Galway Swimming Club was delighted to host the 88th Annual Prom Swim on Sunday Afternoon. We had an excellent turn out with swimmers as young as 10 years old braving Junior Swim from Blackrock Tower to Ladies Beach a distance of 400 meters. In the Senior race, we had over 70 swimmers departing from the reef slipway west of Blackrock Tower, swimming 1.2km to Palmers Slipway on the other end of the prom.
Overcast with a Light South Easterly Breeze
The incoming tide was countered by a light south easterly breeze that created slight chop on the water. This didn’t deter our Junior Swimmers, who for many, this was their first time taking part in an open water sea race. The recent summer rains had the Corrib River in full flow bringing slightly cooler water to the shores of Salthill.
Junior Prom Swim
The Junior race commenced at 3pm, with fifteen swimmers from age 10 to 13 taking on the challenge. Following an introduction to the course and safety briefing by Paddy McNamara, the swimmers entered the water at the steps of Blackrock Tower.
The swimmers start times were staggered for equalisation of swimmer speeds with Coach Brian Desmond setting the handicap times. Safety Kayaks guided the young swimmers from the tower to pass the 100m and 250m yellow buoys. From there the swimmers continued towards Ladies Beach.
With the Lifeguard hut in sight, the juniors began to swim in towards the shore, a little early for some swimmers who encounter the rocks that lead out from the west side of Ladies Beach. The obstruction was quickly overcome and our valiant swimmers continued to swim pass the lifeguard hut to finish at the wall of the old tidal pool.
The Prom Swim with its long history, regularly features many generations of Galway Swimming families. This year as no exception, and featured many generations from Galway Swimming Club.
It was a special year for the O’Beirn family. The O’Beirn family duo of Blaise and Peter were victorious in the Junior Girls and Boys races respectively. The O’Beirn Family are now a 3rd Generation of Prom Swimmers with Blaise and Peter joining their Dad and Grandad as winners of the Junior Prom Swim.
JUNIOR RACE (U-13s) GIRLS
1st Blaise O’Beirn
2nd Lily Waters
3rd Kate Molloy
Fastest Time Ella-Rose Myers
JUNIOR RACE (U-13s) | BOYS
1st Peter O’Beirn
2nd Liam Cunningham
3rd Simon Geraghty
Fastest Time Simon Geraghty
Senior Prom Swim
The Senior race, with over 70 swimmers competing in six categories. It was a fantastic turnout for the 88th annual Prom Swim.
The Open Race Category included men’s and women’s skins and wetsuit categories and the past & present G.S.C is skins only men’s and women’s race. The swimmers entered the water at the reef slipway west of Blackrock Tower and followed 1.2km course eastward, passing Blackrock Tower and Ladies Beach to finish at Palmers Slipway.
The GSC Senior men’s race resulted in a tie between Bobby Glynn and Kieran Watterson for fastest time both completing the course in 19min 58secs. Ailbhe Mulhall took fastest time GSC women’s race in a time of 19min 11sec.
The fastest time in Open Senior men’s skins was James Brennan in a time of 17min 48sec and Brian Eagan took fastest time for the Open Senior men’s wetsuits in a time of 19min 38sec.
The fastest time in Open Senior women’s skins was Laoise McNamara in a time of 23min 49sec and Aileen Coffey took fastest time in the Open Senior women’s wetsuits in a time of 19min 10sec.
Thank you to the Tofts and Lagan families for supporting the Prom Swim and sponsoring the the fantastic trophies.
SENIOR RACE – GALWAY SWIMMING CLUB MEMBERS/EX-MEMBERS (SKINS)
MENS 1st Bobby Glynn
2nd Finn McGovern
3rd Eoghan Volz-O’Dowd
Fastest Time Kieran Watterson / Bobby Glynn
LADIES 1st Neysa Connolly
2nd Katie Waters
3rd Caoimhe Drea
Fastest Time Ailbhe Mulhall
SENIOR RACE – OPEN – SKINS
MENS 1st Ali Donald
2nd Eoin Connery
3rd Pat McNicholas
Fastest Time James Brennan
LADIES 1st Diana Hogan-Murphy
2nd Sarah McNamara
3rd Mary Molloy
Fastest Time Laoise McNamara
SENIOR RACE – OPEN – WETSUITS
MENS 1st Thomas Cassidy
2nd Peter Duffy
3rd Brian McNicoll
Fastest Time Brian Egan
LADIES 1st Louise O’Callaghan
2nd Aoife Henn
3rd Eilis Treacy
Fastest Time Aileen Coffey
Well done to all the swimmers, great swimming! You make this a wonderful event. Thanks to all our Sponsors, Paddy McNamara and the safety crews and all of the volunteers from Galway Swimming Club that make this race happen.