the Bupa Great North Run, the world’s biggest half marathon with over 52,000 entries.

The last year has seen the company branch into different sports looking at new opportunities and new audiences. Taking the already proven mass participation formula of Great Run and relating it to the new discipline of swimming, Great Swim has been created. Four events being staged acoss the UK make up the series, which is the UK’s biggest mass particiaption open water swim programme.

Day three of the British Gas Masters and Senior Age Group Championships (50m) didn’t fail to disappoint. Further records were set continuing the success from the previous two days in Cardiff.

The 400 IM was the first event of the day producing one European and two British records. Derek Parr, after clinching a World record yesterday, lowered the 400 IM British standard to 6:30.27 in the 65-69 years.

Similarly, Eddie Riach (Milngavie & B) added to his tally of British records taking gold in the 55-59 years category and lowering the record to 5:39.27.  

Eighty-five year old Don Leader (Oddicombe) had an excellent swim in the same event. Finishing in a respectable 10:38.32 he set a new European and British record for his age group.

The women’s 100m Freestyle saw Lindsey Gowland (Etwall) lower the British standard finishing in 1:07.05 in the 50-54 years age group. Second place went to City of Oxford’s Margaret Smith finishing in a time of 1:10.42 and Laura Hoodless (Sussex Marts) took third in 1:11.72.

Eighty-two year old Susan Halter (Camden Swiss) who competed in the 1948 Olympics swam well coming first in her age group clocking a time of 2:11.24.

Neil Hudghton (GB Police) had a good race in the men’s 200m Breaststroke. His finishing time of 2:33.97 was enough to secure the gold medal and a new British record. His nearest rival was Anthony Clark (Swindon) touching in 2:43.32 to take second place and closely followed by Neil Kemp (Hoylake) in 2:43.74.

The morning session concluded with the 4x50m Medley team relay. Swindon Dolphins and UEA City of Norwich fought a close battle in the men’s 72+ age group. However it was Swindon Dolphins that claimed victory touching in a time of 1:52.06 closely followed by UEA City of Norwich in 1:52.30. Third spot was taken by the Combined Services team in 1:57.16.

Similarly in the women’s 120+ years age group the Combined Services team edged out the team representing GB Police taking victory in 2:16.28 with GB Police touching in 2:16.77.

The Championships were held June 19 -21 with nearly 600 swimmers of all ages and abilities travelling to Cardiff International Pool for a weekend packed with spectacular swims and a number of records broken.

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