Sean Wylie
The National Age Group Open Water Swimming Championships were held in Rother Valley country park on the outskirts of Sheffield on Monday 30 July and included races for those aged 12 years and upwards. The race distances varied between categories with ages 12 and 13 years racing over 2km, 14 and 15 years racing over 3km and 16 and above racing over the 5km distance. Qualifying for the event was through very competitive pool qualifying times or through placing top three at a regional open water championship event, and therefore the standard on the start line was very high.
Conditions were challenging, with a considerable amount of chop on the water for the swimmers to contend with throughout the day with the forecast showing gusts up to 16mph. This added to the challenge for all those involved, playing to the strengths of the open water specialists that had trained specifically for conditions like this. Despite the strong winds and rain in the week leading up to the event the water temperature remained high at 20.6 degrees meaning the event was nonwetsuit for all categories (wetsuits were allowed in the relay events).