July 17, 2005
Jon wins annual Burnham to Stert Island sea swim
Cheddar man Jon Rawlings beat more than 60 other swimmers to win the 2005 Stert Island swim on Sunday July 17.
He completed the 2,400-metre sea swim race between Burnham and Stert Island in an impressive time of 25 minutes and 53 seconds, some two minutes and ten seconds faster than last year’s winner.
Jon, who has won the Burnham triathlon five times but has not won the swim before, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It was a bit choppy out there but that was fine for me. The sea was like a warm bath – it felt hotter than the indoor swimming pool I train in.”
The first woman home was Burnham’s Sara Hudghton who completed the event in a fast time of 27 minutes. She told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It would have been fun to keep the ‘woman beating the men’ theme going after the last two years, but it was very difficult to see where you were swimming, let alone where other people were.”
“So I swam my own race and challenge and ended up swimming next to my old training partner Lee Portingale who came in fourth – it’s unusual for me to beat him! Being my first open water swim I found it far harder than I’d imagined. It was a learning curve and hopefully I can improve next time,” said Sara.
The conditions did the swimmers no favours, with tricky currents, cold water and nearly nil visibility adding to the challenge.
Regular competitor Rupa Morris of London (pictured) was delighted with her time of 35 minutes and four seconds.
She has taken part in the event three times and said: “I like sea swims a lot – there aren’t many of them around the country, but this is a great event.”
The oldest competitor, 71-year-old Roger Venner from Burnham, has completed the event seven times. And his time of 51 minutes and 42 seconds was actually faster than last year’s when he finished in 1 hour, 4 minutes and 2 seconds.
More than 3,000 people flocked to Burnham seafront to watch and cheer on the swimmers – and also visit dozens of stalls selling crafts and charity merchandise.
The swim usually takes participants between 25 and 60 minutes to complete, but the weather and state of the sea can often affect this. This year’s event was hot and sunny – prompting fast times all round.
Entries for next year’s event will open at the start of next year and a spokeswoman said: “Swimmers should be aware that the race takes place in a tidal estuary so the challenge is not so much the distance, but the water conditions, which include tricky currents, cold water and the nearly nil visibility that the swimmers have to brave.”
Full first aid and rescue facilities were provided. The organisers from Sedgemoor District Council praised those who helped, including Burnham and Highbridge Town Council, King Alfred Sports Centre, the BARB Rescue Hovercraft group, Wessex Ambulance Service, Burnham-On-Sea RNLI, English Nature, Somerfield and Kwik Save.
.STERT ISLAND SWIM 2005 RESULTS
These are the official results from this year’s event, courtesy of Sedgemoor District Council:
Number Name Town Finish Time
1 Jon Rawlings Cheddar 0:25:53
2 Malcolm Greenslade Lyme Regis 0:26:41
3 Sara Hudghton Burnham-on-Sea 0:27:00
4 Lee Portingale Shirehampton 0:27:18
5 Andy Dutton Bath 0:28:04
6 Matt Varley Bristol 0:28:47
7 Nik Newman Frome 0:29:53
8 Marc Molloy Weston-super-Mare 0:29:58
9 Andy Gardner Highbridge 0:30:19
10 Stuart Collins Taunton 0:30:36
11 Bill Gough Burnham-on-Sea 0:30:42
12 Laurence Hulatt Chittenham 0:31:14
13 Jason Crabtree Langport 0:31:56
14 Philip Bowden Weymouth 0:32:16
15 Grant Butler Milverton 0:32:19
16 Mike Harris Nottingham 0:32:23
17 Roy Pitt Bristol 0:33:03
18 Gary Matthews Burnham-on-Sea 0:33:08
19 Martin Harrison Ilfracombe 0:33:28
20 David Gauld Burnham-on-Sea 0:33:34
21 Chris Newman Midsomer Norton 0:33:38
22 Gary Palin Pawlett 0:34:03
23 Pete Hicks Cheddar 0:34:22
24 Rupa Morris London 0:35:04
25 Rob Seaman Wotton-Under-Edge 0:35:31
26 Heath Hardy Weston-Super-Mare 0:35:31
27 Oliver Le Cheminant Dawlish 0:35:36
28 Adam Gould Bristol 0:35:45
29 Martin Rogers Burnham-on-Sea 0:35:45
30 Steve Rafferty Bristol 0:35:45
31 Shonagh Withey St Marychurch 0:36:03
32 Huw Rees Bristol 0:36:03
33 Lloyd Davies Wotton-Under-Edge 0:36:08
34 Michael Culley Ilfracombe 0:36:52
35 Soso Chow London 0:37:15
36 Wendy Mogan Yeovil 0:37:39
37 Catherine Powrie Exminster 0:38:00
38 Christopher Knapman Paignton 0:38:06
39 Paul Hawkins Shirehampton 0:39:05
40 Derek Johnson Bristol 0:39:17
41 Joanne Whittaker Bristol 0:39:26
42 Simon Williams Martock 0:39:40
43 Brian Fletcher Yeovil 0:40:10
44 Sarah Dunn Bridgwater 0:40:25
45 Paul Flanagan Weston-Super-Mare 0:40:34
46 Andrew Dixon-Lewis Bristol 0:40:40
47 Dave Baxter Weston-Super-Mare 0:40:45
48 David Horwood urnham-on-Sea 0:41:14
49 Pete Telford Weston-Super-Mare 0:41:22
50 Neil Taylor Somerton 0:41:25
51 Bruce Manning Langford 0:41:59
52 Michael Regan Yeovil 0:44:04
53 Nick Hunt Weston-Super-Mare 0:45:04
54 Faye Steele Burnham-on-Sea 0:45:20
55 Keir Harman Bristol 0:46:42
56 David Sainsbury Pawlett 0:47:04
57 Chris Beek Bridgwater 0:47:25
58 Trevor Roberts Bristol 0:52:05
59 Roger Venner Burnham-on-Sea 0:52:05
60 John Merrett Clevedon 0:56:14
61 Deborah O’Keefe Bridgwater 0:58:02
62 Stephen Chapman Shirehampton Did not finish
RELATED LINKS:
2004 Stert Island Swim Results.
2003 Stert Island Swim Results.
More information about Stert Island.
