Annual Awards Night and Social
A great night was had last Saturday in The Meadowlands Hotel with over 100 swimmers, friends and family attending our Annual Awards Night.
The night kicked off with a great meal and quickly moved on to to The Main Event, the Prizegiving.
Most of the prize winners did not know if they had won or not as the last race results had not been revealed. First up were 2 new categories this year . Winter Swimmer of The Year Thomas Brosnan and Best Newcomer John Quilter .
The main prize was next and that was the 2015 Swimmer of The Year which was won By Michael OConnell Jnr.
Congratulations ! The group prizes were next and the winners were:
Grp A 1st Martin ORegan 2nd Dermot Dillane. 3rd. Alan Murphy
Grp B. Joint 1st. Siobhain Griffin and Maura Hayes 3rd Donal Fitzgibbons
Grp C 1st Niamh Murphy 2nd John Quilter 3rd Catriona Kelly .
Kevin Williams was MC for the evening and All prizes were presented by Club President PJ Costelloe.
Anyone not in attendance to collect their prize , forfeited and it was passed down to next in line.
The night finished off with dancing to great music from Donal and Caroline, A Beautiful Noise .
See photos below
The Gerald Walsh Swim
The results of the Gerald Walsh swim were not revealed until last Saturday night. The swim went ahead on Sunday 6th September and had to be pulled forward an hour to accommodate the terrible weather. Approx 45 swimmers showed up in the torrential rain to,take part but at least the wind was minimal and the sea was calm .
The race started from the beach and went to the bathing skip and back . Approx 1500 metres . Group A were off first and fierce competition was expected in all of the groups as swimmers battled for points for Swimmer of The Year .
First home was Cillian Tierney in an incredible time of just over 18 minutes . The Group Winners were
Group A. 1 ) Michael OConnel Jnr 2). Martin O’Regan
Group B. 1. Ciara Tierney. 2. Maura Hayes
Group C 1 Niamh Murphy. 2. John Quilter
Gerald Walsh Memorial Cup Wimmer Siobhan Griffin .
All prizes were presented to the winners at The Awards Night by Mary Jo Walsh , Gerald’s daughter.
Mary Jo also gave a lovely speech about her Mother who passed away recently and her father and her fond memories of Fenit and Swimming. Thanks Mary Jo.
All the prizes were kindly sponsored by Geralds nephew Brendan Walsh of Spa Seafoods .
Winter Swimming
Will commence (or continue!) in the next few weeks. All are welcome and it’s a great start to a Sunday Morning!
Michael O’Connell receives the Swimmer Of The Year trophy. Also included is Kevin Williams and PJ Costelloe.
John Quilter receives Best Newcomer Award. Also included is Kevin Williams and PJ Costelloe.
