Fun and Medals at SENER Open Water Championships

The benchmark was set in 2024 by Jessica Hubery, the gauntlet was thrown down so who would be next to pick it up? Well 3 other swimmers decided it was their turn to bask in the sun......literally!

Freya Cooper, Jessica Eggitt, Joseph Watts joined Jessica Hubery in the sun before they all tackled the SENER Open Water Championships at Sale, Manchester for a bit of Long(er) Course racing. For the likes of Freya Cooper, Jessica Eggitt and Joseph Watts this represented a first in competing in Open Water, a refreshing outdoor change of scenery to the usual sweaty indoor poolsides we regularly frequent.

Those 3 above were joined by a veteran of Open Water by now in Jessica Hubery who had raced Open Water in 2024.

Even for Freya Cooper and Joe, one a regular at the 1500m Freestyle an the latter impressing in distance sets in training, this is new territory. Thankfully they have all prepared well, taking it upon themselves to acclimatise to an Open Water setting along with some private sessions providing by Tina Wilson, going through the routine drills of sighting, drafting, turns, swimming in skins as well as wetsuit and fighting it out as a packed bunch as well as applying themselves well in pool training. So you could say this group were as prepared as they could be and so it proved to be.

Joe, Jessica H and Freya took up the challenge earlier in the day, a huge 3km Open Water race, 5 laps of a set course with every swimmer going under the Gantry to time their splits. With the top 4 from the North East going through to the National Open Water Event at Rother Valley in July. Even for our Long Distance veterans this represents a tough challenge. As if that wasn't enough Jessica Eggitt had to go for the big 5km later in the day, a total of 9 laps!

The advice to all swimmers was the same, it's going to be packed at the first buoy which presented an unusually acute angle for 30 plus swimmers to all get round at once. So what do we do here? Get out fast and get in front and away from the kafuffle that's going to occur, stay in the pack and hope for the best or stay out of it for the first turn? Of course we go all guns blazing and get out fast and ahead of the competition!

All of Tina's work on the turns seemed to pay off, the entry and exit into each buoy seemed to gain each swimmer a few metres on their competition. Well done Tina!

This wasn’t just about turning up, this was about putting on a performance to be proud of and boy did they do exactly that. where others fell off, our group grew in confidence, maintaining a solid pace throughout. Finishing with One Gold and One Siler Medal in North East Regional Championships and Two Golds, One Silver and One Bronze in the Yorkshire Championships represents a solid outing for a small club like ours.

There have been plenty of speed bumps along the way this season and this group of swimmers never cease to amaze me. Well done all.

NER Regional Medallists
Jessica Hubery 🥇3km
Jessica Eggitt 🥈 5km
Freya Cooper 4th 3km
Joseph Watts 5th 3km

Yorkshire Championships Medallists 
Jessica Hubery 🥇3km
Jessica Eggitt 🥇 5km
Freya Cooper 🥈 3km
Joseph Watts 🥉3km

These results secure another Nationals spot fo Jessica Hubery, while Freya Cooper and Jessica Eggitt also qualify for the Nationals for the first time! Girl Power! 💪

Joe swam a very strong race and secured his first Yorkshire Championships medal although agonisingly just missed out on qualifying for Nationals by one spot.