Open Water National Championships

The day started with a gruelling 5km event for our open water national debutant Jessica Hubery. This event exemplified the great strength and determination Jess has since her open water experience in Manvers not too long ago in May, having to get out early, but when the pressure is on Jess doesn’t crumble, she digs deep and carries on, this was evident at Sale a few weeks ago where she came home with 2 Gold Medals in the bag…..but that was only 3km, a baby compared to this.

Jess acquitted herself well, making it look like just another day at the office and starting off well in the chasing pack, which is some feat even for an experienced 1500m swimmer. Some smart racing by Jess was on display, using the drafting technique whenever it was possible for her to do so resulted in gained positions, lap by lap we was saying to ourselves “she’s 9th, she’s 8th, she’s 7th!”. Using this technique was key for Jess to keep some in the tank for the finish, a mad 3-way dash to the gantry, 100m out it was anyone's guess who would take 7th. Only the person who wanted it the most would get there. 

On the touch it came right down to the millisecond with 3 girls appearing to touch on 1:10.21, we all thought Jess touched first however, it would be a nail biting wait (well pizza biting in some cases ;-) ) but the result was announced and a wave of relief and pride swept over. Her swim is a summary of persistence and getting over setbacks earlier in the season in order to make you stronger is all-powerful and Jess embodies this in abundance! 

An outstanding day, quite honestly there have been so many feel good stories, so many examples of getting back up after being knocked down, throughout the season and this puts the cherry on the cake and though I wasn’t showing it at the time, it’s quite emotional to say the least! Good people working hard and achieving great things against the best in the country.

What a team that we have. This club ⚫️🔴