Comfortable Ceri secures emphatic national win

A storming performance from Ceri Edwards saw her crowned national champion in the 1.5k open-water swimming event.

It has been an impressive summer so far for a very strong group of open-water swimmers, with club members from Chichester making their mark as they have picked up titles and medals in big events.

First up was the national masters open competition at Rother Valley, near Sheffield.

Edwards produced a great swim to take the title.

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She finished almost four minutes ahead of her closest rival – a comfortable winning margin practically unheard of in the 1.5k race, which is the closest thing the world of open-water swimming has to a sprint.

Another local swimmer, Paul Mason, of Chichester Cormorants, provided the crowd with a much closer finish in the men’s 1.5k.

Mason spent the whole race stroke-for-stroke with one other swimmer out in front of the field, and the result came down to which of them could slap the overhead finishing board first.

Lack of experience in Mason’s first season racing in open water, told and he came second, missing out by only 0.22sec.

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Further afield, after a long trek to the Lake District Chichester Cormorants’ Chris Vine had a great swim in the 10k Windermere race.

Swimming twice the distance of a parkrun non-stop is quite a challenge but after more than two-and-a-half hours in the water in choppy conditions, Vine won his age group by a handsome margin.

Finally, the south-east regional open-water championships were held at Westhampnett Lake.

In the 3k event Chichester Cormorants’ Jane West won gold and Mason took the silver medal.