Swimmers test endurance at CIASA 5K Sea Swim

By Cayman Sports Buzz
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Updated: 10 February 2017

Liam Henry finished second overall.

Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Association (CIASA) Technical Director, Bailey Weathers, is pleased with the strong showing by young swimmers in the open water last Saturday, 4 February.

The CIASA 5K Sea Swim was held off Seven Mile Beach as part of qualifying for the national team to compete at the CARIFTA Championships in the Bahamas.

“This year’s sea swim was a great event for our kids, they had perfect conditions and swam really fast,” Weathers said.

“We had a number of swimmers make a big jump in their age groups and they look good as we go into our final selection for CARIFTA at the CIASA nationals,” he added.

First out of the water was John Bodden in one hour, seven minutes and 18 seconds. He was trailed home by Liam Henry (1:08:26) and Jonathan Key (1:08:34), who like Bodden are in the 15-17 age group.

John Bodden approaches the finish line.

“It was pretty good. It’s an opportunity to get away from just swimming in the pool all the time and do something together as a group and then swim hard outside of the pool,” Bodden said.

“I think at CARIFA it would be really good because I have these guys. I think we can go one, two and three at the CARIFTA 5K,” added Bodden who won open water gold at CARIFTA in Martinique last year.

Henry and Key were side by side for much of the third quarter of the race but Henry raced ahead toward the finish. “It was pretty much my all. It did help having them there with me. It was like a box surrounding me, taking me all the way there and then the last one, I just had to bring myself home,” he said.

Meantime, Key was pleased with his performance and gave some insight about how things shaped up in the end. “We had a little plan going to get [Liam] qualified and this probably would have been our last open water opportunity to get him on the team. It was just a team effort,” he said.

: Jonathan Key was third overall.

: Ria Plunkett was the first female finisher.

Zachary Moore kept up with the lead pack for the first half of the race but fell off the pace as the race went on. He finished fourth overall and first in the Male 13-14 age group with a time of 1:13:49.

“At first, I didn’t think I would stick with them that long but…the last two [laps], they just took off. I feel pretty good about my performance,” Moore said.

A little over two minutes later, the first female finisher, Ria Plunkett crossed the finish line (1:15:55), just ahead of Jake Bailey (1:16:09), whose older sister Sam Bailey was the second female finisher in 1:16:51. (see full rankings and times below)

Afterward, more than 50 swimmers took part in the Care Pharmacy 400m and 200m swims. No official positions were recorded for those events.

The team to represent the Cayman Islands at CARIFTA this year will be named after the CIASA National Championships from 16-19 February.

Final positions in CIASA 5K Sea Swim

Swimmer	Age Group	Gender	Time	Overall Place	Age Group
John Bodden	Male 15-17	M	1:07.18	1	1
Liam Henry	Male 15-17	M	1:08.26	2	2
Jonathan Key	Male 15-17	M	1:08.34	3	3
Zachary Moore	Male 13-14	M	1:13.49	4	1
Ria Plunkett	Female 13-14	F	1:15.55	5	1
Jake Bailey	Male 13-14	M	1:16.09	6	2
Sam Bailey	Female 15-17	F	1:16.51	7	1
Elana Sinclair	Female 15-17	F	1:18.19	8	2
Corey Westerborg	Male 13-14	M	1:21.17	9	3
Stephanie Royston	Female u13	F	1:21.55	10	1
Audrey Weber	Female 15-17	F	1:22.55	11	3
Jon Roney	Male 18+	M	1:25.47	12	1
Andrew Pullar	Male 18+	M	DNF	DNF	DNF