Swim East - You Can't Miss It

Flat water, good weather...and a huge turn buoy. You can't miss it, the Great East Swim in Alton Water in England. 17-year-old Tom Allen, quickly developing into one of Great Britain's next great open water swimmers and former world champion Britta Kamrau of Germany won the last of four races in the British Gas great series.

Tom outswam the field of 1,500 competitors from all over Great Britain and Europe. On the men's elite field, 7 countries were represented in the top 10 while on the women's side, 5 countries were represented in the top 10.

Tom won with plenty to spare in 16:24 over Tom Vangeneugden of Belgium in 16:38 and Danill Serebrennikov of Russia in 16:41. Britta beat the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim gold, silver and bronze medalists, swimming in 18:08 over gold medalist Larisa Ilchenko in 18:09 and 10K world champion Keri-Anne Payne in 18:11.

Julian Crabtree, who had previously started and finished with every single heat of every 1-mile swim in the 4-part series, successfully completed his venture - a total distance of 44 miles where he was pressured to make a certain each mile.

41-year-old Julian said, "It’s been tough, but I’m proud of what I have achieved and met some great people over recent weeks. It’s brilliant to see so many people involved in taking up open water swimming and maybe this could become the next big mass participation sport in the U.K."

It will be if race director Colin Hill, one of this year's World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year nominees, continues to organize and promote the sport as he has this year.

Elite Top 10 Results:

1. Britta Kamrau (GER) 18:08.13
2. Larisa Ilchenko (RUS) 18:09.52
3. Keri-Anne Payne (GBR) 18:11.36
4. Katy Whitfield (GBR) 18:18.14
5. Cassie Patten (GBR) 18:22.76
6. Silvie Rybarova (CZE) 18:34.10
7. Steffi Biller (GER) 18:53.09
8. Camilla Frediani (ITA) 18:55.52
9. Alice McCall (GBR) 18:56.49
10. Abbie Thorrington (GBR) 18:56.87

1. Tom Allen (GBR) 16:24.72
2. Tom Vangeneugden (BEL) 16:38.52
3. Daniil Serebrennikov (RUS) 16:41.84
4. Alexander Studzinski (GER) 16:43.67
5. Dave Carry (GBR) 17:12.37
6. Ross Davenport (GBR) 17:13.48
7. Jan Posmourny (CZE) 17:15.23
8. Scott Hathaway (GBR) 17:16.21
9. Mario Bonanca (POR) 17:18.48
10. Chris Bryan (IRE) 17.19.09

Winning In Windermere

Daniil Serebrennikov and Nadine Pastor of German upset their more famous elite competitors in the 1-mile British Gas Great North Swim yesterday under sunny skies and in 17°C water in Lake Windermere this weekend. Olympian and race commentator Steve Parry reports, "The elite races demonstrated the importance of tactics for both the men’s and women’s events."

"In the women’s race, 10K world champion Keri-Anne Payne took an early lead until the 1.200K mark while followed by a chasing pack with Germany’s Steffi Biller and Nadine Pastor and the Russian Olympic gold medalist Larisa Ilchenko. At this point, the physicality of the sport really came into the full view with leg and elbow kicks coming into quick exchange."

"Nadine broke free of the chasing pack and used the calm water to her full advantage, while Katy chose to take a different route than the group as she gained valuable yards. Nadine was the clear winner, but you could have thrown a coin over second, third and fourth. Great Britain's Katy Whitfield finished second with the Larisa in third and Keri-Anne in fourth."

The first half of men’s race was led by long-distance specialist Alexander Studzinski of Germany who built up a ten-meter gap between him and the chase pack.

Steve summarizes, "It looked like an impossibility that Alexander was ever going to lose, but Daniil Serebrennikov of Russia swam the perfect race and timed his move flawlessly, pushing ahead for just one [last] metre of the race to give Daniil his second victory in the British Gas Great Swim four-part series. Much to the delight of the home crowd, British junior swimmer Tom Allen finished hin third."

But, more importantly, 6,000 other swimmers entered the event with the world-class swimmers in only the second year of the event.

"The Great Swim brand has created a series of events for people to get excited about," said Steve. "My personal hope is that these mass participation open water swimming events will one day be just as popular and successful as their Great Run counterparts."

Elite Women’s Results:
1. Nadine Pastor (GER) 18.14
2. Katy Whitfield (GBR) 18.15
3. Larisa Ilchenko (RUS) 18.16

Elite Men’s Results:
1. Daniil Serebrennikov (RUS) 16.23
2. Alexander Studzinski (GER) 16.23
3. Tom Allen (GBR) 16.26

The event will be televised in Great Britain in the fall on Channel 4.