The highly anticipated Flowers Sea Swim is fast approaching, promising another exciting year of open water competition and community spirit for its 33rd edition.
Cayman’s very own Olympic brother duo Brett and Shaune Fraser are set to return to the event on 14 June, joining fellow Cayman Olympians Andrew MacKay and Geoffrey Butler. Rounding out this impressive local contingent is elite athlete Kerri Kanuga.
International Olympic swimmers Sharon van Rouwendaal, Conor Dwyer, Neil Walker, Darren Mew and Roland Schoeman are also joining as participants, alongside a team of 14 from the Rockwall Aquatics Center in Dallas, Texas.
Registration for the event, set at a hard cap of 800 swimmers, closed on Wednesday.
The one-mile race will start at Royal Palms, with check-in from 12:30pm to 1:45pm. Parking will be available at Regatta Business Park, Governors Beach and Governors Square, with shuttle services provided from 1–5pm between the Westin and Royal Palms.
While primarily a fun swim, set at a 75-minute time limit, the event caters to various skill levels. Participants are generally categorised as elite/competitive or recreational.
Elite and competitive swimmers are often invited or reach out to compete, while all others are considered recreational, free to choose their preferred starting points based on comfort.
Although different swimming levels are accepted, there is a minimum age of 8 years for participants.
Last year’s Flowers One Mile Sea Swim saw some impressive performances. The top three overall winners were Maxwell Enes with a time of 19:00.64, Dominic Hilton with a time of 19:22.27, and Caymanian Olympian Shaune Fraser with a time of 19:52.11.
Prizes for the Flowers Sea Swim are awarded through random drawings, with the exception of swimmers breaking the course record.
Swim Free initiative
Beyond the thrill of the race, Flowers gives back to the community through its ‘Swim Free’ programme. This programme provides free swimming lessons to students at all government primary schools as part of their physical education classes in a state-of-the-art mobile pool. For the purpose of building safety and confidence in the water, the children are taught to swim at a minimum of 10 feet.
Information on this initiative can be found here. Direct donations can also be made to support the programme.
For the Flowers team, this annual event is an opportunity to be good corporate citizens, promoting swimming and showcasing the Cayman Islands as a premier sports tourism destination. They hope for all participants to have an amazing time competing, to make this event a tradition and to feel at home in Cayman and in its beautiful waters.
For those interested in volunteering, details and a downloadable form can be found online. Completed forms should be emailed to [email protected].
