Mascoll-Gomes, Mitchell Dominate Open Water

By Neto Baptiste
National swimmers Noah Mascoll-Gomes and Bianca Mitchell dominated the grueling 5K open water swim which formed part of the Antigua and Barbuda Swimming Federation (ABSF) Open Water Championships held at the popular Fort James Beach on Sunday.
Gomes, who has represented the twin-island state at both the junior and senior levels, clocked 1 hour, 3 minutes and 47 seconds as he dominated the male division of the swim.
Daryl Appleton finished second with a time of 1 hour 13 minutes and 48 seconds while Vernon Osbourne was third in 1 hour 22 minutes and 58 seconds.
Meanwhile, Bianca Mitchell registered a time of 1 hour, 15 minutes and 44 seconds as she won the female category of the 5K event.
Technical Director for the swimming federation, Edith Clashing, hailed the event a success, adding that a number of swimmers also gravitated to the “fun” race which followed the main event.
“We had enough crafts in the water to man the race and at the end we had the fun relay and this was won by the team of Olivier Fuller, Hailey Derrick and Brandon Derrick but it was a lot of fun and it’s something we are going to build on for the future,” she said.
In the 2.6K event, Angelique Gittens dominated the female division, clocking 41 minutes and 18 seconds to finish ahead of Maria Eldridge who finished in 46 minutes and 24 seconds. Jermaria Jackson grabbed the final podium spot in 48 minutes and 56 seconds.
The male equivalent was dominated by Sebastien Gobinet in 34 minutes and 19 seconds with Robert Watkins and J’Air Smith finishing second and third respectively.
In the 1.4K event, Olivia Fuller, Arianna John and Natalie Yates, were first, second and third respectively with the winner registering a time of 19 minutes.
The male division was captured by Brandon Derrick in 17 minutes and 31 seconds while Alexander Bento and Yahnik Martin finishing second and third respectively.
Clashing highlighted one notable aspect of the meet.
“Our oldest swimmer came back again and he swam and he completed and this was Peter Hunt and his age, for the purposes of this race, was 78 and the youngest swimmer was seven-years-old which was Espritt Shaw so we had a good age-rage right there,” she said.
Over 60 swimmers competed in the meet which was an increase on the 40-plus who competed in 2016.