TEENAGER Kit Jones was back in Bude visiting his family from New Zealand when he decided to enter the Bude Surf Life Saving Club Northcott Mouth to Crooklets Swim event on Sunday, July 14 before going on to win it in a time of 28 minutes and 15 seconds.

The 16-year-old joined another 100 swimmers from around the country to compete in this event running for its second year. Conditions were close to perfect for the swimmers with a slight north-westerly breeze and swell promising to push them along the coast during the race.

The race organised and run by Bude SLSC starts with the swimmers walking across the cliff top path from Bude to Northcott where they line up on the shoreline for the start of this race. Members of Bude SLSC provide safety cover with paddle boards and rescue boats as the swimmers first swim out to a marker buoy near Megachurch Point before turning south and following the dramatic North Cornish coastline back to Bude. At Wrangle Point the swimmers turn a second buoy and head for the beach at Crooklets.

Jones may have been first over the line in a time of 28 minutes and 15 seconds, one minute and four seconds ahead of Bude’s James Marshall, but in other regards local swimmers achieved some great results, which are as follows:

Men’s Overall

Winner: Kit Jones (NZ) — 28.15; Runner-up: James Marshall (Bude) — 29.19; 3rd: Andy Virgin (Bude) — 31.02.

Women Overall

Winner: Nikki Gatland (Worthing) — 29.24; Runner-up: Alice Gatland (Oxford) — 31.32; 3rd: Emily Currie (Bude) — 31.37.

Winners of other respective categories

Youth: Kit Jones (NZ) — 28.15; Senior Men: Henry Gwynn-Thomas (Bude) — 36.50; Over 40 Men: James Marshall (Bude) — 29.19; Over 50 Men: Graeme Anderton (Bude) — 37.10; Over 60 Men: Guy Rolston (Bude) — 31.20; Senior Women: Nikki Gatland (Worthing) — 29.24; Over 40 Women: Liz Stokes (Bude) — 31.51; Over 50 Women: Jackie Moores (Pyworthy) — 42.20; Over 60 Women: Pauline Warner (Winkleigh) — 40.09.

This year saw an increase in numbers despite the event clashing with other sporting events such as the Wimbledon final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup final between champions England and New Zealand at Lord’s and the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Event organisers are confident that numbers will continue to flourish over the next years as word of the event grows.