Nine members of the All Nations United Swim Club (ANUSC) travelled to Nevis on Saturday 25th March, 2023, to participate in the Nevis to St. Kitts Cross Channel Swim.
Seven members took part in the swim.
The swimmers were Richard Stephens, Naga Raju Valvai, Deepika Tuniki, Marilyn Bartlett-Richardson, Demi Proctor, Jonathan Irizarry and Ojaelia Gumbs. Shirlene Stephens and Jacinth Gumbs were there to assist and support the team.
The swimmers ranged from eleven to sixty-four years old. The eleven- and twelve-year-old swimmers started their swim journey just last year with ANUSC in its 2022 Summer Splash Camp.
The swim was held on Sunday 26th March, 2023, at 8:00am from Oualie Beach in Nevis, ending in the middle of Cockleshell Beach 2.5 miles away in St. Kitts.
The swim challenge was split into two categories, the race category and the assisted category. ANUSC registered in the assisted category which means that the swimmers were allowed to use fins and snorkeling masks.
The ANUSC swimmers described the swim as quite challenging. They noted that at just about the half way point the current and sea conditions were noticeable different. They said the current seemed to be pushing and pulling them with the waves hitting their faces when they tried to look up to make sure they were not drifting, but they kept moving.
At one point some of the ANUSC swimmers could hear another swimmer off to their right requesting help and wanting to be picked up by the support kayaks and boats that were following the race.
It did not deter the ANUSC swimmers as they kept moving and in the end all seven made it to the finish line between two to two and a half hours.
They said the experience was unbelievable and the young ones were especially enlightened by the experience. They are already planning on entering in the race category in the near future.
The members of the All Nations United Swim Club say they are definitely going to make a name for Anguilla in swimming, especially in the sport of open water swimming.
