On Saturday 6th July, nineteen swimmers from Cally Masters made their way to Llanberis in Snowdonia, Wales, to take on the Big Welsh Swim: an open water swim of either 3km, 6km or 9km across Llyn Padarn. Admirably, for six of the Cally swimmers, it was their first ever open-water event, and four of those took on the full 9km – such an impressive feat.

While the weather was typical for a British summer’s day (wet and cold), it did little to dampen the sunny disposition of the team as they each took on their respective events. For those swimming the 3km and 9km events, the swim was preceded by a much-anticipated ride on the Llanberis Lake Railway: a tiny steam train that took participants from Gilfach Ddu to the opposite side of the lake, where their events began.

A total of 176 swimmers took on the 3km event (one length of the lake), with our very own Yael Lichter (a first-timer) coming in 1st in her category and 3rd overall, closely followed by Linda Slapakova, Naz Masraff, Freya Mohamed, Malou Visser (another first-timer), Honor Sangster (who braved the swim without a wetsuit), Mari Williams, and Steve Lorimer, all coming within the top 7 of their categories and top 46 overall.

In the 6km event (two lengths of the lake), Anthony Mason came in 1st in his category and 6th overall (out of 86), followed by Ella Snell who came 2nd in her category.

In the not-for-the-faint-hearted 9km event (a massive three lengths of the lake), Nils Young came in 1st out of 52 swimmers, followed by Joe Geary, Humberto Juarez Rocha (both swimming in their first event), Flora Hanson, Marian Phillips (in her first event), Bethan Cash, Rachael Ferguson, George Turner (yet another first-timer), and Gary Butler.

Big shout out to Linda Slapakova, Yael Lichter, Nils Young, Flora Hanson, Marion Phillips and Honor Sangster for successfully making it onto the podium for their respective events and taking home a coveted wooden train whistle as their trophy!

Thanks also go to the organisers (Love SwimRun) for putting together a wonderful event (and for recognising our relentless enthusiasm as the loudest cheer squad on the day!).

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend in Llanberis and there’s no doubt we’ll be back again soon.