Governor Jane Owen, 62, completed the 33rd annual Flowers Sea Swim on 14 June, the first time she had attempted the mile-long open-water swim, telling the Compass at the finish line that her strategy of “taking it slow and steady” had paid off.
Owen was one of 633 swimmers who finished the race on Saturday afternoon, completing the distance in 53 minutes and 43 seconds.
Addressing the crowd of finishers and supporters after the race, Owen said that she had enjoyed her swim, but had been a little alarmed that she had been going too slowly when, near the end, one of the jet-ski race marshals asked her “Are you in the race?”
“At least I finished!” she said, adding: “Thank you very much to everyone who’s put it together. I think it brings together the whole community, but also for a really good cause, and a very important cause of teaching our kids to swim.”
Presenting a plaque commemorating the swim to Education Minister Rolston Anglin, the governor noted that Anglin hadn’t swum in Saturday’s race, but added, “But he might next year!”
In response, Anglin said, “That’s a classic case of being outed,” adding, “And so now that she has challenged me, I’m going to challenge the minister of sports, because he’s really the guy that should be doing this anyway. So I’m going to have to make a commitment on both of our behalf that we’re going to swim next year.”
Conditions for the annual event were described as excellent, with participants enjoying calm seas and sunshine for the mile-long swim from Coral Beach to the Westin hotel.
Amateurs swam alongside former international and Caymanian Olympians with Olympic hopeful Connor Macdonald taking first place for the men in 18:38.08, and Dutch Olympic gold medallist Sharon Van Rouwendall the fastest woman and sixth overall at 19:30.55.
For the third consecutive year, the event championed the Swim Free initiative, a programme providing free swimming lessons to government primary school students from kindergarten through Year 2.
The programme aims to build water safety and confidence, teaching children to swim a minimum of 10 feet, to potentially save lives.
