Four Clevedon Swimming Club Swimmers took a break from the swimming pool last weekend when they competed in the ASA South West Region Open Water Championships in the sea off Weymouth. This year the Western Counties competition incorporated the Somerset Open Water Championships and all four swimmers brought back a medal!

Gary Carpenter is a veteran sea swimmer and he used this event as part of his preparation to swim the Bristol Channel from Penarth to Clevedon later in the year. In a marathon, all weekend, session he picked up Somerset Gold medals in the 5k and 3k races - coming 4th in the West of England at the same time. He also got Somerset Silver in the 10k swim and a West of England Bronze. His sister, Evey Carpenter, defied unseasonally cold water temperatures to win the Somerset Gold medal in the Women's 3k event.

Sophie Feboul returned to competiton with a Bronze medal in the Women's 1.5k West of England competition and the Gold medal for Somerset. She narrowly beat Rosemary Harris in this race, Rosemary picked up the Silver medal in the county championship and finished a creditable sixth in the West of England. Rosemary gallantly ignored injury to complete the race after she sustained a cut to her toe following an encounter with a mystery sea creature.

Graham Feboul
Press Officer